On a wonderful Saturday, November 10th, 1979, a bassist for one of Australia's prized bands was born. Christopher John Joannou (and you pronounce his last name Joe-an-you) is presently 19 years old. He currently lives in Newcastle, Australia with his family in a house with a red brick garage. Who cares...

Chris' family consists of his mother named Sue, father David (who owns a laundry and dry cleaning shop), and two sisters, one of which is Chris' twin (that's Louise...pictured here). The Joannou's now have two dogs. One is a German shepherd named Khan. Quite recently (as in 1999), they acquired a pug.

Chris' childhood is quite plain. He and band member to be Ben Gillies lived (and still live) on the same street since they were two years old. When he was very little, Ben and Daniel told Chris an orange crayon was a piece of cheese, so poor Chris actually ate it. What a surprise it was when he found out it wasn't cheese! He also used to wear glasses...if it really matters. If you know that Daniel played trumpet, you'd be interested to know that Chris played trumpet as well, before he played bass!

The musical history of Chris' life begins with Ben. Ben, Daniel, and Tobin Finanne, who were already engaged in being part of a garage band (Innocent Criminals), needed a bassist. The three boys asked Chris to be their bassist. However, Chris didn't have a bass so he bought one off his longtime friend, Ben Gillies, for $100. Ben did teach Chris some of the basics. "I pretty much started when I joined the band. I used to go around to this guy's house and he'd teach me stuff," Chris recalls. In a total of three months, he learned how to play bass.

The band gained a new name due to the bassist's song request mistake. Tobin had relocated to England while the Innocent Criminals entered the Pick Me demo contest, hosted by Triple J...and won. They were signed to Murmur, the new Australian division of Sony Music Inc., but the band needed a new name, due to the urging of the record company. So, one day the guys were requesting songs on the radio and they told Chris to write down "Sliver" (by Nirvana) and "Chair" (Berlin Chair is the full name of the song...by You Am I) and instead, Chris wrote "silverchair"...a band name that would be recognized around the world a few months.

Frogstomp came out a success and Chris was the bassist who gave each song depth and "tightness" (that's what Ben says). Many things were learned about Chris during this time. Musically, he simply used G+L guitars with Ampeg amps. Some interviewers asked him if he wrote lyrics and if so, why they weren't included on Frogstomp. Chris replied that he did write lyrics, but they weren't considered "the silverchair style" according to Ben and Daniel. His musical preferences were and still are Led Zepplin, Sausage, You Am I, Korn, Primus, Unwritten Law, Bachmarket, Deftones, and Bob Marley, and Ammonia. Now, on to the pointless facts (that ironically will come up again two years later when Freak Show is released)...he gained the reputation of being the quiet member of silverchair. "You see...my vocal chords only allow me 2 hours of talking a day so I kind of have to limit it," Chris said in an interview. If he wasn't in silverchair, he said he'd probably be a motor mechanic. At the start of silverchair's spiraling career, he acquired his dream car- a 1968 Ford Mustang. It's blue with a white interior for anyone that cares. Many silverchair fans (as well as early articles) remarked about Chris' familiar bass-walk and long, wavy brown hair that he would swing forward and then fly backwards. But in January of 1996, he shaved it all off. Daniel said, "He's rebelling against metal. So, he's shaven his head to avoid a metal kind of image." Interviewers seemed to ask Chris light questions, mostly about school and what he liked to do. They oddly did not ask him technical questions about the music, as they did Daniel and Ben. Speaking of school (or after school for that matter), Chris once said, "As for college, I don't know. Probably get that high school certificate and run," which would be a very true statement later on.

Goatees, black basses, and interesting socks marked the beginning of the Freak Show era for Chris. He experimented with different bass guitars and had a pretty good time during the recording of Freak Show. Ben bought Chris colorful and cartoonish socks that read, "I'm Just A Shy Guy With A Big Dick." It's something silverchair fans will never forget :) During the Summer Freak Show tours, silverchair's tour bus had a problem. The tire blew out. However, Chris' motor mechanics skills proved to be the savior of the day. Chris easily fixed the tire and the bus was on its way!

Now on to some more pointless facts...he can cook 3 minute noodles. He loves mashed potatoes and gravy. His favorite actors are Sean Connery and John Cleese. He missed seeing the Fonz (from Happy Days) one day in the airport. And after Freak Show, he helped coach his cousin's under 7 soccer team. That's pretty nice!

We're now up to the present...Neon Ballroom era. Chris is still the same guy he's always been, musically and personally. He's opened up a little more and speaks a lot more than he used to, but he's still pretty shy. Daniel mentioned that he's in the process of moving out of his parent's home in Newcastle, Australia...away from the same street he's lived on with Ben for over 17 years! He's been playing an awesome gold sparkle bass guitar and has these really interesting bright red pants (with shoes to go with them...watch their performance on David Letterman and you'll see what I mean). However, Chris is an amazing bassist and a wonderful person offstage. His contributions to silverchair have not been left unnoticed.

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