Christopher Andrew Joannou (born 10 November 1979) is an Australian musician best known as the bassist for the Newcastle-based

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got their big bre ...

. He is a twin to sister Louise Kipa. He was the first of the three band members to cut his long hair short. Joannou was nicknamed 'Lumberjack' by Silverchair fans for his love of trees, and plaid shirts. His bandmate

Ben Gillies Benjamin David 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 ...

taught him how to play bass guitar. As well as being a well known

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low b ...

, Joannou was the assistant producer for

The Mess Hall The Mess Hall were a two-piece drums and guitar combo based in Sydney, Australia, specialising in "raw, edgy bluesy rock." The band consisted of Jed Kurzel (lead vocals/guitar) and Cec Condon (drums/backing vocals) for most of its tenure. The ...

albums ''

Feeling Sideways Feeling Sideways is a six-track extended play by Australian indie rock duo, the Mess Hall, released in May 2003. It was co-produced by band members, Anthony Johnsen and Jed Kurzel with Chris Joannou (of Silverchair) and Matt Lovell (Something ...

'' and the

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

award-winning '' Notes From A Ceiling''. He has used mainly G&L and

Fender Precision Bass The Fender Precision Bass (often shortened to "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instru ...

es, and almost exclusively uses Ampeg B-15 Portaflex combos. As reported to gearwire.com, Joannou uses an Ampeg SVT-2 into an Ampeg 810 cabinet and a new Ampeg B-15 combo in his live set-up. In 2006, Joannou spoke at the launch of a mental health scholarship set up to honour his cousin, Nathan Trepezanov, who had committed suicide at the age of 21 in January of that year. Joannou is of Macedonian heritage.

Business ventures

Joannou is a co-founder and co-owner of the Lovells Lager beer company. He is also one of four businessmen who opened a bar and small entertainment venue on Parry Street in the West End of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, which opened in December 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joannou, Chris 1979 births Living people People from Newcastle, New South Wales Silverchair members Australian twins Australian people of Macedonian descent Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia Australian rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Alternative rock bass guitarists 21st-century bass guitarists Australian male guitarists