M-Phazes Releases Stellar Colabs With Daniel Johns & Josh Hardy

Gold Coast producer M-Phazes has teamed up with Daniel Johns and Hopium’s Josh Hardy for two new songs, released as a double A-side called II.

These two tracks couldn’t be more different. “Bad Behaviour,” featuring Daniel Johns, is emotionally intense, hard-hitting and full of aggressive yearning. “Heavy,” featuring Josh Hardy, has a much more chilled sound, with swooning vocals and laidback synths wrapped around powerful lyrics. They show the diversity of the ARIA Award nominated producer and hint at good things to come.

M-Phazes recently wrote on his Instagram, “After 8 years of co-writes, re-writes, label politics, building studios and relocating to LA, I’m finally ready to release a collection of new music that almost never saw the light of day. I’m constantly producing music for other artists but always found it hard to really “finish” my own songs. Those feelings of “is this good enough?” created a weight of expectation that dragged me down, feeling like the music I put out defined my worth as a person. I know I’m not the only one who goes through this and I feel like it’s a big problem throughout the artistic community.”

The release of these strong tracks is definitely a step in the right direction.

Image used with permission from Sony Music Australia

Daniel Johns Produces The Scare’s CD

Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns has stepped out from behind the mic to produce The Scare’s new album. The Sydney outfit, who are now based in Birmingham, returned home to complete the record.

“It’s important for everyone to remember that we came back to home soil in order to find our anarchic-blood-and-guts-sonically eccentric dream team with Daniel Johns and Chris Townend in the producer and engineer chairs respectively,” bass guitarist Wade Keighran wrote on the band’s MySpace page.

“We’ve come home twice in fact and made two albums with Australian producers and engineers in great Australian studios with the help of great Australian musicians … you don’t need to go overseas and spend a fortune to get whatever you want, all you need to do is know what you want and do it right. Anywhere.”

Too true! Australian audiences will get a taste of the band’s new material at their upcoming shows at Sydney’s Supper Club on January 20 and the Big Day Out tour.

Image source: Safetypinheart @ Flickr

Daniel Johns Bound for Big Apple

Things look to be heating up between Silverchair’s Daniel Johns and his model girlfriend Louise Van Der Vorst. The sexy twosome has reportedly told friends they’re planning to New York by the end of the year.

As much as the Aussie music industry would hate to lose Daniel, I suppose it all makes sense. Silverchair are still huge in the States, and Louise is starting to build a name for herself on the international modeling scene.

The only question that remains is whether this hot new romance is moving a little too fast! After all, shifting overseas together is a massive deal! I guess we’ll all just have to wait and see on this one.

Image source: deep ghosh @ Wikimedia Commons

Daniel Johns Snares a Triple at the APRAs

Last night Daniel Johns became the first person in history to win three APRA Awards in one year.

The Silverchair frontman was named Songwriter of the Year for the number one hit “Straight Lines,” which also won Song of the Year and Most Played Australian Work gongs.

The other awards showed the diversity of Australia’s musical landscape. Melbourne’s Sally Seltmann won the Breakthrough Songwriter title for “1, 2, 3, 4,” the monster song made famous by Feist.

The Rogue Traders took home the Dance Work of the Year award for “In Love Again” while John Butler bagged the Blues and Roots gong for “Good Excuse.” Troy Casser-Daley’s song “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” proved to be somewhat prophetic, as it helped the singer bag the Country Work of the Year title. Jade McCrae proved she’s one of Australia’s brightest stars, taking home the Urban Work of the Year award for “In the Basement.”

Manager extraordinaire Roger Davies was awarded the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.

Daniel Johns Finds New Model Love

Six months after splitting with ex-wife Natalie Imbruglia, Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns has been linked to model Louise Van de Vorst.

The Daily Telegraph says the pair has been inseparable since meeting two weeks ago. They apparently spent the long weekend partying at Hugo’s and Shh in Kings Cross.

20-year-old Louise is one of the hottest new models on the scene. She’s just returned from a six-month stay in Paris where she was named the face of cosmetics brand She Uemura. Ooh la la!

Daniel deserves a little happiness, so hopefully the rumors are true!