Silverchair bassist Chris Joannou’s latest move shows any chance of the band’s reunion is unlikely
WHEN Silverchair called time out in 2011, it was called an “indefinite hiatus”. That break now looks permanent with bassist Chris Joannou’s latest move.
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IF you were holding out any hope of a Silverchair reunion, you may as well shelve that alongside your optimism about Oasis getting back together.
Bassist Chris Joannou is selling prized guitars, amps, synthesisers and other equipment he has used in the studio and on the road during the ‘Chair’s career.
Now a restaurateur in Newcastle where he co-owns The Edwards, Joannou said he was “no longer using” the gear.
And it appears, he will have no use for those bass guitars, including his old faithfuls Whitey and Phil, as he calls them, any time in the near future.
The late 1970s white Fender Precision bass guitar nicknamed Whitey by the guitarist and a 1975 Natural Fender Precision bass guitar he called Phil were played during the band’s final tour in support of their fifth and last studio record Young Modern.
The gear will be on sale via online music gear marketplace Reverb from Thursday.
“The gear for sale ... needs to go to a loving home — especially the bass guitars that have been with me on tour. They’re like family to me ... they all have names,” he said, launching his Reverb shop.
“They’ve been with me for so long, toured all over the world with me, they’ve seen me at my best and at my worst.
“But I’m no longer using them and it’s time for someone else to enjoy them.”
The sale appears to signal Joannou’s music days are done. AS well as his own instruments, he is also selling gear from his studio which hosted album sessions for The Mess Hall, Josh Pyke and Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey.
“It’s always hard to part with gear — especially when I have so much history with them all, But this gear shouldn’t be sitting around my home, it should be in someone’s hands being played,” Joannou said.
His former frontman Daniel Johns, however, is gearing up for a big year of recording and touring.
On Friday, fans will hear his work on three songs on the debut album of Sydney rising star DJ and producer What So Not who has played some of the biggest stages in the world in the past 18 months.
Johns will also launch his much-anticipated Dreams project with Empire of the Sun’s Luke Steele, a collaboration which has been a decade in the making.
The live debut of Dreams will be at the Coachella festival next month and they have posted a small snippet of music titled No One Defeats Us.
Silverchair’s drummer Ben Gillies continues to work on music when not supporting the reality television ambitions of his Real Housewives of Melbourne wife Jackie, who has reached the final week of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.