Daniel Johns podcast: Silverchair star refused ARIA Hall of Fame

Daniel Johns reveals what’s driving his reliance on alcohol and why he thinks the ARIAs are “lame”, in a revealing final episode of a hit podcast.

Daniel Johns really doesn’t want to do Silverchair.

In the final episode of the Who Is Daniel Johns? podcast, he revealed there has been a “team Silverchair” discussion about an overture to induct the band to the ARIA Hall of Fame.

ARIA and record label executives regularly approach artists about joining the Hall of Fame as they hit the 20-year career milestone and become eligible for induction.

Silverchair is tied with John Farnham for most ARIA trophies, having each won 21 awards over its 34-year-history.

Getting Johns together with bandmates Chris Joannou and Ben Gillies for a Hall of Fame moment would be regarded as the Holy Grail of ARIA Awards.

Silverchair were big winners at the ARIA Awards back in 2007. Picture: NCA.

In his last word on the podcast about the band’s future, Johns said he doesn’t want it – right now.

“I don’t want to be in the Hall of Fame until I’m dead,” he said.

“I’m not even finished. I’m not even close. I’m about halfway but the second half is going to be better.

“I don’t want to be in the Hall of Fame for something that’s not finished … hall of lame …”

Much of his post-Silverchair career is condensed into the final episode of the Who Is Daniel Johns? podcast which has remained at No. 1 on Spotify in Australia since it launched a month ago.

And, like all of the previous episodes, there’s a lot of partying.

Daniel Johns, right, turned up for his DREAMS photo shoot with Luke Steele with the band name etched across his throat. Picture: YouTube

Like the time he disappeared in Hollywood to have DREAMS, his electronic pop duo with Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele, tattooed across his throat on the eve of their first photo shoot.

Or the pair’s indulgent post-songwriting celebrations at the Windsor “palace” of Johns’ then wife Natalie Imbruglia in the mid 2000s; the pair legendarily buried the tapes of the first album they recorded together in a nearby cemetery and were so high they couldn’t find them again.

Johns’ generosity of spirit, inviting his musician friends to crash at his Newcastle home whenever they needed a bed, did often require them to get onto Daniel’s “schedule.”

Australian electronic music star Chris Emerson, known as What So Not, said the music and merrymaking would often run until 6am when they were hanging out and experimenting with new music.

Daniel Johns has been No. 1 at Spotify for a month. Picture: Supplied

Johns revealed to the podcast interviewer Kaitlin Sawrey, after she asked him about his current relationship with drugs and alcohol, that drinking is a “shortcut” to dealing with nerves and anxiety.

The musician has been undergoing therapy in recent years and said he has been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety disorder and depression.

“I’ve got an issue with alcohol, for sure. I don’t think I am an alcoholic, but every single time we need to talk, I need to have two drinks so I don’t feel awful,” he said.

“I just feel really nervous all the time and that’s the only thing that seems to fix it.

“I know it’s a short cut, I am thoroughly aware of that.

Daniel Johns has opened up on his Spotify podcast. Picture: Supplied

“There are a lot of things I wish I didn’t have to explain … but I feel like maybe a good thing to say is your feelings are always going to be there and if you numb it, it will work short term but it won’t work long term.”

What’s next for Daniel Johns is creating more art for a potential exhibition and finishing the music he has been making since his last solo record Talk in 2015 and his DREAMS record with Steele in 2018.

He previewed some of those works-in-progress throughout the podcast series as soundtracks to his interviews.

Johns has said he agreed to collaborate with the podcast as he saw it as a launch pad for the next chapter of his recording career, to wipe the slate of his past clean and start again.

Who Is Daniel Johns? is available now on Spotify.