Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns is promising to address the tough questions that have surrounded his life in a new Spotify Original podcast.
With each episode introduced by actor Guy Pearce, Who is Daniel Johns? promises to be a deep dive into the life and times of one of the more successful and mysterious Australian artists of the past 30 years.
As someone who doesn’t give many interviews, and has been embroiled in numerous tabloid controversies over the past decade, the five part documentary podcast gives the former Silverchair frontman a chance to tell his story as he “addresses the tough questions” that have surrounded his 27 year career.
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The weekly series also includes a soundtrack of original, yet to be released Daniel Johns music.
“I’m happy to do it because I think it’s a good vessel to release art,” Johns says.
“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.”
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, including Natalie Imbruglia, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
“My brother had Frogstomp and he’d just crank it out of his bedroom. Something blasting out of your older brother’s bedroom from behind a closed door, it’s always gonna sound awesome because you’re like ‘Wow, what is that?’ you know? Yeah so that was my first Silverchair experience,” Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker notes.
“Straight up it was Silverchair. It was like ‘Man you don’t have to be American. You don’t have to be mid-twenties. It gave me belief that I could be a teenage rockstar… I remember being about 13 and thinking that I had two years left.”
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.
“I can see [Johns] at 15-16 years old singing on stage singing in the Australian sun many summers ago,” Corgan says. “If you’d asked me ‘You think this kid’s got a feature?’ I would have said ’No chance in hell’.”
Check Daniel Johns’ podcast out here.
