Smells Like Alternative

FYI: Silverchair

by acostill on February 22nd, 2008

Let’s do an FYI on the Australian trio, since last year was a pretty good year for them, and their last two albums, Diorama and Young Modern, are great.

• Singer/guitarist Daniel Johns and drummer Ben Gillies have been playing music together since primary school; bassist Chris Joannou joined the band in the high school.
• The band’s original name was Innocent Criminals.
• In 1994 they won a national demo competition with the song ”Tomorrow”.
• “Tomorrow” spent 6 weeks at the top spot in Australian charts by August of 1994; in 1995 it was the most played modern rock song in the U.S.
• The band recorded their debut album, frogstomp, in only nine days.
• frogstomp was released in the U.S. on June 20, 1995.
• The band went on the road with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996 (just a side note, this was my concert at the Spectrum in Philly).
• Freak Show is released in February of 1997 and sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, while the band was still in high school!
• Neon Ballroom is released in March of 1999
• “Ana’s Song” is about Daniel Johns battle with anorexia.
• Silverchair’s only show in 2000 was at Australia’s Falls Festival on News Years Eve.
• On January 21, 2001 the band performs for 250,000 people at the Rock in Rio Festival in Brazil.
• In June 2001 the band begins work on Diorama, they get some composition help from Van Dyke Parks, who has worked with The Beach Boys and U2.
• Diorama enters Australia’s album charts at number one in April.
• The band was forced to limit promotion and touring in 2002 due to Daniel Johns reactive arthritis.
• Dioram awon 6 ARIA Awards, which is Australia’s Grammys, and has gone 5x platinum.
• The band released the live album CD/DVD set “Live From Faraway Stables” in November of 2003.
• Silverchair takes a brief hiatus.
• On January 29, 2005 the band regroups for the Waveaid benefit concert, which was to raise money for victims the Asian tsunami.
• The band road tests some new songs in Australia in March/April 2006.
• Silverchair independently records Young Modern at L.A. Seedy Underbelly Studios.
• Young Modernis released on March 31, 2007 and became the fifth consecutive Silverchair album to debut at number one in Australia, which is something that AC/DC or Inxs have never done.
• Young Modern finally arrived in the U.S. in July of 2007.

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