Daniel Johns is the cover star of the NME Australia May 2022 issue.
- ORDER NOW: NME Australia May 2022
In his first interview since leaving rehab in April 2022, Johns talks to NME about the “purest record” he’s ever made, his latest solo album ‘FutureNever’. “I have had anxiety about the future for so long, but realised that I was scared of a place that may likely never exist, so I invented my own destination of contentment called ‘FutureNever’,” he tells NME’s R.S. He. “If the future never exists then why are we scared?”
Johns looks back on his days in Silverchair (“For years, I felt I had to ‘prove myself’ outside of Silverchair. To me, that is completely absurd in retrospect”) and reveals the artists he’s excited and inspired by right now, from Tyler, The Creator to fellow NME Australia cover star Tkay Maidza.
Of hip-hop star The Kid LAROI, he says: “I heard his song ‘Blessings’ years ago and just knew he’d blow the fuck up. It makes me so happy to see him doing what he’s doing. I really hope people are looking out for him, because it’s a lot for a young person to be experiencing.”
Read the full story, with photography by Luke Eblen and Nic Walker, here.
Elsewhere in the new issue, NME speaks to Body Type about their debut album ‘Everything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising’, which features take-downs of music industry misogynists and lyrical cameos by Nick Cave. We talk to Cave’s longtime musical partner Warren Ellis about their new film This Much I Know To Be True, and we review Kendrick Lamar’s stunning comeback record ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’.
- PRE-ORDER NOW: NME Australia May 2022 issue featuring Daniel Johns
The new issue of NME Australia, now available for pre-order, will begin shipping the week of June 6. Six-month and yearlong subscriptions are also available here.
Daniel Johns joins Mallrat, Hatchie, Camp Cope, Gang Of Youths, OneFour, Ruel, Genesis Owusu and many more as an NME Australia cover star. Explore and get your back issues of the magazine here.