Daniel Johns - Career

Career

Daniel Johns grew up in Merewether, New South Wales, Australia with two younger siblings. At the age of 12 Johns and school friends Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou formed a band, originally named The Innocent Criminals, practicing for over four hours a day after school.

The band's career began when they were just 14 years old, after a demo recording of their song "Tomorrow" won a competition by the SBS TV program Nomad. Following a bidding war between rival labels, the group signed to Sony Music subsidiary Murmur Records in 1994. The single was then picked up by radio network Triple J and their first album release was Frogstomp, in 1995.

In 1997, the band released Freak Show, followed by Neon Ballroom in 1999 and Diorama in 2002.

In 2003, he went on hiatus from Silverchair.

Johns then worked on several side projects, the most notable of which was The Dissociatives with dance musician Paul Mac. Daniel and Paul have worked together since Paul's 1997 remix of "Freak" and contribution of key in Neon Ballroom. In 2000 they recorded a 5 track EP, I Can't Believe It's Not Rock. The Dissociatives album was recorded in London by Johns, who contributed lyrics and melodies, and Paul Mac who contributed various other instruments and effects. A few months later, they regrouped in Sydney and Newcastle to finish off the project. The Dissociatives toured with musicians Kim Moyes on drums, Julian Hamilton on keys, and James Haselwood on bass.

In late 2005, Johns and Silverchair joined up again and put rumors of a split to rest by announcing the production of a new album entitled Young Modern. The new album was released on 31 March 2007, and was followed by the huge 'Across the Great Divide' tour with Powderfinger. On 13 June 2008 on the band's website it was reported that Daniel is working on a new side project with The Sleepy Jackson's Luke Steele, there is currently no release date for this "acoustic pop record".

In December 2008 Daniel was named as producer of the forthcoming The Scare album.

In May 2011, Silverchair announced on their website that the band was going into "indefinite hibernation"

In May 2011 Johns and filmmaker Josh Wakely held a talk at Tedx Sydney where they discussed a film that they are currently working on, tentatively titled "My Minds Own Melody". A video of the talk was uploaded to YouTube in June 2011. According to a post on Peachy Pictures Facebook wall, filming took place on the Norfolk Islands and was completed in October 2011.

In 2012 he wrote and collaborated with the Australian Chamber Orchestra to produce the soundtrack "Atlas" for Qantas Airlines. The commercial began airing a week before the 2012 Olympics. Daniel is quoted as saying "When Qantas first approached me, I agreed to the project as I was really into the idea of creating a piece of music that represented Australia. I wanted it to sound big, something special. It was a conscious effort to create a good piece of music and not just a jingle. I've also wanted to work with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for a long time now so it was great to finally be able to do that."

Daniel is currently in the process of producing his debut solo album. As of November 2012, the album's release is unknown. Also, it is speculated that Daniel may use material from the unfinished sixth album Silverchair was working on prior to their "indefinite hibernation."