This F.A.Q. could originally be found on www.silverchair.net. Due to the fact that silverchair.net is no longer online we thought it would be a waste if this great F.A.Q. disappeared, so we've decided to host it and keep working on it. All changes and additions are made by the silverchair.nu crew.

Thank you:

Mike Amburn, Andrew McDougall, Pete Walton, Leo Cailleteau, Jerry Leveillee, Mae Harpring, Krissi Grant, Elise Tyler, Sarah Masters, Lisa Theunens, Kevin Eichelberger, Maggie, Olly Sharwood, Valarie Goodman, and Mike Stramaglio.

1. Who is in the band?
2. How did they meet?
3. How did they form?
4. What's happened since?

II. What Records Have They Released?

1. Tomorrow
2. Frogstomp
3. Freak Show
4. Neon Ballroom
5. Diorama

III. How Were the Records Made?

1. Tomorrow
2. Frogstomp
3. Freak Show
4. Neon Ballroom
5. Diorama

IV. What Videos Have They Made?

1. Tomorrow (Nomad version)
2. Pure Massacre (live version)
3. Shade
4. Tomorrow (US)
5. Pure Massacre (US)
6. Israel's Son (US original)
7. Israel's Son (US censored)
8. Findaway
9. Freak
10. Abuse Me
11. Cemetery
12. Emotion Sickness
13. Anthem for the year 2000
14. Ana's song (Open fire)
15. Miss you love
16. The Greatest View

V. What Do The Songs Mean?

1. Tomorrow EP
2. Frogstomp
3. Freak Show
4. Neon Ballroom
5. Diorama

VI. Trivia

1. Origin Trivia:
   1. Where did the name "silverchair" come from?
   2. Why did they change their name from "innocent criminals"?
   3. What was the band's first gig as "innocent criminals"?
   4. What happened to "Tomorrow" during the demo contest?
   5. How did Watson become the band's manager?
   6. What ARIA awards have the band won?
      
      
      
2. Live Trivia:
   1. What happened with Daniel and Courtney Love at the BDO?
   2. What happened in the crowds at the Big Day Out?
   3. What happened at the 1995 ARIAs?
   4. What happened at the Santa Monica Pier?
   5. What is "I Believe" or "Out of Tune"?
   6. Will "Cemetery" always be performed Daniel-solo?
   7. What's one of Ben's most memorable shows?
   8. What's the story with the Chili Peppers and the strippers?
   9. What happened with Everclear and the blow-up doll in Europe?
   10. What has the band used for intro takes?

   
   

3. News Trivia:
   1. What are "The Israel's Son Murders"?
   2. Why was Daniel arrested on the beach in Santa Monica?
   3. What's the story of Daniel and the prostitute?
   4. What's the story of Daniel and Emily Spencer?

    

4. Freak Show Trivia:
   1. Why did Freak Show take so long to release?
   2. What were some of the original songnames from Freak Show?
   3. How did the band come up with their songs for Freak Show?
   4. Why are Daniel's lyrics so dark and negative?
   5. What does the rest of the band think of Daniel's lyrics?
   6. Is it true Daniel tried to hide "Cemetery"?
   7. What answers did the band prepare for the press about Freak Show?
   8. What is this new version of Undecided?
   9. Who are the "freaks" featured by Freak Show?
      
      
5. Misc Trivia:
   1. Do the band members have nicknames?
   2. How did Daniel get into alternative music?
   3. What guitars has Daniel used?
   4. What songs have been registered with BMI?
   5. How did "surfin' bird" come about?
   6. Why did Chris cut his hair?
   7. Why did Ben cut his hair?
   8. What is "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock!"?

    

6. Neon Ballroom Trivia:

   1. What is Neon Ballroom about?
   2. What different guitar tunings did Daniel use on the album and why?
   3. What were some of the Neon Ballroom's songs' original names?
   4. How did Ben and Chris react to Daniel's lyrics?
   5. How was the album written?
   6. Why is silverchair's third album entitled, "Neon Ballroom?"
   7. How long did it take silverchair to record Neon Ballroom? 
   8. What answers did the band prepare for the press about "Neon Ballroom"?

VII. Quotes to Remember

VIII. Fan Club Info

IX. Internet Resources

1. WWW Homepages
2. Mailing List
3. Newsgroups
4. References

X. Sources Cited

	Daniel Paul Johns (Guitar, Piano & Vocals) Born: April 22, 1979 Family: father, mother, brother, sister Dog: Sweep (part collie) Equip: Paul Reed Smith guitars, Soldano amps, D'Addario strings
	Christopher John Joannou (Bass) Born: November 10, 1979 Family: father, mother, twin sister Dog: Khan Equip: G&L basses, Ampeg amps
	Benjamin David Gillies (Drums & Percussion) Born: October 24, 1979 Family: father, mother, sister Equip: Pearl MMX master's Custom drum kits, very loud Sabian cymbals (official endorsement), Vater sticks Misc: breaks about 5 sticks per gig

silverchair was originally called Innocent Criminals and also had a fourth member, Tobin Finnane. The group met at Ben's garage to play covers of Deep Purple, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath and others. However, Tobin moved overseas, and the band became a trio.

According to Daniel, the first time they practiced, it sounded really bad:

"...but we thought it was good. It was really loud. Everything we had was on ten, and Ben was just smashing the shit out of his drums. I was just screaming." [3]

Being a teenage band, they had a very tough time finding gigs to play.

"the venues where we wanted to play thought we were too young. they said we had to wait until we were old enuff to drink, then they would consider having us play in their clubs. In the beginning we were sending out our Demo tapes to the radio stations and record company's just to get noticed." -chris [11]

A neighbor told them of a national demo competition and told them they should enter. Nomad, an Australian music video show, was sponsoring the "Pick Me" demo contest. First-place prize was a free video shoot and an afternoon in the recording studio of Triple J, Australia's national alternative rock station. The band bought a spot in a cheap studio for $75 and recorded a rough, 6-minute version of "Tomorrow". They sent it in, thinking that there was no way it would win. To their surprise, "Tomorrow" was chosen out of more than 800 entries.

Their prize was two part: Nomad would produce a video for them and Triple J Studios would properly record "Tomorrow". Both were scheduled to air only once. However, after the video aired, requests poured in to Triple J to air the new hit, prompting a mini-bidding war for the band.  The group finally accepted a bid from Murmur, a branch of Sony Music Australia. Concernced that the band would be judged by age, Murmur immediately imposed a media ban on the group and purchased circulating photos of the band, forbidding all press and publicity until the bands first release.

July, 1994
fri 8 - Innocent Criminals announced winners of Youthrock competition.

September, 1994
fri 16 - Tomorrow released in Australia.
fri 23 - Cambridge hotel, Newcastle NSW
mon 26 - Tomorrow debuts on Aria chart at No.26 (w/e 2.10.95)
thu 28 - Bowlow, Sydney NSW (Tomorrow EP launch)
??? - Civic park, Newcastle

October, 1994
sat 1 - Police Boys Club, Hornsby NSW
sun 2 - Cartoons, Brookvale NSW
fri 14 - The Empress, Melbourne VIC
sat 15 - The Esplanade, Melbourne VIC
fri 21 - The Zoo, Brisbane QLD
sat 22 - Van Gogh's Earlobe, Brisbane QLD
mon 24 - Tomorrow reaches no. 1 on the Aria chart where it stays for 6 weeks.
mon 31 - Tomorrow certified gold in Australia.

November, 1994
fri 4 - Lennies, Adelaide SA
sat 5 - Crown Hotel, Victor Harbour, Adelaide SA
fri 11 - Entertainment Centre, Newcastle NSW (supporting Pantera and Powderfinger)
sat 12 - Metro (triple j "11" launch), Sydney NSW
sat 19 - The Push, Luna Park, Melbourne VIC. The Esplanade, Melbourne VIC.
fri 25 - Tomorrow certified platinum in Australia. The Bowlow, Sydney NSW

December, 1994
fri 9 - Waves, Wollongong NSW
sat 10 - Manly Youth Centre, Manly NSW
wed 14 - Avalon Beach RSL club, Avalon NSW
fri 16 - Long Jetty Hotel, Long Jetty NSW
sat 17 - Phoenican Club, Sydney NSW. Video shoot for "Pure Massacre".
fri 23 - Newcastle Leagues Club, Newcastle NSW
tue 27-fri 30 - recording "Frogstomp" at Festival Studios, Pyrmont NSW
sat 31 - Falls Festival, Lorne VIC. Dromana Drive In, VIC

January, 1995
mon 2-thu 5 - recording "Frogstomp" at Sony Music Studio, East Sydney NSW
fri 6 - "Tomorrow" 7" vinyl (2,000) released in Australia
mon 9 - Tomorrow released in New Zealand
wed 11 - Tomorrow certified double platinum in Australia
fri 13 - Pure Massacre released in Australia
mon 16-tue 17 - "Frogstomp" mixing at Sony Music Studio, East Sydney NSW
fri 20 - Big Day Out, Auckland, New Zealand
sun 22 - Big Day Out, Melbourne VIC
mon 23 - Pure Massacre debuts at No.2 on the Aria chart and stays there 2 weeks
thu 26 - Big Day Out, Sydney NSW
sat 28 - Van Gogh's Earlobe, Brisbane QLD
sun 29 - Big Day Out, Gold Coast

February, 1995
thu 2 - Pure Massacre certified gold in Australia
fri 3 - Big Day Out, Adelaide SA
sun 5 - Big Day Out, Fremantle WA
mon 6 - Tomorrow reaches no.1 in New Zealand (w/e 12.2.95)
fri 17 - Prince of Wales hotel, Melbourne VIC
sat 18 - Prince of Wales hotel, Melbourne VIC
fri 24 - Metro, Sydney NSW
sat 25 - Uni ball, Adelaide SA

March, 1995
thu 2 - Newcasle uni, Newcastle NSW
mon 13 - Pure Massacre released in New Zealand
thu 23 - Sony Music Australia conference, Sydney
mon 27 - Australian release of frogstomp. 89X Detroit are the first US Radio station to add Tomorrow to their playlist followed closely by 99X Atlanta, the end in Seattle and Chicago's q101. Pure Massacre peaks at no.2 in New Zealand (w/e 2.4.95).
wed 29 - The Underworld, London UK (1st european show)
fri 31 - frogstomp certified gold in Australia

April, 1995
sun 2 - The Milky Way, Amsterdam
mon 3 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt. frogstomp debuts at no.1 on the Aria chart and stays there for 3 consecutive weeks (first ever debut Australian to debut at no.1)
mon 10 - frogstomp certified platinum in Australia
wed 12 - Australian release of tha album's third single Israel's Son
fri 14 - Bell's Beach, VIC -"Israel's tour"
sun 16 - Bunnyfest, Football Oval, Buselton WA
sat 22 - University stomp, Adelaide University SA
mon 24 - Hobart City Town Hall, Tas (with "You am I"). Israel's son debuts at it's peak position of no.11 on the Aria chart (w/e 30.4.95).

May, 1995
fri 5 - The Roxy, Brisbane QLD
sat 6 - UTS Stomp, Sydney NSW
sun 7 - UTS Stomp, Sydney NSW
mon 15 - "Israel's Son" released in New Zealand.
wed 24 - video shoot for "Shade" at NBN studios, Newcastle.
fri 26 - Australian release of the album's fourth single Shade
sat 27-sun 28 - video shoot for US version of "Tomorrow"
mon 29 - Tomorrow shipped to US alternative and rock radio

June, 1995
mon 5 - Shade debuts at no.32 on Aria charts. Israel's son peaks at no.12 in New Zealand.
tue 6 - Tomorrow added to US alternative and rock radio.
wed 7 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle NSW (gig filmed for Rage).
fri 9 - Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
sat 10 - Town Hall, Wellington New Zealand
tue 13 - frogstomp released in Canada
sat 17 - Record triple j live at the wireless
mon 19 - frogstomp released in US
wed 21 - Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia (first US show). "No Association" is performed for the first time. 
fri 23 - The Metro, Chicago, US. The show is recorded and released as a promo CD.
sat 24 - 89X birthday bash, Phoenix Plaza, Pontiac Detroit
mon 26 - Sony Music Canada conference, Huntsville, Canada
tue 21 - MuchMusic, Toronto, Canada 
fri 30 - Roskilde festival, Copenhagen, Denmark

July, 1995
tue 4 - L'arapaho, Paris, France
fri 7 - Eurokenees festival, Belfort, France
sat 8 - Out in the Green festival, Fraunfeld, Switzerland
mon 10 - frogstomp debuts on US Billboard top 200 chart at no.106
tue 11 - Rock City, Birmingham UK
sat 15 - guest-host "Rage".
wed 19 - "Pure Massacre" released in the UK.
mon 31 - "Tomorrow" shipped to US Pop radio.

August, 1995
fri 4 - Metro, Sydney NSW
sat 5 - Metro, Sydney NSW
mon 7 - frogstomp certified gold in the US
sat 12 - Llama Ball, Workers Club, Newcastle NSW
sat 19 - Popkomm festival, Cologne, Germany
mon 21 - "Shade" released in New Zealand
tue 22 - King Tut's Wah Wah hut, Glasgow, Scotland
fri 25 - Lowlands festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands
sat 26 - Pukkelpop festival, Hasselt, Belgium
sun 27 - Reading festival, Reading, UK
thu 30 - Café Campus, Montreal, Canada
fri 31 - Opera house, Toronto, Canada. frogstomp certified gold in Canada.

September, 1995
sat 2 - Metro, Chicago, US
sun 3 - Paradise, Boston, US
wed 6 - The Black Cat club, Washington DC, US
thu 7 - Performed Tomorrow & Pure Massacre live on Radio City hall rooftop - MTW awards.
fri 8 - Academy, CMJ music convention, New York, US. frogstomp released in the UK bundled with free Holographic Live CD.
sat 9 - guest-host "Rage".
sun 10 - 99X Big Day Out benifit, Lakewood amphitheatre, Atlanta, US
mon 11 - frogstomp certified platinum in US
tue 12 - Whisky au go go, Los Angeles, US. frogstomp goes to #9 on the US Billboard chart and remains there for 3 weeks.
wed 13 - Slim's, San Fransisco, US
fri 15 - DV-8, Seattle, US. frogstomp certified double platinum in Australia.
sun 17 - Free concert at the pier, Santa Monica US - Daniel hit with bottle and hospitalised.

October, 1995
mon 2 - Aria awards - winners - best new talent, best debut single tomorrow, best australian single tomorrow, highest selling single tomorrow, best debut album frogstomp. Performed radio birdman track "New race" with Tim Rogers from "You am I".
fri 13 - video shoot for "Pure Massacre" (US version).
mon 16 - Pure Massacre shipped to US alternative and rock radio.
thu 26 - Thebarton theatre, Torrensville SA
fri 27 - The Palace, St Kilda VIC - Daniel hospitalised again after a stagedive goes wrong.
sun 29 - The Palace, St Kilda VIC

November, 1995
sat 4 - FBI benefit gig, Hordern Pavillion, Sydney NSW
mon 13 - Promotional and fanclub release of findaway (live track from "live at the wireless")
sat 25 - Soma, San Diego
sun 26 - guests on "Modern Rock Live".
tue 28 - Commodore ballroom, Vancouver
thu 30 - Warehouse, Toronto, Ontario

December, 1995
fri 1 - St Andrews hall, Detroit, US
sun 3 - Newport music hall, Colomhus, US
mon 4 - Agora theatre, Cleveland, US
wed 6 - Trocadero, Philadelphia, US
fri 8 - Rosemont horizon, Chicago, US (with Oasis, Alanis Morissette and Soul Asylum)
sat 9 - Performs Tomorrow and Pure Massacre at Saturday night live, New York, US
sun 10 - Roseland ballroom, New York, US
tue 12 - Hammerjacks, Baltimore, US
wed 13 - Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ, US. Guest-host MTV's "Alternative Nation".
thu 14 - Guest-host MTV's "Alternative Nation".
fri 16 - Bomb factory, Dallas, US. frogstomp certified triple platinum in Australia.
sun 17 - Party Gardens, Phoenix, US
mon 18 - Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles (with Radiohead, Bush and Oasis)
sun 31 - New Years Eve, Oval, Perth WA

January, 1996
wed 3 - Inagural "homebake" festival, Byron Bay, NSW
mon 15 - Israel's son shipped to US radio. US court case story re. "Isreal's son" breaks in Australia.
thu 25 - record "surfin' bird" at Megaphone Studio, St. Peters NSW

February, 1996
fri 2 - Manly Warringah leagues club, Brookvale NSW
sun 4 - The Palladium, Los Angeles, US
tue 6 - The Spectrum, Philadelphia (with Red Hot Chili Peppers)
thu 8 - Fleet centre, Boston (with RHCP)
fri 9 - Madison Square Garden, (with RHCP)
sat 10 - International ballroom, Atlanta
mon 12 - The Centrum, Worcester (with RHCP)
wed 14 - US air arena, Washinton DC (with RHCP)
fri 16 - Nassau coliseum, Long Island, NY (with RHCP who send strippers onstage as end of tour prank)
sat 17 - Odeum, Chicago, US
tue 20 - MDA uni hall, Manchester, UK (Everclear supporting for this whole tour)
wed 21 - The atoria, London, UK
fri 23 - Palace, Paris, France
sun 25 - Strom, Munich, Germany
mon 26 - Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
wed 28 - Loft im Metropole, Berlin, Germany
thu 29 - Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany

March, 1996
sat 2 - La laiterie, Strasbourg, France
sun 3 - Le glob, Lyon, France
tue 5 - Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland
wed 6 - Small e-werk, Cologne, Germany

April, 1996
april: Rolling Stone readers poll (Australia): best band, best single 1st Tomorrow, 2nd Israel's son; best male singer; best hard rock band; best album cover, brightest hope for 1996; 2nd - artist of the year; 2nd - best album; 2nd - best video Tomorrow (US version).
tue 2 - Liquid room, Tokyo, Japan
wed 3 - Club quatro, Osaka, Japan
tue 9 - Royal Easter show, Sydney NSW. The show is filmed and the band is interviewed for the first episode of a new TV show called "Recovery".

May, 1996
wed 8 - silverchair announced winner of "world's highest selling Australian group" at world music awards.
fri 17 - Album rehearsal.
sun 19 - Album rehearsal.
tue 21-22 - Album pre-production.
thu 23 - Newcastle Uni show to trial new songs live.
fri 24-26 - Album pre-production.
thu 30-sun 2 - Recording (all) at Festival studios.

June, 1996
tue 4-sat 8 - Recording (all) Festival studios.
thu 6 - Performed 6 songs at Foxtel's launch of 'red' music channel which eventually becomes Channel V.
mon 10-sat 15 - Recording (guitar) at Festival.
mon 17-sat 22 - Recording (vocals) at Festival.

July, 1996
mon 1 - Recording at Festival.
fri 5 - Wollongong uni, NSW. First performance of "Cemetery".
sat 6 - ANU, Canberra ACT
sun 7 - Jindabyne hotel, Jindabyne NSW
fri 12-tue 16 - Recording at Festival.
thu 18 - The band goes to New York to start mixing album with Andy Wallace.
fri 26 - Breakwater Ent. Centre, Townsville QLD
sat 27 - Kuranda Amphitheatre, Cairns QLD

September, 1996
thu 26 - Begin "Surfin' Bird" tour, Entertainment Centre, Perth WA (whole tour with Everclear supporting).
sat 28 - Thebarton theatre, Adelaide SA
sun 29 - Thebarton theatre, Adelaide SA

October, 1996
tue 1 - Festival hall, Melbourne VIC
wed 2 - Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW - surfrider benefit gig.
fri 4 - Festival hall, Brisbane QLD
sat 5 - Livid festival, Brisbane QLD
mon 7 - State sports centre, Homebush NSW
sat 26-tue 29 - Mix rest of the album in New York city. And the band recorded "New race" and "Undecided" with Deniz Tek at Baby Monster studio.
wed 30-thu 31 - Nick Launay mixes Petrol & Chlorine and The Closing at Unique studios.

November, 1996
sat 2-tue5 - Mixing the rest of the album with Andy Wallace.
sat 16 - Push Over '96 music festival, Melbourne, Australia
sat 23 - Festival Alternativo, Ferrocarril Oeste, Buenos Aires, Argentina (with Cypress Hill, Porno for pyros, Nick Cave & the bad seeds. Space Hog, Marilyn Manson). First South American show.
fri 29 - Praca da Apoteose music festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (with Sex pistols, Bad Religion, Porno for Pyros, Cypress Hill).
sat 30 - Anhembi music festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil

December, 1996
tue 3 - Troubadour, Los Angeles (secret gig as 'the George Castanza Trio')
thu 5 - Video shoot for Freak in Los Angeles.
sat 7 - Mercer arena, Seattle, US
wed 18 - Video shoot for Abuse Me in Sydney.
tue 31 - Freak added to Australian radio at midday, New Years Eve

January, 1997
fri 10 - Hobart city hall, Hobart TAS (with Automatic and Spiderbait).
sat 11 - Launceston Silverdome, Launceston TAS (with Automatic and Spiderbait).
mon 13 - Australian release of single Freak.
mon 20 - International launch of Freak Show - circus oz tent, Moore Park, Sydney. Freak debuts at no.1 on national Aria chart.
sat 25 - Peaches & Cream festival, Cobram VIC
tue 28 - The Palace, Melbourne gig filmed for MTV for worldwide broadcast.
thu 30 - Powerstation, Auckland, New Zealand

February, 1997
sat 1 - 'Burning in the lights' - Lancaster Park, Christchurch, New Zealand (with Rocket From The Crypt, Regurigator, Shihad, Spiderbait, Garageland Headless chickens).
sun 2 - Fly Christchurch to LA / modern rock live.
mon 3 - Australian release of the album Freak Show. Appear on KROQ breakfast show, Los Angeles. Fly to Atlanta and play at The Roxy. Midnight instore signing at Blockbluster.
tue 4 - Freak Show released in North America.
Fly to - Toronto and performs at Much Music "Intimate and Interactive".
thu 6 - Tape the late show with David Letterman for Friday night broadcast.
sat 8 - Virgin Times Square performance.
mon 10 - Freak Show debuts on Australian Aria chart at No.1.
tue 11 - Irving Plaza, New York. Freak Show debuts on US Billboard at #12, Canado #2, France #20, UK #38, Germany #28, New Zealand #8.
thu 13 - Odeon, Cleveland.
fri 14 - Mississippi Nights, St. Louis
sun 16 - The Vic, Chicago. Ben begins a tradition of stage-diving at the end of "Israel's Son".
mon 17 - Chicago promo.
tue 18 - St Andrews hall, Detroit
thu 20 - Paradise, Boston
fri 21 - 9.30 Club, Washington DC
sat 22 - EFC, Philadelphia
mon 24 - The Palace, LA (The band meets Ozzy Osbourne).
tue 25 - Fly to Cologne.
thu 27 - Kantine, Cologne
fri 28 - Cologne promo.

March, 1997
sun 2 - Markthalle, Hamburg
mon 3 - Bataclan, Paris
tue 4 - Paris TV show
thu 6 - The Forum, London
fri 7 - London promo
sat 8 - Nottingham Rock City
sun 9 - Fly to London to Sydney - drive to Newcastle.
mon 24 - Australian release of Abuse Me (certified gold in Australia).
thu 27 - McGillivray oval, Mt Clarement Perth
sat 29 - Recovery house band performance / Adelaide Uni (cloisters).
sun 30 - Offshore festival, Torguay VIC (with Tool, Blink 182, Sprung Monkey, The Mark of Chain)

April, 1997
sat 5 - Surf, skate, slam festival, Maroubra beach, Sydney
fri 11 - Plaza of nations, Vancouver, BC
sat 12 - Armoury, Salem, OR
sun 13 - Centreee arena, Seattle, WA
tue 15 - Salt air pavillion, Salt Lake City, UT
wed 16 - Odeon Ballroom, Denver, CO
fri 18 - First avenue, Minneapolis, MN
sat 19 - Rave, Milwaukee, WI
sun 20 - Aragon, Chicago, IL
tue 22 - Bogarts, Cincinatti, OH (Daniel turns 18)
wed 23 - State Theatre, Detroit, MI
fri 25 - Arrow Centre, Toronto, ON
sat 26 - Metropolis, Montreal, QU
sun 27 - Worcester Auditorium, Worcester
tue 29 - Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY

May, 1997
fri 2 - Midtown Music Festival, Atlanta, GA
sat 3 - Jannus Landing, Tampa, FL
sun 4 - Theatre Club, Fort Lauderdale, FL
tue 6 - West Park Entertainment Centre, Houston, TX
wed 7 - Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX
mon 12 - Santa Monica Civic, Los Angeles, CA
tue 13 - Warfield, San Fransisco, CA
fri 16 - Rock im Park festival, Munich, Germany
sun 18 - Rock am ring festival, Cologne, Germany
mon 19 - Pinkpop festival, Holland

June, 1997
mon 2 - The band records Spawn and London's Burning at Festival with Wayne Connolly.
thu 19 - Festival hall, Brisbane
fri 20 - Casino, Darwin
sun 22 - Up Diliman Theatre, Manila
wed 25 - Uni MDH, Manchester
thu 26 - Wulfrun hall, Wolverhampton
sat 28 - Roskilde festival, Denmark
mon 30 - Zenith, Paris France. Australian release of 'Cemetery' (certified gold in Australia).

July, 1997
wed 2 - Brixton Academy, London
fri 4 - Torhout festival, Belgium
sat 5 - Werchter festival, Belgium
sun 6 - Eurockennes festival, Belfort France
mon 7 - "Cemetery" debuts at #5 on national Aria chart
wed 14 - "Abuse me" enters the UK singles chart at #40
fri 18 - NXFM acoustic performance live to air for austero network.
sat 26 - Secret gig at Luna Park (benefit for "reach out" appeal) recorded by Recovery and JJJ.

August, 1997
wed 13 - Water festival, Stockholm, Sweden. The bands first visit to Sweden.
fri 15 - Paradiso, Amsterdam
sat 16 - Bizarre festival, Cologne, Germany (with Faith no more, Rollins Band, Marilyn Manson)
mon 18 - Stadtpark, Hamburg, (with Bush)
tues 19 - Tempodrome, Berlin, (with Bush)
wed 20 - Arena, Vienna, (with Bush)
fri 22 - "Summer freak shows 1997" first truly Australian tour announced
sat 23 - Oregon state fair, Oregon US
mon 25 - Edgefest, Thunderbird stadium, Vancouver, Cananda (with The Tea Party, Collective Soul)
wed 27 - Edgefest, race city speedway, Calgary, Canada
fri 29 - Edgefest, Telus stadium, Edmonton, Canada
sat 30 - Buzzfest, Houston

September, 1997
mon 1 - Mississippi nights, St Louis
tue 2 - The flood zone, Richmond
thu 4 - Attend MTV awards, New York. Awarded MTV "viewers choice" award for "Freak" video.
fri 5 - The avalon, Boston
sat 6 - The world, Chicago
mon 22 - Performed "Freak" opening 1997 Aria awards and received Channel V award for "best australian band" as voted by the Australian public. Album previously received "best artwork" award. "The Door" was performed off-air.

October, 1997
mon 6 - release of "The Door" in Australia.

November, 1997
thu 13 - Recovery filming in Newcastle for ABC special.
fri 14 - The band graduates from High School.
mon 17 - Release of "The Freak Box" in Australia which included the four singles from "Freak Show" along with an interview disc.
fri 21 - Showgrounds, Mackay
sun 23 - Kuranda amphitheathre
mon 24 - Dean park, Townsville
wed 26 - The Bowl, Rockhampton
thu 27 - Kondari resort, Hervey Bay
sat 29 - River Stage, Brisbane
sun 30 - Springboard, Gold Coast (with The Offspring)

December, 1997
tue 2 - Showgrounds, Coffs Harbour
wed 3 - Workers club, Newcastle
fri 5 - Hangar 4, Dubbo
sat 6 - Hordern, Sydney
mon 8 - Sydney Uni, "Spawn" movie/soundtrack launch
tue 9 - Wollongong uni
wed 10 - Royal theatre, Canberra
fri 12 - Derwent entertainment centre, Hobart
sat 13 - Festival hall, Melbourne
sun 14 - The Palace, Melbourne
tue 16 - Schweppes centre, Bendigo
wed 17 - Civic theatre, Ballarat
fri 19 - Entertainment centre, Adelaide
sat 20 - Entertainment centre, Perth

February, 1998
sun 22 - The band records the song "Untitled" for the "Godzilla" soundtrack at Megaphon studios with Nick Launay.
sat 28 - Mixed "Untitled" at studios 301

June, 1998
mon 8-fri 19 - Pre-production for new album in Newcastle.
tue 23-tue 30 - Recording at Festival Studios.

July, 1998
wed 1-thu 9 - Recording at Festival Studios.
fri 10-thu 23 - Recording at Mangrove Studios.
fri 24-fri 31 - Recording at Festival Studios

August, 1998
mon 3-tue 11 - Recording at Festival Studios.
tue 18 - Record "Anthem for the year 2000" choir at Festival Studios.
wed 19 - Record with David Helfgott at Festival Studios.

September, 1998
tue 1-fri 4 - Record "Ana's Song" and other stuff at Festival Studios.
mon 14-wed 30 - Mixing in Los Angeles.

October, 1998
thu 1-wed 7 - Mixing in Los Angeles.
mon 19-fri 30 - Rehearsals in Newcastle.
tue 20 - The band attends the Aria awards and receives Channel V Award for "Best Australian Band" as voted by the Australian public for the second year running.

November, 1998
mon 2-fri 6 - More rehearsals in Newcastle.
mon 9-tue 10 - Records "b" sides at Megaphon studios with Jim Mogine co-producing.
mon 16-fri 27 - Auditions in Newcastle for keyboardist.

December, 1998
Announce first show in over 12 months playing at Peaches & Cream festival, Cobram

January, 1999
mon 4-fri 15 - Rehearsals in Newcastle with keyboardist, Sam Holloway (ex Codrazine), who will be touring with silverchair throughout 1999.
mon 18-wed 20 - Pre-production in Newcastle
thu 21 - Undercover warm up gig at the Cambridge hotel, Newcastle performing as "The Australian silverchair show"
fri 22 - Video shoot for "Anthem for the year 2000", directed by Gavin Bowden
sat 23 - Crowd shots for video filmed in Martin palace and performing at the Peaches & Cream festival, Cobram (with the Living End supporting).

February, 1999
mon 1-sun 7 - Promotion in US and Germany
mon 8 - Electric Ballroom, London
mon 9-sun 14 - Promotion in France, Canada and New York.
mon 15 - Release of the first single "Anthem for the year 2000" from "Neon Ballroom" in Australia. The single debuts at no.3 on Australian Aria singles chart. Gold sales in Australia the first week (over 35,000 copies). Sales eventually exceed 100,000.
tue 16 - Bowery Ballroom, New York
thu 18 - House of Blues, New Orleans

March, 1999
wed 3 - Tivoli cabaret, Brisbane
thu 4 - Enmore theatre, Sydney
fri 5 - Video shoot for "Ana's Song (Open fire)" in Sydney, directed by Cate Anderson.
sat 6 - The Forum, Melbourne
mon 8 - Release of "Neon Ballroom" in Australia.
wed 10 - The Roxy, Atlanta
thu 11 - 9.30, Washington DC
fri 12 - Trocadero, Philadelphia
sun 14 - Modern rock live (from Chicago)
mon 15 - Webcast from the Vic, Chicago. "Neon Ballroom" debuts at No.1 on Australian Aria albums chart and goes platinum in the first month. 
tue 16 - "Neon Ballroom" released in North America / The Quest, Minneapolis
thu 18 - The Odeon, Cleveland
fri 19 - St Andrews hall, Detroit
sat 20 - The Warehouse, Toronto
mon 22 - The Spectrum, Montreal
tue 23 - Paradise, Boston. Album debuts at No.50 on US charts, achieves gold sales (over 500,000 copies). Album debuts at No.5 on Canadian charts and goes Platinum within a couple of months. Album debuts No.13 in Germany, No.23 in France and No.29 in the UK - which is the best ever European charts.
fri 26 - Croatian centre, Vancouver
sat 27 - Snoqualmine summit, Seattle (with The Offspring and Everlast)
sun 28 - Salem armoury, Portland (with the Offspring)
tue 30 - Slims, San Fransisco
wed 31 - The Joint, Las Vegas

April, 1999
thu 1 - House of Blues, Los Angeles
sun 4 - Rocknacht TV gig, Dusseldorf
mon 5 - Paris TV show
tue 6 - Rock City, Nottingham
thu 8 - The Garage, Glasgow
fri 9 - Manchester university
sun 11 - VK club, Brussels
sun 12 - The Olympia, Paris
tue 13 - Le Pavillion, Bourges
thu 15 - The Jail, Zurich
fri 16 - (cancelled show at Rolling Stone, Milan due to blizzard closing roads into city)
sun 18 - Incognito, Munich
mon 19 - Planet music, Vienna
wed 21 - Columbiahalle, Berlin
thu 22 - Grosse freiheit, Hamburg
sat 24 - Klubben, Stockholm
sun 25 - John Dee, Oslo
mon 26 - Pumpehset, Copenhagen
wed 28 - 013, Tilburg (supported by The Living End)
thu 29 - Astoria, London
fri 30 - Brixton Academy, London (supported by The Living End).

May, 1999
sat 1 - Fly to Florida.
sun 2 - "Rockstock", Tampa Florida
mon 3 - Rockline (live from New York).
tue 4 - Late night with David Letterman. The band performs "Anthem for the year 2000".
mon 10 - Release of "Ana's Song (Open fire)", the second single from "Neon Ballroom", in Australia. The single debuts at No.14 on Australian Aria singles chart giving the band their 11th consecutive top 40 single since 1994 making silverchair the most succesful Australian chart performer of the 1990's.
fri 21 - Travel to US.
sat 22 - Q101 Jamboree, The World, Chicago, (With RHCP, Offspring, Hole, Blink 182, Blondie etc.)
sun 23 - Pointfest, St Louis
mon 24 - Newport music hall, Columbus, Ohio
wed 26 - Sideshow, Buffalo
thu 27 - Free radio show in Providence, RI
sat 29 - Hfestival, RFK stadium, Baltimore (a crowd of over 80,000 people)
sun 30 - River Rage, Boston
mon 31 - Hartford radio show

June, 1999
wed 2 - The Boathouse, Norfolk
fri 4 - House of Blues, Myrtle Beach (webcast by hob.com)
sat 5 - Rockfest, Atlanta
sun 6 - The Bomb Factory, Dallas
fri 18 - Fly to San Fransisco / live 105 radio show
sun 20 - Denver radio show / fly to Australia
sun 27 - Fly to Chicago
mon 28 - The Metro, Chicago
tue 29 - Summerfest, Milwaulkee

July, 1999
thu 1 - Molson Park, Toronto (first date of Edgefest tour with Hole, Moist, Big Wreck etc.)
fri 2 - Molson Park, Toronto
sat 3 - Carlton Speedway, Ottowa
wed 7 - Assinoba Downs, Winnipeg
fri 9 - Race City Speedway, Calgary
sat 10 - Saskatchewan Place fairgrounds, Saskatchewan
sun 11 - Commonwealth stadium, Edmonton
wed 14 - Thunderbird stadium, Vancouver
thu 15 - Ana's Song has peaked ay #12 on US radio charts but starts appearing in the top 10 of MTV's "total request live" show propelling "Neon Ballroom" back up to the US charts.
fri 16 - Moore theatre, Seattle
sat 17 - Portland radio show (with Rob Zombie, Primus, Godsmack etc.)
sun 18 - Fly to Australia.
sat 31 - "Newmusic '99" featuring five local bands, Newcastle Entertainment Centre.

August, 1999
sun 1 - chairpage.com receives inaugural award at Australia's best band website
thu 5 - Canberra theatre royal (national tour with Placebo and Pre-Shrunk)
fri 6 - Wollongong Entertainment Centre
sun 8 - Perth Entertainment Centre
tue 10 - Adelaide Entertainment Centre
thu 12 - Melbourne Park, Melbourne (broadcasat by JJJ and filmed by Channel V)
sat 14 - The Hordern, Sydney
sun 15 - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
thu 19 - Air'n'style MTV gig, Innsbruck, Austria
fri 20 - Bizzarefestival, Cologne, Germany / appearance on Viva's Comet Awards where the band performs Ana's Song and wins best video for Ana's Song as chosen by the viewers.
sat 21 - Support Red Hot Chili Peppers in Copenhagen.
sun 22 - Probably '99 festival, Stockholm (supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers).
wed 25 - Support Red Hot Chili Peppers at 1500 year old amphitheatre in Nimes, France
fri 27 - Lowlands festival, Holland
sat 28 - Pukelpop festival, Belgium
sun 29 - Reading festival, England
mon 30 - Reading festiva, Leeds, England (Ben joins Chad Smith onstage with The Offspring)

September, 1999
wed 1 - Support The Offspring at Le Zenith, Paris
fri 3 - Support The Offspring and Joe Strummer in Munich
sat 4 - Arena festa l'unita, Bologna, Italy
sun 5 - fly to New York.
tue 7 - Appear on MTV's "total request live" / fly to Australia.
fri 10 - Receive MTV award for "Anthem for the year 2000".
mon 13 - silverchair receive seven ARIA nominations - more than any other artist.
mon 13 - "Miss You Love" released in Australia. The single debuts at #17.

October 1999
tue 12 - The band attends ARIA awards where they receive Channel V's "Artist of the year" award for the third consecutive time.

November, 1999
tue 2 - Mesa Amphitheatre, Phoenix (whole tour with Blink 182).
wed 3 - Cal Poly Event Centre, San Louis Obispo
thu 4 - Bill Graham civic centre, San Fransisco
fri 5 - Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
mon 8 - Roy Wilkins auditorium, Minneapolis
wed 10 - Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
fri 12 - Tsongs Arena, Lowel, MA
sat 13 - Roseland Ballroom, New York (attend private Korn gig aftershow)
sun 14 - Asbury Park convention hall
tue 16 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
thu 18 - UCF arena, Orlando
fri 19 - Riverview music shed, Jacksonville
sat 20 - The Tabernacle, Atlanta
fri 26 - Waitemata Plaza, Cup Village, Auckland (band presented after show with platinum plaques for New Zealand sales of "Neon Ballroom")
sun 28 - Headline "Homebake" on Gold Coast.
tue 30 - Rockhampton Music Bowl ("Rollercoaster" minitour with Jebediah and Grinspoon).

December, 1999
wed 1 - Townsville Entertainment Centre
thu 2 - Cairns Entertainment Centre
sat 4 - Headline "Gone South" festival, Launceston (with Powderfinger, Killing Heidi)
sun 5 - Headline "Rockit" festival, Perth
sat 11 - Headline "Homebake", Sydney. "Emotion Pictures" home video released in Australia.

February/Mars 2000
Band cleans up various readers polls:

Rolling Stone (Australia)
#1 "Best rock artist"
#2 "Best band"
#2 "Best tour"
#1 "Best music website"
#1 "Artist of the year" (Daniel Johns)
#1 "Best Male performer" (Daniel Johns)
#1 "Best dressed" (Daniel Johns)

Drum Media (Australia)
#1 favourite Australian album
#2 favourite Australian artist
#1 favourite band/act in the whole wide world
#3 gig of the year (silverchair at The Hordern)
Daniel also got voted sex symbol of the year.

Spin (U.S.)
#1 sexiest man in rock (Daniel Johns)

The Chart (Canada)
#1 for the International Golden Toque Award (Best International Album).
- "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" at #12 for the Blissful Noise Award (Best Song).

Rocksound (UK)
#3 Best Internation Band (behind Korn and Foo Fighters but ahead of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage, Metallica and The Offspring!).
#3 Best International album (behind Slipknot and Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Kerrang (UK)
#1 "Sexiest person in rock" (Daniel Johns).

October, 2000
Sat 14 - The band attends ARIA awards where they receive Channel V's "Artist of the year" award for the fourth consecutive time.

December, 2000
fri 1 - Daniel Johns and Paul Mac releases their EP "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock" online at www.icantbelieveitsnotrock.com.
sun 30 - Falls festival, Lorne VIC

January, 2001
sun 21 - Rock in Rio festival, Rio de Janeiro

April, 2001
Tue 24 - Daniel Johns and Paul Mac appears as "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock" on the ABC TV series "Love is a four letter word" where they perform two songs.
??? - silverchair records a nine track demo near their hometown Newcastle.

July, 2001
Pre-production with producer David Bottril begins. 

August, 2001
mon 20-sat 25 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 27-fri 31 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney

September, 2001
sat 1 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 3-sat 8 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 10-tue 11 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney
wed 12 - The band takes a day off due to the terror attacks in New York.
thu 13-sat 15 - Recording continues at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 17-sat 22 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 24-sat 29 - Recording at 301 studios, Sydney

October, 2001
mon 1-fri 5 - recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 8-sat 13 - recording at 301 studios, Sydney
mon 15-fri 19 - recording at 301 studios, Sydney

November, 2001
mon 12 - Mixing of "Diorama" in Los Angeles begins and proceeds for about 3 weeks.

December, 2001
??? - silverchair returns to the studio to record another new song.
??? - The band shoots the video for "The Greatest View".
fri 21 - Radio premiere for "The Greatest View" in Australia.

January, 2002
fri 18 - Big Day Out, Auckland
sun 20 - Big Day Out, Gold Coast
sat 26 - Big Day Out, Sydney 
mon 28 - Big Day Out, Melbourne. "The Greatest View" released in Australia. The single debuts at No.3 on the ARIA top 50 singles chart.

February, 2002
fri 1 - Big Day Out, Adelaide
sun 3 - Big Day Out, Perth

March, 2002
sun 31 - "Diorama" released in Australia.

April, 2002
mon 1 - Live at the Wireless Diorama launch, Sydney
tue 2 - The band performs The Greatest View and Without You on Rove. The program also featured a one-on-one interview with Daniel Johns.
wed 3 - Queens Wharf, Wellington New Zealand
thu 4 - Westpac Trust Centre, Christchurch New Zealand
sat 6 - Waikato Stadium, Hamilton New Zealand

A. Tomorrow Produced/Engineered by Phil McKellar, Triple J Studios. Released on CD and 7" Vinyl. tomorrow acid rain blind stoned
B. Frogstomp Produced/Recorded/Mixed by Kevin Shirley. Mastered by Ted Jenson, Sterling Sound. Released on CD, cassette, and 12" Vinyl (ltd ed green). israel's son tomorrow faultline pure massacre shade leave me out suicidal dream madman undecided cicada findaway
C. Freak Show Produced/Recorded by Nick Launay, Mixed by Andy Wallace. Mastered by Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering. Released on CD, cassette, and 12" Vinyl (black & ltd ed yellow). slave freak abuse me lie to me no association cemetery the door pop song for us rejects learn to hate petrol & chlorine roses nobody came the closing
D. Neon Ballroom Produced/Recorded by Nick Launay, Mixed by Kevin Shirley. Mastered by Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering. Released on CD, MD, cassette, and 12" Vinyl . emotion sickness anthem for the year 2000 ana's song (open fire) spawn again  miss you love dearest helpless do you feel the same black tangled heart point of view satin sheets paint pastel princess steam will rise
E. Diorama Produced/Recorded by David Bottrill, Co-Produced by Daniel Johns Mixed by David Bottrill. Mastered by Bob Ludwig, Gateway Mastering. Released on CD. across the night the greatest view without you world upon your shoulders  one way mule tuna in the brine too much of not enough luv your life the lever my favourite thing after all these years

"I was at a guy from our record company's house one night, and I was looking through his CDs because he's got a really good collection. I found this '60s pop collection record and I was just going, "Why do you have this?" I looked at the back and there was this song that some guy did called "Frogstomp" and I said, "That's a pretty good name." I just rang up Ben and Chris and we just thought it was really funny so we used it for the album." -Daniel [14]

Executive Decisions:
Nick Launay was responsible for mixing the special edit of "Tomorrow" that won the demo competition. The band originally wanted him to produce Frogstomp, but he was unavailable. They ended up with producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley. 

Vocal Problems:
Halfway through the recording, Daniel lost his voice:

"I couldn't talk for days... I think I just caught a bug, and I just totally lost my voice... So we recorded some of the songs [israel's son], and I only had half a voice." [5]

Song Choices:
The band felt that anyone that had the Tomorrow EP wouldn't want a new album with the same songs. However, there was no question that "Tomorrow" had to be on the new album, so they decided to re-record the way they were now performing it.

Unforunately, by the time the first album was recorded, the band had already grown tired of several songs, "Cicada" being one of them:

"When we recorded the first album, there were three or four songs we already didn't like, which is a bummer because we needed those songs to make up an albums worth of material." -Daniel [?]

Production:

"We went in to record this album quick rather than this really expensive record where people would be saying we couldn't perform the stuff live. We went in, cut the tracks live, threw an extra guitar track down, and that was it. Just so people knew how we sounded and just so people could get the true idea of what we are like. We didn't want to look like shit compared to the record when we play live. We're heavier live, though. The next record we might take two, two-and-a-half weeks maybe." -Daniel [14]

Technical Settings:

To get the thick guitar sound:
"I mainly used my Gibson Firebird through Marshall amps, JCM 900 Dual Reverbs I think they're called. But I don't use them anymore, I use Soldano amps now." -Daniel [5]

There was no external distortion:
"It's just straight amp distortion. I drive the amps really hard. I don't put much presence of treble in; I put a little bass and not much middle." -Daniel [5]

Influences:

"When we first started, we were really influenced by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin; and then we started getting into Pearl Jam and Soundgarden; and after that it was the New York hardcore scene." -Daniel [14]

"It seemed like a good theme for an album and a tour. Being in a band is a lot like working in a circus or freak show. You set up and play, and then pack up and move to the next city." -Daniel [15]

Executive Decisions:
Unable to secure Nick Launay for Frogstomp, the band made sure that he was available to produce Freak Show. In the interterim, he had produced a new version of "Blind" for the Cable Guy soundtrack.

"We got Nick because we'd heard some of the stuff that he's done before, and a lot of people had told us that he had some really good ideas." -Daniel [27]

"When we went in the studio [with Frogstomp], we basically didn't know what the hell we wanted. We were really stupid... With Kevin [Shirley], he had his ideas set in stone. And that was good, because he basically did what he wanted because we really didn't know anything at all. But with [Freak Show], it was really cool -- we had all of our ideas and we knew what we wanted. We wanted certian things done certain ways, and it was good because Nick was really open to all of our suggestions, and he'd put his 50cents in, and then we'd put ours in... that worked out really good." -Ben [18]

As for mixing, Andy Wallace had been a long-time dream for the band.

"We got Andy Wallace to mix the album because we were really impressed with the sounds of some of the bands that he's done like Rage Against the Machine and Helmet and stuff like that." -Daniel [27]
"He was our dream mixer. Even when the first tomorrow EP came out, we were going like, 'How good would it be if Andy Wallace mixed one of our things?' Then we were like, 'No way, it's never going to happen.' This album, when we had the opportunity... we were never going to knock it back" -ben [19]

Production:

"Frogstomp was recorded in nine days. For Freak Show, we took three weeks. We rushed the first album a lot, recording it in a lot of eight-track places, places where you've got like six hours to record six songs, so we were used to doing it fast. In a way it was good 'cause it sounded pretty live. On the second one, we went in and really focused on what we wanted to do this time, spent more time getting the sounds right. Three weeks was the perfect time. We got all the best takes of the song." -Ben [16]

Lyrics:

"On the first album, the lyrics were fictional. Of dreams, the tele and stuff. With this one, the lyrics were a lot more personal. Some were actually changed 'cause they were just too personal. But they're a lot more real this time around. We've had a lot more experiences, lotsa crap that's happened to us that was bad but it was worth it 'cause it made the music better." -Daniel [16]

Dark Sound:

"We didn't sit down and say, 'Okay, we're going to write a really dark album'. It just came out like that. We did, however, have a pretty strong idea of what we wanted Freak Show to sound like. We were trying to fuse a really hard, compressed sound associated with bands like Helmet and Quicksand with a looser, live-in-the-studio approach associated with producer Steve Albini. We got somewhere in between and we're really happy with it." -Daniel [10]

Influences:

"When we finished Frogstomp, we were listening to Tool and Helmet and all that stuff for quite a while. We haven't gone off those bands, but now we're listening to a lot of [producer] Steve Albini's stuff. Also, we've gone back to Zeppelin and Sabbath, which was what we listened to before we recorded the first album" -Daniel [17]

"Abuse me is really influenced by the Beatles and really just 60s kind of experimental, like Sergeant Peppers album, stuff like that. Lyrically it's kind of about just getting negative comments and just saying I don't really give a fuck what you think." -Daniel [27]

New Instruments:

• Cemetery - cello, violin, viol
• Pop Song - violin
• Petrol & Chlorine - tampura, tabla, sitar, violin, viola, cello.
• The Door - citar guitar

"We got a guitar-sitar in. You can play it like a guitar but it sounds like a sitar. Daniel actually played that on a lot of songs and it sounded better than the sitar. On one of the songs [cemetery] there's strings and I play timpani on it... it sounds great. It just makes the song sound really huge." -Ben [19]

"There's two songs on the album which are a bit quieter than our usual stuff, a bit mellower. One's called "petrol and chlorine", which has got a lot of Indian percussion and Indian instruments used on it, and it's also got some violin and stuff. And "cemetary"'s got a small kind of four... about I think a 6-piece orchestra thing piece playing. And it's just, it's very Zepplinesque kind of string arrangements, and we just thought it brings out the best in songs and them instruments really suited the songs." -Daniel [10]

Concept:

"With this album I really wanted to just do something that no one else was doing. From the very start I was determined to make an album that sounded different," says Daniel.

"When we finished touring the Freak Show album I really thought we’d taken the three-piece rock thing as far as we could. I was just getting a bit bored with it. I decided that I wanted to make an album that combined lots of different sounds and instruments that you don’t usually hear being played together.

"The basic idea was to take futuristic noises and blend them with more classic influences to create an unusual kind of blend," explains Ben.

Production:
Not only did the band invested more time and thought invested into the songwriting for the new album, the writing process was also different this time around.

"In the past I usually wrote the riffs first and then sort of added in melodies and words," Johns said. "But when I first started writing songs for this album I wasn’t coming up with much music. I was writing lots of poems, so most of the new songs actually started out as lyrics which I set to music later on."

The differences in creating Neon Ballroom were not limited to the songwriting; they were also reflected in the recording process. Only the songwriting took six months then two months of recording in Australia and almost a month of mixing in Los Angeles and New York.

"Before we've always have been forced to record at some specific times. When we weren't in school or on tour we had to rush into the studio. And we were quick, for example it only took twelve days to record frogstomp. It was good to don't have to do that this time," basist Chris Joannou told a swedish magazine named Chili.

Lyrics:
This ‘words-first’ approach has produced a set of songs with a very different lyrical outlook than previous silverchair releases.

"These songs are definitely a lot more personal. On the first album we were only 14 or 15 so we hadn’t had many experiences to inspire songs. With the second one it was really about the aggression and hate that I was feeling toward certain people at the time. On this album there’s probably a wider range of moods and themes in the lyrics and they’re more based on direct experiences." - Daniel.

Title:
The album’s title is intended to reflect the collision of new sounds ("Neon") and old sounds ("Ballroom") which are found in the music.

Guest players:
The sonic variety also extends to the guest players used on the album. Classical pianist David Helfgott (the inspiration for the Oscar winning movie Shine) can be heard alongside the Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the album’s epic opener, Emotion Sickness. The following track, Anthem for the Year 2000, features sounds from Australian groove guru Paul Mac as well as backing vocals from the New South Wales Public School Singers. Subsequent songs feature keyboard contributions from Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie and renowned jazz pianist Chris Abrahams. Even Daniel’s dog, Sweep, makes a tiny cameo appearance on one track (Steam Will Rise)! For those of you who haven't heard Sweep try to listen 3 minutes and 20 seconds into the song.

The band is playing in an oven-chamber, monitored by a scientist in a control room. Their sweat is collected and fed to an old woman in an adjoining room. The sweat begins to make her look younger, so more sweat is collected and pumped into her. When her youth returns, she's still not satisfied so she takes another dose and turns into a freak. However, she loves the new look and pays the nurse. The band punches out their time cards and walk out.

The video was filmed in Los Angeles, California, USA in December of 1996. 
In September '97 silverchair was awarded MTV "viewers choice" award for the "Freak" video.

1. Tomorrow EP

1. tomorrow - "I saw on SBS once this documentary about a poor guy that takes a rich guy to a poor persons' hotel to experience what it's like being a poor person and that. And the rich guy is complaining to get out and that, and he has to wait 'til tomorrow to get out of the hotel and that." - Daniel [5]
2. acid rain - Acid rain.
3. stoned - A guy stoned in his bedroom, regretting ever getting involved and asking for help to get out of it.
4. blind - Accepting the way things are, refusing to see anything that threatens normalcy.

1. israel's son - "It's about an execution I saw on tele...I got this video of an execution, and I just saw it, and I was watching it one night, and I had a dream about it, and I woke up and thought, 'Oh yeah, that's pretty cool', and I wrote a song about it." - Daniel [5]
2. tomorrow - (described above)
3. faultline - about a friend of Daniel's that was killed in the infamous Newcastle earthquake.
4. pure massacre - Daniel was watching something about war on TV.
   "I think it was that Bosnia thing." - Daniel
5. shade - Offering support to someone that's been abused, pushing them to get help. "Shade is on abuse. I saw [a program] on tele about it, just mental and physical abuse." -Daniel [5]
6. leave me out - Rejecting greed and power.
7. suicidal dream - Fantasizing about suicide, asking for help in tossing off the thoughts.
8. madman - The addiction of alcohol and how it takes over.
9. undecided - Parents fighting and taking the agression out on the kids, wishing they'd either get along or get a divorce, feeling forgotten in the wake of the war.
10. cicada - The process of growing up and out of the "shell" of childhood feels like your fighting against everyone, including yourself. The title is metaphorical of a cicada's metamorphosis.
11. findaway - When things get tough, don't give up. On the surface, it seems to be talking about someone that screwed up and now finds themself in jail, constantly regretting their mistake and wishing they were free.

1. slave - Performing at the wishes of the crowds, having no desire for the music anymore, but do it anyone just to please the crowd.
2. freak - The lyrics parallel with the Freak Show idea, of getting up in front of the audience and putting on your show. Daniel got the idea for the opening lines ("No more maybes/Your baby's got rabies") from a television documentary which pictured a young child suffering from rabies sitting on a red ball in the Andes mountains of South America.
3. abuse me - "People just think you're different... like they just throw negative comments at you all the time. They don't really know what you're like. And that's what Abuse Me is kind of like because the lyrics are saying forget about 'em, just throw 'em away." - Daniel [25]
4. lie to me - lieing.
5. no association - Aggression towards people that seem to care but have alterior motives, just using you for the moment. May very possibly be directed towards uncaring fans and media.
6. cemetery - Feeling alone in a forgotten world of "good will and integrity" outside of a world of malice and hate.
7. the door -
8. pop song for us rejects "That's about... drug addiction or any kind of habit or addiction holding you back from doing what you want to do really. It's just about not getting to do what you want to do and complaining about not getting what you want, but it's just because you're not trying to get what you want because you're always fucked up doing drugs or alcohol or something. It's just saying it's really stupid." - Daniel [25]
9. learn to hate - "It's just about like, hate and stuff, and how people hate other people for silly reasons." - Daniel [25]
10. petrol & chlorine - "It's about dying." - Daniel [32]
11. roses - Feeling the drain of life, almost giving in to death, but deciding not to give up.
12. nobody came - "This song is about child abuse." - Daniel [33]
13. the closing - Another song of depression and checking out of life, looking on the outside world.

4. Neon Ballroom

1. emotion sickness - "It's about fighting against the need to get some kind of medication and trying to pretend that you've got a normal state of mind when you know for a fact that you haven't. " - Daniel. [41]
2. anthem for the year 2000 - "Anthem is about politicians looking at the youth and treating them like dirt, like they don't exist, like they never going to mean anything, like they're obsessed with drugs and sex. It's about politicans and their fascism and their yuppie mentality." - Daniel. [35] Johns have also said that the lyrics were inspired by the policies of an Australian political party, Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which would impose certain restrictions on young people.
3. ana's song (open fire) - "There was a time in my life when I had these really bad phobias of certain food because I thought they would cut my throat or cut my stomach. I culdn't eat anything hard, and for six months I was just eating soup and fruit. Everything was distorted and that's pretty much what 'Emotion Sickness' is about as well." - Daniel. [35]
4. spawn again - animal liberation.
5. miss you love - "It's about not being in love, not finding love, and not caring about it. That's why it says miss you love." - Daniel. [42]
6. dearest helpless - "Once people get too involved in the whole rock and roll lifestyle," said Johns, "a lot of people tend to forget about the 9-to-5 world out there, which isn't bad or good -- it's just something that happens, and a lot of people get so consumed in the whole rock and roll thing that they forget there is a whole other world out there which really doesn't care about music at all." - Daniel [42]
7. do you feel the same - 
8. black tangled heart - "It's about just feeling like everything is collapsing on you because you don't have anyone to really love and and that's why it has got the manic explosions of distorted noise." - Daniel. [42]
9. point of view - "That's about being in a vulnerable state and then someone taking advantage of you." - Daniel. [42]
10. satin sheets - "That's about the corporate world looking down on people. If I walk into a restaurant or a cafe or something, there's this whole Yuppie mentality of people who think I shouldn't be there because I don't brush my hair. But I've probably got more money than them. It's about people who think that unless you look rich, you're not rich, and if you don't look rich, you don't deserve to be at a cafe having a cup of coffee." - Daniel. [35]
11. paint pastel princess - "That's about anti-depressant drugs [Bo & Arapax] that totally level you out. You no longer feel highs and you no longer feel lows. It's all just the same." - Daniel. [35]
12. steam will rise - "It's about people punishing your self-esteem and just making you scared to be yourself for fighting against it." - Daniel. [42]

5. Diorama

1. across the night - "It's about falling in love with falling asleep, because you go to a new world and every time you sleep you think new things and you wake up reinvigorated because you’ve just gone to a new place." - Daniel [44]
2. the greatest view - "The Greatest View is basically about having people watching over you and monitoring your every move. Just basically being aware of that rather than being unaware of it and having people watch you and therefore having the upper hand. If you are aware of it and know what's going on, you can manipulate it how you see fit. Thats what the song is about." - Daniel [43]
3. without you - 
4. world upon your shoulders - 
5. one way mule - 
6. tuna in the brine - "That's about preserving yourself by not exposing anything about yourself. It’s about kind of lying in a sea of lies and using that as a preservative so you don’t have to expose yourself and become worn out by the realities of living.” 
   Is that based on personal experience? “Not so much lies. I didn’t lie, but I never exposed myself. I never showed anyone what I was really feeling, and I wrote ‘Tuna In The Brine’ after I decided, ‘I’m gonna live’.” - Daniel [44]
   "It's about mindgames I play with myself, it's about a front you present to yourself when you're on certain medications. When I was on anti-depressants I was on these pills that decreased anxiety quite dramatically; I felt like people were seeing a sedated representation of me. I sometimes hear interviews back from the time and go, 'fuck, I can't remember being there'.
   I was looking for something that represented coming out of the other side of [me] presenting that false person. I was thinking of something that really shines to me; I was thinking of the sun, I was looking at the skies, then I thought about how when I was a little kid and opening a can of tuna and looking down and they were nice and shiny - they were so sparkly. 'Tuna In The Brine' - yeah, that really represents a time to shine. I also thought it was interesting that they were most shiny when they were dead." - Daniel [47]
7. too much of not enough - "That's about the shock you feel when you're exposed to something new. My reality was so unusual to other people but so comfortable and normal to me. When I was exposed to a relationship it was such a shock to my system that I didn't know how to deal with it." - Daniel [47]
8. luv your life - 
9. the lever - 
10. my favourite thing - "I guess I've always had an obsession with love and with death, so I combined the two and this is what came out!". - [48]
11. after all these years - According to Daniel it's a song about getting over hurdles. "I was feeling happy and optimistic, and I thought, I’m going to write a song and try and capture this feeling." - Daniel [44]

HOW THE STORY CHANGED: September 1994: 'We were all over at the drummer's house, requesting some songs on the radio and one of them was... Sliver something by the Smashing Pumpkins, and the other one was Berlin Chair. Someone wrote Silver Chair instead of Sliver Chair, and that's how silverchair popped up.' October 1995: 'Ben wanted to request something on the radio and someone suggested Sliver by Nirvana and I said stuff that, let's request Berlin Chair by You Am I. He wrote it down wrong as silverchair and we liked the sound of it.' October 1995: 'Those were the two we wanted to request, so we told Chris to write them down abbreviated, and instead of writing Sliver and Chair, he swapped the letters and it became silverchair.' November 1995: Q: How did you pick the name silverchair? A: Mr. Myagi's bum sweat. September 1999: 'There was a list of names and we liked silverchair the most.'

When Rockline host Bob Coburn asked about the origin of the band's name, drummer Ben Gillies replied, "There is a stupid story we used to tell people in interviews, but we actually made it up. The real story is there was a big list of [suggested] names when we were changing our name from the Innocent Criminals, and we just liked silverchair the most." [45]

"We thought we'd make up a good name so people thought we're interesting," Johns said. [45]
Why is silverchair not capitalized?
- because they thought it looked stupid capitalized.

Did they consider any other names?
- yes, Warm Fish Milkshake & Grunttruck (already taken by a Seattle group)

5. How did Watson become the band's manager?

John O'Donnell and John Watson had both written for Rolling Stone and had now both moved into the music industry. O'Donnell had just set-up a small sub-label of Sony Music Australia called Murmur Records, named after O'Donnell's favorite REM album. Watson was working A&R for Sony, which included discovering and signing new talents.

O'Donnell convinced Watson to go see this new band that had just won this national demo competition and that he felt had the potential for hitting big. Together, they drove from Sydney to Jewelstown, a suburb of Newcastle, to see the band perform in a small pub called Jewels Tavern (6/24/94). Watson was totally blown away by their performance, Daniel's voice in particular.

As Watson and O'Donnell were driving back to Sydney that night, Watson said "If I were going to leave my job to manage a band, this would be it." The next day O'Donnell and Watson sat down together and wrote a full career plan for silverchair.[6]

When the band agreed to sign-on with Murmur, the band's parents, who had up until this point managed the band, decided that the band needed a full-time manager. John Watson was chosen.

6. What ARIA awards have the band won?

• Best new talent
• Best debut single (Tomorrow)
• Best Australian Single (Tomorrow)
• Highest selling single (Tomorrow)
• Best debut album (frogstomp)

1996. The 10th ARIA Awards
The band won Outstanding Achievement Award for conquering world charts with the single Tomorrow and the debut album "frogstomp".

1997. The 11th ARIA Awards, September 22th
The band was voted Artist of the year by the public. silverchair were nominated for six ARIA awards in 1997, including best Australian group and best album. The award for best cover artwork went to silverchair, John Watson, John O'Donnell and Kevin Wilkins for Freak Show. silverchair performed 'Freak' and 'The door' was also performed off air.

1998. The 12th ARIA Awards, October 20th
The band was voted Artist of the year for the 2nd year. Ben Gillies and Daniel Johns received the award on behalf of the band since Chris Joannou was out of town.

1999. The 13th ARIA Awards, October 12th
For the third year in a row silverchair won Artist of the year. silverchair was nominated in 9 categories at the 13th Annual ARIA Awards, which is their highest number of nominations ever at these awards. 5 of these awards were for silverchair directly:

• Album of the year (Neon Ballroom)
• Record of the year (Ana's Song)
• Best Group (silverchair - Neon Ballroom)
• Best rock album (Neon Ballroom)
• Highest Selling Single (Anthem for the year 2000)

Other nominations went to Nick Launay for Best Producer and Best Engineer (Neon Ballroom), Cate Anderson for Best Video (Ana's Song) and John Watson/Kevin Milkin/Melissa Chenery for Best Cover Artwork (Neon Ballroom). Unfortuneately silverchair didn't win anything in any of these categories.

2000. The 14th ARIA Awards, October 24th (Ben Gillies birthday)
The band was voted Artist of the year for the fourth year in a row. 

2001. The 15th ARIA Awards, October 7th
For the fifth year in a row silverchair was voted Artist of the year by the public.

• Best Australian Single (Tomorrow)
• Best Australian Debut Single (Tomorrow)
• Highest Selling Australian Single (Tomorrow)
• Best Australian New Talent
• Best Australian Debut Album (Frogstomp)

"NEW RACE" PERFORMANCE :

silverchair performed "New Race", a cover of a short-lived punkish band named Radio Birdman that was around in the late 1970s. Joining the band was Tim Rogers (You Am I), who played second guitar and vocals. The show was not without its problems, however. Tim busted a guitar string on the first chord. Then at the very end, Ben got down from his drums and ran out to the front of the stage. He turned around, lined up the drum set, ran towards it and dove head-first into the bass drum. Unknown to Ben was that one of the stage people, who was supposed to put a slit in the drum so that he'd dive straight through, forgot. So instead of going straight through, Ben's head just kinda crashed into the drum, moving the whole set a bit because he hit it so hard. [21]

4. What happened at the Santa Monica Pier? (September, 1995)

Finishing out the Frogstomp tour, silverchair sponsored a free show at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. The band began the show late for ten thousand people, but there wasn't enough power to push the PA system and it collapsed mid-show. There was a long ineterim, during which the crowd began to get restless and started chunking things at the band, some trying to force them off-stage. The band eventually finished the show, but with half the wattage output.

As the band began their last song, "Israel's Son", someone through a bottle across the crowd and hit Daniel above his left eye. It knocked him back to the speaker stack, but he didn't quit and got back into the song, ironically with "all the pain i feel..." Bleeding, he and the band finished the song and walked off-stage. Later that day at the hospital, Daniel got five stitches.

Ben and Chris found it a bit humorous because they were hoping the hospital would have to shave Daniel's eyebrow off to stitch it.

"No, it's not a song and no, it didn't evolve into a song, and it doesn't have a name. It was just... I dunno, it was just nothing that we just did for something to do." [10]

Roskilde was the last known recorded show with the full intro. After that, the band began using other methods of introduction. Sometimes, Daniel would go off on his own and play something really stupid (albeit pretty cool). Then, at a November show in Toronto, the band introduced with a tune Daniel announced as "Out of Tune Jam". A kind of jazz-jam, it's all instrumental and very short. Ironically, Nirvana performed this tune a few times during their '89 tour and called it "Formaldehyde".

Currently, the band is playing no introduction at all.

Listen to three different version of this tune by using the links below.
Roxy, Brisbane 5/5/95 | Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle 6/7/95 | Roxy, Atlanta 6/21/95

"During the last show with the Chilli Peppers we suddenly saw two strippers come on to the stage. They arranged that. So while we were playing, they were dancing with only a g-string on. that was great, i could not stop laughing!" -Ben [24]

• Frogstomp Tours - The "Boring Fart" Song
  

  "There's a really underground kind of, not very popular, band in Australia that comes from Melbourne called Mister Floppy, and that's just one of their songs. And we just thoguht it was really good for an intro take 'cus it's kind of... it sounds serious until he says 'boring fart', and it kind of makes it a joke." - Daniel [10]

• pre-Freak shows - "die eier von satan" (Tool)
  

  "The new one we're using, we only used it for a few gigs, I think we used it for two or three, and it was just a song off the new TOOL record, we just thought it was really intense and a good start for a show." - Daniel [10]

• Freak Shows - Circus Song.
  
  
• Neon Ballroom tours - Taxi driver.

On a Rockline interview bassist Chris Joannou provided some insight into why part of the soundtrack of the movie Taxi Driver has been played prior to silverchair shows on the Neon Ballroom tours.

"It was one of the first shows we did [after] the new album," Joannou said, "and we actually left the intro tapes behind. Our manager stopped at this roadside thing that had cheap CDs and that's about the best he could come up with, and we've been using it ever since." [45]

But according to Daniel there's also some more reasons why they've used it.

"Parts of it relate towards my feelings about making Neon Ballroom. [Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle] talks about doing 100 pushups and getting in shape for what he has to do. The whole monologue is about self-descipline and it just feels right." - Daniel [36].

• Falls Festival 2000  - For this performance silverchair replaced the "Taxi Driver" soundtrack with a bit of heavy riffing by AC/DC.
  
  
• Big Day Out tours + Summer Jam tour 2002 - Star Wars Theme.

Australian alternative rock band silverchair has responded to allegations by an 
American lawyer which attempt to link one of the group's songs to a multiple 
murder in the USA. The band's manager, John Watson, made the following 
statement on behalf of silverchair:


  silverchair do not, have not, and never would condone violence of any sort.
  The band is appalled by this horrific crime and they hope that justice will
  prevail in prosecuting whoever is responsible for it. The band extends its
  sincere sympathies to the families and friends of the victims in this case. 
  silverchair absolutely rejects any allegation that their song is in any way 
  responsible for the actions of the allege murders. It is a matter of public 
  record that the song in question, "Israel's Son", was inspired by a 
  television documentary about wartime atrocities. "Israel's son" was never 
  intended to provoke violence and cannot be interpreted by any reasonable 
  person as doing so. In fact, the song seeks to criticize violence and war by 
  portraying them in all their horror.


Murmur Music, a division of Sony Music Entertainment (Australia) Limited, fully 
endorses silverchair's statement. To assign another purpose to Israel's Son is 
to abuse its meaning and the intent of its author.

Though nothing more was said about the connection between the murders and the song, a new edit of the US video replaced the original. The band was not pleased with this at all because they had been really excited about the way the video had turned out.

"We were kinda doing two things at once... We were doing an interview with him [Dave Navarro, RHCP], and we were test driving this car from Mitsubishi, and like, we wanted to drive on the road, but they wouldn't let us, and then they took us to this car-park thing, and we were driving around in a circle, and it was right next to a beach, and we were like 'Hang on a second, we're in a 4WD, what are we doin'? So we just bunged it up on the beach. And then like, we just hooned around the beach, you know, having a bit of fun... and then the next minute we heard these sirens, and me and Chris suddenly looked at each other thinking 'Nah, that's not for us'... and the next minute this, um, this guy in a cop car pulled up, and this black dude got out, and he was the meanest guy you've ever see. He was like... oh man, he was this like, you know... I was just waiting for him to pull out his gun and just like end it. He just said, 'Where's your license?' and Johnsy was like 'Uhhhhh, haven't got one, I'm from Australia." -ben [12]

Daniel was taken to a holding cell at a Santa Monica police station until Epic officials produced his drivers license and explained who he was. At the request of the police officers, photos were taken of them with the band. No charges were made.

Dave Navarro wrote an rather playful article about this incident and it's entitled 'The Bikini Incident'. You can read the article in its entirety here.

4. What's the story of Daniel and Emily Spencer?

PRESS RELEASE - July 26, 1999

silverchair Frontman Cleared of Harassment Charges

silverchair singer/guitarist Daniel Johns has been completely cleared of all allegations of harassment which had been brought against him in a Newcastle Court case.

A woman calling herself "Emily Spencer" had initiated court proceedings in which she claimed Johns had threatened and harassed her. 

Subsequent media reports revealed that the woman's real name was actually Jodie Ann Marie Barnes. 

Today Ms Barnes unequivocally withdrew her allegations in Newcastle Local Court. Her legal representative, Mr Ron Vercoe, said that the allegations were "totally untrue" and "unsubstantiated." On behalf of Ms Barnes, Mr Vercoe apologised to the Court and to Mr Johns for the "trauma" which this case had caused him and his family. 

Mr Vercoe said that it was "… the strangest case he had seen in four decades…" and added that he could not understand how the matter had been allowed to progress this far. He said that this area of the law could benefit from reforms to prevent people from bringing such "fallacious and petty claims" against innocent parties. 

As Ms Barnes' claims were completely untrue, the withdrawal was not opposed. 

A spokesman for Daniel Johns pointed out that these groundless charges had received widespread media coverage including a front page story in Johns' home town newspaper. "I hope that the media covers the truth of this matter as prominently as they covered the lies," he said. 

Daniel Johns said: "These completely false charges and the sensationalised media coverage which they have received in some places have been very upsetting for myself and my family. I'm glad the truth has finally come out." [37]

"...this album we got more time to play with so we're gonna set up everything a lot better, like have all the clips ready, and do all the photo shoots and all the promo crap before." -ben [12]

This idea worked greatly for the band. They were able to shoot both videos for "Freak" and "Abuse Me" and set-up a kick-off tour before the record was released. When Freak Show was finally released, they had nothing to worry about and their attention could focus on the fans and the tour.

"I only write lyrics when I'm like in a kind of depressed mood. Not depressed, just like... when I'm not in a good mood. 'Cos when I'm in a good mood I'd rather be out like playing with my dog or going to the beach or something. But yeah, when I'm in a bad mood I sit at home and write lyrics and do musical stuff. That's why the music tends to be a lot darker than you'd expect from us three, 'cause we're not really that dark as people. We get all the dark side of us out in the music [and] try and be as nice as possible when we're not playing music." -Daniel [28]

"They are kinda dark lyrics, but it's not the way we are, like how our personalities are. It's just that that's a good way to get out your feelings through your lyrics rather than being a "sook" [sic]." - Daniel [27]

"We've always liked really dark, aggressive music. When I write lyrics, I just like to focus on the negative side of what's happened to us. We're not interested in happy pop music; we just wanna write about negative issues." - Daniel [?]

"A friend's got a little demo thing. And I just went around and just recorded it with an acoustic guitar and sang on it. I didn't really want it to be a silverchair song. I wanted it just to be just a song for, I don't know, something else in the future..." -Daniel [25]

Mrs. Johns asked Daniel if he would play the tape for Nick if she could find it; Daniel agreed. So Mrs. Johns went to Daniel's room and found the tape. Fulfilling his part of the deal, Daniel played it for Nick, who thought it was outstanding.

Three days before recording was set to begin, the band decided to include it on the album. A string arrangement was composed to accompany Daniel's acoustic tune, and Ben moved from drum set to tympani. What was once a rough, tossed-off acoustic piece was transformed into a mini orchestral symphony.

"Cemetery was original written... I just wrote it with an acoustic guitar and didn't really picture it as a song that we could do as a band. I just thought, 'that's not really the kind of song for us.' So I held it back until about three days before we ended up making the record" -Daniel [27]

"I'm pretty glad that we put it on now 'cause it gives the album a bit more depth. Like it's another... just another different style of music that's on the album." -Daniel [25]

"Slave was actually the first song that we wrote after frogstomp. That was like a really hard back beat like a, you know, kind of Helmet, Tool really heavy back beat, and melodic as well. Yeah, the oldest song on Freak Show." -Ben

Freak

"I think Freak's going to be the first single off the album, just... I don't know... just to lead people into the album. We don't want to release something mellow first because we want to get the idea across that we've developed and got a bit heavier -- the music's got a bit harder edged. When I wrote it, I didn't think that it was catchy. We just thought it was like a song just to play live and it was a good song for the album, but none of us ever considered it to be a single." -Daniel

Abuse Me

"Most of the songs on the album are about being perceived as being different just because you tour around like the country and stuff. People just think you're different -- like they just throw negative comments at you all the time. They don't really know what you're like. And that's what Abuse Me is kind of like because the lyrics are saying forget about 'em, just throw 'em away. It's kind of like a joke in ways, that's why it's so mellow but it's such a like kind of aggressive lyric but it's a really like mellow song. That's the idea behind the song anyway." -Daniel

Lie To Me

"Daniel's really influenced by Minor Threat and most of their songs go for like a minute, two minutes and... we came into practice one day and we said let's write a song and we were all like 'yeah, OK.' and then Johnsy goes, 'aww, I've got this riff' and he just showed it to us. Then we all just started playing and just stopped. He said, 'That's the song, that's cool.' And that was it. I would say it must have been the quickest we have ever written a song." -Ben

No Association

"No Association, we went in thinking, 'yeah, this song will be all right'. But when we actually recorded it and listened to it back we were just like, 'that's a joke!' We can't believe how that has turned out. I think it is one of the heavier songs on the album, and that's what I like about it." -Ben

Cemetery

"A friend's got a little demo thing. And I just went around and just recorded it with an acoustic guitar and sang on it. I didn't really want it to be a silverchair song. I wanted it just to be just a song just for, I don't know, something else in the future, but I'm pretty glad that we put it on now 'cause it gives the album a bit more depth. Like it's another -- like just another like different style music that's on the album." -Daniel

The Door

"Before the album, when I actually wrote it and showed Ben and Chris, Ben and Chris liked it and they were like -- they wanted to continue working on it and write a bit more, and I didn't really like the song. And they were like oh, come on, we'll just use it and so I said yeah all right, just to see how it would turn out. And it ended up changed a little bit and now I'm really happy with it. And it was actually called 'The Poxy Song' for a while. That's what we named it just because we didn't really like it that much. Oh well, I didn't. And then we just called it The Door because that was the main lyric, I guess." -Daniel

Pop Song

"That's about ummm... drug addiction or any kind of habit or addiction holding you back from doing what you want to do really. It's just about not getting what you want to do and complaining about not getting what you want, but it's just because you're not trying to get what you want because you're always fucked up doing drugs or alcohol or something. It's just saying it's really stupid." -Daniel

Learn to Hate

"Well, Learn To Hate, Ben actually wrote all the music for and when he gave me the music and said write lyrics to this. I already had lyrics that I'd written that fitted in perfectly. So it was just...that's one of the ones that I already had lyrics for. It's just about like, hate and stuff, and how people hate other people for silly reasons." -Daniel

Petrol & Chlorine

"We got a guy in that played these weird Indian drums. I don't know what they are called... they made a... like they went 'oowwhh.' And then we had this girl that played a sitar, and we had a guy that played violin. It actually made me think about going out and like maybe grabbing a couple of Indian drums or something and just, you know, mucking around on them and see what I can do." -Ben

Roses

"Roses was written in rehearsal. Yeah, Daniel came in and he had this tune that he had and I had one, and basically we just joined them together and they sounded cool and then we came up, well I came up with the drum thing at the start and that seemed to work, so it was cool." -Ben

Nobody Came

"Nobody Came turned out really good. It is kind of like, it's the long song of the album, the long, stretched-out song. Yeah, we actually didn't have any songs with the big ending, with the, you know, double kicks going off and everything just loud as possible, so that was the song, Nobody Came. It was the loud one." -Ben

The Closing

"I think The Closing is a good track because it is called 'The Closing' (laughs). So it is good for a closer, but I like it... I think that's a good song live too because it is really easy to mosh to and that's our whole potential when we play live. I actually wrote all the music for that by myself and I came to practise and showed Daniel and we just jammed, and then he started singing, I don't know, some stupid words to it, like he always does (laughs). And then yeah, it just moulded together like they do." -Ben

"I really started twenty years ago. I go to Tattoo shows all around Australia. There is one virtually every week. I've won about 150 trophies, prizes, cash etc. I'd be in the top ten in Australia."

"It's an art form. I've looked through books and magazines and changed things around. My arms are Medieval, I like animals, there are lots of animals, bike riders."

• Daniel "Johnsy" Johns
• Chris "Chris" Joannou
• Ben "Gillies" Gillies
• John "Watto" Watson

Rock Axe (Les Paul copy) "I ended up getting an $80 electric called the Rock Axe. It looked kind of like a Strat, but it was really small. And it was all white. I thought it was good at the time, because I could just turn up the amp and go, 'Yeah!'" [2]
Gibson Les Paul Classic Premium Birdseye "...[I got it] About a year after I got the Rock Axe... It had good pickups and it sounded alright." [2]
Gibson Firebird Tour: +Frogstomp Trivia: used in the "Tomorrow" video Stickers: White Zombie, "Llama" Pictured: Jan.22'95 at the Melbourne Big Day Out "I got my first Gibson about six months after [the Les Paul]... It's got White Zombie stickers and other shit all over it." [2]
Sunburst PRS Tour: Frogstomp Pictured: summer '95
Green PRS Dragon (Page Hamilton's) Use: Drop-D tuning (heavier songs) Tour: Frogstomp, Freak Show, Neon Ballroom (Still on tour) Stickers: "Smick Dick" whale, Korn (front), Helmet (back), cruelty to animals Pictured: Feb.04'96 at the Palladium "He gets his guitars from the same place I do: at Paul Reed Smith. I rang them up to see what guitars they had, and they said, 'You can have a new one or you can have this one that Page Hamilton just traded in.' I said, 'Yeah, I'll have that one!'" [2]
Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Use: Standard tuning Tour: Frogstomp Pictured: Jun.21'95 at the Roxy
Black PRS (McCarthy) Use: Drop-D tuning (heavier songs) Tour: Frogstomp, Freak Show (Still on tour) Pictured w/o stickers: Dec.09.95 on SNL Pictured w/ stickers: Jan'97 in New Zealand>
Heritage Cherry Gibson SG Tour: +Frogstomp Use: (Suicidal) Pictured: Dec.13'95 at the Stone Pony
Red PRS Use: Standard tuning during Freak Show tours. During the Neon Ballroom tours Daniel used the guitar for Point of View on a different open Absus2 tuning ( from low to high: Eb-Ab-Eb-Ab-Bb-Eb). Tour: Frogstomp, Freak Show, Neon Ballroom Stickers: Rage cross symbol, cut-up SUB POP (SOB PUP), Bad Religion, Everclear Pictured: Nov'96 in South America
Silver PRS Use: Drop-D tuning (Abuse Me, The Door) Tour: Freak Show Pictured: "Abuse Me" video Trivia: This guitar was sold on an auction.
Jackson Roswell Rhoads Use: Drop-D tuning (Freak) Pictured: "Freak" video Trivia: Body and headstock machined from aircraft-grade hand-brushed aluminum alloy; crop circle in-lays; limited production.
Electric/Accoustic Ovation Trivia: seen in the Outtakes-Misstakes & Freak Show CD extra videos.
Classic Gibson Trivia: Daniel borrowed this guitar from Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil) to record "Cemetery" in the studio.
Gibson SG Use: Drop-D tuning Tour: This guitar has never been used on tour. It was only used in the video for Anthem For The Year 2000. Pictured: Behind the set for the recording of the Anthem For The Year 2000 video.
Gibson Les Paul Custom Use: Open Db tuning (Emotion Sickness, Paint Pastel Princess, Spawn Again & Without You) Tour: Neon Ballroom & Diorama Pictured:
Red Gibson SG Use: Standard tuning Tour: Neon Ballroom Pictured:
Rickenbacker

Diorama

Unreleased

Chris has now registered himself and some songs. All the songs are unreleased.

5. How did "surfin' bird" come about?

The Surfriders Foundation is an organization that seeks to protect the oceans and beaches around the world for everyone to enjoy. Many alternative bands were asked to contribute classic surf songs for the the Foundation's fundraising album MOM (Music of Our Mother ocean). silverchair accepted the opportunity to contribute along with Everclear, their touring buds. Since all of them surf and come from an industrial beach city (Newcastle), they felt close to the cause.

The idea of "surfin' bird" came from Ben's dad:

"My dad is like an old surfie bum, and he was like 'play this song, play this song'." He kept bugging us. Then this soundtrack came up and we thought, yeah, we'll put it on there." - Ben [19]

The band chose to speed it up and super-distort it because, according to Ben: "We wanted to have the, um, Ministry feel to it. You know, the "jesus built my hot-rod" feel." [8]

"First I said it as a joke, and then I said 'No, I'm going to do it.' And then I set a day. I said the first day of Christmas holidays and I went home and did it. I just thought, 'Oh, this is so much more better and there's just no more worries -- you know, just get up and go, you kow. Don't have to worry about having a big mangled knot in the back of your head, you know, just waking up with bedhead and stuff like that, you know. Short hair's heaps better." -Chris [28

8. What is 'I Can't believe It's Not Rock!'?

"I Can't Believe It's Not Rock" is an EP that happened by accident. 

It contains five songs that were written and recorded at home by Daniel Johns and Paul Mac entirely for their own amusement. Only when the tracks had been completed did the two musicians begin to contemplate sharing their work with other people. 

The pair come from very different backgrounds - Daniel from multiplatinum rockers silverchair, Paul from seminal dance acts like Itch-E and Scratch-E - but they have been friends for years. The two first met back in 1997 when Paul remixed silverchair's "Freak". Later that year he appeared onstage with the band in Sydney as guest DJ and in 1998 he contributed some keyboard stuff to their album "Neon Ballroom". 

In 2000, with silverchair taking a break, Daniel went up to Paul's house in the Blue Mountains for a weekend's R&R and the pair recorded a song called "Rain" in his home studio. Daniel had already been working on the piece but Paul contributed a lot of additional dynamics to it - creating a distinctive moody hybrid of the pair's diverse musical influences. 
Rain being the first track on the EP, which started off sounding quite "different" to the guys, but later became the "straightest" track on the EP according to Daniel. Both of them really enjoyed the experience but at the time they had no intention of ever playing their sprawling creation to anybody else. 

Some months later Paul travelled to Newcastle to help Daniel install his eight track home studio. This time the pair created two songs together from scratch. The lilting "Home" was recorded completely live in one take with the multifaceted "Staging A Traffic Jam" evolving over a couple of days. As with "Rain", these tracks illustrate the disparate backgrounds of their creators. At the time these recordings were little more than an enjoyable experiment but in the weeks that followed the pair both realised that they were really happy with the fruits of their casual labour. They felt that they had hit upon a sound which was creatively different from anything either of them had achieved before. 

Consequently they got together one more time and recorded the mellow instrumental "3" and the hard edged "Take Her Out" - creating two even more extreme bookends for the evolving project. 

The tracks on this EP are fairly hard to classify. According to Daniel, people would be confused by this EP until the song meanings became apparent after repeated listening. 

"The whole process was really fun, we didn't intend to release it so there was basically no pressure and had no restrictions, it wasn't like a silverchair album, it was more that we're having fun and we don't care," Daniel Johns said. 

It was only then that Daniel and Paul had their first conversations about possibly releasing these five songs, somehow, some way, somewhere. They kicked around several names for the project including "The Agoraphobic Laptops" and "Scrum" before settling upon the suitably self effacing monicker, "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock".

"We couldn't think of a band name. It was actually really funny, we had so many conversations about band names... but we couldn't agree on anything, but we had this title for an EP which Paul's friend came up with called I Can't Believe It's Not Rock. Then we ended up just calling it I Can't Believe It's Not Rock until we came up with a title, it ended up just getting stuck in our heads," Daniel said in a interview on Triple J.

"When we were making this music we never thought anybody else would ever hear it. It was just stuff we were doing for ourselves", explains Paul Mac. "Once it was done though we liked how it had turned out so we started talking about releasing it even though, as the name suggests, it probably isn't what people expect from either of us." 

When both Johns and Mac signed to their manager's new record label, Eleven: a music company, the idea was hatched to release "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock" online. The five songs can be streamed for free from the website icantbelieveitsnotrock.com and is downloadable for a small charge from December 1, 2000. A very limited number of CD's is also available for mail order to ensure broader access for fans.

Says Daniel Johns: "I had a lot of fun making this music with Paul and I'm really proud of how it sounds but it's obviously not going to appeal to everybody. We were both concerned that if we released this CD in the usual way some people would have the wrong sort of expectations. It's a different sort of project so it makes sense to release it in a different sort of way." 

There are no plans for "I Can't Believe It's Not Rock" to tour although the pair has taped a guest appearance for the forthcoming ABC TV program "Love Is A Four Letter Word" aired in 2001. 

As for future recordings by this accidental duo - who knows? 

"We never actually intended to make this EP", explains Daniel Johns, "at the moment we don't intend to make another one either so maybe that means it's possible." 

VI. TRIVIA
F. Neon Ballroom trivia

1. What is Neon Ballroom about?

This is Daniel’s own story told to Michele Promaulayko of what happened to him, about his eating disorder etc. These events inspired him to write poetry which eventually led to the songs from the album Neon Ballroom. And it's basically these events that inspired Neon Ballroom.

 “As our popularity grew, so did people's expectations. When you're a guy in a band, everyone thinks you should be happily swimming in girls. But it's just not that way unless you're a really confident person to start with. Or if you can take advantage of people, which is not what I want to do. So every time the crowd got bigger, I felt more empty when I walked offstage. Alone in the crowd Toward the end of 1997, while we were on the road touring for our second album, Freak Show, I gradually began to feel more and more alienated from people. By the start of 1998, it got really extreme-to the point where I really didn't want to see anyone. Thankfully, the tour was about to end. As soon as we got home to Newcastle, I took my three-and-a-half-year-old dog, Sweep, moved out of my parents' place and rented a two-bedroom house near the beach. It was the middle of winter in Australia, and the house wasn't heated, so it was really cold and uncomfortable. And empty. There was a couch, a television, a bed and a stereo -- that's it. After about a week, I bought a foot heater and just sat, despondent, in front of it all day. Then things took a turn for the worse. The psychological problems that surfaced on tour intensified, and my view of reality became really distorted. It started as depression and branched out from there. I began to feel really anxious and paranoid. I couldn't leave my house without thinking that something terrible was going to happen, whether it was getting beaten up or being hounded by photographers. The minute I'd step out my door, I'd start shaking and sweating, and I could feel my heart pumping like crazy. I know it sounds strange, but I was also really freaked out by phones. When mine rang, I'd have to leave the room to get away from it. I began limiting my food intake as a way to control the chaos I was feeling inside. Each day, I would test myself to see how much I could endure. If I hadn't eaten anything, it was an accomplishment; I would go to bed content. The only way I can describe it is to say that it felt comforting to be in control of something, like I hadn't totally lost it.

Within a few months, it got to the point where I was eating just so I wouldn't collapse. If I felt like I was going to black out, I'd eat a piece of fruit or a cup of soup. What little food I did eat, my family brought over. At that time, my parents and my younger brother and sister were the only people I trusted and could see without feeling anxious. Of course they were all worried sick about me, but I couldn't really see how bad it was. When I went out, usually it was to drive my Jeep to the video store down the street. In the course of six months, I racked up a $1,600 bill. At first, I only rented really dark films, like Leaving Las Vegas, because that's the frame of mind I was in. But eventually, I'd watch just about anything to pass the time and help me get through another day. Emotional rescue. Some weeks were better than others. When I could, I'd make an appointment with the therapist my parents convinced me to see before I moved out of their house. But I found it too exposing to talk about my problems. I was always holding back. I'd much rather express myself through music and lyrics than in conversation. It's more therapeutic for me.

It was during this period that I began writing the poetry that would become the lyrics for most of Neon Ballroom. There is a lot of symbolism in those songs. For example, Paint Pastel Princess is a metaphor for Aropax, an antidepressant that my doctor prescribed for me. The song's about how taking that type of medication prevents you from feeling highs or lows -- everyday is the same. Still, the pills improved my state of mind. I don't intend to be on them forever, but for now they're helping me cope. Ana's Song, the second single, is a metaphor for anorexia. It was the last song recorded for the album, and it was the first time I exposed my eating disorder to anyone. Everyone already knew, I guess, but I had never spoken about it, except with my family doctor. He was actually the one who helped me realize how bad things had gotten.

I went to him because I had a bad cold that I just couldn't shake. (I found out later that malnutrition wrecks your immune system.) He's been my doctor since I was a baby, so as soon as he saw me, he just started shaking his head. He sat me down and told me the facts: If I didn't do something, I was going to die. He explained that signs that generally occur well into an eating disorder were already happening with me. Things like exposed gums and teeth,protruding bones everywhere, sunken cheeks. That was a turning point. I don't know exactly how much weight I lost, but the lightest I ever got was 110 pounds. It was never really my intent to harm myself, though I knew what I was doing wasn't good for me. The lyrics of Ana's Song, particularly "In my head, the flesh seems thicker" are about my desire to see how far I could take it.

The problem is, you think you're gaining control over something, but in reality, you're losing control over the functioning of your body. A lot of people don't understand the real causes of an eating disorder, which is why it's hard to fathom how a guy can have one. But it isn't about vanity or beauty. When you see anorexic people, they don't look attractive. I'm sure the reason some people get eating disorders has to do with a distorted body image, but often it has nothing to do with looking a certain way. It's about gaining control over a part of your life. Making sense of it all I've always had a fascination with the darker side of life. I'm a bit fixated on it. The reason, I think, has to do with the fact that I had a hard time in high school.

Back then, it wasn't as acceptable to be in a young band. Nowadays, they're everywhere. When we started playing at 13, I was called a fag and beaten up. Even though Ben and Chris were in the band with me, for some reason they weren't subject to the same ridicule. Probably because I was the singer and they played relatively masculine instruments. They look more masculine than I do. Plus, their bodies are more built up and they were into sports. I've got nothing against jocks. I don't care what people do as long as they're good people. But I think that a lot of jocks have the opposite mentality -- unless you're one of them, they're a little afraid of you. As a result, I tend to close myself off to people. My way of dealing with things has always been through art, whether it's painting, drawing or writing music or poetry. All of the songs on this album are intensely personal, and I feel emotionally drained after performing them. No matter how many times I sing them, certain lines remind me of how badly I felt when I wrote them. But I'm glad I wrote them. People have sent letters to our fan club saying that the album has helped them admit to anxiety attacks, depression and eating disorders. Some have said that it's made them cry, but I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I'm just glad they've gotten something good out of a negative experience I had. I'm not fully recovered, but I think I've hit my lowest point and I'm on my way up. I still don't know exactly what went wrong. People have theorized that I had a nervous breakdown, but it doesn't matter what anyone else says. I have to figure it out for myself.

These days, it helps to focus on the things I want to do when we're finished with this tour [in November]: Things like seeing friends and not being tied to a schedule. Just stuff that doesn't involve promoting the band or being "Mr. silverchair." I'm not sure what the future holds. Unlike a lot of other bands, our lives don't revolve around being stars. I'm just looking forward to being happy. Whether it's producing music for silverchair or being a bum on the beach.”  

2. What different guitar tunings did Daniel use on the album and why?

According to Daniel he tunes whatever that sounds good to him and just play whatever feels right. And for Neon Ballroom he used some tunings he never have used before:

"Most of the songs are in some strange tuning. I'm not sure what they are (laughs). I know that on Point of View the low E string was tuned up to a G#, and the rest of the songs were tuned to an open G# chord. And Emotion Sickness, Paint Pastel Princess and Spawn Again are all tuned down to C#. And that's also an open tuning but I don't know what it really is (laughs). In order to get a really different, non-generic kind of sound, I just wanted to invent some tunings." - Daniel [40]

3. What were some of the Neon Ballroom's songs' original names?

Often, bands will use a nickname or pre-release name to refer to a new song. When a new album is being prepared, the songs are officially named. Most of the time, the songs will retain their original name. However, some times they're given new proper titles.

The following are the "pre-official" titles that the band used/considered:

4. How did Ben and Chris react to Daniel's lyrics?

"He [Daniel] started singing and because the music's so freakin' loud and he doesn't exactly give us a lyric sheet, I didn't even know what they were until we got the album. But I was surprised they were so personal. He never usually opens up about things, he's very private." - Ben. [41]

5. How was the album written?

When Daniel wrote the music to Neon Ballroom he approached the songwriting differently.

"In the past I usually wrote the riffs first and then sort of added in melodies and words," Johns said. "But when I first started writing songs for this album I wasn’t coming up with much music. I was writing lots of poems, so most of the new songs actually started out as lyrics which I set to music later on." - Daniel.

" Some lyrics are kind of melancholy, so the music needs that orchestral thing." - Daniel.

6. Why is silverchair's third album entitled, "Neon Ballroom"?

The album’s title is intended to reflect the collision of new sounds ("Neon") and old sounds ("Ballroom") which are found in the music.

7. How long did it take silverchair to record "Neon Ballroom"?

Previously the band had never recorded an album that took as long to record as Neon Ballroom did. The recording process took about seven weeks and the band spent three weeks in Los Angeles mixing the album. 

"It felt like ages, 'cause the first album took eleven days and the second album, I can't even remember, it took like two or three weeks." - Daniel [43]

But according to Daniel this change wasn't positive. 

"I was sick of the studio on the second day." - Daniel [43]

     (http://www.chairpage.com/)

2. Eleven Records official homepage

     (http://www.elevenmusic.com)

     (http://www.silverchair.net/fml)

2. tHE dOOR - closed discussion group

     (http://www.silverchair.net/thedoor)

     (http://www.silverchair.net/silverShows)

2. The silverchair FAQ

     (http://www.silverchair.nu/FAQ)

3. News & Press

     (http://www.chairpage.com/news)

4. The silverchair Discography

     (http://www.silverchair.nu/discography)

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