Two years ago, silverchair came out of Australia to become instant sensations in the late-grunge epoch. Following the succes of Frogstomp and it's hit Tomorrow, the trio emerged with Freak Show, an impressive sophomore outing which may prove to be the first relevant album of the post-grunge era. While on tour in Canada, singer/guitarist Daniel Johns checked in with Guitar Shop. Here's what went down.
Guitar Shop: Your recording has changed since silverchair recorded frogstomp. What kind of gear did you use for Freak Show and what initiated these changes?
Daniel: On the first album, I was just using a Les Paul through Marshall amps. In the studio, it was OK, but I decided to change because live, it was a pretty standard rock sound and I didn't want that. For Freak Show, I brought my live guitar rig into the studio. I used Paul Reed Smith guitars, as well as a Gibson SG, through MESA/Boogie amps a lot of the time and sometimes through Soldano amps. I give a lot of shit to guitars and Paul Reed Smith guitars are the ones that don't break! Tonally, they're not different from Les Pauls, but they're a little bit lighter. Most guitarists use Marshall amps, but I wanted to use something different, so sometimes I used Soldanos. I got a Soldano Hot Rod and fiddled around with it until I got this metallic sound that's really good.
Guitar Shop: What mods did you make to the Soldano?
Daniel: Well, I wanted to take the same amp everywhere, but because of the different power in different places, we had to change the power converter. I met up with Mike Soldano and fiddled with the amp tonally until I was happy with it.
Guitar Shop: I understand you're beginning to gather an impressive collection of vintage guitars.
Daniel: Yeah, I've got a lot of vintage stuff at home, but I don't take it on the road 'cause I don't want to wreck it. Right now, I've got about 20 vintage guitars. I like to buy rare, strange guitars. I've got a 1960-something Fender Custom which has a really weird headstock -- it's like a cross between a Jaguar and a Strat. It's got a lot of bass pickups in it. I really like old Gretsch guitars, too. I've got a Gretsch from the 60's with a built-in phaser, and a Chet Atkins model as well. Gretsches are nice to play and they just feel old. I use an Electro Harmonix phaser onstage with a Rocktron Chorus to get a real wishy-washy sound. The Small Stone makes some noise, but I don't care.
Guitar Shop: Your cleaner rhythm parts on Freak Show sound more like vintage amps that Soldanos or Boogies. Did you use any vintage amps?
Daniel: Yeah, I used an old Fender Tremolux from the '60s -- it's like a surf amp. It sounds really full. The newer amps are made with sooo much gain, so you always have an element of distortion even when you're trying to get a clean sound. So, you have to settle for something that sounds kind of clean and I didn't want to settle for that. Live, though, I use a Soldano and just settle with its clean sound.
Guitar Shop: Many critics rather ineptly toss silverchair into the same genre as Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. Does that bother you?
Daniel: We don't care about sitting down and trying to write memorable hooks. A lot of people say our songs have great hooks and we're just like, "Yeah, okay, cool." It's an element in what we do. Actually, our biggest influences are Sabbath and Zeppelin. We think Pearl Jam and Soundgarden are good bands, but they're not an influence on us.