Silverchair members’ tell-all book announcement shocks fans

Former Silverchair members Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou have surprised fans with a big announcement – without any mention of Daniel Johns.

Former Silverchair members Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou have surprised fans with the announcement of a tell-all book about the band’s history – without any mention of frontman Daniel Johns.

Love & Pain, set for release on September 27 by Hachette Australia, was announced with a joint post on Gillies and Joannou’s Instagram accounts yesterday.

A blurb on the book’s front cover teases that it will tell “the remarkable story of Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou, two teenagers who grew up in Silverchair, one of Australia’s greatest rock bands.”

Johns is pictured on the front cover, in a photo of the trio in their mid-90s fame as teenage rock stars.

The book is set to be released in September …

… without Johns’ involvement. Picture: The Project / Channel 10

Silverchair released five studio albums and sold more than 10 million albums worldwide before they announced an “indefinite hiatus” in 2011. Since then, relations between Johns and his former bandmates have been testy to say the least, with the singer telling The Project last year that “bitterness, jealousy, anger,” led to the band’s dissolution.

The marketing material for the book promises it will deliver “funny, unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll stories, along with all the love and pain that came with being in the band.

“So much has been written about Silverchair over the years but very little has been said by the band’s members. In Love & Pain, childhood friends Ben Gillies (drummer) and Chris Joannou (bass player) tell us the tales that Silverchair’s fans have never heard, about how the band started, how they worked together and how they ended up.”

Silverchair L – R: Chris Joannou, Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies.

But already, some fans have expressed their disappointment in Johns’ apparent lack of involvement in the book.

“Why couldn’t you do a book with the whole band?? Really sad,” wrote one fan on Instagram.

“It feels a bit like when your parents are fighting. You want to know what’s going on but then again you want to ignore it and live in the perfect life where everything is fine,” wrote another of the schism between the two parties.

“This is sad – and is only 2 sides to the three that should be heard,” said another.

Another fan said they were feeling “excited and disappointed at the same time.”

Former Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies.

Joannou is now a bar owner in his Newcastle home town.

Johns didn’t hold back in last year’s Project interview when asked about his former bandmates.

“I don’t have any bad feelings, but I know. I know bitterness and I know jealousy,” he told interviewer Carrie Bickmore.

“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, 43, was particularly jealous of his success beyond the band.

The group shot to global fame in their teens with the breakthrough 1994 hit Tomorrow.

“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.”

Johns’ relationship with Joannou appears to be less frosty – he even publicly wished his former bandmate happy birthday last year with a post on Instagram. But in an awkward snub, Joannou, who does not follow Johns on Instagram, did not publicly interact with the post.

Johns did tell his story in the popular 2021 podcast series Who Is Daniel Johns?, revealing that his bandmates felt “abandoned” by his decision to quit Silverchair to pursue other projects.

“I wanted to remain friends, but I didn’t want to remain in that band,” he said.

“Unfortunately, they thought it was one or the other... 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.”