Sunday, August 17, 2014

Song Of The Week: 8/17/14







Song: "Findaway"

Artist: Silverchair

Album: "Frogstomp"

Year: 1995



"Findaway" is a song that appears to be about someone who was imprisoned on drug charges and he's chomping at the bit to escape. Both his addictions and his negativity are just bringing him down and he wants out. The vocalist is just offering words of encouragement to the man. You'll find a way to get out of this situation just don't give in! Silverchair formed as a band back in 1992, hailing from Australia. The band members started when they were in school under the moniker Innocent Criminals and basically covered songs by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. In 1994 the band changed their name to Silverchair and won a national competition in Australia with their song "Tomorrow". Eventually the band signed with Murmur Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music, and in 1995, they released their debut album "Frogstomp". This album featured the singles "Israel's Son", "Pure Massacre" and "Tomorrow", a song which stayed at #1 on the Australian music charts for six weeks. The band members were just 15 years old at the time of the release of "Frogstomp", an album which went double platinum in the U.S. In 1997, the band released their sophmore effort, "Freak Show". featuring the singles "Freak", "Abuse Me", "Cemetery" and "The Door", "Freak Show" wound up selling over 1.5 million copies globally. In 1999, Silverchair's sound started to evolve. While their first two album were mainly grunge efforts, "Neon Ballroom" saw the band expand their sound, offering some softer ballads like "Ana's Song" and "Miss You Love" and the epic, heavily orchestrated "Emotion Sickness". There were still some heavier tracks on the album, like the lead single "Anthem For The Year 2000". Yet another album that hit #1 in Australia, it also charted well internationally, reaching as high as #2 in Canada. The band achieved a career highlight on January 21, 2000 by playing to over 250,000 people at the Rock In Rio festival. After their contract with Sony Music expired, the band hooked up with Atlantic Records and in 2002, they released "Diorama". With singles like "The Greatest View", "Without You" and "After All These Years", the sound and production took another turn for the band. This album was heavy on keyboards, piano, synthesizers and orchestration. At this point, the band's grunge roots were basically non-existent in their music. 2003 saw the band release "Live From Faraway Stables", a two cd/two dvd package that documented the band's "Across The Night" tour. After that tour was completed, the band took a two year hiatus, where the members focused on various side projects. 2007 saw the return of Silverchair with the release of "Young Modern". Songs like "Straight Lines", "Reflections Of A Sound" and "If You Keep Losing Sleep" showed the band further experimenting with their sound. This was not a "guitar heavy" album by any stretch. The songs were very "pop-y". Silverchair became the first artists in Australia to have five #1 albums and they set out on a tour with Powderfinger to promote their new album. This tour would be documented on the DVD, "Across The Great Divide". In 2009, the band began working on what would be their sixth album. Lead singer and guitarist, Daniel Johns, said that this album would only feature guitars on maybe four or five songs, even further experimenting with their sound. The band performed two new songs, "16" and "Machina Collecta", at May's Groovin The Moo Festival. In 2010, the band abruptly halted production on their new album for some reason. 2011 saw the band release a statement that they were in "indefinite hibernation". While the statement didn't say their was tensions within the band, it did offer that when it stopped being fun, that they would no longer continue to do it. In 2012, the band did say they planned to finish up the album that they had been working on and release it. Currently, there has been no news some two years later that this untitled album is going to be released anytime soon. While the band has broken up, there have been rumors that they may reunite for certain benefit shows and stuff like that but as for being a full time band again, that seems unlikely. Silverchair is a band that's hard to peg in a genre. Their first two albums were clearly of a band riding the coattails of the grunge movement, but beginning with their third album, their music became more and more sophisticated with each subsequent release. Perhaps their shifts in sound alienated some fans. I personally prefered their sound somewhere in the middle. "Neon Ballroom" was that perfect mesh of keeping some of their heavy side while showing some softer textures.

No comments:

Post a Comment