Silverchair’s Chris Joannou and Ben Gillies have opened up about their relationship with Daniel Johns as drama swirls around the release of their new two-part documentary.
The musicians appeared together on WSFM’s The Jonesy and Amanda Show on Monday, just hours ahead of the airing of Part Two of their ABC Australian Story special and the release of their joint memoir, Love & Pain.
“Daniel [Johns] is not involved in the book?” Brendan “Jonesy” Jones asked the pair, point-blank.
“No. He’s not,” Joannou admitted, before explaining how the project had come about.
“Ben [Gillies] originally was working on a book just by himself and he approached me … and I was sort of like, ‘That’s your thing, you’re doing it’ – but then I thought, ‘What a great experience it would be just to jump in and park all these memories in one spot’.”
Joannou added: “And it’s been an awesome journey to walk through, some things that were absolutely amazing. and some things that were pretty tough.”
When pressed on whether the duo were in communication with Johns at all, Gillies was diplomatic, while not actually answering the question.
“We’ve all drifted into different directions over the years and done different projects,” he told the radio hosts.
“And it’s no disrespect to any individual in the way things rolled out, it’s just what happened.”
Gillies also revealed whether a Silverchair reunion would ever be on the cards.
“I think we’re all on different life journeys, we’re all doing our own thing at the moment,” he said.
“I can’t speak for Daniel … but look, where I am, and where I think Chris is, is that we’ve got families and we’re just really happy with where we are. I think the book was just a moment to be able to tell our story – because it’s a bloody great story.”
Joannou and Gillies’ radio interview came just hours ahead of the release of A Silver Lining Part Two, an ABC special focusing on Silverchair’s rise to fame and experience in the spotlight, told from the pair’s perspective for the first time.
Former frontman Daniel Johns, 44, was not involved in the documentary – and on Monday, gave his side of the story amid speculation over why Part One had been pulled from the broadcaster’s streaming service.
Last week, reports emerged that Australian Story was forced to take down the first half of its feature story on the iconic band from ABC iView due to “rights issues”.
The ABC two-part series coincides with the September 27 release of the duo’s memoir, Love and Pain.
“I would have preferred to say nothing but here are the facts,” he began in his lengthy post.
“Australian Story reached out to me via my team ‘as a courtesy’ on August 11 to let me know that they were doing a story on [Gillies] and [Joannou].
“I was and remain incredibly supportive of them telling their story.
“I was asked at the end of filming to be interviewed about their contribution to the band and although I wished them all the best, I respectfully declined for one reason.
“I haven’t been involved in the book nor am I aware of the contents. I’ve been asked on many occasions to read the book but haven’t been sent a copy, consequently I was uncomfortable being interviewed to help promote it.
“I was later asked by [ABC] via Silverchair’s label [Sony Music Australia] to clear 7 songs for iView (most of which were composed solely by me) to soundtrack a 2 episode series.
“One particular use related to Ana’s Song being featured as they discussed my battle with anorexia.
“I said to Sony and ABC that I would be open to approving all songs provided I received a copy of the book to ensure I wasn’t having my songs used to promote something I had no visibility on.
“I was told again that Ben & Chris would not give me a copy to read. That’s why the iView use was denied.
“[Leigh Sales] posted on Sept 12 that the Australian Story would not be available on iview due to ‘rights issues’, she later deleted this post and ABC proceeded to feature the story on iView without a license in place.
“Sony reached out to them to take it down, it took ABC 3 days to remove it at which point most people had already viewed the story.
“I’ve also been affected by Silverchair rights not being approved, I re-recorded my own compositions for many applications including my podcast because the recordings were denied by another band member.
“As always, I wish Ben & Chris nothing but success and happiness. I have never sought to block their book, I merely asked to receive a copy in advance to fact-check it. I was concerned about my personal health records being discussed, I don’t think that’s unreasonable.
“Everyone is tagged, if I’ve got it wrong please provide the evidence or kindly please stop the unhelpful speculation.”
ABC responded in a statement to news.com.au:
“Australian Story approached Daniel Johns for an interview during filming of ‘A Silver Lining’ and he declined to take part. The door is always open to him to appear on Australian Story.
“We negotiated with Sony Music to license the use of Silverchair’s music video clips in the program for broadcast and for ABC iview. Each band members’ approval was required. While Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou approved the use, Daniel Johns said he would only approve if he had access to an advance copy of their book, which was not a decision for the ABC or Australian Story.
“We made two versions of the program, one for broadcast TV with video clips and one for ABC iview which contained no clips but only music. Because Sony has queried this the ABC has since taken down part one from ABC iview and is reviewing its position.”
A blurb on the book’s front cover teases that it will tell “the remarkable story of Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou, two teenagers who grew up in Silverchair, one of Australia’s greatest rock bands.”
Johns is pictured on the front cover, in a photo of the trio in their mid-90s fame as teenage rock stars.
Silverchair released five studio albums and sold more than 10 million albums worldwide before they announced an “indefinite hiatus” in 2011. Since then, relations between Johns and his former bandmates have disintegrated, with Johns telling The Project last year that “bitterness, jealousy, anger,” led to the band’s dissolution.
The marketing material for the book promises it will deliver “funny, unforgettable rock ‘n’ roll stories, along with all the love and pain that came with being in the band.
“So much has been written about Silverchair over the years but very little has been said by the band’s members. In Love & Pain, childhood friends Ben Gillies (drummer) and Chris Joannou (bass player) tell us the tales that Silverchair’s fans have never heard, about how the band started, how they worked together and how they ended up.”