Silverchair - Biography
It’s easy to dismiss Silverchair’s debut album, Frogstomp, as nothing more than an exercise in recycling already-tired grunge traditions, as that’s basically all the Aussies were originally up to. It’s easy to forget that when Silverchair first appeared on MTV singing “Tomorrow,” the members were just 15 years old. Had the band debuted with such an album as Frogstomp while in their 20’s, it’s not inconceivable that they would have gone the way of post-grunge bands like Bush and Our Lady Peace. As it turned out, singer/songwriter Daniel Johns was just hitting his stride by the group’s fourth album, the shimmering Diorama. Today, the Silverchair has five albums to its name and is enjoying its status as one of Australia’s most successful bands, breaking sales records set by both INXS and Midnight Oil.
Silverchair started out as The Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, Australia in 1992, comprised of schoolmates guitarist/vocalist Johns, bassist Chris Joannou, and drummer Ben Gillies. Two years later, in 1994, an SBS television show called Nomad and the radio station 2JJJ-FM partnered together in hosting a talent search for bands. The response was huge, as they received over 800 demos from all over the country. The Innocent Criminals’ tape stood out and won the grand prize—a day of recording at Triple J’s studio, as well as the making of a music video, which they used to shoot “Tomorrow.” Subsequently, the song went into heavy rotation on Triple J and on Nomad, and the exposure generated a lot of fans for the Innocent Criminals, at this point still contractual free agents. Not for long—the buzz led to a bidding war over who would sign Silverchair, eventually won by Sony affiliate Murmur by the end of 1994.
The group’s first single, “Tomorrow,” was scheduled for release in September of 1994, but before this they changed to the name Silverchair. The band had fun fabricating the origin of the name, citing a dyslexic misspelling of the Nirvana song “Sliver” coupled with You Am I’s “Berlin Chair,” but the truth seems to be that they took the name from the Narnia book The Silver Chair. Either way, the band made an immediate splash as “Tomorrow” quickly became a huge Australian hit, reaching #1 on the charts. Later, it would become the fourth biggest-selling single in Australian history, and the most-played song in 1995 on modern rock radio. In January of 1995, Silverchair released a second single, “Pure Massacre,” in which Johns does one of the best Eddie Vedder impressions ever laid to tape. This track also rocketed to #11, giving them two hits before the band had recorded their full-length debut. That same month, the band would knock out the rest of what would be Frogstomp in nine days.
Upon its release, Frogstomp (1995 Epic) carried the distinction of becoming the first album ever to enter the Australian charts at #1. Within a week, Frogstomp went platinum, spending a total of six consecutive weeks at the tope of the charts. It would soon go multi-platinum, setting the stage for the LP’s US release. Frogstomp didn’t come out in America until that summer of 2005, and the band’s success in the States was nearly as sudden and fervid as it was in Australia. “Tomorrow” received generous amounts of airplay on MTV and modern rock radio, eventually peaking at #1 on the modern rock charts. Just as it had in Australia, Frogstomp went platinum in the US, with “Pure Massacre” reaching #12 on the mainstream rock charts in the winter of 1995.
Silverchair spent the first half of 1996 touring and they second half recording what would become a much-anticipated follow-up to Frogstomp. They released Freak Show (1997 Sony) to much fanfare, but the album ultimately proved to be a sophomore slump for the high school seniors. Critically Freak Show was well received, but evidence of the band’s improvement was not reflected in American sales—even though “Abuse Me” peaked in the charts at a respectable #4, and the album itself reached #12. Besides the usual pressure that comes with following up a wildly successful debut, Silverchair was in the unique position of worrying about graduating high school at the same time. The band collectively graduated later that year before heading out on tour in support of the Freak Show.
After graduation, rather than taking a breather, the group returned with Neon Ballroom (1999 Sony), which didn’t do well in post-grunge America, as the album hit a plateau at #50. With heavy Nirvana homage and reverence still showing up in the sound, it was too muddled an affair for American palates. Still, they found a minor hit in “Ana’s Song (Open Fire)”—a naked account of Johns’ struggle to overcome anorexia—and the song solidified their status here as “two-hit wonders.” In Australia, however, things were still going well for the band sales-wise as the LP reached #1, just as the previous two had done. Silverchair toured America and Europe extensively that year, which resulted in a year-long break for the trio to regroup, recharge and, ultimately, rethink their direction.
The time away proved an important step in Silverchair’s trajectory, as the next album, Diorama (2002 Atlantic), was proof of an evolved band. Recruiting Van Dyke Parks, the famed soundtrack composer and lyrical collaborator of Brian Wilson, Johns’ increasingly melodic and complicated songs were taken to another level through their new partner’s beautiful string arrangements. Though Diorama was a relative no-show on the US charts, the album was another big success in Australia, which earned Silverchair some awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) that year, including Best Rock Album and Best Group. Frustratingly, the band could not tour internationally in support of this more mature album—an album many critics considered as the band coming into their own—because of Johns’ battle with an extreme case of reactive arthritis. He has since made a full recovery.
In 2003, Silverchair went on an indefinite hiatus in which Johns worked with DJ, mixer, and collaborator Paul Mac under the name The Dissociatives. The duo released an eponymous album in 2004 (Astralwerks) and it went gold. Johns also assisted his ex-wife, Natalie Imbruglia, on her album Counting Down the Days. Early in 2005, Silverchair got back together to perform a show in Sydney to benefit the Boxing Day Tsunami victims. Enjoying that familiar sense of matchless chemistry that they’ve shared for the past 10 years, the trio—now in their mid-20s—went to work on a new album, funding it all by themselves to avoid label constraints. What resulted was 2007’s Young Modern (EMI), an acclaimed continuation on the imagination and scope of Diorama. The band re-welcomed Parks as an arranger, and the album took its name from the nickname Parks gave to Johns during the Diorama sessions. The LP gave Silverchair their fifth #1 album on the Australian charts, making them the only Australian band to accomplish the feat, surpassing the likes of INXS and Midnight Oil in so doing. It also brought them back into favor on the US charts, with the triumphant “Straight Lines” peaking at #12 on the hot modern rock tracks. That year, Silverchair completely swept the ARIA Awards, stretching their career-long ARIA winning streak to a record-breaking 19, and took home one more the next year for their live DVD, Across the Great Divide Tour, extending the count to an even 20.
A live album was released in 2007 as well, Live From Faraway Stables (Virgin), featuring 24 tracks spanning the decade of their existence with one notable song missing—their first hit, “Tomorrow.”
