Introducing Silverchair ... Again - An Interview with Daniel Johns

(andPOP) - Turns out Silverchair's hiatus really was a hiatus.

Vocalist and guitarist Daniel Johns suffered from a debilitating case of reactive arthritis which made it impossible for him to tour in support of the band's last release, "Diorama," and that, no doubt, had something to do with why its contents barely made airwaves in Canada.

Johns, along with drummer Ben Gillies and bassist Chris Joannou, were plagued with rumours of a breakup, which they denied, saying they would play together again when the time was right.

Time went by. Johns fully recovered from the arthritis, got hitched to musician and actress Natalie Imbruglia, and released a side project as the Dissociatives.

Then on January 29, 2005, the three Australians played their first live show since 2003 as part of Waveaid, a benefit concert for the victims of the Asian tsunami.

"It was amazing," Johns told andPOP. "Within just the first rehearsal it felt really good to be playing with the guys again. And after we did the show, I already had about 50 songs written, so I said to the guys 'do you want to do another record?' and they wanted to, so we were kind of back together, making music within about a week."

The timing was right, but this time around, the trio did things differently – their way.

The band members funded the project themselves and took their time recording, as an attempt to remove all the outside pressure that had been put on them since they entered the music business in the mid-'90s.

"I still felt a lot of pressure but it was self-imposed pressure. All the pressure I felt was pressure to be good, as opposed to pressure to conform with what our record company wanted me to do or whatever," said a soft-spoken Johns, leaning onto a couch at the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto, where he was conducting interviews in support of the band's fifth release, "Young Modern," available tomorrow.

"It felt really natural, like when we were 14 and making our first record. It just felt like we were doing it because we loved doing it and wanted to make music, as opposed to trying to live up to someone's expectations."

The new approach can also be seen as a healthier outlook for Johns, whose personal battle adjusting to pressure and his band's quick rise to fame became public in 1999 with the release of the single "Ana's Song," a track he penned about his battle with anorexia. Johns has since stopped reading what's written about him or the band.

"Even if it's good, it's not very good to read about it. I think your perception of yourself should probably come from yourself, as opposed other people."

Now 28, the members of Silverchair have come a long way since 1994, then 14-year-old boys. They won a national demo competition for their track "Tomorrow," which helped launch their career and later helped propel their debut record, "Frogstomp," to international success.

While the band members were still in high school, they also released their sophomore album "Freak Show," which was followed by the critically acclaimed "Neon Ballroom" and then "Diorama." The latter two releases were praised for being more original than the grunge-rock they were first labeled as.

Although "Diorama" wound up becoming the band's biggest release in their home and native land, many people here were unaware that it even existed. Johns called the album "a big step" for the band, but internationally it came and went under the radar.

A last minute addition to the ARIA awards (Australia's Grammys) saw Johns, no longer bedridden, and his band mates return to the stage for a performance and several awards, which helped the record go on to become certified five times platinum.

The 13 tracks on "Young Modern" continue where "Diorama" left off, and showcase Silverchair's continued growth as musicians and as songwriters. It encompasses the orchestral sound of their last release, but it sounds more mature, has more energy and explores more musical styles.

"I wanted it to be more energetic and more kind of pop," Johns said. "I still wanted to keep the complexity without the progressive nature of the last record. Make it a lot simpler but just as adventurous and ambitious."

Mission accomplished.

"Young Modern" also sees Johns playing the roll of producer for the first time alongside Nick Launay. "We'd worked with [Nick] before on 'Freak Show' and 'Neon Ballroom,' but it was probably the first time that we'd worked with him as adults, instead of as kids. So that felt really like there was an adjustment period where we weren't kids anymore and he didn't have to be parental. I love the work that he's done with Nick Cave and Public Image. He's just a really good person to learn from."

The term "Young Modern" was coined by Van Dyke Parks, who has worked with the likes of the Beach Boys and U2, and who contributed orchestral arrangements on the last two Silverchair records.

"'Young Modern' was a nickname that Van Dyke Parks gave me. I wrote it in a song lyric ('Young Modern Station,' the blazing opening track) and as soon as it was in a lyric I just loved the title, loved the sound of it, so it just became the record," Johns explained.

What may come as a surprise is the fact that Johns doesn't always realize how personal his lyrics are until after he's finished writing them. "Then I realize I've just kind of purged myself emotionally," he said. "I don't sit down and go, 'I'm going to write a song about this or about this.' I just start writing and usually I'm just trying to write words that match the emotion that the music seems to conjure."

The new album also features the return of Paul Mac on keys, as he has done on the last two albums. Mac is an established artist on the Auzzie electronic music scene, is known for his remixes, which include Silverchair, INXS and Powderfinger. He's also Johns' band mate in the Dissociatives.

"The main difference is the Dissociatives is more of a collaborative thing. Me and Paul wrote all the music together for that one. With Silverchair I write the stuff by myself most of the time, with the exception of a couple tracks. The main difference other than that, being in Silverchair it's a lot more budget," Johns said with a laugh.

As for "Young Modern," Johns hopes it can accomplish what "Diorama" couldn't. It's already gone three times platinum in Australia, and the lead single "Straight Lines" is already climbing its way up North American charts. And if their two sold out shows in Toronto back in February are any indication, people are paying attention this time around.

"I think that overseas, a lot of people perceive us as teenaged grunge sensations from down under," he said with a smile. "[They] still remember us as the band with the frog on the cover. So it's really just about re-educating people about what we've been doing for the past decade. A lot of people still think 'Frogstomp' is really all Silverchair seems to have. We wrote that when we were 14 years old. So yeah, I guess for people to re-evaluate their perceptions of Silverchair, we just to have to keep going and keep getting better."

Photos by: Ann Ruppenstein