Daniel Johns has responded to speculation about the removal from iView of an ABC documentary featuring his former Silverchair bandmates, Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou.
In a statement posted on Instagram on Sunday night, the singer claimed drummer Gillies and bass player Joannou repeatedly denied him an opportunity to read an advanced copy of their tell-all memoir, Love & Pain, ahead of the airing of the two-part Australian Story documentary A Silver Lining, released to coincide with their upcoming book.
“I would have preferred to say nothing but here are the facts,” Johns wrote.
He said his discomfort with his “personal health records being discussed” without being able to “fact check” Love & Pain was behind his refusal to be interviewed for A Silver Lining. He said it was also his reason for not approving Silverchair’s music being played on the documentary via the ABC’s iView streaming platform.
A Silver Lining, the first part of which aired on Monday 18 September, features interviews with Gillies and Joannou on the Aria-winning trio’s rise from teenagers in early 90s Newcastle to global superstardom.
The second part, which is due to air on ABC at 8pm on 25 September – two days ahead of the release of Love & Pain – deals with relationship breakdowns between band members, the difficulty Gillies and Joannou had adapting to life after Silverchair split in 2011 and Joannou’s recent health struggles with cancer and a heart attack.
Gillies and Joannou said they wrote the memoir because they wanted to preserve their legacy for their children.
Johns said in the statement that his team was first approached by Australian Story “as a courtesy” on 11 August to inform him Gillies and Joannou were being interviewed for the documentary.
“I was and remain incredibly supportive of them telling their story,” Johns said.
“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 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.”
Johns said ABC later approached him via Silverchair’s music label, Sony, to approve the use of seven of the band’s songs for iView – “most of which were composed solely by me” – to soundtrack the two-part series.
“One particular use related to Ana’s Song being featured as they discussed my battle with anorexia,” Johns wrote.
“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.”
According to a story in the Daily Telegraph, however, Johns and his brother and label manager, Heath, granted clearance for the songs to be used in the ABC’s terrestrial broadcast of the first part of A Silver Lining, but not on iView.
Johns wrote that after the first part of A Silver Lining was aired on 18 September, the “ABC proceeded to feature the story on iView without a license [sic] in place”.
“Sony reached out to have them take it down, it took ABC 3 days to remove it at which point most people had already viewed the story.”
The first part of A Silver Lining is currently not available on iView. However, ABC said part two will be available on iView following Monday night’s TV broadcast.
An ABC spokesperson said Johns was approached 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.”
In 2021, Johns collaborated in the five-part Spotify podcast Who is Daniel Johns?, which, according to the Guardian article on it, drew comparisons to “Britney Spears’ fame-trauma story”. In the candid series, Johns discussed his struggles with fame, mental health, anorexia and reactive arthritis, as well as his time in Silverchair and subsequent solo career. Last year Johns also participated in the three-part docuseries Inside the Mind of Daniel Johns. Gillies and Joannou were not interviewed for either project.
In Sunday night’s Instagram statement, Johns said he had previously “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,” he said.
“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.”
Hachette, the publisher of Love & Pain, declined to comment.
