Ben Gillies

Ben Gillies
Ben Gillies of Silverchair at Webster Hall in New York City, February 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Benjamin David Gillies
Born	(1979-10-24) 24 October 1979 (age 37) Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Genres	Alternative rock, grunge, post-grunge, art rock
Instruments	Drums, guitar, vocals
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Murmur, Sony, Epic, Eleven
Associated acts	Silverchair, Tambalane, Bento
Notable instruments
Ben Gillies Heartbeater

Benjamin David "Ben" Gillies (born 24 October 1979) is an Australian musician, best known as the drummer of Australian rock band Silverchair from 1992 until the band went on hiatus in 2011. In 2003, Gillies formed Tambalane with Wes Carr, initially as a song-writing project, they released a self-titled album in 2005 and toured Australia but subsequently folded. By June 2011, after Silverchair's disbandment, Gillies was in the final stages of about 12 months of working on his solo album and he said that it was not a continuation of his earlier work with Tambalane. In 2012, he formed Bento, in which he performs lead vocals, and released the band's debut album Diamond Days.

Benjamin David Gillies was born on 24 October 1979 in Merewether, a suburb of Newcastle NSW. He started as a quad drummer in the band, The Marching Koalas, before forming the grunge group, Innocent Criminals, at the age of 12 with friends Daniel Johns and Chris Joannou. Playing originally at school and other venues in the Newcastle area, they came to attention after a weekend music workshop at the Tanilba Bay Progress Hall funded through the Arts Council of New South Wales in March 1994. By October 1994, under their new name Silverchair, their first EP Tomorrow had reached No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Silverchair went on to release five No. 1 albums, Frogstomp (1995), Freak Show (1997), Neon Ballroom (1999), Diorama (2002) and Young Modern (2007).

Gillies formed the band Tambalane in 2002 while Silverchair was in hiatus following Johns' illness, releasing a self-titled album featuring the singles Little Miss Liar and Free before the band folded in 2005. He then returned to work with Silverchair.