Sydney, AU. (Top40 Charts/ EMI MUSIC Australia) - Tickets went on sale at 9am today for Silverchair's big co-headlining Australian tour with
Powderfinger – 'Across The Great Divide'. The band is currently in North
America preparing for the July 24 Stateside release of their acclaimed album, 'Young Modern'.
Silverchair is currently enjoying their best run at U.S. radio in over a decade with their No 1 Aussie hit 'Straight Lines' getting added to over 30 stations across America over recent weeks.
Nearly all of the country's biggest modern rock stations are on board upfront of the album's release including KROQ and Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles, New York's KROCK, Chicago's Q101, KNRK Portland, and 99X in Atlanta. For many of these stations, 'Straight Lines' is the first Silverchair song they have playlisted since way back in 1997. The track is already among the most requested tunes on several of these stations which augers well for its future commercial success.
In other big U.S. news, Silverchair will make their first ever appearance on NBC's 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' when they perform 'Straight Lines' there on Tuesday July 10. They will then perform the song on the CBS's 'Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' in the wee small hours of Friday July 13.
Daniel Johns also flew to New York last week to film a major feature for MTV News.
The band kicks off their North American tour on Friday July 13 with shows on the U.S. west coast. Many dates on that tour are already sold out – including San Francisco, Vancouver, Atlanta and Boston - which is an extraordinary result given that it's Silverchair's first visit to all of those markets since 1999.
The tour will conclude with a main stage performance at Chicago's Lollapalooza Festival in early August before heading on to Europe for 3 weeks of shows including sold out dates in London and Paris. At the end of the month the band will head home to commence the 'Across The Great Divide' Australian tour.
Silverchair's current U.S. resurgence has taken many in that country's music industry by surprise. While the group sold over 3 million albums in America during the 1990's, 2002's 'Diorama' received almost no airplay there due to the band's inability to tour following the arthritic illness that affected singer, Daniel Johns. Given rapidly changing musical trends it seemed highly unlikely that any group could return to the highly competitive U.S. airwaves so strongly after such a long absence.
The current run of early success is also surprising some industry types because, 'Young Modern' has not been released through a conventional deal with a big record company. Instead, it is being released on Silverchair's Aussie imprint – Eleven: a music company - through Warner Music's boutique Independent Label Group (ILG). Essentially the deal gives the band complete control over their music and how it is marketed which makes the current radio and TV embrace of 'Straight Lines' all the more rewarding.
Meanwhile, back at home the second single from Young Modern – 'Reflections Of A Sound' – will be released digitally on Saturday July 14. The track will be bundled everywhere with live versions of 'Straight Lines' and 'Mind Reader' from the group's Carriageworks Album Launch. iTunes will also include an exclusive live version of 'Luv Your Life' in their version of the single package.
'Across The Great Divide Tour' – On Sale 9am Monday July 9 (visit www.acrossthegreatdivide.com.au for all ticketing and venue details)
'Reflections Of A Sound' - Digital Single release Saturday July 14. The album 'Young Modern'- out now
