Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo competition conducted by SBS TV show Nomad and ABC radio station, Triple J. The band were signed by Murmur, and were successful on the Australian and international rock stages.
As of 2011, Silverchair have won a record number of 21 ARIA Music Awards from 49 nominations. The band have also received six APRA Awards with Johns winning three songwriting awards at the 2008 ceremony. All five of their studio albums have peaked at number-one on the ARIA Albums Chart: Frogstomp (1995), Freak Show (1997), Neon Ballroom (1999), Diorama (2002) and Young Modern (2007). Three of the group's singles have reached number-one on the related ARIA Singles Chart: "Tomorrow" (1994), "Freak" (1997) and "Straight Lines" (2007).
Silverchair's alternative rock sound had evolved throughout their
career, differing styles on specific albums steadily growing more
ambitious over the years, from grunge on their debut to more recent work
displaying orchestral and art rock influences. The songwriting and
singing of Johns had improved steadily while the band had developed an
increased element of complexity. In 2003, following the release of Diorama, the band announced a hiatus, during which time members recorded with side projects The Dissociatives, The Mess Hall, and Tambalane. Silverchair were reunited at the 2005 Wave Aid concerts, and, in 2007, they played the Across the Great Divide tour with contemporaries Powderfinger.
In May 2011, Silverchair announced an indefinite hiatus. Prior to that
month, the group have sold close to 8 million albums worldwide.
Silverchair are generally classified as an alternative rock and post-grunge band, although their loyalty to specific genres has changed as they have matured.[3][5] Much of the band's early grunge and post-grunge work was inspired by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Black Sabbath.[3][89] According to Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane, "frogstomp captured the tempo of the times with its mix of Soundgarden/Pearl Jam/Bush post-grunge noise and teenage lyrical angst."[3]
In their early years the perceived stylistic similarities led to
Silverchair being derisively dubbed as 'silverhighchair', 'not
Soundgarden but Kindergarden' or 'Nirvana in Pyjamas' by the Australian
media.[3][5][90] The latter is a sarcastic conflated reference to the band's youth and the popular Australian children's TV series Bananas in Pyjamas. McFarlane stated "Freak Show and tracks like 'Freak' were firmly in Nirvana territory with a hint of Led Zeppelin's Eastern mysticism".[3] Gillies noted that the band were inspired by the Seattle Sound, as well as The Beatles and The Doors, and were highly impressionable in their youth.[91]
Johns admitted that "We were always influenced a lot by Black Sabbath
and Led Zeppelin it just so happened that we weren't very good at
playing that style of music. So we were put in the whole grunge category
because it was such a garage-y, heavy music term."[92]
Australian rock music journalist Ed Nimmervoll
felt that Johns "had never intended to use his problems for
inspiration, but in the end the music was the best way to unburden
himself. 'Neon Ballroom' took six months to record. The album's passion
and musical sophistication proved to the world that silverchair were a
force to be reckoned with".[5] According to 100 Best Australian Albums, by three fellow journalists, John O'Donnell, Toby Creswell and Craig Mathieson, Neon Ballroom
's lead-in track, "Emotion Sickness", described Johns' life in the
1990s and "addressed [his] desire to move beyond the imitative sounds of
Silverchair's first two albums ... and create something new and
original".[34]
"Ana's Song (Open Fire)" directly focussed on his eating disorder;
"[it] became a hit all over the world and opened up for discussion the
fact that males could also be affected by anorexia."[34]
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt Diorama
"was a shockingly creative and impressive step forward that showed the
band shedding its grunge past and adding horns, strings, and mature
lyrics to its arsenal."[4]
Fellow Allmusic reviewer Bradley Torreano noted that "they somehow kept
going and kept improving ... Silverchair has grown up and put together a
fine mix of orchestral pop and rock on Diorama."[93] Bernard Zuel described how the Diorama concert tour marked a move from hard rock towards art rock:
"they stepped out of the arenas and barns and 'got classy' ... finally
having admitted to harbouring artistic ambition (a very un-Australian
band thing to do), they've proved they have the ability".[94]
In writing Young Modern, Johns tried to make the music sound
very simple, despite a complex musical structure. The lyrics were
written after the music was created, sometimes as late as the day of
recording. As Johns dreads writing lyrics, he suggested that the band
could produce an instrumental album at some stage in the future.[95]
Johns is the band's primary songwriter, and notes that while Joannou
and Gillies do not have significant influence on what he writes, they
are key to the band's overall sound.[96] For that album, Hamilton co-wrote four songs with Johns including the APRA Award winning "Straight Lines".[77][88] Joannou believed that Young Modern was simpler than Diorama
but "still as complex underneath with simple pop song elements". He
said that much of the band's success resulted from trying to push
themselves harder in recording and writing. Self-producing has allowed
the band to do so without the pressures of a record label.[97]
Gillies notes that Silverchair will often "run the risk of losing
fans" with their work, and this was evident in the changes in musical
direction in Diorama and Young Modern.[91]
However, he described this as a good thing, describing the fact "that
we haven't been pigeonholed, and people really don't know what to
expect" as one of the attractive elements of the band. Despite the ups
and downs of success at a young age, Gillies says the band "appreciate
what we've achieved and what we've got" in their careers.[91] The band have received six APRA Awards with Johns winning three songwriting awards at the 2008 ceremony.[77][98]
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