Silverchair's Chris Joannou & Ben Gillies To Appear On Upcoming 'Australian Story'

Lifelong Australian Silverchair fans might want to tune into the ABC’s newest Australian Story on Monday (18 September), as presenter Leigh Sales helps tell the story of bassist Chris Joannou and drummer Ben Gillies.

Airing at 8 pm on ABC TV and iView on Monday, A Silver Lining will tell the Silverchair story as Joannou and Gillies see it.

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Joannou commented about the band’s success, which saw them win more ARIA Awards than any other Australian band, five albums hit #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and tour for 15 years. “I would say we achieved the dream. But at what cost?”

A theme of Monday night’s Australian Story will be “men communicating badly with each other,” record executive John O’Donnell said in a press release. He added, “It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. They definitely had to grow up fast.”

Gillies admits that bad communication didn’t help the strained relationships between bandmates, saying, “Working class Newcastle, you don’t talk about how you’re feeling; it’s not what you do.”

Despite the conflicts between themselves and estranged vocalist Daniel Johns, Gillies shared that he looks at Silverchair “with love and celebration”. Joannou added, “It reached a time where it felt right to stand forward and tell our story.”

You can tune into previous episodes of Australian Story here.

In late June, Joannou and Gillies revealed they’re publishing a tell-all memoir about Silverchair, Love & Pain. The book will be released via Hatchette Australia on Wednesday, 27 September.

It’s noted that although the book will explore the rock’n’roll chaos that went on in Silverchair, the book will also tap into “all the love and pain that came with being in the band”, such as “the cost of fame and intense pressure on two teenagers who had no way of preparing for it”, “the navigation of their friendships with each other and their relationships with their friends and family members” and “the mistakes they made and the successes they cherished”.

Daniel Johns is not said to have been involved in the production of Love & Pain.