Silverchair

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 alternate rock sound has 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 has improved steadily while the band has 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'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 Innocent Criminals 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 was cover versions of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. In 1994 Innocent Criminals entered YouthRock, a competition for school-based bands.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 a January 1996 murder case, the defendant counsel for Brian Bassett, 16, and Nicholaus McDonald, 18, claimed that the pair listened to "Israel's Son", from Frogstomp, which contributed to the murder of Bassett's parents and a younger brother. McDonald's lawyer cited the lyrics "'Hate is what I feel for you/I want you to know that I want you dead'" which were "almost a script. They're relevant to everything that happened". The band's manager, Watson, issued a statement that they did not condone nor intend any such acts of violence, "The band is appalled by this horrific crime, and they hope that justice will prevail".Prosecutors rejected the defence case and convinced the jury that the murder was committed to "steal money and belongings and run off to California."


In 1999, Johns announced that he had developed the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, due to anxiety. Johns noted that the lyrics to "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" dealt with his disorder, where he would "eat what he needed … to stay awake." He revealed that his eating problems developed from the time of Freak Show and when Neon Ballroom was written he "hated music, really everything about it", but felt that he "couldn't stop doing it; I felt like a slave to it."Johns sought therapy and medication but felt "It's easier for me to express it through music and lyrics".

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.

On 25 May 2011, Silverchair announced an indefinite hiatus:[4]
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.

Silverchair are generally classified as an alternative rock and post-grunge band, although their loyalty to specific genres has changed as they have matured. Much of the band's early grunge and post-grunge work was inspired by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Black Sabbath.




Members
Ben Gillies – drums, percussion (1992–2011)
Chris Joannou – bass guitar (1992–2011)
Daniel Johns – lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, harpsichord, orchestral arrangements (1992–2011)



Discography


Frogstomp (1995)
Freak Show (1997)
Neon Ballroom (1999)
Diorama (2002)
Young Modern (2007)