Silverchair [ tickets ] may be thought of as a teenage grunge band in the US, but in its home country of Australia, the group has attained superstar status.

Its latest album, "Young Modern," is Silverchair's fifth consecutive No. 1 album in Australia, giving the group more No. 1 albums than any other Aussie band in history, including Midnight Oil (four), and INXS and AC/DC (three).

During a recent interview with LiveDaily from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies was at a loss when asked to explain why his band has been so successful.

"To be totally honest, I have no idea," he said. "I think there's integrity in the band and Dan [Johns, lead singer] is a great songwriter.

"We're constantly trying to push ourselves. We don't get comfortable. I think people find the band interesting. It feels like a lot of bands, America included, get comfortable kind of doing the same thing. They find a formula and they stick to it. I think one of the attractions to Silverchair to people in Australia has always been they don't know what to expect. Our music is really heartfelt. It seems to work."

Silverchair is celebrating the release of "Young Modern" with an extensive tour of the United States. However, four July shows were postponed until November because Johns suffered a throat infection. [See the itinerary below for details.] Johns' illnesses, namely reactive arthritis and anorexia, have plagued the band during the last couple years, keeping the band from recording and touring. Aside from the throat infection, Gillies said Johns, who's married to soap opera star turned pop singer Natalie Imbruglia, is doing fine.

"He's probably been the healthiest he's been, ever since I can remember. It seems like there was one thing after another. First, there's anorexia then the arthritis. It just seemed so constant. I think at the end he was getting advice in Australia saying, 'You need to rest and you need to just not move.' This was when he had arthritis and very skinny as well. The people said 'Rest, don't move. You've just got to wait it out.' It was going on for months," Gillies said.

"Then he eventually went to LA, I think, and saw this lady, she may have been a hardcore German lady or something like that. She took the complete opposite approach. She was like, 'Nope. You have to hit the gym. You have to get moving. You have to get your joints moving.' He was taking all these vitamins and getting these massages which were ridiculously painful. And within about, I don't know, two months, I remember seeing him and he was, like, limber, really mobile, had lots of pectoral muscles. His biceps were all built up and he was up moving around. I was just thinking, 'Holy s---. What a turnaround.' Ever since then, he's been fine. I think he seems like he won't have a relapse, hopefully, with anything.

"I think we're all in good spirits and really ready to tour. Within the band and within the Silverchair family, there's a real sense of enthusiasm and excitement."

Part of that excitement is due to "Young Modern," a stark departure from Silverchair's "Frogstomp" and "Freak Show," which spawned the hits "Tomorrow" and "Freak," respectively. Teenage grunge has been replaced with middle-of-the road, keyboard-driven electronic rock.

"I guess one of the biggest challenges for us is going to be bridging that gap between album No. 1 and No. 5. There's so much in between that's happened. There's definitely the hardcore fans and there's definitely people in the US who are aware of where we are," Gillies said.

"The biggest challenge for us coming over there is almost going to be convincing people that it's us. Or trying to persuade people to come on the ride because, in their eyes, some people are only aware of the first record. To them, it'll seem like it's not the same band. And it isn't the same band. We have evolved so much that we're much, much better musicians. We're a bit more aware of ourselves. We've had so many more life experiences. There's so much more to draw upon. I think that's going to be our biggest challenge."