number 11: DANIEL JOHNS
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Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter. Best known as the former front man of the
rock band
Silverchair, Johns is also one half of
The Dissociatives with
Paul Mac and, in 2007, he was ranked at number 18 on
Rolling Stone's list of The 25 Most Under-rated Guitarists.[SUP]
At the age of 12, Johns and school friends
Ben Gillies and
Chris Joannou formed a band, originally named "The Innocent Criminals", and practised daily after school for periods of four hours or more.[SUP]
[2][/SUP][SUP]
[3][/SUP]
The band's career began when the three members were 15-years-old, after a demo recording of their song "
Tomorrow" won a competition that was run by the SBS TV programme
Nomad.[SUP]
[2][/SUP] The group subsequently accepted a three-album deal from
Sony Music in 1994 and the label hurriedly released their first album
Frogstomp in 1995 after "Tomorrow" remained in the No. 1 position of the Australian singles chart for six weeks.[SUP]
[4][/SUP]
The band released
Freak Show in 1996,[SUP]
[5][/SUP] followed by
Neon Ballroom in 1999[SUP]
[6][/SUP] and then
Diorama in 2002.[SUP]
[7][/SUP] Following
Diorama, Silverchair embarked on a lengthy hiatus before the release of the next album.[SUP]
[4][/SUP]
During the post-
Diorama hiatus, Johns worked on several side projects, the most notable of which was The Dissociatives with dance musician/producer Mac. Johns and Mac worked together since Mac's 1997 remix of "Freak" and his contribution to
Neon Ballroom. In 2000 they recorded a five-track
EP I Can't Believe It's Not Rock. The Dissociatives album was initially recorded in London, United Kingdom and, 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 reunited and announced the production of a new album entitled
Young Modern. The new album was released on 31 March 2007 and was followed by the '
Across the Great Divide' tour with fellow Australian band
Powderfinger.
On 13 June 2008, it was reported on the band's website that Johns was working on a new side project with
Luke Steele (
The Sleepy Jackson,
Empire of the Sun), but a release date was not confirmed for the collaboration. In 2008 the name of the project was "Hathaway and Palmer", according to a radio interview that Steele conducted, but this has not been confirmed since.[SUP]
[8][/SUP] In December 2008, Johns was named as the producer of
The Scare's album.[SUP]
[9][/SUP]
In May 2011, Silverchair announced on their website that the band was going into "indefinite hibernation" and explained that "it's become increasingly clear that the spark simply isn't there between the three of us at the moment".[SUP]
[10][/SUP][SUP]
[11][/SUP] Later that month, Johns and filmmaker Josh Wakely presented a talk at Tedx Sydney in which they discussed a film that they were working on that was tentatively titled "My Minds Own Melody". A video of the talk was uploaded to YouTube in June 2011[SUP]
[12][/SUP] and a trailer for the completed film was released in mid-2012.[SUP]
[13][/SUP]
In 2012 Johns collaborated with the Australian Chamber Orchestra to create the soundtrack "Atlas" for a
Qantas Airlines commercial that began airing a week before the 2012 Olympics.[SUP]
[14][/SUP] Johns explained:
[INDENT]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.[SUP]
[14][/SUP]
[/INDENT]In May 2012, Johns wrote and recorded music with pop duo
The Veronicas for the latter's third album. The writing process began in November 2011 and the twin sisters stated that working with Johns "was one of our greatest experiences".[SUP]
[15][/SUP]
As of January 2013, Johns was scheduled to appear in a live performance with
Van Dyke Parks, as part of Australia's Adelaide Festival, on 8 March 2013, and he was also rumoured to be working on a debut solo album.[SUP]
[16][/SUP] In May 2013, Steele revealed that he and Johns were completing the project that they commenced in 2008.[SUP]
[17][/SUP]
In November 2013, it was reported by various media outlets that Johns was in the process of working on a solo album due for release sometime in 2014. His manager John Watson was quoted as saying: "itâs looking extremely likely that itâll be out next year
[video=youtube;RZD982yrmx4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZD982yrmx4[/video]
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