For the members of australia's silverchair, being free of the restraints of a high school curriculum is something they have looked forward to for quite sometime. The lads may have sold several million copies of their first two albums (95's frogstomp and 97's Freak Show), but it's all been in preparation for their newest release Neon Ballroom. "In doing this album, we were unhinderd by any school commitments." explains lead vocalist and chief lyricst Daniel Johns. "We didn't have any obligations; we just had the music to worry about. We knew the first two albums would be leading to something special after we finished school. Before, it was always a part-time thing. This time, we wanted to really focus on doing something more creative."

After finishing up their hugely successful Freak Show tour, the boys had originally planned to take a year off, but as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men... "After about two weeks, I started getting really anxious to write again. So I went and lived in a house for three months by myself and basically didn't leave except to go grocery shopping." The self-imposed exile has paid off handsomely for Johns and his bandmates.

Perhaps one of the new sparkling examples of silverchair's new musical diversity is the album's opening track, 'Emotion Sickness', a brilliant collaboration with pianist David Helfgott. "The song id really sort of pretty (but) I wanted something that was very unsettling, very manic and discordant." Explains Johns. "I had seen documentaries on (Helfgott) and the movie, Shine, and I really respected what he did musically. David just seemed like the perfect guy, and personality wise, he really suited everything the song is about." After a 13 month long absence from the stage, the lads were a tad nervous about performing new material to fans, so they billed themselves as a cover band and sold tickets to an unsuspecting crowd. "We didn't want to do it as silverchair, just in case we sucked," laughs Johns, "but it ended up being a really good show so we were happy."

With the first single (Anthem For The Year 2000) about to be released, and a tour just around the corner, the trio will be dealing with global success and heavyduty schedules again in no time.

Thank goodness they no longer have to worry about finals.