Silverchair

Silverchair biography

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 from 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. As from that month, the group have sold in excess of six million albums.

History

Formation and early releases (1992-1996)

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. 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". 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. Sony A&R manager John Watson, who was jointly responsible for signing the group, subsequently left the label to become their band manager. In September, their Triple J recording of "Tomorrow" was released as a four-track extended play. From late October, it spent six weeks at number-one on the ARIA Singles Chart. In 1995, a re-recorded version of "Tomorrow" (and a new video) was made for the United States market, becoming the most played song on US modern rock radio that year.

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