Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns reveals he was devastated when two teenagers carried out a triple-murder after being ‘influenced by his song’
Former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns has opened up about a notorious triple-murder in America that was supposedly inspired by his music.
In 1995, a 16-year-old boy from Washington, D.C., and his friend killed his parents and brother in a crime that shocked the capital.
When the police arrived to arrest the teenagers, the pair were allegedly playing the song Israel’s Son, from Silverchair’s debut album Frogstomp, which features the lyrics: ‘Hate is what I feel for you/I want you to know that I want you dead.’
Former Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns (pictured in March 2015 in Sydney) has opened up about a notorious triple-murder in America that was supposedly inspired by his music
Johns, 43, said during an episode of his docuseries In The Mind of Daniel Johns: ‘It’s pretty devastating to write a song when you’re a teenager and then have someone’s lives taken because apparently it influenced the people to murder someone.’
The singer and guitarist admitted he doesn’t ‘like that people look to me for guidance in the songs’.
‘I don’t even know where this ship is going. I know where it’s been, and I write about it, and then I make predictions. A lot of the time they happen, but I don’t know I’m making a prediction,’ he said.
In 1995, a 16-year-old boy from Washington, D.C., and his friend killed his parents and brother in a crime that shocked the capital. When the police arrived to arrest the teenagers, the pair were allegedly playing the song Israel’s Son, from Silverchair’s debut album Frogstomp, which features the lyrics: ‘Hate is what I feel for you/I want you to know that I want you dead.’ (Pictured: Johns on stage in Sydney on August 5, 2015)
‘I didn’t realise it at the time. At the time, I was still, I guess… it affected me, but I had to act like it didn’t,’ Johns said.
‘I couldn’t acknowledge it. I guess that was part of the pattern.’
It comes after Johns claimed his former band members refused to appear on his new album.
Johns (pictured in 2008) said during an episode of his docuseries In The Mind of Daniel Johns, ‘It’s pretty devastating to write a song when you’re a teenager and then have someone’s lives taken because apparently it influenced the people to murder someone’
In a preview for his new docuseries, Johns revealed he asked Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou to play on his recent chart-topping solo album FutureNever.
‘I asked them not out of necessity, I asked them because I wanted to make it clear that I don’t have an issue with them as people,’ he said.
‘I just didn’t want to play under the banner of Silverchair.’
It comes after Johns claimed his former band members refused to appear on his new album. (Pictured: Chris Joannou, Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies in in New York on July 25, 2007)
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