In 1992, Daniel Johns and Ben Giles, currently lead vocalist and drummer for Silverchair, were friends in primary school in Australia.  They began getting together to play after school, and eventually included bass player Chris Joannou.  When in high school, they played at various parties and shows

Silverchair

I think we’ve been really lucky with our fans. They’re really loyal. One of the attractions to the band is that we haven’t been pigeonholed, and people really don’t know what to expect. There’s nothing worse than bands putting out the same album time after time and basically rehashing old songs and putting new lyrics in them. I think it just gets boring after a while. We’re keeping it interesting for ourselves as well.

The Birth of Silverchair

In 1992, Daniel Johns and Ben Giles, currently lead vocalist and drummer for Silverchair, were friends in primary school in Australia.  They began getting together to play after school, and eventually included bass player Chris Joannou.  When in high school, they played at various parties and shows around the Hunter Valley area, as the Innocent Criminals.  They even recorded a few demos.

Submitting one of their demos, Tomorrow, the Innocent Criminals took part in a national competition sponsored by the SBS TV show, Nomad.  They won the competition, and as a prize, Triple J radio recorded the song and ABC made a video.  They were given the opportunity to change their name before the single was released, and they settled on Silverchair.  Upon its release, the single spent six weeks at #1 on the ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Singles Chart.

Making it Big

Silverchair released their first album, Frogstomp, in 1995.  It was a huge success, hitting #1 on the Australia charts and #10 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.  The album sold 2.5 million copies, and the band went on tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Their second album, Freak Show, was released in 1997 and sold 1.5 million copies globally and certified gold in the United States.

The band released their third album, Neon Ballroom, in 1999.  The album enjoyed similar success to that of the first tow; however, the notoriety was beginning to take its toll on the band.  Silverchair launched an extensive worldwide tour to promote the album, and made it their most successful album to date.  This was followed up by Diorama, which the band recorded on the Sony label in the United States and their own label in Australia.

The Comeback

In 2006, the band reunited and released Young Modern. They toured extensively in preparation for the album's release, and the album was again well received.  During this time, they also teamed up with Powderfinger to launch the Across the Great Divide tour, to promote Reconciliation Australia's work.

There is some talk on Silverchair's website that there is another album in the works; no release date has been given and few details are known.  Also available on their website are videos available for viewing and a tab for downloads.  However, there is no music available to download at this time.

Did you know . . .

1. The band members were only 15 years old at the time that the released their first album.

2. Guitarist'/vocalist Daniel Johns struggled with an eating disorder in 1999.

3. In the early years, critics referred to Silverchair as “Nirvana in Pyjamas,” spoofing a children's show in Australia called Banana in Pyjamas.

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