Daniel Johns has shared a clip of a Silverchair performance from two decades ago that came during a difficult personal time for the star.
Back in 2002, Silverchair were one of the big names headlining that year’s Big Day Out, playing the festival alongside acts including The Prodigy, New Order, System of a Down, and The White Stripes.
They might have seemed like they were on top of the world but things behind the scenes weren’t perfect. Earlier today, Johns shared footage of the band playing ‘The Greatest View’ for the first time live in Australia at that Big Day Out – “Trigger warning – this gets dark but I feel safe sharing it here,” as he wrote in the caption on Instagram.
“I started experiencing unbearable pain in my joints – I struggled to make it through these shows,” he recalled. “If you look closely you can see I’m struggling to move. Looking back I think the anxiety of how the record would be received as well as the toll that my battle with anorexia had previously taken on my immune system combined to attack me.
Johns then revealed that he was later diagnosed with reactive arthritis: “A specialist advised me to said goodbye to my family every night before bed because he thought I might die. At this moment, I realised that much of the Silverchair machine was more of a business than a family. I felt personally responsible for people in our crew who couldn’t work because of my illness.
While I was undergoing exhaustive treatment both here and abroad, I learned very quickly who loved me as a human being and who needed me a ‘performer’. I really needed a friend back then, instead I had disgruntled colleagues.
When my phone did ring it was usually someone asking if I was ready to tour again. Someone in the team even questioned whether I was sick at all and that ‘maybe I just didn’t want to promote the album and I should be forced to tour instead of being ‘mollycoddled’ at home’.”
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Johns acknowledged that he had avoided discussing such things publicly but noted “someone very wise once told me that ‘the truth is beautiful’.” “I’m not resentful, I understand everyone was under pressure and the band was putting food on many tables but this was too much to put on me. I was 22,” he added.
“After undergoing months of treatment in Los Angeles, I slowly recovered and word of mouth around Diorama would help it become our highest selling album at home. Take that Frogstomp.”
Johns finished his caption with an appropriate quote from ‘The Greatest View’: “And finally I know why I feel like you’re letting me go”.
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