Frogstomp
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| Frogstomp | ||
|---|---|---|
| LP by Silverchair | ||
| Released | June 20, 1995 | |
| Recorded | 1994-1995 | |
| Genre | Grunge | |
| Length | 44 min 51 sec | |
| Record label | Epic Records | |
| Producer | Kevin "Caveman" Shirley | |
| Professional reviews | ||
| Allmusic.com | 4 stars out of 5 | link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70311061608252709&sql=Ad9fqxquhldae) |
| Rolling Stone | NR | link (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album?id=129990) |
| Silverchair chronology | ||
| N/A | Frogstomp (1995) | Freak Show (1997) |
Frogstomp is the first album from the then 15-year-old members of the Australian grunge band, Silverchair. It was first released in Australia in early 1995 by a subsidiary of Sony Records and hit number one on the album charts. On June 20, 1995, Frogstomp was released by Epic Records in the US and went platinum by November.
Track listing
- "Israel's Son"
- "Tomorrow"
- "Faultline"
- "Pure Massacre"
- "Shade"
- "Leave Me Out"
- "Suicidal Dream"
- "Madman"
- "Undecided"
- "Cicada"
- "Findaway"
Key tracks on this album are "Tomorrow", "Pure Massacre", and "Israel's Son".
Title Idea: "I was at a guy from our record company's house one night, and I was looking through his CDs because he's got a really good collection. I found this '60s pop collection record and I was just going, "Why do you have this?" I looked at the back and there was this song that some guy did called "Frogstomp" and I said, "That's a pretty good name." I just rang up Ben and Chris and we just thought it was really funny so we used it for the album." -Daniel [14]
Executive Decisions: Nick Launay was responsible for mixing the special edit of "Tomorrow" that won the demo competition. The band originally wanted him to produce Frogstomp, but he was unavailable. They ended up with producer Kevin "Caveman" Shirley.
Vocal Problems: Halfway through the recording, Daniel lost his voice:
"I couldn't talk for days... I think I just caught a bug, and I just totally lost my voice... So we recorded some of the songs [israel's son], and I only had half a voice." [5]
Song Choices: The band felt that anyone that had the Tomorrow EP wouldn't want a new album with the same songs. However, there was no question that "Tomorrow" had to be on the new album, so they decided to re-record the way they were now performing it.
Unforunately, by the time the first album was recorded, the band had already grown tired of several songs, "Cicada" being one of them:
"When we recorded the first album, there were three or four songs we already didn't like, which is a bummer because we needed those songs to make up an albums worth of material." -Daniel [?]
Production: "We went in to record this album quick rather than this really expensive record where people would be saying we couldn't perform the stuff live. We went in, cut the tracks live, threw an extra guitar track down, and that was it. Just so people knew how we sounded and just so people could get the true idea of what we are like. We didn't want to look like shit compared to the record when we play live. We're heavier live, though. The next record we might take two, two-and-a-half weeks maybe." -Daniel [14]
Technical Settings: To get the thick guitar sound: "I mainly used my Gibson Firebird through Marshall amps, JCM 900 Dual Reverbs I think they're called. But I don't use them anymore, I use Soldano amps now." -Daniel [5]
There was no external distortion: "It's just straight amp distortion. I drive the amps really hard. I don't put much presence of treble in; I put a little bass and not much middle." -Daniel [5]
Influences: "When we first started, we were really influenced by Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin; and then we started getting into Pearl Jam and Soundgarden; and after that it was the New York hardcore scene." -Daniel [14]