Why Daniel Johns’ decision to quit Silverchair broke years-long friendship

Daniel Johns’ interview with The Project has reignited the feud with the other Silverchair members. And it goes back to one key decision.

Silverchair announced they were going on “indefinite hibernation” in 2011 after attempts to record a sixth album were futile.

They never got back together.

The legendary Australian rock band, comprising of frontman Daniel Johns, bass guitarist Chris Joannou and drummer Ben Gillies, formed their group in 1992 after meeting in primary school in Newcastle.

Almost 20 years later, they shocked fans when they called it quits on their time as a trio. It would later emerge their friendship suffered the same fate.

Johns, now 43, hit out at his former bandmates in an interview on The Projecton Wednesday night, putting the band’s years-long tension in headlines yet again.

“Bitterness, jealousy, anger, like anything,” Johns told Carrie Bickmore of the reasoning behind their falling out.

Daniel Johns fronted Silverchair for 20 years.

“I don’t have any bad feelings, but I know. I know bitterness and I know jealousy.

“One of the guys in particular has taken a real shining to kicking me while I was down and while I was in rehab and stuff. Saying I was exploiting mental health to sell records or something along those lines.”

Johns said he felt Gillies, now 42, was particularly jealous of his success beyond the band.

“They’ve not shown me any respect. Me and Chris have a very passive relationship,” he said.

“Ben, for some reason has a real issue with me being successful without him. That’s sad because I wish him all the best honestly, but unfortunately he doesn’t want me to branch out.”

Silverchair got their big break in 1994 – when they were in their early teens – after being signed by Sony Music subsidiary Murmur Records.

Their debut album, Frogstomp, was released the follow year. It had been recorded in only nine days when the trio were aged 15.

Despite that, it became a number one album in Australia and New Zealand, and sold four million copies.

Its popularity extended overseas, with the album certified double-platinum in the US and triple-platinum in Canada, pushing Silverchair to embark on a tour in the US supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Their following two albums followed on the same trajectory of success. Freak Show in 1996 and Neon Ballroom in 1998, both hit number one in Australia.

Diorama, released in 2002, became their forth number one album and spent 50 weeks in the top 50.

After their tour for Dioarma wrapped they surprised fans by announcing an indefinite hiatus which saw them each branch out to do solo projects.

But they reunited in 2005 for the Wave Aid concert to raise money for the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Gillies said at the time they realised how special their “chemistry” was, telling The Sydney Morning Herald, “It only took us 15 years, but recently we’ve realised, ‘We’ve really got something special and we should just go for it.’”

And go for it, they did. Their subsequent album Young Modern, their fifth, was released in 2007, and featured one of their biggest ever tracks, Straight Lines.

Silverchair had a massive year in 2007, with the release of their fifth studio album Young Modern.

The album rocketed to number one yet again, making Silverchair the first band to accomplish five number one albums in Australia.

But it would turn out to be their last as a group.

According to Silverchair’s website in 2009, the group had begun work on their sixth album, but by mid-2011, they announced their indefinite split.

“We formed Silverchair nearly 20 years ago when we were just 12 years old. Today we stand by the same rules now as we did back then … if the band stops being fun and if it’s no longer fulfilling creatively, then we need to stop,” the trio wrote in a statement at the time.

“Despite our best efforts over the last year or so, it’s become increasingly clear that the spark simply isn’t there between the three of us at the moment.

“Therefore after much soul searching we wanted to let you know that we’re putting Silverchair into ‘indefinite hibernation’ and we’ve decided to each do our own thing for the foreseeable future.”

Silverchair no more … The band announced their ‘indefinite hibernation’ in 2011.

Johns, who released his second solo studio album FutureNever in April, has increasingly lifted the lid on his relationship with his former bandmates in recent years. He’s repeatedly claimed his decision to quit the band wasn’t received well.

In a November episode of his chart-topping podcast, Who Is Daniel Johns?, he said his bandmates felt “abandoned”.

“I wanted to remain friends, but I didn’t want to remain in that band,” Johns said. “Unfortunately they thought it was one or the other.

“It’s almost like a divorce. We were friends since we were seven years old and I think they feel like when I wanted to leave the band that I abandoned them. Which is a fair enough assumption, but in my head I felt I’d done enough and I want to do something else now. I think that’s all perception isn’t it? I didn’t abandon them, I just got over it.

“We’ve never really healed. I don’t dislike them and they don’t dislike me, but it’s really awkward and really hard to mend that bridge.”

Originally published as Why Daniel Johns’ decision to quit Silverchair broke years-long friendship