Are We Having Fun Yet?

Rip It Up, Issue 235, 1 March 1997, Page 20

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Silverchair in NZ

Had you yawned, you would have missed them. In the last week of January, the Oz rock phenomenon that is silverchair breezed in and out of the country so quickly they barely raised a pierced eyebrow.

Their one-only New Zealand visit this year extended to just two concerts, the first at Auckland’s Powerstation, followed by an appearance at the Burning in the Lights multi-band event at Lancaster Park in Christchurch.

When silverchair last performed here in June 1995, they were riding a massive groundswell of hype generated by the Number 1 single ‘Tomorrow’, and their just-released debut record, Frogstomp. They played sold-out shows on consecutive nights in Auckland and Wellington, the first dates in a well-structured 12 month global assault that allowed silverchair to tour repeatedly through America, Europe and the UK, and still adhere to school commitments back home. Dubbed, ‘Nirvana in pyjamas’ by Rolling Stone magazine, Silverchair’s appeal was based on a look and a sound they had lifted directly from the more notable Seattle bands of the early 90s. When the trio surfaced from Newcastle in April 1994, the grunge wave was firmly entrenched in the mainstream, and their formula was guaranteed not to fail. Within a year of their New Zealand gigs, Silverchair had sold over four-million copies of Frogstomp, and made a firm impression on the world’s biggest music markets — they were big business.

Exactly one year after the New Zealand tour, silverchair recorded their second album, Freak Show, in Sydney with PIL producer Nick Launay. In October Andy Wallace, who produced Nirvana’s From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, added the finishing touches to the record with the band in New York. This year the cycle of touring-promo-tion-school work begins for silverchair all over again, as they take Freak Show to the world. First destination: New Zealand.

The band and their entourage arrived in Auckland

from Sydney late on January 29, the eve of the Powerstation show. At first the idea of silverchair playing the 1,000 capacity venue, when they’d filled the 3,500-seat Logan Campbell Centre less than two years previous, seemed totally insane. As it turned out, silverchair’s fans either have short memories or have moved on in their musical tastes, for the Powerstation was half empty when Daniel Johns (guitar/vocals), Chris Joannou (bass), and Ben Gillies (drums) stepped on stage, amid a chorus of falsetto squeals from the front rows, and launched into the new single, ‘Freak’. In the thick of it Johns, wearing a ‘No One Knows

I’m a Lesbian’ T-shirt, throws himself and his guitar about with practiced Cobain-abandon, Joannou’s eyes glaze over as he fights to avoid displaying any signs of life, and Gillies sweats buckets executing an almost flawless Dave Grohl impersonation. On the surface silverchair appear to be ploughing everything into it, yet there’s no urgency, it’s about as dangerous as inviting Ned Flanders over for tea, and feels less soul deep than Jimmy Barnes. New

songs ‘Slave’ and ‘Lie to Me’ are tokens of silverchair’s added maturity, as is the obligatory ballad, ‘Cemetery’, yet their sound continues to be nothing more than join-the-dots grunge. If anything, silverchair have taken further steps down the road to Nirvana, and by submerging themselves so deeply in their influences, come off as second-rate copyists with no life of their own.

The afternoon following the concert, Johns and Joannou saunter into an office at the Sony Music building in Symonds Street, having just been “in the hot seat”, according to Johns, at Juice TV’s Parnell studio. Joannou plonks himself down on the nearest chair and lets out a ‘not another interview’ sigh. Johns, however, admits he’s making a more concerted effort with the media these days, in contrast to his virtual silence around the time of Frogstomp’s release; “I’m finding that if I talk more, the less stuff the journalist will make up.” In conversation, Johns seems eager to provide interesting answers, while Joannou... well, he’s just confused. Both say they enjoyed the gig, though behind the scenes, Silverchair’s management are said to be livid at the poor audience turnout. Last night’s show was only the second concert the band have not sold out in the previous two years. “That doesn’t matter to us,” says Johns. “If the people who were there had fun, we’re happy.” And these days silverchair are significantly happier with the situations they find themselves in, Johns adds. The threesome were just 16 when Frogstomp was released, and following its blow-up success an army of managers, minders, parents, and hangers-on, were soon controlling the band’s every move. Now, just months off turning 18, and with a big-selling album behind them, silverchair have earnt the right to pull their own chains. This freedom could mean something as simple as deciding where they eat lunch, says Johns, but it also ensured silverchair had the confidence to go ahead and make the second album they desired. “With Frogstomp, we weren’t really enthusiastic about a few of the songs, but we were told we had to put them on to get the album finished. It was a good first album, but if we had to come out with the same album now, we wouldn’t be happy with it, so we decided Freak Show would be how we wanted it.”

Essentially, silverchair have simply taken the blueprint of their debut and cranked up the volume and aggression levels to make Freak Show. Though to Johns, silverchair have achieved a major progression.

“All we wanted to do was make an album that was better than the first and we did it,” says Johns emphatically. “We wanted to prove to people who thought we were going to be a one-album band that we’re not, that we will be around for awhile.” While Freak Show is far from the school holiday

rush-job that characterised Frogstomp, that album was notable for the radio-friendly singles ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Pure Massacre’, which in part ensured its commercial success. Silverchair’s new record heads in exactly the opposite direction. It barely contains a single real vocal or guitar melody, prompting accusations the band consciously delivered an album inaccessible to their early fans, to capture an older, more discerning market. “It’s not a deliberate change at all,” explains Johns, “it’s just the way we are, it’s the way we want to write. We’re not big fans of pop music, we find it really predictable, we’d rather do something a little more us. We’ve always liked dark, aggressive, powerful music, and [pop] music is totally the opposite to what we like.”

‘‘[Freak Show] came out the way it came out, ’cause that’s the way it came out,” weighs in Joannou.

Silverchair are releasing Freak Show in a climate not currently receptive to second albums from bands who’ve enjoyed highly successful debuts. In 1996 releases by Weezer, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Candlebox, were comparative failures when measured against the runaway sales of their introductory records. Silverchair have no such concerns, articulates Joannou. “You just have to wait and see really, you can’t make it sell as good or as bad as Frogstomp, it’s all up to it now.” Reviewing Freak Show in US magazine Details, Rob Sheffield wrote, “[silverchair] were obviously put on earth to show that real live teenage boys can be as dull and grumpy as Bob Dole. It must be fun to be a rock star when you’re 16... but no — these grim little kids don’t even crack a smile.” And he’s got a point. Freak Show is loaded with negative references to silverchair’s experiences with fame, and the falseness and pressures of the music business. The album is a bleak reflection of the trio’s tumultuous 12-month rise to prominence — a period that left Johns “deeply depressed”, and shaped the selfobsessed, angst-ridden tone of the album. “Most of the songs were written when I was very depressed, I just stayed in my room for six months and wrote, there was nothing else I was doing. We’ve always written dark, aggressive music, and if I had to describe the lyrics I would say dark and aggressive. It’s just the music we like to play, it suits our mood.”

You have to ask yourself — how depressed can three 17-year-old multimillionaires get? Silverchair are living the dream tens of thousands of teenage guitars shredders the Western world over play out in their bedrooms. They’re seeing the world, playing the music they love, and being paid enormous amounts of money to do so. How hard can life be, even if you do get arrested by the Santa Monica Police while driving a luxury jeep on a Californian beach, with Dave Navarro of the Red Hot Chili

Peppers sitting in the passenger seat. “That was great fun,” says Johns. “We were test driving a car for an interview, we drove onto the beach and drove around for awhile on the sand, and then the police and the beach patrol pulled us over, and I got taken to the police station. Some policeman came in who was normal and wasn’t a control freak like the other one, and just said, ‘lt’s cool,’ and let us leave. Stuff like that’s pretty cool.” Navarro was also present when silverchair enjoyed their most memorable touring moment, explains Johns. “We played Madison Square Gardens supporting the Chili Peppers; it wasn’t our best show, but it was good to play there ’cause our favourite video when we were 12 years old, Song Remains the Same by Zeppelin, was made there, and we always wished we could play there.” See, it’s not all bad. Are you having the life now you wished for when you formed the band? Johns: “We kind of are, ’cause we always wanted to play to lots of people. For two years we played to five people a night in these really crappy clubs in Newcastle, and all we ever wanted to do was play to people who appreciated and understood music. As far as albums sales and rock star crap, we don’t want that, we just want to play to people who like the music.” Is it a lifestyle you’d recommend, Chris? “Um... I don’t know, sometimes maybe... it depends.” “All the crap that goes on in the music industry,” says Johns, “it already gets to ya, it gets aggravating, and I think you wouldn’t want to do it forever. I think every band has times when they want to do something else.” Would you split the band up as soon as you stopped having fun? Joannou: “Yeah, it would be pretty silly to carry on if you weren’t enjoying it." What do you expect you’ll do when silverchair split? Johns: “First of all I’d have a few years off to do nothing, just sit in my house all day with my dog.” Joannou: ‘Td get a bit bored sitting round doing nothing, I like cars and that sort of stuff.” At the moment, what is it that makes everything worthwhile? Joannou: “Just being able to get up and play, and put the music across.” Johns: “When you’re touring and doing all the crap you do every day, at the end of the day, playing a gig is like the reward for all the crap you have to put up with, like interviews and stuff. The shows make everything worthwhile and keeps you motivated.” So, you still hate being interviewed? “Yeah, they’re just boring, sitting down and saying, ‘We do this, we do that,’ I’d rather be at a Kiss concert.” Of course, silverchair’s wish is granted. Following an afternoon speaking to radio stations and newspapers across the country, Johns, Joannou and Gillies, with their minders in tow, spend the early part of Friday night at the Mt Smart Supertop, watching Kiss’s ‘Greatest Show On Earth’.

The silverchair tour party arrives in Christchurch by mid-afternoon the following day, in plenty of time for silverchair’s late evening set at the Lancaster Park concert, where Rocket From the Crypt, Shihad, Spiderbait, Regurgitator, Loves Ugly Children, and a host of others are also on the bill. All three band members have expressed interest in seeing Shihad play, but only Joannu and Gillies can be seen side of stage for the Wellington band’s performance. The next act on, Silverchair perform an identical set to the one in Auckland, Johns has on the same T-shirt, and informs the crowd, “You guys rock,” in the exact same unexcited monotone he used two nights previously. Sure, he trashes his guitar and kicks over an amplifier, but something in the back of your mind tells you it’s not an act borne of the fire in his belly. Rocket’s bass player Petey X definitely wasn’t impressed; “I don’t like novelty acts — they fuckin’ stunk.”

Silverchair spend Sunday go-karting in Christchurch, before flying to Auckland that night to board a plane to Los Angeles, where they will commence a month-long North American jaunt. The first two weeks in March see the band on tour in Europe (supported by Shihad), prior to their return to Oz, and school exams. Then more touring. Then more exams. Sometimes, it seems “never ending”, says Johns, although he also adds, no one is forcing their hand. For silverchair, it’s all about trying to have fun, and having a laugh, as Joannou expertly demonstrated during our interview. “That tape wasn’t running... I’m just kidding.”

JOHN RUSSELL