Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns shares troubling message to social media on his 46th birthday

Daily Mail​

22-04-2025

has announced that he is taking a hiatus from social media, as he celebrates his 46th birthday.
The Silverchair frontman posted to Instagram to mark the occasion on Tuesday, but added a cryptic message that implied he was in need of solitude, perhaps to work on a new art project.
'The beautiful thing about time, is that it is always in the eye of the beholder. Art is exactly the same' the Australian rocker wrote.
'As an artist you never know what time it is. It's an ongoing quest to interpret happiness and sadness with a sprinkling of absurdity. It's drama. It's comedy. It's poetry. It's a song. It's cinema' he continued.
'Everything is beautiful if you let it be.'
Johns concluded the post: 'I have to go back in time to finalise something and as a result I won't be on socials, my team will keep an eye on things. I will have my phone. All is love'.
The rock star has stayed largely out of the spotlight the past few years, after highly publicised legal and substance abuse issues.
In 2022, Johns released his second solo album, FutureNever, while in rehab.
In a statement published through his record label BMG the troubled rock star described the album as 'manic' and said he's no longer 'running' from his past.
Johns checked into rehab in late March, 2022 after he was pulled over on the Pacific Highway at North Arm Cove near Newcastle, NSW on March 23, and recorded a blood-alcohol reading of more than three times the legal limit. He pleaded guilty.
Police said Johns had crossed into the opposite lane of traffic and collided with a van on the Pacific Highway near Newcastle on March 23.
His lawyer Bryan Wrench entered a guilty plea on Johns' behalf at Raymond Terrace Local Court on April 11, 2022.
Johns dodged a jail sentence for high-range drink driving after a magistrate ruled time behind bars would be of little benefit to the 'deeply troubled' rock star.
He was given a 10-month intensive corrections order - a court sentence of two years or less which is served in the community under the strict supervision of Community Corrections.
The star was also disqualified from driving for seven months and ordered to install an alcohol-reading interlock device to his car for 24 months once he gets his licence back.
Johns' lawyer Bryan Wrench said his client was at pains to show the court how serious he had taken the charge since entering rehab and his subsequent discharge by remaining abstinent from alcohol.
In a phone call transcribed from rehab and posted to his Instagram account on April 16, 2022, Johns addressed his relationship with alcohol and also offered an apology.
'My drinking had become a bigger problem than I even realised, and how I have used it to help numb a range of deeper psychological issues that I've been living with since childhood,' he said.
'Some of these issues you know, and a lot cut much deeper. Alcohol is not medicine. I should never have treated it like it was. I feel like a complete f**k-up and I'm sorry.
'I take full responsibility for my actions on the evening of March 23rd, I am deeply remorseful and I am working every day to make amends. I am handling these matters professionally and privately.'
Shortly after the accident in March, Johns posted that he had been suffering from 'panic attacks' and the accident occurred after becoming 'lost' on the road.
'As you know, my mental health is a work in progress. I have good days and bad days but it's something I always have to manage,' he said.
'Over the last week I began to experience panic attacks. Last night I got lost while driving and I was in an accident. I am OK, everyone is OK.
'Alongside my therapy, I've been self-medicating with alcohol to deal with my anxiety and depression. I know this is not sustainable or healthy.
'I have to step back now as I'm self-admitting to a rehabilitation centre and I don't know how long I'll be there. Appreciate your love and support as always.'
The drink-driving crash came just weeks after Daniel slammed his Silverchair 'colleagues' for allegedly not supporting him when he was gravely ill in 2002.
The singer and guitarist revealed in a Facebook post that he'd been diagnosed with reactive arthritis, an inflammation of the joints that left him in crippling pain, when the band was launching their fourth album Diorama.
Johns, who also was being treated for anxiety and anorexia at the time, claimed he did not receive the help he needed, and felt his band was 'more of a business than family'.
Daniel's Silverchair bandmates Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou recently revealed exactly how the iconic rock band ended.
Writing about Silverchair's demise in their joint memoir, the pair claimed Daniel put them on an 'emotional rollercoaster' by breaking up the band multiple times - only to then change his mind.
However, things finally came to an end when the trio performed at the Groovin' The Moo music festival in 2010.
Ben said he received a 'confusing call' from Daniel shortly after the performance, saying the two words: 'It's inevitable.'
While Daniel never explicitly said the band was breaking up, Ben and Chris were later informed by their manager it was over and that a press release announcing their 'indefinite hiatus' would be going out to the media.
The former bandmates rose to fame as as 15-year-olds and took the world by storm with their debut album Frogstomp in 1995, before splitting in 2011.
The musicians have said they had 'drifted apart' from Johns since Silverchair disbanded.