Their story is dream-like, innocent and fast. "The whole idea of the band wasn't to become successful or play big shows," lead singer/guitarist Johns told me. "It was just three friends jamming to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin songs in the garage. And then all of the sudden we were out of the garage and touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers." It really was that sudden and simple, and did I mention that they were only 14? [What a wanker. No one cares that they were 14...] Playing after school in drummer Ben Gillies' garage, singing songs they'd raided from their parents 70s rock collection, the boys just really dug jamming together. With Johns singing and playing guitar, Gillies on drums and Chris Joannou playing bass, they sent a tape to a local television station's alternative music contest that offered the winner a video and one on-air showing. "A month later we got rang up and they said, 'Yeah, you've won, you can come record a song and do a film clip and it'll get played on the show once,' and we were like, 'Okay, cool.'" No delusions of grandeur, just a youthful excitement at the prospect of seeing themselves on TV as rock stars, even if it was just a small local station. Johns recites the story, as I know he has so many times in the last three years [So of course he had to ask the same question...]. "We recorded the song ("Tomorrow"). The film clip was a bit of a joke. We thought it would be played only once. All of a sudden all these record companies were calling and saying they wanted to sign us." After six months the boys and their parents decided on an indie offshoot of Sony, Murmur Records, and the video that they weren't too fond of was being played all over Australia. "Tomorrow" was a No. 1 hit in Australia, and their debut album, Frogstomp, entered the charts in their native country at the same spot. A new video for "Tomorrow," a No.1 album at home and Sony to back them made breaking America inevitable.
LIFE ON THE ROAD is obviously a little different for silverchair. They were initially managed by their mothers, and you can't help but enjoy the irony of travelling with Mom while touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Johns downplays the experience. The Chili Peppers "were really cool. They're good people, and the crowds were really good." And even though silverchair has become a worldwide success in the grown-up world of rock, Johns admits that Mom and Dad are riding shotgun on this one for at least another six months, until everyone turns 18. "It's not bad at all. Everyone thinks that touring with your parents is like spending every minute of the day with them, but we see them like an hour every day at the most," Johns says. "We go off and do our thing and at the end of the day we'll like, go, 'Hi,' and that's it." Johns claims that the parents are much wilder than they are. On the bus "our moms hang out at the front and just talk and drink. We just sit at the back, close the door, and talk, watch tele, play video games and listen to music. We never really see them anyway. With our dads it's just like they're ruder and more sick than us." Apparently, the stardom hasn't fazed this crowd. "We're not into that whole stereotypical rock-and-roll stars lifestyle thing. It doesn't appeal to us... well, it appeals to Ben. Ben's kind of the party animal of the band. I'm not a very social person. I'm not really interested in meeting lots of people," Johns confesses. Johns seems placidly content in his life. The hardest thing isn't saying "no" to anything, it's getting taken seriously. But one thing that silverchair has had the advantage of, besides having their mothers on the road, is the exposure to some of the most experienced people in the business. The Chili Peppers, as with most popular bands they meet, told them to keep their heads, and that's what they're doing. They all still live in the same houses they've lived in all their lives, within a five-minute walk from each other. Their dads are a fruit vendor, a plumber and a dry-cleaner. They go to the same school in Newcastle they've always gone to. Nothing changes. Well, almost nothing. "It's a bit different socially now," Johns admits. "I never really went out very much anyway, 'cause I never really liked it, but I don't even go out as much as I used to now. I sit in my room and write songs and watch tele with my dog." According to Johns, fame isn't the dream we see on TV, and while he isn't complaining in the least bit, Johns admits that sometimes it becomes tiring. "After awhile it's just like, 'Fuck it. I'll just play with my dog in the backyard.'" No matter how much the industry tries to force an image onto silverchair, they resist. MTV and Rolling Stone both jumped on a story about Johns' run-in with the law while being interviewed by Red Hot Chili Peppers' and former Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro for Spin magazine. "We were just test driving a car, and then we saw the beach," Johns says. "We were in a four-wheel drive so we went onto the beach, which was private. We didn't know that." Because he had no license and registration, the cops brought him in, only to release him a short time later on condition that he sign autographs.
WHAT GETS LOST in the hype over the band's youth is a focus on the music. Of course, this isn't the Beatles we're talking about. To expect three 17-year-olds who have only been playing their instruments for 5 years to inspire us with poetry, cross musical boundaries, would be a bit of a stretch. But what they have done is impressive enough to warrant a legitimate listen. There is much more to silverchair than "Tomorrow." "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," Johns says. As a result, Johns implies, silverchair's live shows lacked good energy because they really didn't have a large repertoire to pull from. "In the last three months our live shows have improved a lot. We got to a point where we were just sick of playing the same old songs everyday. It makes it all fresh and more fun again because we have all these new songs to play." Bigger arenas mean bigger P.A.s, which cost more money, so ticket prices were raised. So the band feels the need to make their live show better to offset that inconvenience to fans. Are their any other future plans for the members of the band, like higher education? "No college, just music. It's really all we're interested in," Johns says. So what do they have to do to be taken seriously? Write an epic rock-opera? Add a complete orchestra and gospel choir to their live shows? "There's ups and downs to being a young band," Johns offers, "and (mocking critics) is one of the major downsides of being so young. It's harder to become established because people don't take you as seriously 'cause they think you're just some teen rock band. We try to avoid that kind of 'teen' image as much as possible." Because silverchair didn't over-promote Frogstomp they've been able to retain an air of normalcy about them, and the respect of their countrymen as well. "We get a lot of support in Australia -- she's very good to us. Since America is like the big place to break bands, a lot of bands, once they do break the States, they move out of home and go live there and totally ditch their country." Australians don't like that. "That would piss me off, too, if a band from Australia did that, and I don't think we're ever going to," Johns maintains. silverchair is a band you will be hearing a lot more from. If you forgive them a little angst and lack of experience, you might even join the ranks of their other fans. We're fortunate enough to be witness to what should be a really fascinating ride for Johns and his mates. It should be fun to watch.