There’s a new Spotify Original Podcast out now called Who Is Daniel Johns? where the iconic and enigmatic musician himself tells his story and addresses the tough questions which have surrounded his 27-year career.
With each episode introduced by actor Guy Pearce, Who is Daniel Johns? is a deep dive into the life and times of one of the most successful, controversial and mysterious artists in Australian music history. As someone who doesn’t give many interviews, the five part documentary podcast gives the former Silverchair frontman a chance to talk about his whole career, starting with his entry onto the musical scene at the age of 15 to what he’s doing now with The Dissociatives.
The weekly series includes a soundtrack of original, yet to be released, music from Daniel Johns.
Following the first five episodes, the season will end with a series of bonus episodes where Johns has 1:1 conversations with the key figures in his life, collaborators and luminaries including Natalie Imbruglia, Kevin Parker of Tame Impala and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins.
In the first episode, listeners will experience the personal story of Daniel’s life, capturing key figures and the formative events which have led him on his journey. Johns discusses the impact of fame on his personal life and how it affected his ability as an artist. He also discusses the fact he’s doing this podcast and talking about his private life.
Johns says: “I’m happy to do it because I think it’s a good vessel to release art. Above all things, I just want to make art, and I would really love for people to hear it. And the only way to get people to hear my art is through vessels like this because I don’t want to perform on stage.”
Here are some quotes from the special guests Johns talks with in the bonus episodes:
Kevin Parker (Tame Impala)
“My brother had Frogstomp and he’d just crank it out of his bedroom. Something blasting out of your older brother’s bedroom from behind a closed door, it’s always gonna sound awesome because you’re like ‘Wow, what is that?’ you know? Yeah so that was my first Silverchair experience.”
“Straight up it was Silverchair. It was like ‘Man you don’t have to be American. You don’t have to be mid-twenties. It gave me belief that I could be a teenage rockstar… I remember being about 13 and thinking that I had two years left.”
Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)
To Daniel Johns: “I can see you at 15-16 years old singing on stage singing in the Australian sun many summers ago. If you’d asked me ‘You think this kid’s got a future?” I would have said ’No chance in hell’.
Natalie Imbruglia
“Who is Daniel Johns? The first thing that springs to mind is ‘Musical genius’. Also ‘Peter Pan’ maybe.
Luke Steele (Empire of the Sun, Sleepy Jackson, Dreamz collaborator)
“I think Daniel is probably one of the last true enigmas of the world. He’s like a rare bird.”
The podcast is produced by global podcast heavyweights Kaitlyn Sawrey, Amelia Chappelow and Frank Lopez.
Who Is Daniel Johns? is available to download now on Spotify.
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