silverchair, those 15-year-old surf imps from Australia who got their first recording
contract by winning a contest sponsored by an Australian TV show called Nomad, are
coming to our sunny shores for a week (a school break). The explosive trio from the
beach town of Newcastle are unabashedly grunge, and proud of it, even in the face of
the current Seattle backlash. Described by their very own publicist as alternately
"Silver High Chair," "Nirvana In Pajamas" and "Not Soundgarden, Kindergarten," they
could have as easily been born and bred in the chilly Pacific Northwest.

Singer Daniel Johns is an eerie Eddie Vedder sound-alike, only if Vedder were
fronting Soundgarden. Courtney Love had a slightly different take on them when she
met the trio at Big Day Out. She stuck her head into their dressing "tent" and told
Johns that "you look like my fucking husband." No word what he said to her. Their
debut album on Epic titled frogstomp debuted at No. 1 in Australia, and has already
broken the triple platinum mark. The trouble is the band, which in addition to Johns is
made up of Chris Joannou on bass and Ben Gillies on drums, doesn't tour. Something
about their mothers not letting them quit school. Still, they're managing to get outside
the house for a brief U.S. jaunt. On June 21, silverchair will make their American
debut, playing Atlanta's Roxy, followed by an appearance on June 23 at The Metro in
Chicago, and finishing up their mini-tour in Detroit at the 6,000 capacity Phoenix
Plaza. Oh yeah, they have a "thing" about llamas (check out their CD), and are
pledging some of their record royalties to the plight of the llamas. Not the Tibetan
kind, the Michael Jackson variety. But then they are part of that Pepsi Generation,
aren't they?