Silverchair – ‘Frogstomp: 20th Anniversary’

If there is one way to make a reviewer feel old, it is when an anniversary reissue of an album is sent your way that you remember buying approximately a year after its original release. The initial reaction is usually met with statements such as “I remember buying this back in the day after school”, or “where the hell has my youth gone?” but both containing more expletives than really need to be mentioned at this time. Once you have finished frantically checking for grey hairs and looking up anti-ageing cream, the warm sense of nostalgia eventually overcomes you, and as such, makes writing a review on the 20th anniversary reissue of Silverchair’s 1995 debut album ‘Frogstomp’ a thoroughly enjoyable excursion.

Of course, we all know how big Silverchair would become in their later years, thanks to their flair for dramatic and grandiose musical statements on ‘Neon Ballroom’, and the arena rock exploration of ‘Diorama’. Long before that though, the Australian trio of Daniel Johns, Chris Joannou, and Ben Gillies started just like any band that were influenced by the Seattle grunge explosion of the early nineties, which essentially ‘Frogstomp’ is a carbon copy of in places. However, that doesn’t means it a bad record, because the talent they had at such a young age shines through on this album, and with a superb remastering job, plus the inclusion of several B-sides and live material, it still proves to be a crucial stepping stone in Silverchair’s lineage.

The moment that looming bassline of ‘Israel’s Son’ begins, you remember just how great this record is, and even though the opening track contains one of the – and possibly only – immature sounding moments as the band go into double-time towards the end, it is still a heavy, down-tuned monster. It’s easy to forgive such immaturities though, as this is a band who had an average age of 15 when they released this record, and any faults are soon put to bed when they come on like a young Pearl Jam during the lead single ‘Tomorrow’. The guitar work is straight from the Stone Gossard playbook of alternative rock, with John’s soaring vocal sounding more like a weather beaten old soul than a young buck as he effortless drags the end syllable of the chorus out.

Silverchair were never going to win any prizes for originality with ‘Frogstomp’, as everything about it was pulled from various influences with very little done to cover up where it was taken from. What makes the songs on the album special, is the way they sounded wise beyond their years. It would have been easy for a band this young just to write a record about love and heartbreak, but Silverchair would cast their eye to that in a more mature way later on. Instead, the metallic crunch of ‘Pure Massacre’ tells the harrowing truths of genocide, war, and the lack of human compassion that comes with them, followed later by the self-explanatory – but never self-deprecating –‘Suicidal Dream’, where they come into their own, and shows how much of an accomplished songwriter Johns was even in his infancy. Add to that the powerful tale of a collapsing family life that is at the heart of ‘Undecided’, and the bleak narrative that is cloaked in power-pop hooks during closer ‘Findaway’, it makes ‘Frogstomp’ feel a far more mature affair than you would expect from three raggedy high school kids.

While not essential to the album itself, the inclusion of several B-sides, such as ‘Acid Rain’, and the storming ‘Blind’ make for a nice touch. They were all suitable for the ‘Tomorrow’ EP in which they first appeared, but you can see why they were maybe left on the cutting room floor of for the album. The live material is also worthy of its place here, as you get to hear a young Silverchair before the production of a stadiums and arenas, with Johns pushing his vocal to near breaking point on a particularly alluring version of ‘Faultline’.

When some anniversary issues are a waste of money, and seemingly a pointless record company cash-in, this reissue of ‘Frogstomp’ is definitely worth picking up. If you are a grunge kid trapped in the body of an early 30 year old, then do it for nothing more than nostalgia, but if you are a fan of Silverchair’s latter material before they imploded, then it is a great document that shows how this little rock band from New South Wales cut their teeth to become one of Australia’s biggest exports.

GLEN BUSHELL