Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies has a new band. The Kiln pairs him with Joseph Prielozny, a two-time Grammy-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist, and the duo’s self-titled debut album is due in 2027.
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Gillies announced the project on social media alongside an auction benefiting Support Act, the Australian charity that provides crisis relief and mental health support to musicians and crew. “It’s my birthday, but this year, the present’s going the other way,” he said in a video posted to coincide with his birthday on Saturday (Oct. 24).
The album’s first vinyl run will be limited to 250 copies, but four test pressings were made before production. Gillies and Prielozny are each keeping one, and a third, signed by both, is up for auction, with half the winning bid going to Support Act. “Only four of these vinyls exist. They’re the very first copies of the record ever made,” Gillies said. Bidding closes at noon AEDT on Saturday (Oct. 31) via the band’s website.
The pair come from opposite ends of the business. Gillies co-founded Silverchair in Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1992 with Daniel Johns and Chris Joannou, and the band broke in the U.S. as teenagers: Frogstomp reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 in 1995 and spent 49 weeks on the chart, while “Tomorrow” topped both the Modern Rock Tracks and Album Rock Tracks charts and became the most-played song on U.S. modern rock radio that year. “Abuse Me” later reached No. 4 on both rock charts, and Young Modern peaked at No. 70 on the Billboard 200 in 2007. All five Silverchair albums debuted at No. 1 in Australia, and the band has won 21 ARIA Awards, more than any other act. They went on indefinite hiatus in 2011.
Prielozny won his first Grammy in 2013 for engineering Lecrae’s Gravity, which took best gospel album, and a second in 2015 for his songwriting on Lecrae and for KING & COUNTRY’s “Messengers,” which won best contemporary Christian music performance/song.
Details on The Kiln’s sound are scarce. The duo’s website frames the project around songwriting, experimentation and storytelling, with the album exploring the tension between holding on and letting go.
Gillies has worked steadily since Silverchair’s hiatus, including the side project Tambalane with Wes Carr, his band Bento, whose debut Diamond Days arrived in 2012, and solo releases.
