SILVERCHAIR To Perform At Australia's ARIA MUSIC AWARDS

SILVERCHAIR today announced they will perform a song at the 16th Annual ARIA Music Awards in Sydney on Tuesday night. It will be the band's first live appearance anywhere in the world since their album Diorama debuted at #1 on the Australian charts in April.

Since that time, Diorama has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide and yielded three top 20 singles in this country. Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the album "one of the boldest musical statements ever made by an Australian rock band" and Kerrang! said it was "their first truly great album". After hearing some of the songs, Bono from U2 told Rolling Stone that people should "swim to Australia to hear them if you have to".

Diorama was awarded three ARIA's (Best Producer, Best Engineer and Best Artwork) when the artisan awards were presented for 2002 two weeks ago. The disc is also nominated for Best Album and Best Rock album and has led to SILVERCHAIR's nomination for Best Group at Tuesday night's ceremony. The band is on the shortlist for Channel [V]'s "Artist Of The Year" award.

Over the last six months the band has been unable to undertake touring and promotional activities due to frontman Daniel Johns' battle with reactive arthritis. Johns' condition has improved significantly in recent months as a result of intensive treatments he has been receiving in Los Angeles. He has now recovered sufficiently to allow him to deliver a short performance such as the one on Tuesday night. He is still not fully recovered and is only able to play guitar for about 15 minutes before his hands begin to lose mobility. Daniel is definitely expected to make a complete recovery although an entire concert performance is set to be several more months away.

"We're really relieved that Daniel is feeling so much better and we're looking forward to being able to play together again after six pretty frustrating months", said SILVERCHAIR's drummer, Ben Gillies. "We're pleased that Diorama has received all of these nominations in spite of the fact that we haven't been able to do much to let people know about it. It will be fun to be able to play together again after such a long break - even if it is for only one song. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before Daniel is well enough to do an entire show."

Ed St John, Chairman of the ARIA Awards said, "From the very first meeting about this year's ARIA Awards there was a consensus that SILVERCHAIR simply had to be a part of the show. The fact that Daniel's illness made that a remote possibility only strengthened everyone's determination to make it happen. I know I speak for the entire ARIA board, and everyone involved in producing the show, that we're absolutely delighted that SILVERCHAIR are now confirmed to appear."

Daniel Johns returned to Australia on Monday this week. Since then, he has rehearsed each day with his bandmates Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou. While in Australia he is continuing to treat his arthritic condition by various means, including homeopathic medicines and physical therapy. Later this week Johns will return to Los Angeles to continue receiving treatment.

SILVERCHAIR's ARIA Awards performance will coincide with the release of a new DVD called Across The Night, which is in stores tomorrow. The DVD contains a behind-the-scenes, "warts and all" documentary film about the making of Diorama as well as music videos for three songs off the album — "The Greatest View", "Without You" and "Luv Your Life", plus some other special features.