Frogstomp

''Frogstomp'' is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Silverchair. It was released on 27 March 1995, when the band members were only 15 years of age, by record label Murmur. The album features the band's most commercially successful single, " Tomorrow", which was first released on the band's extended play of the same name six months earlier on 16 September 1994. Music videos were made for the album's four singles: "Tomorrow", " Pure Massacre", " Israel's Son", and "Shade".

Recording

According to drummer Ben Gillies and vocalist and guitarist Daniel Johns in 1996, ''Frogstomp'' was recorded in nine days. Gillies stated the album took "even less days to mix." Prior to recording ''Frogstomp'', Silverchair were previously named Innocent Criminals and consisted of drummer Ben Gillies and vocalist and guitarist Daniel Johns, with bassist Chris Joannou joining shortly after the band formed in 1992. Second guitarist Tobin Finnane was also in the band, though he later left.McFarlane
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on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 1 August 2024. Demo versions of the songs "Acid Rain", "Cicada", " Pure Massacre", and " Tomorrow" were recorded by the band at Platinum Sound Studios in early 1994. In December 1995, Johns said about the recording of the demo songs, "It cost about $75. We weren't in there for more than an hour." "Tomorrow" and "Acid Rain" were re-recorded at Triple J Studios in Sydney, Australia, for the release of Silverchair's four-track EP '' Tomorrow'' in September 1994, which also included the songs "Blind" and "Stoned". Three months after the release of the EP, the band began recording their debut album, ''Frogstomp'', during which "Cicada", "Pure Massacre", and "Tomorrow" were re-recorded. The recording sessions for the album began in late December 1994 and ended in mid-January 1995 at Festival Studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales.

In July 2007, when asked about the grunge sound of ''Frogstomp'' and the band's musical influences, Gillies stated: "We were definitely influenced by the whole Seattle sound."

In May 2015, when asked if the record was made live in the studio, Johns said:

Yeah, that's the thing that I do really like about that album – it sounds exactly like we sounded. There was no big American producer calling the shots behind the desk and telling us to do this, this and this. It was literally this guy, Kevin Shirley, who was a great producer, just saying, "I want it to sound like you guys, but I want it to sound really f—ing loud and I want the guitars really f—ing loud." So to me, I was like, f—ing yeah! The songwriting might not be genius, but I think sonically, the performances are really good. It's really honest; it's just three Australian kids thrashing it out in the studio and that's exactly how it sounds.

In August 2020, Gillies said the following about the album:

We were always searching to keep that spark alive when ''Frogstomp'' came out because it was just so unrefined, it was just so raw. There was something magical about that we continued to try and capture. I think we did pretty well.

Title

In January 1996, when asked why the album was named ''Frogstomp'', Johns said:

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 (laughs), "Why do you have this?" I looked at the back and there was this song that some guy nowiki/>Floyd Newman">Floyd_Newman.html" ;"title="nowiki/>nowiki/>Floyd Newmandid called Frogstomp and I said, "That's a pretty good name." (laughs) I just rang up Ben Gillies">Ben and Chris and we just thought it was really funny so we used it for the album.

Release

''Frogstomp'' was first released in Australia by record label Murmur on 27 March 1995. It reached number 1 on the Australian ARIA Charts">ARIA Albums Chart