SILVERCHAIR

Silverchair's founders, Ben Gillies and Daniel Johns, attended the same primary school in the Newcastle suburb of Merewether. As teenagers, singer-guitarist Johns and drummer Gillies, started playing music together – in one class they built a stage out of desks and played rap songs for their schoolmates. When they moved on to Newcastle High School, a fellow student, Chris Joannou, joined the pair on bass guitar. In 1992, they formed Death Rides a Sandwich with Tobin Finane as a second guitarist – but he soon left. They played numerous shows around the Hunter Region in their early teens, their repertoire were cover versions of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. In 1994 (now known as Innocent Criminals) they entered YouthRock, a national competition for school-based bands and placed first ahead of older competition. Early in the year they recorded demos of "Acid Rain", "Cicada", "Pure Massacre" and "Tomorrow" at Platinum Sound Studios.

In April, the band's mainstream breakthrough came when they won a national competition called Pick Me, using their demo of "Tomorrow". The competition was conducted by the SBS TV show Nomad and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) alternative radio station Triple J. As part of the prize, Triple J recorded the song and ABC filmed a video, which was aired on 16 June. For the video's broadcast, they had changed their name to Silverchair (styled as silverchair until 2002). In a 1994 interview with Melbourne magazine Buzz, the band claimed the name derived from a radio request for "Sliver" by Nirvana and "Berlin Chair" by You Am I being mixed up as Silver Chair. It was later revealed they were named for the C. S. Lewis-penned novel The Silver Chair from The Chronicles of Narnia series.

Following a bidding war between rival labels, Silverchair signed a three-album recording contract with Sony Music subsidiary Murmur Records. Initially the group were managed by their parents. Sony A&R manager John Watson, who was jointly responsible for signing the group, subsequently left the label to become their band manager. In September, their Triple J recording of "Tomorrow" was released as a four-track EP. From late October, it spent six weeks at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In 1995, a re-recorded version of "Tomorrow" (and a new video) was made for the United States market, becoming the most played song on US modern rock radio that year.

Silverchair's debut album, 'Frogstomp', was recorded in nine days with production by Kevin Shirley (Lime Spiders, Peter Wells) and was released in March 1995. At the time of recording, the band members were 15 years old, and still attending high school. Frogstomp's lyrical concepts were fiction-based, drawing inspiration from television, hometown tragedies, and perceptions of the pain of friends. The album was well received: Allmusic and Rolling Stone rated it in four and four-and-a-half stars respectively, praising the intensity of the album, especially "Tomorrow". Aside from Innocent Criminals, the band has used The George Costanza Trio and Short Elvis as aliases.

'Frogstomp' was a #1 album in Australia and New Zealand. It reached the Billboard 200 Top 10, making Silverchair the first Australian band to do so since INXS. It was certified as a US double-platinum album by the RIAA, triple-platinum in Canada by the CRIA and multi-platinum in Australia. The album sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide. As 'Frogstomp' and "Tomorrow" continued to gain popularity through 1995, the group toured the US where they supported Red Hot Chili Peppers in June, The Ramones in September, and played on the roof of Radio City Music Hall at the MTV Music Awards – in between touring they continued their secondary education in Newcastle. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1995, the band won five awards out of nine nominations. To collect their awards on the night they sent Josh Shirley, the young son of the album's producer.

Silverchair began recording their second studio album, 'Freak Show', in May 1996 while experiencing the success of 'Frogstomp' in Australia and the US. It was produced by Nick Launay (Birthday Party, Models, Midnight Oil) and was released in February 1997. The album reached #1 in Australia and yielded three Top 10 singles – "Freak", "Abuse Me", and "Cemetery". Its fourth single, "The Door", reached #25. The songs focused on the anger and backlash that the expectations of 'Frogstomp' brought upon the band. 'Freak Show' was certified gold in the US, 4× platinum in Australia and global sales eventually exceeded 1.5 million copies.

By late 1997, the trio had completed their secondary education, and, from May 1998, they worked on their third album, 'Neon Ballroom' which had Launay producing again. It was released in March 1999 and peaked at #1 in Australia. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane said, "As well as being the band's best album to date, it was universally acknowledged as one of the best albums of the year." The band originally intended to take a 12-month-break, but in the end decided to devote their time to making music. 'Neon Ballroom' provided three Australian top 20 singles: "Anthem for the Year 2000", "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" and "Miss You Love"; a fourth single, "Paint Pastel Princess", did not reach the top 50. The albums charted well internationally: 'Freak Show' reached #2 in Canada, and 'Neon Ballroom' reached #5. Both reached the top 40 on the United Kingdom Albums Chart. "Abuse Me" reached #4 on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks and Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" peaked at #12 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks.

Silverchair added an auxiliary keyboardist, Sam Holloway (ex-Cordrazine), for the Neon Ballroom Tour. The US leg had the group playing with The Offspring and Red Hot Chili Peppers, while Silverchair's tour of UK and European had The Living End as the support act. Rolling Stone's Neva Chonin attributed their chart success to the album's more "mature" sound. In Europe and South America, it became the group's most successful album to date. The group appeared at festivals in Reading and Edgefest, amongst others. Following the tour, the band announced that they would be taking a 12-month-break. Their only live performance in 2000 was at the Falls Festival on New Year's Eve. On 21 January 2001, the band played to 250,000 people at Rock in Rio, a show they described as the highlight of their career.

After the release of 'Neon Ballroom', Silverchair's three album contract with Sony Music had ended. The group eventually signed with Atlantic Records for North and South America, and formed their own label with Watson, Eleven: A Music Company (distributed by EMI), for Australia and Asia. In November 2000, after the group had left the label, Sony issued 'The Best of Volume 1' without the band's involvement. Johns disavowed the compilation, "We thought about putting out ads in the street press to make people aware that we weren't endorsing it, but that would have blown the whole thing out of proportion ... If people want to buy it, they can buy it but I wouldn't buy it if I was a Silverchair fan."

In June 2001, Silverchair entered a studio in Sydney with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) to start work on their fourth album, 'Diorama'. Johns formally assumed the role of a co-producer. The album name means "a world within a world". Most tracks came from Johns' new-found method of writing material on a piano, a technique he developed during the band's break after 'Neon Ballroom'. In order to complete the vision for 'Diorama', several other musicians contributed to the album, including Van Dyke Parks, who provided orchestral arrangements to "Tuna in the Brine", "Luv Your Life", and "Across the Night". Paul Mac (from Itch-e And Scratch-e) and Jim Moginie (from Midnight Oil) both on piano also collaborated with the band. While recording 'Diorama', Johns referred to himself as an artist, rather than simply being in a "rock band". Upon its release, critics commented that the album was more artistic than previous works.

Early in December, the first single, "The Greatest View", was released to Australian radio networks. Its physical release in January 2002 coincided with the band's appearance on the Big Day Out tour. Early in 2002, Johns was diagnosed with reactive arthritis which made it difficult for him to play the guitar and subsequent performances supporting the album's release were cancelled. In March, 'Diorama' was issued and topped the ARIA Albums Chart – it became their fourth #1 album and spent 50 weeks in the top 50.

Five singles were released from the album: "The Greatest View", "Without You", "Luv Your Life", "Across the Night", and "After All These Years" – "The Greatest View" charted highest, reaching #3. In October, Silverchair were successful at the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, winning five awards including 'Best Rock Album' and 'Best Group', and 'Producer of the Year' for Johns. The band played "The Greatest View" at the ceremony: the song was also nominated for 'Best Video'. Two singles (and a related video) were nominated for further ARIA Awards in 2003. Following the 2002 ARIA Awards, the band announced an indefinite hiatus. Johns said it was necessary "given the fact the band were together for over a decade and yet were only, on average, 23 years old". From March to June 2003, Silverchair undertook the Across the Night Tour to perform 'Diorama'. Their hometown performance on 19 April was recorded as Live from Faraway Stables for a 2×CD and 2xDVD released in November. After the tour finished in June the group announced an indefinite hiatus.

The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami resulted in the WaveAid fund-raising concert held in January 2005: Silverchair performed to help raise funds for aid organisations working in disaster affected areas. As a result of WaveAid the band decided to resume working together. Gillies explained the band's reunion as due to a special "chemistry" between band members, telling The Sydney Morning Herald, "It only took us 15 years, but recently we've realised, 'We've really got something special and we should just go for it.'"

After performing at Wave Aid, Silverchair reunited and by late 2005 began preparations for their next studio album, 'Young Modern'. Johns had written about 50 songs during the hiatus for a possible solo album or other project but decided to use them for Silverchair. In 2006, after five weeks practice the group demoed tracks in the Hunter Region, and then recorded at Los Angeles' Seedy Underbelly Studios with Launay as producer. Parks again arranged orchestral tracks for the band – they travelled to Prague to record with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. The group also used Mac, Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson) and Julian Hamilton (The Presets, The Dissociatives) – Hamilton also co-wrote songs with Johns. Silverchair self-funded the album's production to ease the pressures faced previously when working with a record label.

The band toured extensively before releasing the album, performing at Homebake and numerous other shows. Both Mac and Hamilton joined the tour as auxiliary members providing keyboards. In October, they performed a cover of Midnight Oil's 1981 single, "Don't Wanna Be the One", at the ARIA Music Awards of 2006 as part of that band's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. During the performance Johns spray-painted "PG 4 PM" (Peter Garrett for Prime Minister) on a stage wall, paying tribute to that band's frontman, then a Federal Member of Parliament and Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

'Young Modern' was released in March 2007, as was the first single, "Straight Lines". Three more singles, "Reflections of a Sound", "If You Keep Losing Sleep", and "Mind Reader", were subsequently released. 'Young Modern' became the fifth Silverchair album to top the ARIA Albums chart – they became the first artists to have five #1albums. "Straight Lines" also became the band's third #1 single in Australia. In June, Silverchair and fellow rock group Powderfinger announced the Across the Great Divide Tour. The tour promoted the efforts of Reconciliation Australia in mending the 17-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Support acts on the tour were John Butler, Missy Higgins, Kev Carmody, Troy Cassar-Daley, Clare Bowditch and Deborah Conway.

'Young Modern' and "Straight Lines" each won three awards at the ARIA Music Awards of 2007, taking Silverchair's total to 20. The group also won three APRA Awards for their song "Straight Lines", including Songwriter of the Year, which Johns was awarded for a record third time. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2008 both Silverchair and Powderfinger won 'Best Music DVD' for Across the Great Divide, for Silverchair this was their 21st win from 49 nominations.

On 25 May 2011, Silverchair announced an indefinite hiatus: We formed Silverchair nearly 20 years ago when we were just 12 years old. Today we stand by the same rules now as we did back then ... if the band stops being fun and if it's no longer fulfilling creatively, then we need to stop.  Despite our best efforts over the last year or so, it's become increasingly clear that the spark simply isn't there between the three of us at the moment. Therefore, after much soul searching, we wanted to let you know that we're putting Silverchair into "indefinite hibernation" and we've decided to each do our own thing for the foreseeable future. —Daniel, Ben and Chris, chairpage.com (Silverchair Official Website), 25 May 2011.

Members

Daniel Johns (vocals, guitar, piano, harpsichord), Chris Joannou (bass), Ben Gillies (drums, percussion), Tobin Finnane (guitar)

SINGLES

Tomorrow

2 OCT '94

#1

Pure Massacre

22 JAN '95

#2

Israel's Son

23 APR '95

#11

Shade

11 JUN '95

#28

Freak

26 JAN '97

#1

Abuse Me

6 APR '97

#9

Cemetery

13 JUL '97

#5

The Door

19 OCT '97

#25

Anthem for the Year 2000

22 FEB '99

#3

Ana's Song (Open Fire)

17 MAY '99

#14

Miss You Love

13 SEP '99

#17

he Greatest View

4 FEB '02

#

Without You

20 MAY '02

#8

Luv Your Life

9 SEP '02

#20

Across the Night

7 APR '03

#24

Straight Lines

19 MAR '07

#1

If You Keep Losing Sleep

15 OCT '07

#16

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverchair

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/