Zone Magazine Issue 033 - Jan Johnson

Let’s focus on your last EP
“Futureshock". What was the
inspiration behind it?
Well, Chris and I have been working together for a
while now, originally he asked me if I wanted to make a
track with him with him supplying the vocals and some of
the synths and I would add my own sounds and arrange it
all. We had had a couple of releases out already on
Mystique music, Inertia and Mirabilis when I suggested that
maybe we should try working with other vocalists. So,
Chris put out the feelers and he got in touch with a guy
called Simon Latham. Simon was already a successful artist
in his own right having had music in TV series and also his
track Soundsation - Do you feel it was a big Digweed
anthem in the mid 90's. So, when Chris suggested we work
with him I said lets do it and he sent us a vocal which we
then created the music around and Futureshock was born.
The lyrics are quite poignant as well with whats going on in
the world right now.
What made Pro B Tech Music the
right home for this release?
Well I've known Brent for a number of years and I
know he had released some big vocal tunes on is label
before and I have already had a couple of releases on there
myself so I thought this would be the perfect home for it.
Thankfully when I sent him the tune he really liked the
track so we were more than happy to go with them.
The EP has also remixes by Silinder.
How do you feel about them. How
would you describe them?
The remix on the EP comes from Silinder and it's a
fantastic remix. I have known Silinder (AKA Gavin Mulhall)
for years anyway, he has had releases on my old label
Segment records, and also done a couple of remixes as
well and since then has gone on to have releases on labels
such as Sudbeat. So, I think he was a great choice to do
the remix. I thought his remix had a bit of an 80's feel to it,
he chopped up the vocal a bit more and the backing track
was really deep and moody and complemented our original
mix well so I was delighted at how it came out.
Do you prefer writing originals or
doing remixes?
I like doing both actually. Sometimes I prefer
remixes as the main idea is already there so you can just
reinterpret it to suit your own ends. Writing an original is a
blank canvass where you have to start from scratch.
Having said that though a lot of my tracks originated as
remixes or bootlegs where I have ended up removing all
the elements that weren't mine and just adding a few of
my own to create an original track, or if not I can always
use my elements in a future production so its always best
to keep them just in case.
Recently you also debuted on
Perfecto Black with 1994. What was
the experience working them?
They were very good. Olli the A&R guy was very
professional and kept me updated throughout and the
release was very well promoted. I have been with certain
labels where you only find out about the release when it's
actually viable to preorder but Perfecto Black were great
and I really enjoyed working with them.
Which other labels would you like to
work with in the future?
Well, I could say all the usual suspects like
Bedrock, Last night on earth, UV and Sudbeat, but I have
projects forthcoming on some exciting labels which I am
really looking forward to in the future.
Apart from music, what makes you
happy?
Spending time with my wife and family, a good
movie or a TV series or just chilling at home making music.
What else can we expect from you
for the remainder of 2020 and into
2021?
My latest release is my remix of Sean McClellan -
Strike zone which is out now on Salt records. Salt is the
new label which is run by L.A. based Chris Grim and myself
and we have tons of good stuff coming up over the next
few months. I am the main A&R guy so will have more
involvement in the artist development side of things, keep
your eyes peeled for more releases from us in the future.
Any releases or special dates we
should be looking out for?
Yeah got quite a few things coming up. I have a
new track coming up with Chris Sterio called Progress
which is out soon on Mirabilis with remixes from Micah Paul
Lukasewich and Monojoke which are great. Theres also
another track i did with Chris this time featuring the vocal
talents of Daniela Rhodes. We've done a couple of tracks
with her and the first one is called Out of the dark which is
due out in May on Krafted Underground. Other than that
theres a few remixes plus some other stuff which i cant
really talk about right now but keep your eyes and ears out
over the next few months.