Silverchair’s Daniel Johns Drops Nostalgia-Laden Trailer For ‘What If The Future Never Happened?’
It’s been a strange couple of months for Australian musician Daniel Johns. First, the former Silverchair frontman pled guilty to high-range drink-driving following a March 23 car collision. Next, his new solo album FutureNever hit the top of the ARIA Charts. Now, he’s released a trailer – viewable above – for his upcoming short film What If The Future Never Happened?
Johns’ YouTube channel describes the flick as “a genre-bending, semi-autobiographical featurette that puts reality and fantasy in a hyper-speed spin cycle.” Okay, we’ll allow him that piece of rockstar hyperbole, even if the film’s tagline is the similarly groan-inducing “From the mind of Daniel Johns.” That aside, it’d be impossible to argue the upcoming release doesn’t cap off an eventful time for the enigmatic musician, who can all but vanish from the public eye for years at a time.
The short film depicts a fictionalised version of a time in 1994, mere months before Johns and his Silverchair bandmates were propelled onto the world stage by their particular brand of catchily melodic, yet suitably angsty grunge rock. This was a right-time, right-place scenario, in which the band – due to their young age and the fact they appeared in the wake of Kurt Cobain’s tragic passing – earned the descriptor “Nirvana in Pyjamas.”
According to the film’s synopsis, the story picks up just “before a teenage rockstar called Daniel would conquer the global music world in ways never-before-seen. On this ordinary day in regional Australia, while escaping the routine torment of three local bullies, a chance interaction with a mysterious figure from the future will change Daniel’s Tomorrow forever.”
But who could this mysterious stranger be? We’ll wager it’s an older version of Johns travelling back through time in a desperate attempt to warn his younger self not to get that ridiculous “DREAMER” tattoo across his neck.
What If The Future Never Happened? is soundtracked by Johns’ FutureNever album, with orchestral reinterpretations of his Silverchair classics interspersed throughout the film. Directing duties are handled by James Medlam, who also co-wrote the film with Heath George, using a story by Heath Johns – Johns’ brother – based on the Silverchair star’s life.
While the featurette does not yet have a release date, it’s described as “coming soon.” In the meantime, check out the trailer above and give Johns’ FutureNever album a listen.
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