Silverchair Drummer Ben Gillies Launches The Kiln, With a Signed Test Pressing Up for Auction

Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies has announced a new band, The Kiln, formed with producer Joseph Prielozny. A signed test pressing of the group's debut album is up for auction, and half of the winning bid will go to the Australian charity Support Act. Bidding closes at noon AEDT (Australian Eastern Daylight Time) on Saturday 31 October, through the band's website.

Gillies made the announcement in a personal video on his official Facebook account, posted to coincide with his birthday on Saturday 24 October. The project has its own Instagram account, @thekilnmusic. The self-titled debut album is due in 2027.

A test pressing is an early copy of a record, made so the artists can check the sound and finish before the full run is made. The Kiln made four before production began. Gillies and Prielozny each keep one. The third, signed by both men, is the one going to auction, according to Billboard.

The first vinyl run will be limited to 250 copies. Vinyl is the long-playing record format that has returned to shops in recent years, and a first run is the initial batch pressed before any wider release.

Support Act is an Australian charity that provides crisis relief and mental health support to musicians and crew. Half of the auction's winning bid goes to the group, while the rest stays with the project.

For many readers, the name Silverchair will be the starting point. The band formed in Newcastle, New South Wales, in 1992, with Gillies, Daniel Johns and Chris Joannou. Its albums debuted at No. 1 in Australia, all five of them, and the band has won 21 ARIA Awards, the country's main music prizes, more than any other act. Silverchair went on indefinite hiatus in 2011.

The band's US chart run is also on record. Its 1995 album Frogstomp reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200, the weekly American album chart, and spent 49 weeks on it.

Prielozny is a producer and multi-instrumentalist who has won two Grammy Awards, the main American music prizes. His first came in 2013, for engineering Lecrae's Gravity, which won best gospel album. His second came in 2015, for songwriting on Lecrae's work and on KING & COUNTRY's 'Messengers', which won best contemporary Christian music performance or song.

Anyone who wants to bid, or follow the album's progress, should start with the band's website. The next dated step is the auction close at noon AEDT on 31 October.