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Silverchair On the eve of promoting their finest record to date, Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns was struck down with a severe case of reactive arthritis - an illness to which about 6% of males have a genetic predisposition to suffer once in a lifetime. Awful luck for a band on the edge of greatness. Michael Gently talks exclusively to drummer Ben Gillies about reaching the heights of Diorama, the frustrations of not being able to tour and unprecedented success story that is Australia's multi-platinum plated Silverchair.
Silverchair have achieved more within their tender years than the majority of bands could hope to score in their whole career. Diorama is the fourth studio album under the Silverchair banner and the fourth to go multi-platinum. Impressive but still not that impressive? Each member of Silverchair is only 22 years old… Now I've got you thinking. Figures and statistics are only half the story however - it's the reinvention, progression and rapid maturation of this three-piece that has kept this band at their peak. "Too many bands get into a successful formula and stick to it," starts Ben. "Dan, Chris [Joannou, bass] and I get really bored. When you started in a band at the age of 14 there's always gonna be lots of room to manoeuvre as far as improvement goes. I guess that was the advantage of starting off so young."
And manoeuvre they have. Between the full post-grunge guitar onslaught of the debut album, Frogstomp, and the latest epic, Diorama, Silverchair have turned up the heat and shifted away from solely being a guitar band. "It has been a conscious decision to step things up each time, but more than that, there's been a need to keep things interesting for us," Ben muses. "We made a conscious decision to do something different and set ourselves apart from what every other band is doing. The issue wasn't so much for us not to be considered a guitar band."
This album is also the first to be issued since the band parted company with their former label. Released through their own Eleven label, the band have already noticed a number of advantages, "We own the rights to our own music which is a rare things these days," Ben smiles. "We've got so much more freedom and don't have people breathing down our necks. We've got control and don't have to compromise any more."
Not that Silverchair were ever a band to outwardly compromise – they were always pushing recording limits and experimenting. But one problem that often faces a band willing to change its face, is the fickle nature of fans and the record-buying public but, fortunately for Silverchair, their audience has grown (and grown-up) with them. Ben explains, "We definitely have a hardcore fanbase who've stuck with us from the outset - they're excepting of whatever we do. Any band who are willing to try something different throughout their career will lose some fans along the way, but they'll also pick up others who are into the new sound."
And of that new sound much has been written. Non-Australian media has been naively touting the band as the Antipodes answer to Radiohead, whereas the more knowledgeable among us will simply realise Silverchair's talent and musical ability. Diorama has seen the band incorporate a full string section and enter arrangements they'd never have previously ventured anywhere near. "The introduction of strings has been a gradual thing," Ben explains. "On Freak Show [album #2] there were some strings, there were a few more on Neon Ballroom [album #3] and now this album has taken things onto a different level."
Frontman and primary songwriter Daniel Johns had the string concept firmly in place when he originally wrote the tracks. "The original demos Daniel presented to Chris and I represented the way he'd progressed," says Ben. "They were basic skeletal guitar tracks with some vocals, drum ideas and little bits of piano." The extra instrumentation and fleshing out wasn't done until the band went into pre-production. "For us, the process behind each album has always been real different. We've never rehearsed before as much as we have for this record. This time around, we rehearsed every day for eight months and got to the point where we could play them with our eyes closed. The three of us Silverchairised the songs."
It wasn't until this stage that the band's masterstroke was dealt. Enter infamous Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks. "I'm not sure who came up with the idea of using Van Dyke," says Ben. "But I guess he was perfect for the job really. Perfect for something that was a bit more lush, more theatrical and a step away from our darker, slower stuff of the past. He's just an amazing musician – and a little eccentric. Parks' invention and interpretation suits the boldness of this Silverchair album perfectly. Tracks such as ‘Across The Night', ‘Tuna In The Brine' and ‘Luv Your Life' realise Silverchair in rapturous melodies, sunblest in orchestration and delving the deepest yet into realms of sweeping musical genius.
Fate has an ugly temptation of dealing its cruellest hands at the most inopportune moments and in Silverchair's case, it arrived in the form of Daniel's illness on the eve of the Diorama tour. The band are understandably gutted at not being able to take their master showcase to the world but remain pragmatic and thankful for the fans' support. Ben attempts to explain, "Daniel's illness is so hard to explain. He's pretty immobile right now so it makes things a little difficult to explain. It could takes three weeks, three months or three years, so we've just got to sit tight."
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