† NillaMora †

(antiMusic Exclusive) Silverchair has returned with a new studio album, "Young Modern." An album that helped them set a record for the most No. 1 albums by any band in their native Australia. (This one makes it their fifth, beating the old record they shared with Midnight Oil).

The band is in the midst of a sold out tour Down Under (they'll be back Stateside in Nov) and we asked frontman Daniel Johns to pick some of his favorite tracks from the new album and tell us a little bit about them. Here he is with today's song "Waiting All Day ".

I wanted to write a track like Roy Orbison or something like that. A classic, old, timeless song with no tricks - a classic structure. I wrote the music with Julian Hamilton from The Presets. I really love what he does as a songwriter. We worked on…

antiMusic reports: Silverchair has returned with a new studio album, "Young Modern." An album that helped them set a record for the most No. 1 albums by any band in their native Australia. (This one makes it their fifth, beating the old record they shared with Midnight Oil). The band is in the midst of a sold out tour Down Under (they'll be back Stateside in Nov) and we asked frontman Daniel Johns to pick some of his favorite tracks from the new album and tell us a little bit about them. Here he is with today's song "Straight Lines". 

Musically it was about making something with a certain propulsion to it like a traveling song and a song that felt positive, something that made you feel uplifted when you heard it, you know like in the spirit of Midnight Oil celebration-al. I think I was just going…

Australian girlie magazine Zoo Weekly has released its annual list of the people we love to hate, with Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns taking out the number one spot.

Editors at the mag say it's a difficult job, starting with a list of several hundred before cutting it down to a top 50.

2Day FM's Kyle Sandilands topped last year's list, but it seems we've grown to hate him a little bit less; he narrowly makes the new list in 50th position.

And of course, the list wouldn't be the same without the odd politician here and there: George W Bush, Peter Garrett, Peter Costello and Kevin Andrews make the list.

But it seems even a new album hasn't stopped the magazine taking out its wrath on the Chair's Daniel Johns,…

Fans of Australian rock giants Silverchair and Powderfinger were offered a rare treat last night when the two bands performed together onstage.

VIDEO: Powderchair moment

Concertgoers roared with excitement as frontmen Daniel Johns and Bernard Fanning surprised their audience with an unpublicised duet at the Acer Arena in Sydney's Olympic Park.

The performance came at the end of Powderfinger's encore, with a playful Fanning joking to the audience that this would definitely be the final song of the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Silverchair to the stage," Fanning beamed.

"This is the very first time we've done this."

Johns and Fanning stood side-by-side as they covered 'Substitute' by The Who.

At one point Johns put his arm around Fanning and there was…

Natalie Imbruglia tells Ed Power about initially objecting to launching a greatest hits album, working with her husband, hooking up with Swedish pop producers and those L'Oreal ads

Is it true you initially resisted the idea of a 'Best Of' album?

I'd spent all of last year writing my fourth record and I'm not a big fan of Greatest Hits albums. But, as it happened, I had a lot of extra songs and it was going to a be a challenge to condense them onto one album. So there are five new songs on the record. It was a compromise.

How did it feel to listen back to all your old songs?

I tend to focus on what's ahead. But, when I went back to the old songs, I was pleasantly surprised. It's quite sweet, listening to a younger version of yourself.

Glorious, your new single, seems more upbeat than many…

POWDERCHAIR ... The boys have landed in Sydney and are set to impress fans at Acer Arena this weekend where they are likely to perform a duet together.

IT took them a week into the Across The Great Divide tour to get there but Powderfinger and Silverchair are now finally Powderchair.

And Sydney fans at their Acer Arena concerts this weekend are likely to score the first duet on the tour, with the 'finger expected to invite the 'chair to join them on stage during the encore.

It is believed they are considering a cover, possibly Hoodoo Gurus' Bittersweet, which Powderfinger chose as their final song at their Tamworth concert last Tuesday.

The much-loved bands had been keeping to themselves for the most part since the tour kicked off in Newcastle on August 29.

At the first show…

Tuned in ... Daniel Johns and Bernard Fanning on stage last night.
Photo: Simon Alekna

TWO of Australia's biggest rock bands joined forces on stage in Sydney last night, as part of a national tour that will take in nearly a quarter of a million fans.

Silverchair and Powderfinger played the first Sydney show on their Across the Great Divide tour at Acer Arena at Olympic Park.

More than 40,000 Sydney fans were due to see the bands over two nights, with Silverchair and Powderfinger playing separate sets before joining forces for a grand rock'n'roll finale.

Daniel Johns and Bernard Fanning sang together on a cover version of Substitute by the Who.

Silverchair were first on the double bill, performing songs off their new album Young Modern, plus classic hits ranging from Without You and Ana's Song to their…

by Nickolas Blazina

The band has grown far past the precocious teens of the mid-'90s dubbed "Nirvana in Pajamas" by the mainstream U.S. press.

I'll admit. I have a bias.

I love Silverchair. They were the first band I ever saw live. In most cases, 11 years after a person first likes a band, that initial interest fades. Times change. Tastes change. People change.

Yet, after all these years, Silverchair continue to surprise me in their growth as artists and songwriters. I've grown up with them, through good times and bad. Their fifth album, Young Modern, finds the band picking up where they left off with 2002's Diorama, intertwining lush, orchestral landscapes with modern pop rock. Not to be confused with its predecessor, Young Modern is an entirely different beast altogether. While Diorama demanded careful attention from its listener, Young Modern challenges the audience, almost dares them not to…