Just five years ago silverchair was a neighborhood garage band in their hometown of Newcastle, Australia, and now they are one of the best selling bands in modern rock. Their debut, Frogstomp, is certified platnium, and their sophomore effort, Freak Show, is riding up the charts with no signs of letting up. I talked to the drummer Ben Gillies before silverchair kicked off it's North American tour in Vancouver, Canada. [Oh yeah, they'll be graduating high school in a few months.]
Surfing: How was your summer back home, any surf?
Ben: We worked on new songs and layed about. The surf was kind of shitty, but we were
always on the beach, looking for parties and girls and stuff.
[note from Sarah: gee, Ben is always looking for girls]
All you guys logged some time in the water?
When me and Chris surf, Daniel doesn't, but yeah, we were there a lot.
The new record Freak Show is doing well and the sound has matured. Was that
a result of being on the road and listening and picking up different influences?
Yeah, we got back to our roots, like Zeppelin and stuff. But we listened
to a lot of different things. I think rythmically we've grown.
Indian instruments and drums?
Yeah, a little mellower, but still hard, ya know?
Extremely tight, even tighter than the last record.
Yeah, we've been working on it, like kicking it really hard. We recorded it in three weeks'
time, so we were in a groove. I hope it comes across that way.
Have you guys found the time while on the road to surf?
Um, no. It takes a lot out of you, all the things that go along with touring. When
we were in Brazil, we really wanted to, we heard that it was good, but we had no time. Maybe next time.
They go nuts for hard rock in Brazil, don't they?
It was crazy, I mean we had only sold like 3,000 records there, but the fans were completely
crazy, like hundreds of thousands of people going nuts. They want something
different you know, so if you play strong cords and stuff, they love it. It was a bit
weird though, they are completely psycho for it, man.
I thought your version of Surfin' Bird on Surfrider MOM CD was great.
Who came up with the idea to cover that one?
My dad (their fathers have named themselves Wheelchair). He surfs and loves the song and
so do we. It's funny, man, that song took us an afternoon to do, just by hearing
it. I really liked MOM. We are Surfrider members at home.
In Oz, you guys are beyone huge. What's it like when you're home?
In our hometown it's really mellow, ya know? No one bothers us. We haven't toured there with
this new record yet, so we'll see what happens.
You're sitting in school, so what's it like sitting in class? Do you
daydream about waves, playing in front of thousands of people?
Daydream? Ah, mostly about *laughs* chicks, waves and songs in my head. I can't wait
to get out of school and have more time to surf and play.
I need more!
I DON'T need more!