Daniel Johns says Silverchair bandmates are ‘bitter’ and ‘jealous’

Daniel Johns has claimed his former SIlverchair bandmates are ‘filled with bitterness, jealousy and anger’ over his success and claimed that drummer Ben Gillies has a ‘real problem’ with his fame.

The rock star, 43,  spoke to The Project’s Carrie Bickmore on Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview where he spoke publicly for the first time since his conviction for high-range drink driving.

He also said Silverchair would ‘never get back together’ despite him asking his former bandmates Ben and Chris Joannou to appear on his new album FutureNever.

He said of his bandmates turning him down: ‘I was alright. I kind of expected it’.

Johns went on to say his bandmates Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou would ‘never come and see him’ due to ‘bitterness, jealousy and anger’.

‘I don’t have any bad feelings, but I know – I know bitterness and I know jealousy when I see it because I have seen it my whole life.

‘One of the guys in particular has taken a real shining to kicking me while I was down and while I was in rehab and stuff, saying I was exploiting mental health to sell records or something along those lines.

‘If this is exposing mental health to sell records then it is the most genius marketing plan ever because I have been doing it since I was 17.

When asked what his relationship with Ben and Chris is like now, he added: ‘They’ve not shown me any respect.

‘I always say, “they”, me and Chris have a very passive relationship.

‘Ben, for some reason, has a real issue with me being successful without him. That’s sad. Because I wish him all the best honestly, but unfortunately he doesn’t want me to branch out.’

Elsewhere, during the interview, Johns said memories ‘f*** you up’ as he looked at old photos from his Silverchair days.

‘I’m always happy to revisit memories, but I don’t want to live in it. It almost makes me teary,’ he told Carrie.

At one point during the interview, Johns walked off before opening up about his struggles with mental health and the drink driving crash that would ultimately send him to rehab.

He recalled he ‘thought he was going to die’ in the car accident which saw him plead guilty to high-range drink-driving charges in March.

He also revealed he ‘can’t play or listen to music’ at the moment following his stint in rehab and that he would have ‘killed himself’ if he’d hurt anyone in the crash.

But he added the ‘great thing that came out of it’ was that ‘no one was hurt’ because on paper ‘people should have got hurt’.

When asked how much he could remember from the crash he responded: ‘Everything. Everything. I remember every detail,’ before becoming overwhelmed with emotion.

‘I remember being lost. I remember being petrified. I remember being in the dark. I remember the colours. I remember – I even remember thinking, “This is how I’m going to die.”