Introducing 'Rewind': A Classic Albums Podcast Series (And It Starts With A Silverchair Classic)

Silverchair fans are in for a treat with one of their albums the focus of a brand new podcast series. 

Launching today, Rewind With Steve Bell is the latest podcast to join the Handshake Media stable (home of The Green Room With Neil Griffiths, The Take With Willie Mason, That Sucks! and more) with revered music journalist and The Music contributor Steve Bell taking a look at some of history's most important albums. 

"It's really exciting to be launching the Rewind podcast, we've got a great team and it's been a lot of fun so far," Bell told The Music. 

"This is my first foray into the podcast world but it feels like a natural extension of the interviews I've been doing in print for 20 years - plus I spent plenty of time on-air on 4ZZZ in Brisbane over the journey and spoke to plenty of people in that capacity - but with the extra scope to dig a little deeper and go off the beaten path a bit, which the music geek in me really enjoys.

"We're going to be focusing largely on Australian music - key releases and events - which has been a passion of mine for decades. Sometimes I think we take for granted the scope and diversity of the amazing music we continually conjure for a population of our size, and I hope that Rewind can add something of value to the ongoing discussion about this amazing scene."

Bell's kicking off the series with a look at Silverchair's seminal debut album, Frogstomp, talking to the band members, management, producers and collaborators to find out what made this one of the decade's most influential records.

Along with Silverchair founding member and drummer Ben Gillies, Bell talks with with the label and management team who first brought the band to public attention - John Watson, John O’Donnell and Susan Robertson - Frogstomp producer Kevin “Caveman” Shirley also joins the conversation along with the person credited for discovering the band, Robert Hambling.

Rewind’s account of the Frogstomp story goes back to very start when a trio of teenagers from Newcastle entered a TV song competition through their meteoric rise to international fame and climaxes at the chaos of their ARIA award accolades. 

In between, hear Gillies explain why Frogstomp remains Silverchair’s most honest record, listen in on the behind-the-scenes battles to sign the band, learn about their struggles with sudden media attention, get the definitive story of the band’s name and then there’s that thing about Speed Muffin…

Rewind is available to stream now via The Podcasts website and all your favourite streaming platforms, including Apple and Spotify. 

Check out the first episode below and stay tuned for more episodes soon!