This episode is the conclusion to our two-parter on Silverchair’s fourth album Diorama. 

Diorama was released March 31, 2002 in Australia and debuted at number one on the ARIA chart, the band’s fourth straight album to do so. It eventually went triple platinum in Australia and won five ARIA awards. Diorama is a work of genius but it came at a cost to the band, especially Daniel Johns. But time has been kind to Diorama. Two decades on, it more than holds its own as an ambitious masterpiece.

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Designed to capture a positive new energy and explore a broad spectrum of emotion, 2002’s Diorama was an album that featured some of the most ambitious songs of the band’s career. Although it went triple platinum in Australia and won five ARIA awards, the album was never as successful as it should have been. The band was unable to tour the album due to Daniel developing reactive arthritis, stagnating their momentum overseas. Despite that, it remains a milestone in not just Silverchair’s career but in Australian music overall, a true masterwork.
 
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This episode, we’ll cover the original B-sides from the Neon Ballroom era: Untitled and Trash. These songs represent a bridge between the darkness of Freak Show and the…different flavour of darkness of Neon Ballroom. One is a fan favourite, the other a look at a road not taken by the band. Should Untitled have been on an album? Was Trash Ben’s idea? We get into it. 
 
(By the way, in the episode I say I don’t know what Daniel’s saying at the start of Trash but I’m now pretty sure he’s saying “I’d like to be extraordinary.”)

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This episode is a VERY special guest episode, where I speak to the one and only Nick Launay, the producer behind Silverchair’s Freak Show, Neon Ballroom and Young Modern. Not only that, Nick has worked with some of the greatest artists in history, working with everyone from Nick Cave and Kate Bush to Arcade Fire and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. We had a free-flowing talk about his time with Silverchair and shared some classic stories.
 
Nick Launay’s details:

Instagram: @nicklaunay
www.launay.com 

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Silverchair’s 1999 album Neon Ballroom is the album that drew a line in the sand. With Neon Ballroom, the band had made a definitive statement: This is who we are now and we’re going to continue on this path. You can come along for the ride or you can get off here. But make no mistake, we’re won’t be going back.

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It’s happening! There was one piece of unfinished business for the podcast: I never got to the B-sides. It’s a daunting prospect so I’m taking it piecemeal. This episode, we’ll cover the original B-sides from the Frogstomp and Freak Show singles: Madman (Vocal Mix) and Punk Song 2.

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That’s right, I’m breaking format! 

This episode is a bonus episode, where I speak to Kristen S. He, an award-winning music writer and one half of the pop duo Elle. She's always got a really interesting take on things and we had a great, wide-ranging talk about Silverchair that touched on their writing process, their perception overseas, their place in the culture and keeping their music alive into the 2020s. I really hope you enjoy.

Kristen's Lady Gaga piece:
https://www.vulture.com/article/best-lady-gaga-songs-ranked.html

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The difficult second album. Released February 3 1997, Freak Show hit number 1 on the ARIA charts and the first three singles were all in the top 10. It went double platinum in Australia and gold in the US, where it peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 (before slipping quickly). Was it the sophomore slump or an underrated work by a quickly maturing band?

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Recorded over nine days in late 94-early 95, Frogstomp saw a band raring to go and prove themselves as more than a one-EP wonder. Released March 27, 1995, Frogstomp hit number one on the ARIA and NZ charts, it was a top 10 hit on the US Billboard 200, the first Australian band to hit the top 10 in the US since INXS. Off the back of Frogstomp, Silverchair did a 46-date world tour, opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and then the Ramones. They were a legit phenomenon. But were they becoming overexposed already? 

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It’s a tale as old a time: a band of 15-year-olds enter a battle of bands competition run by a TV show and a radio station. They win the competition and their prize is to record a four-song EP. That EP spends six weeks at the top of the charts, the band gets signed to Sony Records and becomes one of the biggest bands Australia has ever seen. Well, that’s the story if you’re Silverchair. 

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[email protected]
https://silverchairpodcast.buzzsprout.com/

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