Finally, Daniel speaks! So, what does Daniel, 20, think about Aussie music, his fave ‘80s stuff, being famous as a teenager and meat? Peter Grant gets right inside silverchair’s main man’s head.

The Influences

PG: Neon Ballroom is quite different?
DJ: Yeah, it’s definitely different from what we’ve done previously. I had a concept in my head and I really wanted to make a traditional orchestral-type of album, as well as including some futuristic, hard-rock elements. On the album, I wrote the lyrics first, so the music was influenced by the mood of the lyrics. Some lyrics are kind of melancholy, so the music needs that orchestral thing. I heard it described as classical jazz, but I found that strange. I’ve never listened to jazz or classical music – I think it’s a natural evolution.

PG: Back in the ‘70s, there was a tight connection between classical music and hard rock. That’s not the case for you?
DJ: No, I played classical music for a year when I was 12. That’s as far as it goes. I’m into old ‘80s hard-core music, like Government Issue, Black Flag, State of Alert, stuff like that. They’re really big influences. The melodic side doesn’t come from what I’m listening to. The most melodic band I’m listening to is Led Zeppelin.

PG: Your voice goes from hard and rough, to soft and brittle on this album. DJ: On this album, I wanted to explore a wide spectrum and go for a lot of different ideas, and try things out.

Veggie Head

PG: You also did a song for the soundtrack to the movie Spawn.
DJ: The song (Spawn, which silverchair did with Vitro and remixed for Neon Ballroom as Spawn Again) is about animal experimentation and animal exploitation. I’ve been a vegan for three years and a vegetarian for four years.

PG: Isn’t that hard? It almost alienates you from a normal social life.
DJ: Yes, it is hard. Especially to eat out at restaurants and stuff. But I just do it because of my conscience.

PG: Why did you choose to go to extremes and be a vegan. Milk, eggs and products derived from animals without slaughtering them will not harm the animal.
DJ: No, but it’s about the upbringing of the animal. The cows are kept in small cages, they get impregnated and their calves are killed to become veal. The hens that produce the eggs are held in captivity, just so they can produce high quantities of eggs.

PG: OK, but what if you lived on your own farm and had cattle and hens, pigs or whatever, and they were treated well – would you then drink their milk or eat their eggs?
DJ: I probably would, but it would depend on how the animals were treated. I’d only eat their products if it was naturally there, not forced.

PG: Some vegans have a bad rep. They attack slaughter houses, meat factories and farms. They use terrorism to achieve their goal. Do you support that kind of behaviour?
DJ: It’s a very big issue in some areas. But I’m not for that, or against that, I think it’s just personal opinion. If they’re blowing up factories that are exploiting animals in a very harmful or degrading way, well I don’t have anything against it.

PG: Could it be the right means to use terrorism to combat it?
DJ: No, I don’t think violence is the right means to address any problem. They might think it’s the only way but it’s their personal preference.

PG: Have you visited outback Australia, or is it virgin territory for city folks?
DJ: My auntie lives on a farm in the country, and she’s got cows and horses and stuff, which is cool. I’ve been to Alice Springs and seen Ayer’s Rock (Uluru). It was so big, I just walked around it.

Growing Up Famous

PG: Do you feel you’ve missed out on a lot of teen things?
DJ: We didn’t really do a lot of things teenagers do – I didn’t anyway. But Ben and Chris did a lot of partying and stuff. That comes naturally in a rock band. We missed out on a few things, but we also got a lot back that we wouldn’t have gotten unless we were in a rock band, so you have to take the good with the bad.

PG: Having come this far before you’re 20, do you think it will enable you to put things in perspective in the future?
DJ: Yeah, I’ve definitely learned a lot. The time we actually missed at school, I think we learned more about humanity and the human race, really. We’ve experienced a lot in a short period of time that’s made us aware of the human mentality.

School Rules

PG: How much school did you finish before you dropped out?
DJ: We totally completed school, we went to the end. But a lot of it was on the road with a tutor. It’s not as effective as being in a classroom.

PG: In a way, it could have been a blessing to skip school at that age?
DJ: Yeah, but we missed having a group of friends and being normal people. We did go to school quite a bit, when we were off tour. We never went on holidays.

Money Matters

PG: You’ve made a career, sold over a million albums and become financially independent. How did you handle the money?
DJ: None of us really have expensive tastes. All I spend money on, really, is records. But it’s good to be making money from something that gives you creative satisfaction.

PG: Were your family wealthy?
DJ: No, we’re middle class, we weren’t wealthy. My dad worked in the fruit market and my mum was a housewife. We didn’t want the money to change things. We wanted to maintain a level of normality and fit into the community at home. Nothing’s really changed. We still live in the same house I grew up in. I moved out for a while when I wrote the album, but I came back because I got kicked out of the house I was living in. I wasn’t allowed to have a pet. I have a dog and I chose her over the flat.

A Full-On Future

PG: What’s the benefit of being an Australian rock band?
DJ: Australia has a stong rock’n’roll heritage, it’s a great place to come from.

PG: Normally, a band in your genre would be dreaming of making their debut at your age. This is your third album, that’s amazing!
DJ: But it’s also strange doing your third album when you’re 19. It feels like I’ve spent my teenage years achieving a career, rather than living a life.

PG: The third album’s often called “a band’s most important album”. Do you feel that way?
DJ: I think there’s no such thing. If your first album is crap, you generally set yourself up for a bad career. And if the second album is bad, people assume you’ve lost it and that’s pretty much the end. I think every album is important. You just have to grow and create new challenges for yourself as an artist to maintain a level of sincerity.

PG: What’s up next? DJ: We’re on tour right now in Europe and America.

(They’ve done Europe and are going back to the US and Canada for a few more shows before coming home)