Silverchair - Frogstomp - 1995 Grunge Rock - Ltd. Red/Blue and Yellow/Green Vinyl - Sealed 180 Grm 2LP

Silverchair - Frogstomp

Label: Sony Music – 88765431861, SRC Vinyl – SRC019

Style: Alternative Rock, Grunge

Tracklist


A1 Israel's Son 5:18
A2 Tomorrow 4:26
A3 Faultline 4:19
A4 Pure Massacre 4:58



B1 Shade 4:02
B2 Blind
B3 Leave Me Out 3:03
B4 Suicidal Dream 3:12



C1 Madman 2:43
C2 Undecided 4:36
C3 Cicada 5:10
C4 Findaway 2:56



Companies etc
Recorded At – Festival Studios
Mixed At – Eclipse Studios, Sydney
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Credits
A&R – John O'Donnell, John Watson
Art Direction – Jod, Kevin Wilkins
Bass – Chris Joannou
Design, Artwork By [Illustration] – Greg Bennett
Drums – Ben Gillies
Engineer [Assistant] – Jon Russell, Toby Learmont
Guitar, Vocals – Daniel Johns
Mastered By – Ted Jensen
Mixed By [Assistant] – Mark Thomas, Matt Witton, Phil 'Astroboy' Munro
Photography – David Anderson, John Watson, Susan Robertson
Photography By – Adrienne Overall
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Kevin 'Caveman' Shirley
Recorded By [Assistant] – Mark Thomas, Matt Witton, Phil 'Astroboy' Munro
Written-By – Gillies (tracks: 2 to 6, 9, 10), Johns

''Imagine back to being 15 years old. If you haven’t reached that age yet, then think about your current age. If you are 15, like me, then this works great. Now, think about writing a song that captivates the world, becoming #1 on the United States modern rock and mainstream rock charts. That’s a bit harder, huh? Now of course, we all know Silverchair accomplished this with their runaway single and their claim to fame, Tomorrow. Straight out of Australia, a demo version of the song took the country by storm, instantly climbing to the top of the Australian charts. Once the band released their debut full-length album, Frogstomp, Tomorrow became a huge success in America as well. This single paved the way for Silverchair to become the biggest band ever out of Australia, only at age 15.

Silverchair showed up a bit late for their debut, releasing Frogstomp in 1995, a time when the grunge era began to fade away with the death of Kurt Cobain as well as the original grunge bands beginning to break up or just get old and lose interest. A new wave of bands was taking the radio airwaves by storm under a title called post-grunge. Silverchair, with Frogstomp, became one of the most successful post-grunge bands of all time. The band managed to create catchy music while maintaining the gritty, dirty grunge sound characterized with bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana. However, unlike Cobain, Daniel Johns makes a great guitar player, able to play tight with the rest of his band while still singing. Never does his guitar playing become sloppy and he always remains under control. He manages to play slow and reserved as well as fast and aggressive, sometimes all in one song.

Unlike most grunge bands of the time, Silverchair had their own little flair in their music. The album opener Israel’s Son shows off their technique perfectly. The song opens with a slow, catchy bass riff. The song continues along with distorted bass and guitar playing along this riff, and Daniel singing about hate. However, the song lets all the restraint and tension built up by the slow tempo break loose, racing to the end once approaching 1:30 left in the song. The first tempo change doesn’t seem much and sort of a let down, seeming as if the band can only do a slower tempo. However, the band changes the tempo again, going even faster. Now they really have something going here, making a great headbanger. With 30 seconds left, the song reaches an almost punk rock speed, still playing that same versatile riff. The band does it again in Faultline, starting as a typical rock song with clean guitar on the verses and a powerful distorted climax in the chorus. After going through two verses and choruses, the song enters a slightly faster, much more rocking riff. The riff changes to an almost metal style build up and then a death metal grunt similar to Mikael Akerfeldt opens to an early Incubus style riff. This riff closes out the song, completely different from the beginning of the song.

Frogstomp is a great debut for Silverchair. It single-handedly sealed their place in Australian culture, the American music scene, and stands out as one of the greatest post-grunge albums of all time. Where most bands are entering their first taste with success, Silverchair are rock veterans.''