A day after Silverchair released a press statement confirming their "indefinite hibernation",
themusic.com.au has reported that they can now "reveal" that "frontman Daniel Johns may release a solo album using material that was intended for the next Silverchair album."
According to the site's newsletter, the
Daily SPA, a source involved in the process of the band's recent recording sessions in Sydney has claimed that bassist Chris Joannou and drummer Ben Gillies were essentially shut out of the Silverchair recordings, fuelling speculation that Johns was—and is—in the process of creating a solo album:
"Johns was doing nearly all of the recording with bassist Chris Joannou and drummer Ben Gillies only present in the studio when called upon by Johns to lay down tracks. With the material, dictated almost wholly by Johns, moving in a new direction—reportedly both more thematic and stripped back in parts—at one point there were enough tracks to release a double album, an idea that was being considered by the Silvechair parties. Sources have also told Daily SPA that Johns has been in talks with Luke Steele (The Sleepy Jackson, Empire Of The Sun) about a new project."
The band debuted several new tracks at last year's Groovin the Moo festival, including 'Sixteen' and 'Machina Collecta'—the former a low key, Nick Cave tinged swampy pop song, and the latter a neon, robotic uptempo rock thing. Here they are below:
Silverchair - 'Sixteen' live at GTM 2010
Silverchair - 'Machina Collecta'