They were an overnight sensation: three Australian teenagers from Newcastle who shot into the U.S. Top 10 and sold nearly four million copies of their debut album, Frogstomp. With their second album, Freak Show, just released, drummer Ben Gillies speaks to TV Week in Los Angeles.
TV Week: Would you agree that your audience is still pretty young? Is that what you are into-- screaming teenagers? Or do you long for more adult audiences?
Ben: I think we've got the wierdest crowds in the whole world. Sometimes you can have 80 percent males and 20 percent females and it's sort of totally nuts. It really sucks. [gee, Ben, could it be because there's more guyz then girlz? luv me] It it violent and sometimes it gets really dangerous. But other times, it's 80 percent females and 20 percent guys. Sometimes teenage girls, older girls, young guys and older guys, and sometimes you even have 40-year-olds. It's weird.
TVW: So it doesn't bother you that your audiences on the Frogstomp tour mainly consisted of teenage girls? I mean, you're not a boy group such as Take That.
Ben: When there are a lot of girls, you don't really care because they enjoy the music and buy our albums. It doesn't matter at all who listens to our music. Could be five-year-olds or 85-year-olds. I couldn't care less.
TVW: If you hadn't scored a major recording deal, would you have done the typical indie thing of releasing an album and touring around before getting a deal?
Ben: I don't know. When we were 14 and got this deal (with Sony's Murmur label), I wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't even a possibility. It was, like, going to school, trying to get good grades, getting a job as a carpenter or plumber or anything like that. It sort of all happened out of the blue.
TVW: Have you finished school?
Ben: No, we are still going to school. We've got a year left.
TVW: How do you fit it all in?
Ben: We can do schoolwork on a plane. Actually, when we get home, we usually catch up with what we can. Some of the teachers are real bastards. but we've got some really cool teachers,too. They just say, "Yeah, we know what you do after school, so don't worry about it."
TVW: Do you ever think about what's next? I mean, a rock career could be over any minute.
Ben: We thought about all that stuff. In the Year 2000 or in the next 10 years after the Nineties our music will be out of fashion or uncool, because that always happens, like the Eighties now are uncool. But I wouldn't care. We would return to the garage and do what we want. That's what we are doing now. We just play what we like.
TVW: Are you in search of a typical or original sound?
Ben: Yes, I think we are. This album is close. I think the third album will be ther real silverchair sound. You will be able to hear one of the songs and go, "Yeah, that's silverchair!"
TVW: Do you think you fill a musical gap, a gap that Nirvana left?
Ben: Not really. We don't like Nirvana at all.
TVW: Being just 17, how come you've already developed such a cynical view on the whole music industry? [hell, can you blame him? Look at who's conquering the charts and tell me there's no reason to have a cynical view] Why are you comparing it to a freak show?
Ben: We reckon the music industry is like travelling freak shows, because, you know, travelling from town to town, unpacking and packing up. You meet all these freaks along the way. You meet good people, but you do meet a lot of idiots. I'm not mentioning any names.
TVW: There's a dark touch to Daniel's lyrics. How come? Is it the travelling, feeling isolated, alienated or even being used?
Ben: Not really. It's just Daniel's lyrics are pretty personal. I don't really know what they are all about. But I don't care. I like his lyrics. I think they are really good.
TVW: Your lyrics create the impression that you must live pretty miserable lives-- three innocent boys caught up in the dangerous music industry. Are you really that depressed, or is it just that you feel some sort of anger to show people that you can really write songs without imitating something?
Ben: Yes. Daniel did go through a stage when he was depressed, and a lot of lyrics were written around then. It wasn't the kind of depression where he'd go out and kill himself. He didn't go out. He stayed at home all day, didn't do anything.
TVW: It appears as if you have been touring constantly for about two years.
Ben: Not really. We just had five or six months off, doing nothing at home. It's been great. We got a bunch of friends together and went for a trip up the coast, and it was great. We got drunk every night, just went totally nuts. So we still get to do all these teenage things!
TVW: When you're a teenager, you can't wait to be 18, to drive a car and have a drink in a bar, can you?
Ben: But it's pretty funny when we go out to countries where the drinking age is 13 or 14, and we all go to bars and order and drink some stuff. Our parents will go, "Hey!". And we go: "We are legal to drink here!". And it's so good.