vocalist Daniel Johns’ 45th birthday and the promise of the band’s non-return

Recently, the lead singer of the Australian Alternative Rock band Silverchair turned 45 years old. Even though it is a festive date, the band’s fans are always saddened to hear Daniel Johns reaffirming that the band will not return to action.

The musicians decided to put the project on indefinite hiatus in 2011 and have never returned since. According to the words of the leader and vocalist, the band will not return.

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This decision was made because, according to Daniel himself, many of the lyrics revisit problems that the musician went through from an early age. Some of the most serious were anxiety attacks and also her struggle with anorexia, described in detail in the song Ana’s Song. Furthermore, the three friends, because they felt “out of place” within the school, wrote tracks about bullying as well, which is clear in works such as Tomorrow and Freak, demonstrating that they were “strange kids” and did not fit into the school environment. For Johns, revisiting some of these sensitive topics could be bad for him.

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“I don’t think going back and revisiting the things those albums are about is a good thing for me. In fact, listening to some of those songs hurts me. It’s quite painful to do that.” (Daniel Johns – in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in 2018)

Musicians started their careers very early. Influenced by the sound that was trending in the Seattle scene (Grunge), in addition to bringing Heavy Metal references from bands like Black Sabbath as well, the boys released their first works when they were still in high school and were 15-year-old teenagers.

The band grew up under the label Post Grunge. As they were a power trio and had a blonde vocalist with long hair, the comparison with Nirvana was inevitable. Even more so due to the fact that the band emerged to the general public shortly after Kurt Cobain’s death. Furthermore, they always compared the musician’s tone of voice and serious singing style (especially on the first albums) with Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam.

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Silverchair always made it clear that it also drew influences, mainly instrumental, from bands like Black Sabbath. The great presence of good dense guitar riffs is proof of this.

The Australian power trio released a total of five albums, they were: Frogstomp (1995), Freak Show (1997), Neon Ballroom (1999), Diorama (2002) and Young Modern (2007). The band’s first three works had strong influences from the Alternative Rock scene that was booming in Seattle in the early 90s; In the third, the band has already started to bring influence from other sounds as well, betting on the presence of other instruments such as the piano. Starting with Diorama (2002), in addition to the Rock sound, the band also brought influences from electronic sounds that were popular at the time.

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After the hiatus, Daniel Johns dedicated himself to other musical projects, but all of them increasingly distant from Rock and flirting more with electronic sounds.

However, even though revisiting those songs is painful for the vocalist nowadays, he is proud of the material that was composed and understands the importance of the songs and lyrics for fans to this day.

“I know that people really like that work and that it helped a lot of people, and I’m really proud of that and conscious not to be offended. The music is for them, it will always be there for the people who want it.” Daniel Johns

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It is undeniable that the band released great hits and moved crowds around the world. One of the examples of this was the show at Rock in Rio 3 in 2001, a show where the band received a standing ovation when they were on tour for their most successful album: Neon Balroom (1999). Songs like Miss You Love and Ana’s Song helped make the show even more unforgettable.

In addition to these songs mentioned, the band’s other big hits were Tomorrow, Israel’s Son, Pure Massacre and Freak.

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