Kicking back with Daniel Johns

Today’s cover story on former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, who’s back with a new solo album, makes for fascinating reading.

Interviews with famous people take many forms. Mostly they’re in the presence of a publicist or handler who will control and sanitise; as journalists we hate these contrived situations. So when music writer Andrew McMillen got the chance to interview former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns at his home it was a golden opportunity. The interview ranged over six hours as Johns revealed never-released music from his vault, expanded on his life, pulled out the champagne.

For all the success, it has been a troubled life with periods of mental illness but Andrew returned from the interview feeling that Johns was in a good place, and satisfied with his latest album. Nine days later Johns would crash his car while drunk and admit himself to rehab for a planned month-long stay, revealing his ongoing struggle with mental health: “I have good days and bad days… over the last week I began to experience panic attacks.” An interview captures a person at one point in time. As Andrew says: “Looks and words can be deceiving, just as well-rehearsed masks and personas can obscure what lies beneath.”