Appreciation for the masterpiece that is silverchair's most underrated album, Diorama.
Diorama was released on March 31st 2002, which fell on Easter Sunday.
“Diorama means "a world within a world". It's a particularly apt name for Silverchair's new CD as this evocative piece of work lifts you out of the everyday and carries you into a world of its own." - quoted from the Diorama enhanced cd
"No matter what people have got going on in their lives, hopefully when they play this album it will make them forget about everyday stuff. When music does that it's magical and, for me that's what "Diorama" is about" - Daniel Johns
Diorama was a huge leap for the band in terms of creativity and exploration of different musical styles. Listening to the album takes you on a journey.
"If you look at the album as a journey, everything is strategically placed to make you feel like you've just been somewhere magical. Then you end up at a place you would never expect to end up on Silverchair record and I think that can only be a good thing." - Daniel referring to “After All These Years.”
The recording of the album happened to coincide with the September 11th terror attacks, which had an effect on the band and crew.
“The record was made at a time when the world seemed quite disturbed and a lot of that comes across. The uplifting qualities are there because they are trying to overcome a time in the world that felt anxious and fragile."
Silverchair faced many challenges with trying to promote diorama. Their American record label, Atlantic, was not a fan of how melodic it sounded. There was a fear that it would not get much radio play, as the US rock radio industry at the time was focused on nu-metal. Daniel refused to make any compromises to make any changes on the album. He was told that he had made a record that was “impossible to sell.” Despite this, daniel had faith in silverchair's audience and believed they were smarter than the record executives. “I felt closer to creating a career defining album than I ever had and on the other hand there was immense pressure for me to make a rock record that would slot neatly alongside the US radio rock format of the time which quite frankly sucked.” Besides the label not being fond of the album, Daniel fell ill with reactive arthritis in early 2002 which played a huge factor in the promotion of Diorama, causing the band to cancel all of their shows. As a result, the U.S. release date was pushed to August 27th and it wasn't until 2003 where they were able to tour in the states.
The only compromise that Daniel made was leaving out the song “Asylum,” because the label said it sounded too similar to “After All These Years.”