Press
01-05-1996
Silverchair, Wizards of Oz
By Bryan Harper (Hit Parader)
Of all the earth’s continents, Australia may well be the most unusual.
It is literally and figuratively an island unto itself, a huge land
mass roughly the size of the United States, where the flora, fauna and
indigenous animal forms are totally unique. Few Australian life forms
appear anywhere else on our planet; certainly when we think of
Australia, images of hopping kangaroos instantly spring to mind. But
did you know that "Oz," as the natives are fond of calling their
homeland, is the only place on the planet where marsupials -- the
category of animals in which ‘roos fit -- can be found? Or were you
aware that the continent’s aboriginal natives may be direct descendants
of Asian settlers who crossed over to Australia more than a million
years ago? Did you know? Do you care? We didn’t think so. But hey, we
wanted to at least get you thinking about the Land Down Under before we
launched full-scale into the true subject matter of this musical
dissertation -- the band known far-and-wide as silverchair --
Australia’s latest gift to the hard rock world.
As it happens, the music scene in Australia over the last 25 years has
been about as unique as its animal life. Yeah, there have been some
major blotches on the Aussie artistic resume -- mostly such stains on
human existence as Olivia Newton John and the Bee Gees. But there’s
also been a tradition of great rock and roll. Of course, we all know
and love AC/DC, a band spawned by the rugged "outback" barroom musical
tradition that over the years has also produced the likes of the
Starfighters, and Angel City -- each of whom borrowed rather liberally
from Angus Young’s voluminous book of rock and roll know-how. But after
years of being something of a musical backwater, where about once a
decade a band or artist would emerge to make a significant imprint on
the musical world, things are beginning to change Down Under, and
Daniel Johns, Chris Joannou, and Ben Gillies -- collectively known as
silverchair -- have much to do with this rather drastic shifts in
Australian musical perspectives.
"Back home, people have tended to listen to the same things over and
over again," Johns said. "They’re not very adventurous. But people of
our generation are listening to everything. We didn’t grow up listening
only to AC/DC -- though we did do a cover of one their songs in our
live shows at one time. We listened to a lot of new things, and those
had a big influence on us and a lot of other young bands in Australia."
Yes indeed, there is certainly a new generation of bands emerging from
Down Under, a generation spawned by the likes of American rockers such
as Pearl Jam and Nirvana rather than homegrown legends like AC/DC. In
fact, almost from the moment that silverchair began to make a lasting
impression on the psyche of the international rock crowd, comparisons
to the likes of Vedder’s brood were almost inevitable. It happens that
if you want to find a way of getting under the 16-year-old skin of the
silverchair boys, just keep bringing up the fact that such songs as
tomorrow and pure massacre sound hauntingly like a merging of the
angst-riddled approaches utilized so effectively over the last half
decade by the Jammers and Nirvana. These boys still might smile at you
while you voice such comparisons -- after all, their parents are
watching every move they make -- but underneath it all such comments
have begun to make them seethe.
"At first, we took those comparisons as great compliments," Johns said.
"But at a certain point it begins to sound like people don’t want to
give us much credit. They just want to dismiss us as some sort of
clones. Well, I don’t think that’s true, and I don’t think it’s very
fair."
While some critics may enjoy taking idle pot-shots at the gang,
referring to them ever-so-cleverly as Silverjam or Pearlchair, the fact
is that the group’s debut disc, frogstomp, has now sold over a million
copies, making these baby-faced teens one of the most successful new
hard rock acts of the last three years. They have been warmly embraced
by a generation of fans that came along in the wake of the Seattle
Scene, a melange of musical aficionados who don’t necessarily give a
damn about where a band calls home or whom they may choose to make
their primary influence. After all, didn’t AC/DC receive unfavorable
comparisons to Led Zeppelin when they first came along? And wasn’t even
the mighty Zep dismissed as a "second rate blues group" when they
emerged in 1968? Trust us, they were!
"We like a lot of different types of music," Johns said. "But what is
on this album happens to be the type of music we like to play. We plan
on staying together and making a lot of albums, but this is all kind of
new to us. I imagine we’ll keep developing in the future, but to be
honest, we’re kind of pleased with the way this album turned out."
Considering that only a year ago these three young rockers were little
more than 15 year-old high school kids whose grandest dreams were
getting together after school to jam, their sudden ascension up the
rock ladder has been nothing short of miraculous. The very notion that
by 1996 they’d have one of the world’s biggest albums and be touring in
the U.S. with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would have been
beyond their comprehension. But with frogstomp topping the hard rock
charts in such divergent locales as New Zealand, Germany and Canada,
silverchair’s success story now ranks as one of the most surprising and
refreshing tales of recent vintage. The obvious is how this sudden rush
of fan adulation and financial reward has impacted these
still-impressionable kids. The answer seems to be that they really
haven’t had the time to be affected at all.
"It’s all happened so fast," Johns said. "One minute we’re in school,
the next we’re on tour. There really hasn’t been enough time for us to
really understand what’s happened. All I know is that we’re trying to
deal with it, and trying to enjoy it. Thankfully, all our parents have
been really good about it. They’ve let us really go after it. Maybe
they realize this is an incredible opportunity for us. If we decided to
wait a few years, it may not have been the same. They’ve let us live
out our dreams, and to be honest, I think they’re getting a thrill out
of it too. In fact, I know they are."
[Thanks to Gaby for the transcript of this article.]