Seattlest Interview: Silverchair Drummer Ben Gillies
Remember—or recognize—Silverchair? Chances are the last song you heard from the Australian trio was 1995’s grunge-ish "Tomorrow," which hit #1 on US charts. The band’s mates were 14 when that single, off debut album Frogstomp, made them international stars. American interest in their music may have ebbed since, but Silverchair remains Australia’s biggest act. Young Modern, their new—and decidedly un-grunge—album is their record-breaking 5th Aussie chart-topper. It hits US bins on July 24. The band hits the Showbox this Friday; the show is sold out.
Like so many upwardly mobile Seattleites, Silverchair have swapped long hair and rumpled tees for a metro, au naturale look. (See mustaches above.) Being happily mired in '90s rock music, we jumped at the opportunity to talk with drummer Ben Gillies about the band’s evolution and success.
Your band is huge in Australia, Young Modern is your fifth number one album there. You were huge in America in the mid-90s—do you guys want to see the top of the US charts again?
That’s why we’re over here, promoting it and giving it a red-hot shot. In a way it kind of does feel like we’ve got something to prove in America. A lot of people over here still consider us that teenage grunge sensation from Australia. But that’s over 10 years ago, and we’ve moved a long way forward since then, we’ve evolved musically. It feels like we’re one of the bands in the world that are really pushing themselves musically. There’s definitely a drive in all of us that wants to be successful in America again and prove to people that we’re much more than the three teenage boys that we were when we started.
Bands that experiment with their sound run the risk of losing fans. Silverchair did that with Diorama, and a lot more of it with Young Modern. Were you worried about turning some fans off?
Not really. I think we’ve been really lucky with our fans. They’re really loyal. One of the attractions to the band is that we haven’t been pigeonholed, and people really don’t know what to expect. There’s nothing worse than bands putting out the same album time after time and basically rehashing old songs and putting new lyrics in them. I think it just gets boring after a while. We’re keeping it interesting for ourselves as well. You know, I’m sure that we’ve lost fans because we’ve changed and evolved so much, but I’m pretty sure that we’ve picked up new fans as well. And we’ve got such a core fan base that comes with us whatever we do. We’re not really worried at all, to be honest.
What was your reaction to such exposure at a young age? Did it freak you out or was it just a thrill all the way?
It’s a lot of pressure. I think the hardest part was not really realizing what we were starting or what we were creating. In anybody’s life there’s ups and downs, positives and negatives. It’s been the same for us. There’s been times saying ‘I’m having the ride of my life, and I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.’ And then there’s other times when you’re going ‘This is shit—I want to do something else,' or 'I just want to go home.’ To be honest, I think there’s not many people who get to have the experience that we’re having. You really just have to thank your lucky stars and enjoy it and appreciate the position that you’re in. I think we all appreciate what we’ve achieved and what we’ve got—it’s just taken us 12 years to get to that point. [laughs]
Frogstomp is routinely referred to as grunge. Were you guys influenced by what was happening in American rock at the time, or did that angst-y sound come just from being young teens?
We were definitely influenced by the whole Seattle sound. Before then, our earliest musical influences were our parents’ records. We got into Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, The Doors and Sabbath. That was kind of our musical education. We felt we had a pretty good start. When we hit high school and all our friends were listening to the Seattle stuff, naturally that’s what we started to listen to. I guess when you’re 14 years old you’re very—what’s the word?
Impressionable?
Yeah. So that’s probably why a lot of that music rubbed off on us. As we got a bit older and started to find our own sound, we started to lean more or reference more of the older stuff—the stuff that was kind of our musical roots.
Think you’ll play "Pure Massacre" or "Tomorrow" in Seattle, where a lot of people are familiar with the grunge stuff?
[laughs] I can’t promise anything, but if I’m going off what we’ve been playing for the last 12 months or so… I don’t like the chances. But who knows, we might—but it’d be one or two songs from those early days.
People sometimes complain that Seattle audiences don’t really get into shows. Do you guys feed off the audience’s energy, or off the music you’re playing?
I think in a lot of situations, it’s a combination of everything. The audience and the band and the music—you’re all together. If you’re a band and into the music, you’re in your own little world. But I think everyone should be part of the live experience, including the audience. We’ve played in cities that the audiences’ hearts are won over, or they’re really kind of standoffish or critical or whatever. But I think if you work hard, you try and use that to your advantage—it’s kind of like a challenge of whether you’ll win them over or not. Hopefully you will. But I don’t know—we haven’t played in Seattle for years, maybe they’ll just sit down on the ground and nod their heads.
I don’t think it’ll be that bad. And you guys sold the show out—are you surprised to be selling out shows in the US after being away for so long?
Yeah. It’s pretty exciting. Everything that’s happening over here is exciting. Radio’s really taking to the single ["Straight Lines"]. We’ve done a lot of press. If we’re going to have a shot at rekindling our success over here, and show people that we’re not just teenage crumbs—if we’re ever going to have a shot, this could be it.
You guys are playing Lollapalooza later this summer. Any bands you’re looking forward to seeing?
Yeah, I’m really keen to see Arcade Fire and The Stooges. I haven’t seen Pearl Jam in quite a while, so I’m pretty keen to see those guys. It’s insane. We’re all really excited to be a part of it and see all those bands as well. It’ll be a good day, I’ll say.
What’s next for Silverchair? Think it’ll be another few years before you record a new album?
I’d say so. The album’s been out a while in Australia. It’s not even out here in the US. We’ve only really just started serious touring. From what our management’s been saying, the next year’s pretty much locked down. We’re going to be doing shows and trying to get it out there and promoting it. Naturally, sometime after that we’ll probably have a little break—I wouldn’t imagine as long a break, but time to recharge the batteries. Then we’ll jump back on the wagon.
