Zone Magazine Issue 033 - Jan Johnson
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover legendess vocalist and producer JAN JOHNSTON. A name that for Trance and Progressive fans simply means quality. Starting out in the early ‘90s with short-lived pop band JJ, her fortunes took an upward sweep working firstly with the King of Trance, BT on his ECSM album, and then Australian powerhouse Anthony Pappa (as Freefall) on breakthrough release ‘Skydive’. Signings to Perfecto, Universal and more has spread the Jan Johnson gospel and showcased not only her vocal talents, but also her song writing abilities. Soundtrack syncs and contributions to Grammy Award nominated albums as well as 4 solo albums and countless singles has kept this doyen of the scene at the top of her profession.
In our feature interviews in this issue we talk to cover legendess vocalist and producer JAN JOHNSTON. A name that for Trance and Progressive fans simply means quality. Starting out in the early ‘90s with short-lived pop band JJ, her fortunes took an upward sweep working firstly with the King of Trance, BT on his ECSM album, and then Australian powerhouse Anthony Pappa (as Freefall) on breakthrough release ‘Skydive’.
Signings to Perfecto, Universal and more has spread the Jan Johnson gospel and showcased not only her vocal talents, but also her song writing abilities. Soundtrack syncs and contributions to Grammy Award nominated albums as well as 4 solo albums and countless singles has kept this doyen of the scene at the top of her profession.
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What was the
first equipment you bought back
then?
Turntables, Emu Emax sampler with 30 seconds of
sample time and a midi sequencer. It grew from there but
we made the first few Hardkiss releases with that. We did
a deal with Columbia Records in the late '90s and spent a
heap on multiple studios and analog 2" tape and a Ohram
analog mixing board. Now I do everything on this laptop
that I'm typing on. I love how I've benefited from the
march of technology with a studio at my fingertips at all
times.
How did things grow and
develop back in the 90's for you
guys?
In the early/mid '90s we were making tracks and
releasing on Hardkiss Music and travelling around DJ'ing.
Playing in different countries, cities, states every weekend.
We didn't release too often but we'd service all the DJs with
white labels and then there would be pent of demand when
the record eventually hit the streets. We were good at
scarcity. And unpredictability. And emotion and funk.
Scott, Robbie and I had different styles. We'd hit multiple
cities every weekend and kids didn't know what they were
gonna get hit with. At that time, my style leaned more on
organic breaks, bass driven grooves, a mash of different
styles with global, funk and percussion elements. But I
never stayed in the same sound for too long. I like to keep
evolving.
San Francisco was on another level back then
pre-Internet. We lit the fire for the tech revolution.
The culture and music was diverse and futuristic and
the techies fed into that. There was an amalgam of
people from all over the planet congregating and creating
in San Francisco. It was quite unique and inspiring and i'm
fond of those times when high tech was a turntable. No
one had a camera let alone a phone. It's like a lost
civilization, the remnants of which are only records and DJ
mixes that were made at the time.
Tell us about the releases
during that tme ?
Hardkiss Music was releasing stuff that Robbie,
Scott and I were making. Plus tracks from a few other
artists like Rabbit In The Moon, T Tauri and Symbiosis.
Then we started an imprint called Sunburn Recordings
where we released a crazy wide net of different sounds
from dub to texmex to drum 'n bass and house. We had a
wide range of musical interests and didn't want to be
pigeonholed. Quite the opposite of these days where
everything must fit in a box.
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