Johns gets to fulfil Dreams
DANIEL Johns knows how lucky he was that his first band Silverchair existed in that distant era when people still paid for music.
Ten million album sales and canny investments has meant Johns, 39, is fairly comfortable financially, for life.
“I’m super grateful because I do not know how to do anything else,” he says.
Modern musicians now rely on touring for their main income. Which is a problem for Johns, who has also stated he wouldn’t even re- form Silverchair at gunpoint.
“The feeling of being an artist outgrew the feeling of being a rock star quite early for me when we got a taste of success at age 14 ( with Silverchair),” Johns says.
“By the time I was 20 I was really over that and just wanted to be an artist more than a performing monkey.
“Obviously the timing wasn’t great to make that decision. That screwed me up, because touring’s not my thing.
“I had a plan that for the rest of my career I could be like The Beatles and just stay in my studio and create music.
“I don’t even know how the record industry works any more. I don’t even care.”
Johns played precisely two live shows to promote his 2015 solo album Talk, this year admitting he suffers from crippling anxiety which can be triggered by live performances.
He’s played twice that many shows for new project Dreams, with Empire Of the Sun’s Luke Steele.
Dreams played two shows at Coachella in April, then two at Vivid in Sydney in May.
The first Coachella gig, also the first time the two friends of nearly 20 years had ever performed on stage together, was streamed live to the world.
“We actually just put an iPhone on the mixing desk, and it fell off for the last few songs,” Johns laughs. “It didn’t sound great.” All four shows happened months before Dreams’ debut album, No One Defeats Us, was to be released, boldly playing a full set of songs people had never heard.
“No one left,” Johns says. “We were quite proud and appreciative of the audience bearing with us through our sonic experimentation.
“But the album was never designed to be played live. So when the offers came in for live shows we were thinking ‘ Holy sh--, how do we actually do this live?’ Once we figured out all the technicalities, Coachella was really good and by the second Vivid show we were so confident.
“It was one of those classic things, you’re nervous and anxious until the first show and after the fourth you want to go on tour.”
Spoiler: There are tour plans.
“The whole thing with Dreams is to wait and see where it flows. We’re really, really happy with the record, that was the thing we were obsessively controlling about.
“When it comes to anything post the album we’re happy to let it take us down whatever rapids come up.” still no BY 9AM MONDAY THE WEEK OF PUBLICATION.