Press
01-06-1997
Acting Freaky
By Bennie Bjorkland (Hit Parader)
There are three members of silverchair. For those well initiated with
the inner workings of this platinum-coated band of teenaged Aussie
rockers, such news borders on the mundane -- of course there are three
members of silverchair. But for those not quite as aware of the
internal structure of this pubescent hit machine, at times it might
appear that silverchair is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Daniel Johns
and a pair of sidemen. It is Johns' face that usually accompanies a
magazine feature on the group, and it's his voice that routinely
conducts the band's press interviews; for some young Daniel has become
silverchair. In truth, bassist Chris Joannou and drummer Ben Gillies
have rarely gotten the attention they deserve. But with the release of
silverchair's chart-topping second disc, Freak Show, which follows on
the heels of their breakthrough effort, frogstomp -- all that seems to
be changing. Ben and Chris have been far more up front this time
around, gladly sharing the interview microphone with Daniel and smiling
for the camera every chance they get. With all that in mind, we're
happy to present this special interview with silverchair's two "other
guys" -- Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou.
Hit Parader: What lessons have you learned by the success you've enjoyed over the last few years?
Ben Gillies: I learned a lot about people. When you get the chance to
tour as much as we have, it really opens your eyes. It really has been
a great experience to get out there and see some of the world.
Chris Joannou: I learned that short hair is easier to take care of than
long hair. Now that I cut my hair shorter, I can just get up and go in
the morning. I don't have to worry about getting up with a big mangled
knot in the back of my head.
HP: Do you both agree that Freak Show is a rather radical departure from frogstomp?
CJ: I think it really sounds different... better! We took three weeks
to make this one, while the last one only took us nine days. And, more
importantly, we felt like we had an idea of what we were doing this
time. When you're in the studio for the first time, you tend to run
around like a bunch of little idiots. This time we approached it with a
more serious and knowledgeable approach, though we did have much of the
same atmosphere in the studio both times -- it was a lot of fun, a lot
of joking around.
BG: This album has a lot more variety on it. It's got a punk song, and
a real long song that's like six minutes, and it also has loud and soft
stuff on it. It's even got strings and timpani. There's just a heap of
different stuff on it.
HP: On frogstomp there were so many comparisons between silverchair and
Nirvana. This time it sounds like there's more of a Zeppelin influence.
BG: There are a couple of songs, especially Petrol and Chlorine and The
Door, that kind of remind me of Zeppelin. But we weren't really going
for a Led Zeppelin sound, but that's just the way they turned out. As
it happens, I am a big Zeppelin fan, so any comparison is greatly
appreciated. I've got their posters on my walls and all of their
albums, but this is a silverchair album.
CJ: Last time, we did hear a lot of comparisons, so I imagine we'll
hear some this time as well. That's OK. We know it's a big step forward
for us, and that's all that matters.
HP: Let's talk about some of the new songs. Pick out one or two that you particularly like and talk about them.
BG: OK, let's start with the last track on the album, The Closing.
Since it's called that, it's a good way to close the album. It should
be easy to mosh to. I wrote all of the music for that one myself, and I
came into practice and I showed Daniel what I had done. We just started
to jam, and then he started singing. They were the same kind of stupid
words he always sings, but it sounded good! It just came together.
Another one I really like is Lie To Me. Daniel's really influenced be
Minor Threat, and most of their songs go for like a minute, two
minutes. So one day we came into practice and we said, "Let's write a
song." And then Johnsy goes, "Aww, I've got this riff," and he just
showed it to us. Then we all started playing and after a few minutes he
said, "That's the song." And that was it.
CJ: It's hard for me to pick one. I like 'em all. They're all really interesting.
HP: So are you guys completely finished with school now?
CJ: No, we still have classes. But to me, school just sort of fills in
the time between out music things. It's more of a social thing. We
don't think it's that important, but other people seem to think it is.
It's a nice change of pace for us. It's a lot slower. When we're on the
road, everything happens so fast. One day we're in one city, the next
we're five hundred miles away. It's kind of nice to wake up in the same
place every day and know that you're going to school. It's nice to have
that kind of routine again.
BG: It's nice to be back with people we've known for a long time. They
don't treat us special. They're interested in knowing what it's like in
certain places, but we're not some important band to them -- we're just
three guys they've known all their lives. It's good fo us to stay in
touch with all those people.
HP: Has it been hard to shift back from a more rigid routine to the wild and crazy routine of rock and roll?
CJ: No. It's more fun. With rock and roll we just work at what we
really enjoy. It's not homework and we don't have to worry about
getting up at 8 in the morning. But it's OK.
BG: We're trying to enjoy every part of our lives right now. Why shouldn't we be enjoying all of this?
[Thanks to Katie and Jinni for the transcript.]