Saddest revelation from Daniel Johns’ Project interview

The most shocking moment of Daniel Johns’ Project tell-all came as he recounted the events of his March drink driving crash for the first time.

Australian music legend Daniel Johns sat down for a rare interview with The Project’s Carrie Bickmore during Wednesday’s episode of the show.

And it appears no topic was off-limits, as Johns spoke in detail about his difficult relationship with his former Silverchair bandmates, his ongoing mental health issues and the late-night car crash that forced him into rehab back in March.

It was the first time Johns had publicly answered questions about the events leading up to his March 23 car crash.

He was three times over the legal alcohol limit when he drove onto the wrong side of the NSW Pacific Highway, crashing into a van and injuring its driver and a passenger.

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Daniel Johns on The Project.

He was charged with high range drink driving but evaded jail time, instead being given an intensive corrections order and being disqualified from driving for seven months.

Speaking to Bickmore in last night’s interview, Johns explained that his mental health had begun to spiral as he awaited the release of his recent solo album, FutureNever, which came out on April 22.

“I always struggle with my mental health when I’m entrenched in making a record. That’s just something that happens. I tend to spiral into self-doubt,” he said.

Johns said he was in the midst of a “full-on nervous breakdown” when he got in the car, trying to escape the noise in his own head.

He said it was a miracle nobody was seriously injured in the crash.

“On paper, someone should have got hurt. Particularly me.”

Johns sat down with Carrie Bickmore for a candid chat.

In perhaps the interview’s saddest revelation, he claimed he would have taken his own life had the crash been more serious.

“If someone had been hurt, I think I probably would have killed myself because I can’t live with that. I am a good person. If I was hurt, I’d take that on the chin, but if I hurt someone else, I would not be able to live with myself,” he told Bickmore.

Johns said he’d “tried” to contact the driver and passenger of the other vehicle to offer his apologies for the accident.

Johns checked into rehab the day after the crash – and despite being three times the legal limit, he told Bickmore his stay in a facility was not to treat alcohol addiction.

Johns leaves court after sentencing in July. Picture: Peter Lorimer

“I went to rehab because I need help – my brain is crazy. I couldn’t tell what was real. I couldn’t even hear music correctly and for me, music is the truth. So if I can’t hear music correctly and if I can’t hear sound correctly, I lose my compass of what is real,” he said.

And while Johns is feeling more stable post-rehab, his treatment came with an unexpected side-effect: At present, he finds himself unable to create music.

“I can’t write music. I will. I need to figure out who I am without music for a sec. And that’s the scariest thing of everything because without music, I don’t know who the hell I am,” he said.

Speaking to her fellow Project panellists after the interview had aired, Bickmore said she knew the rare sit-down interview had been “very, very hard” for Johns to do.

“Life’s complex, people are complex. I hope he can find that peace – it must be a hard brain to be in at times,” she said.

Originally published as Saddest revelation from Daniel Johns’ Project interview