Yet again, I must thank Brooke, wonder girl for this. silverchair's recent jump to No. 1 with their "frogstomp" album is proof they're the hottest Aussie act in years. Their bassist, Chris Joannou tells about life, the album and - school! Is it important to please the public or yourselves? "You've got to please people because they've got to buy the stuff. We're having fun and it sounds allright." Did you expect such a positive public reaction? "Tommorow" only had a couple of thousand printed....we were 13 and we were stoked. All of a sudden, all this happened and we were like, 'whoa'. It happened very quickly." How did you deal with it? "We try to keep a couple of weekends free, a few days in the holidays where we do normal stuff with our mates. thats how we get by - stay normal as possible." Define "normal". "It varies. We go to the beach, play pool and just muck around." How long have you been writing? "Ben (Gillies, drums) and Daniel (Johns, guitar, vocals) used to write all these songs in year 7, even year 6. I'm just getting into it now because I came into the band as ir evolved." What was it like being accepted and admired nationally? "It's been a big leap. I just hope the support stays as strong." The album is quite diverse. "Yeah, we don't try to write a heavy song; we don't try to write an eased back song; we just write a song and that's what we record." What have you learned about the music industry? "It's not just get out there and play. It's a lot of hard work sometimes." Did you expect that? "Nuh. I didn't expect any of it..... Organising what songs are going to go on an EP, you gotta go around, listen to a song, say 'No, we don't like that,' so you gotta scrounge another song from somewhere.' Was getting "frogstomp" together much of a hassle? "We left it till fairly late, actually. The album was already recorded but we didn't have a title or cover or anything. We got that done in a very short period of time (nine days). It was rush, rush, rush. Where did you get the title? "Off the back of an old EP that Daniel found." Who by? "I wouldn't have a clue. It was a full on old one." Are you stoked with the support from Triple J? "Yeah. They're the first real radio ststion we had contact with. We did all the "Tomorrow" recording in Triple J's Sydney studio and they're the first people to play our songs. They have been real nice. It's a good feel of reassurance, to know that someone's behind ya." Is school ever a hassle? "No, school's good. Everyone's pretty cool. All the blokes we sit with are o.k. They're cool." Is there anything you guys don't like talking about? "Mainly our age. We try to keep that out of focous but it's cool, 'cause everyone asks us about it. We're just three normal guys that happen to be in a band." What bands do you like? "A bit of soundgarden, Helmet, Mudhoney.......heaps of stuff"
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