Silverchair Go 'Neon'

By Therese McKeon

I had the pleasure of seeing, hearing, photographing, and downright*experiencing* Silverchair at both the Bowery Ballroom in New York Cityin late February and again a couple of weeks later in Philadelphia, PA atThe Trocadero Theater. I use the word "experiencing" because Silverchair'slive show is more that seeing and more than hearing. It's like that ride at theamusement park that you get off of and you immediately want to get backon again. You tell your friends that you have to go "just to experience it"....but I'll tell you more about that in my concert review.

As an avid Silverchair fan, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to interviewChris Joannou, Silverchair's bass player.

Love the music? Check! Buy the CDs? Check! Know all the bandmembers' names? Umm... Well, I had to admit to myself that I only knewthat there is a young man named Daniel Johns who is very talented and veryappealing to the naked eye (sorry but it's the dang truth!). Daniel can writegreat music. Daniel can sing. It's all about Daniel. Afterall, D-a-n-i-e-l canmake a girl swoon at any age. But it could just be that "lead singer" thingcombined with an irresistible Australian accent (aren't you glad there arewomen writing these things? <--don't answer that!). So... with all of that inmind (in my mind anyway!), I ended up discovering the hidden treasure thatis Chris Joannou - polite, seasoned, and fully accented himself. ;)

(...through a very bad phone connection...)

JNBC: Hi Chris. Glad to talk to you.

Chris: Good to talk to you!

JNBC: How's it going? You're in Chicago, right?

Chris: Yeah. We've been in Chicago the least couple of days. We didModern Rock Live and that last night and a couple other things.

JNBC: How's the tour going so far?

Chris: It's been great. We've had about three shows so far - Atlanta,Washington, and Philly.

JNBC: Yeah, I was at the Philly show.

Chris: Yeah?

JNBC: Yeah. It rocked.

Chris: Oh, that's great!

JNBC: Love the pants. Satin red with white piping down the sides. Youdon't find *those* in the store everyday. Where did you pick those up?

Chris: I got those in L.A. Yeah, I like them.

JNBC: Okay, well, I have a bunch of questions for you!

Chris: Well, let's hit it! <laughter>

JNBC: First of all, I have to ask... how does it feel NOT to be Daniel?<laughter>

Chris: <laughter> I suppose it's got a few advantages. <laughter> I guessyou could ask the front man of any band about that. I mean, there's just a lotmore privacy being me.

JNBC: I wanted to ask a few questions about the album. It's comes outtomorrow, right?

Chris: Right!

JNBC: How did you come up with the name "Neon Ballroom"?

Chris: Pretty much it came from the songs on the album. The neon was forthe newer things we were doing - like samples on "Spawn Again" and thestrings arrangements. And the ballroom is for the more classic sounds ofguitar. This album blends the two so we came up with "Neon Ballroom" as agood title for it.

JNBC: "Anthem for the Year 2000" is the current single. I love that song.

Chris: Cool. So do we!

JNBC: Is that in any way going to be the theme for the Olympics in Australiain the Year 2000? (ed. see? occasionally I have a good idea!)

Chris: <laughter... then serious thinking> I don't think so. I think it wastongue in cheek for Daniel as well. I don't think it will be associated with theOlympics although that would be fine with us!

JNBC: In that song you sing "we are the youth"... I guess you're the onlyband that can rightly use that line. Are you sick of the constant references toyour age?

Chris: We don't get that as much any more. The songs really stand on theirown I think.

JNBC: You had the help of David Helfgott [ed. the movie "Shine" wasbased on his life] on one song?

Chris: Yes, there are a few other musicians on the album. We got DavidHelfgott on "Emotion Sickness". He was a lot of fun. He went aroundhugging everyone. He is a lot older than us so it was good to get hisexperience on the album.

JNBC: What is different on this album from your past albums?

Chris: I think we've matured as a band. This album is much more complexbut we let the album speak for itself.

JNBC: In terms of the live show, is it hard to change pace between songswith a lot of keyboards and then straight rock and roll? Or playing songs offof one album versus the other?

Chris: It did take a while to get used to playing all those songs out the door- but it's kind of natural now.

JNBC: So... the next single - which song is next?

Chris: Ana's Song (Open Fire). I'm not quite sure when it comes out. Wehaven't got any set date.

JNBC: To get all these arrangements together for the new songs - who didyou involve?

Chris: We had a guy by the name of Jim Moginie from Midnight Oil. Hejust came in and knew what he was doing. Everything just came together. Itwas great. Paul Mac added a whole electronic thing which was very cool.

JNBC: Do you have a favorite city to play in?

Chris: Paris.

JNBC: Really? The playing part or just for visiting?

Chris: The playing part.

JNBC: Really. What's different about Paris?

Chris: I don't know! It's just the people. Maybe they've all just had stressfuldays and they need a bit of a release I think!!

JNBC: <laughter> They just go nuts, huh?

Chris: Yeah!

JNBC: I know Starling opened for you in New York and you've got Lit withyou now. Are there other bands that will be touring with you?

Chris: Yes, actually a band from Australia called Grinspoon. They're goodmates of ours.

JNBC: Is there anything that you don't like about touring?

Chris: I guess being away from home so much. You get tired of not beingable to just go home.

JNBC: How has your life changed?

Chris: Being recognized - not as much as Daniel <more laughter> - but it'sdifferent to have to deal with that.

JNBC: So, do people ever make comments about you being fromAustralia?

Chris: Mainly, about the accents. People always think I have an Englishaccent. They try to imitate our accent and they always end up doing anEnglish accent. It's pretty funny actually.

JNBC: I can only imagine. We Americans are pretty bad when it comes tothings like that. So what kind of material are you guys into now?

Chris: I've been listening a lot to this band called The Meters.

JNBC: Really? They're from New Orleans!

Chris: Wow, you've heard of them?

JNBC: Yes, The Meters are a great band!

Chris: I think so too.

JNBC: Tell me about Silverchair on the Internet. You have a lot of devotedfans out there!

Chris: Yeah. It's great. We have a few web pages(http://www.silverchair.net, http://www.chairpage.com,http://www.neon-ballroom.com). And we're doing a webcast tonight fromChicago.

JNBC: Who's doing that?

Chris: A guy called Pete Walton. He does all of that. He's really great andhe does everything for us.

JNBC: The keyboard member. Is he a regular member?

Chris: Sam Holloway. He's playing with us live to round out the sound.

JNBC: I was at the show in New York at the Bowery Ballroom inFebruary. What is that clip that's played before you guys come out onstage?

Chris: Oh! That's from the movie Taxi Driver. "Are you talking to me?" (ed.in Chris' best Robert DeNiro voice)

JNBC: And by the Philadephia show you guys had a whole neon themegoing on stage with the piping around the drum kit and across the stage aswell as up Daniel's microphone stand.

Chris: Yeah, we're trying to make it go with the new album. Trying to findsomething different.

JNBC: The whole glam thing, huh? But... no eyeliner for you? <laughter>

Chris: <laughter> Nah. That's Daniel's thing. Not for me.

JNBC: On Daniel's guitars, he's got all of these stickers that read "Ban DuckSeason: Big Guns, Little Dicks".

Chris: Yeah, that's Daniel. He feels strongly about that kind of thing. Hedoesn't eat meat. He has people's attention so he wants to make a pointabout the things that are important to him.

JNBC: And you guys are environmentalists as well?

Chris: Yes, in the past we did a song called "Surfin' Bird" for a CD that wasfor the Surf Riders Foundation (MOM - '96).

JNBC: Okay, Chris, thanks so much for you time. I wish we had more.Good luck with the tour!

Chris: Thanks! And thanks to everyone out there for all the support.

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