At the age of just 15, Daniel Johns was the face and frontman of one of Australia’s biggest musical exports — Silverchair.
The band, which also consisted of drummer Ben Gillies and bassist, Chris Joannou, burst onto the scene in 1994 with their gritty hot single ‘Tomorrow’ and have since sold over six million albums worldwide.
Johns, who subsequently went on to enjoy solo success as well as with The Dissociatives and DREAMS, has always been an intriguing and enigmatic figure, made even more interesting thanks to his preference for remaining relatively private about his life.
Now, the talented musician is lifting the lid on his life and career in a new five-part Spotify podcast called Who Is Daniel Johns?.
According to a release from Spotify, in the first episode, listeners will experience the personal story of Daniel’s life, capturing key figures, important locations, and the formative events that have led him on his journey. Daniel discusses the impact of fame on his personal life and how it affected his ability as an artist. Daniel also discusses the intimacy of this podcast venturing into his often private life.
The podcast also gives Johns the chance to address the tough questions that have surrounded his 27-year career.
“I’m happy to do it because I think it’s a good vessel to release art,” said Johns in a statement. “Above all things, I just want to make art, and I would really love for people to hear it. And the only way to get people to hear my art is through vessels like this because I don’t want to perform on stage.”
Produced by global podcast heavyweights Kaitlyn Sawrey, Amelia Chappelow and Frank Lopez, the weekly series includes a soundtrack of original, yet to be released Daniel Johns music.
Following the first five episodes, the season will end with a series of bonus episodes where Daniel has 1:1 conversations with the key figures in his life, collaborators and luminaries including Natalie Imbruglia, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
Says Imbruligia of her former husband, “Who is Daniel Johns? The first thing that springs to mind is ‘Musical genius’. Also ‘Peter Pan’ maybe.”
Adds Corgan (to Johns), “I can see you at 15-16 years old singing on stage singing in the Australian sun many summers ago. If you’d asked me ‘You think this kid’s got a future?’ I would have said ’No chance in hell’. ”
Who Is Daniel Johns? is available to download now on Spotify.
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