Altsounds - Highlights of the Lowlands Part 4: Johan

The holiday season is coming up and lots of people go out for a short visit to Holland. Especially Amsterdam is, due to the possibility to broaden one’s education in the medical sector, quite popular. But you don't really need drugs to get high in Holland. Despite the lack of global media exposure, the lowlands contain a couple of extremely talented bands; bands who signed with international labels, did small clubs tours throughout Europe, the UK and the US or were once support act of bands who later turned larger than life.

When you visit Holland, there are certainly a couple of bands you have to see perform. To prepare you for your trip, the next four weeks Altsounds will highlight the most popular rock bands of the current Dutch music scene. So turn on, tune in and drop out with 'Highlights of the Lowlands'.

In the last part of ‘Highlights of the Lowlands’ vocalist/guitarist Jacob de Greeuw tells the story of his band Johan. Troubled with a badly chosen name, the band saw a record deal in the US ending in the destruction of their record, had an annual problem with leaving band members and needed about ten years to make a living out of music.

Profile

Name: Johan
Reason name: a 'shortening' of the bands former name Visions of Johanna, originated during an alcohol fuelled discussion about football and Johan Cruijff
Members: Jacob de Greeuw (vocals, guitar), Maarten Kooijman (guitar, vocals), Diets Dijkstra (bass, vocals), Jeroen Kleijn (drums)
Music: timeless, sixties influenced pop
Influences: the Beatles, the Kinks, the Replacements, R.E.M.
Recommended Dutch bands: Lucky Fonz III, Scram C Baby

In the late eighties and early nineties, long before Johan started, vocalist/ guitarist Jacob de Greeuw was working his way through the music scene. The first time people heard about him was when he reached the final rounds of band contest de Grote Prijs van Nederland, with Little Big Mary. The band didn't win though, fell apart and was succeeded by Visions of Johanna, after the Bob Dylan song.

´(Little Big Mary) was a bit like wave pop, with a female singer (Marieke Groot), and I played guitar and did background vocals. I wrote the songs as well. It was something completely different from Johan.
WithVisions of Johanna I started to sing myself. And I think that has been going on for about five years. Recorded a lot of demos, things like that, until we finally could make a record for Electrolux, the predecessor of Excelsior Recordings. And that's basically when we started as Johan.'

'We made a lot of demos, and spent our time mostly in rehearsal rooms and in cafes. Tried and did a lot of things until we had something we felt was suitable for a record. We also wrote to a lot of record labels, that's what you do when you first start out, trying to get as much people interested as possible and it just takes a long time; I was 27 when we finally succeeded and could make our first record.'

''Swing' was our very first single. It was actually a Visions of Johanna song and the first time we headed in a new direction. This song contains both the old band and the new sound and from that moment on everything changed significantly; sharper, shorter, like we're doing now.
(Visions of Johanna was) mainly about long, stretched out songs, wave-like, concerning sound and song theme's. I remember vividly that when we recorded 'Swing', at a demo sessions we did for Excelsior; I think we recorded eight songs in total, and 'Swing' was one of them. That one ended up on the album, the other songs didn't. So we started again. And it was released on Electrolux, the predecessor of Excelsior. It was meant to be a singles label, that's what they wanted to do in the first place, to release vinyl singles only. And Daryll-Ann was there, Scram C Baby, Caesar and we were one of the bands too.'

Before the album saw the light of day though, one thing definitely needed to be changed; the band name.

'Before (Johan), we called ourselves Visions of Johanna, after a Bob Dylan song (from Blonde on Blonde). Because we were about to produce our first album, we thought, let's change the name before it's too late. People didn't know what to think when they heard this name, it sounded a bit new wave-like. We were brainstorming about a new name, we didn't succeed and got drunk. We were talking about football and Johan Cruijff and Diederik, the former guitarist, said, Johan is a very good shortening of Visions of Johanna. It didn't make any sense, but before we knew, the name was there. And a couple of weeks later we were still called Johan. And thirteen years later we were still called Johan. It's a bit of a stupid name, people tend to think we're a folksinger (literal translation of volkszanger, meaning performer of light-hearted, low quality songs in Holland). And it took quite some trouble to convince them.'

Changing the band name to prevent people from getting wrong ideas wasn't that successful, but the change they made musically was.

'I think it's timeless. We all love the timeless pop music from the sixties and seventies, we grew up with the Beatles, the Kinks, bands like that. And we don't pretend to make trendy music, going along with the flavour of the week; we just make the kind of music we like. And that is just pop music, short songs. You can hear sixties influences, as well as influences from eighties American guitar bands like the Replacements. When I was about sixteen I used to listen to them quite a lot, and still do. And we blended it into our own sound.
So Replacements, I used to listen a lot to the early R.E.M., just the music style of those days. English bands as well, I used to be a big fan of Echo and the Bunnyman for example, it's not like you can hear that while listening to our music, but it is something I used to listen to a lot.´

The year was 1996, and with the company of guitarist Remco Krull, previously in Visions of Johanna and new recruits Niels de Wit (bass) and Wim Kwakman (drums) things were about to change, for better and for worse.

'When the first album was released, we more or less broke through into the scene. You could get a lot of gigs, lot of festivals, we played Pinkpop the same year, Lowlands if I'm correct as well.
We were then signed by Spinart in New York, a small label. We toured the US for a short time and ended up with Sire Records. The deal eventually didn't take place. Everything was sealed, the records were already pressed, but due to all kinds of legal things everything was cancelled. Even the records were destroyed. That was quite a pity. There are still some contacts (in the US), but it's just so hard to get something done, it's such a big country and there are so many bands there as well. But we still try to get something done abroad, just because it's fun to do, to travel, to play, small-scale. It's different from playing in Holland, because in Holland we're quite big in the alternative pop scene nowadays.
But that's what we did, we played quite a lot. And it took five years before the second album was released, because we were so busy and stuff... members quitted, I think it was somewhere around '97-'98, and we started a new band.'

Problems with finding the right people wasn't something new; Visions of Johanna already had three bass guitar players, and things weren't about to change.

'Certain people left the band (Krull and the Wit) and we had to find new people. And before we realised, it was already 2000 and the record still had to be made. And I was having troubles with my mental condition... It took quite some time before I was back on the track again, so to say.'

Help was on its way for Johan though, when the band Redivider entered the stage.

´We were looking for musicians to record the new album with and that year Redivider was performing at (band contest) the Grote Prijs van Nederland. We saw them playing and liked them. So we asked if they wanted to record the album 'Pergola'. We urgently needed musicians to record the album with and thought those guys were capable.
We wanted them to stay with the band, but they wanted to continue with Redivider and it was hard to combine. And as soon as the record was released David (Corel), the bass guitarist, said 'I'm going to continue with Redivider, you should look out for another musician'. Then Diets (Dijkstra) joined us, and he's still with us. He started when we promoted the album and David joined Redivider again and Diederik (Nomden) played with us for some time and started doing other things in the end as well.' (see also 'Highlights of the Lowlands part 2 - Alamo Race Track)

'Pergola' turned out to be quite a success, with single 'Tumble and Fall' even chosen as 'Song of the Year' by the listeners of alternative rock radio 3Voor12. But things weren't really happening anymore outside their home country.

'We mainly played in Holland, we did a tour in Germany - the album was released in Germany too - and we went to the US one more time and that's about it. Especially in Holland we got more and more successful, we even won an Edison Award for Best Band National, I think in 2002. And then we fooled around a bit, until 2005 and we continued, making the new album.
We've been doing quite a lot, with intervals. Touring Holland is often like this, you play for about four months, then you don't do anything for two months, the festivals are coming up again and before you know you're doing it two or three times. We played quite a lot in Holland back then, at least three or four years.
(But) It's been quite modest internationally. It's all so relative. Sometimes there's some interest, but it's also gone very quickly, it's very brief. It's often the case that, when you want to do something in the US, the same goes for England by the way, they want you to live there, or at least be there for quite a while, so people can work with you. Considering we live in Amsterdam, it's quite hard to do. Going to Germany is a lot easier, you can easily travel back and forth, so you could do a couple of gigs in Germany and you'll be back home the next weekend. And you can continue touring Holland and Amsterdam. That's the big difference with England and the US, I think.
Of course we wanted to, but in the right circumstances only. If you could get a nice record deal and the label says, 'we are going to sign you, we want you to record the next album, just stay here in New York for eight months, then the choice isn't that hard, obviously. But you have to have that opportunity first. You're not always the one to decide and, moreover, we feel Holland is quite important too, that's where our fans are. And there's quite a big club scène, there are so many clubs you can play, and festivals; it takes about a year before you've done everything. And it's often the case that, once you've done it, you are going to do it again the next year. And in the meantime you wait for offers to arrive from abroad. They do come, but it's not great. I found it's quite hard, especially being a Dutch band, to succeed abroad. Even though we sound internationally and we are able to compete with other bands. They say, 'well, we've got ten bands like yours and it's easier for us to work with them.' Especially England, we never received specific offers to play there. Because they think we sound too American, or too Dutch. Americans care less about it than the English. And I think that people in England are a bit more chauvinistic. That it's hard for a foreign band to break through. Who knows, maybe one day it's going to change.'

After touring for years, Johan was on its way to record a new album. And to start a new band, again.

'Recording third album ('THX Johan') again took quite some time. There was a gap of five years between the first and second album, and between 'Pergola' and 'THX Johan' as well. That was just a coincidence, but people where like 'oh, there's that band again who releases an album once in every five year'. It was a nice gimmick for a while, but that was really just a coincidence. Diederik (Nomden), the keys player left to do something else and we had to find new musicians again. The drummer quit and Jeroen (Kleijn) joined us, so again, for the third time, we had to start all over again. And I am the only original band member left now.'

'Because we changed members again we had to rehearse again, develop a new sound and in 2006 our new album was released. 'THX Johan' was a collection of songs we had back then that we felt we had to record and release, so we could make a new start. And in the meantime we kept on writing, we played a lot, resulting in... what I mentioned before, because of our productivity we are able to make albums a lot faster now and because of that 'Four' was...well, 'Four' was finished two years after 'THX Johan', but because of all kinds of marketing things it has been released a bit later. I think it's been released three years after 'THX Johan', with the same band, and we're still on a roll. We're constantly writing songs and it's going faster than ever and we're more productive than ever.'

Luckily this reincarnation of the band turned out to be a huge success, with the band members even being able to pay their bills this time.

'We've been touring quite a lot, played a lot of venues, sold out Paradiso for the first time, that was definitely a highlight. We were at Pinkpop again and Lowlands and in the meantime our fan base was growing. It was, in fact, quite a success. For the first time we could actually earn a living from playing music. Through gigs we managed to earn a yearly salary. That was something new, and fun and a challenge. And we try to keep on doing that.
It has been quite hard (financially). My girlfriend's got a job. And because I wrote the songs I received a bit of money every time the music was played on the radio and on television, so I could make a modest living out of it. But that wasn't the case for the other band members. I think it has been ten years of poverty, but that's just the way it has to be when you play in a pop band (laughs). I'm not really sure how I managed to survive, probably by living modestly. And it has become a little bit better now. It took some time, but well, at least you get to see things.'

With the recent success of 'THX Johan' and 'Four', even other countries are coming back in the picture again now.

'We're working on (a record deal) in Germany, and Italy as well, and over the next couple of months we have to talk about it, when we're going to tour over there and how to do that. The record ('Four') came out last May and promotion in Holland was our first priority, and to play a lot over there. And we've planned a big tour in the autumn, all the big venues. And in the meantime we're trying to get something done abroad, in Germany, Italy, and Scandinavia as well. And we want to go the US this fall as well.
There is some interest from abroad and we want to do it as good as possible, take our time and do things rightly. And we definitely want to play abroad more often. Whether or not it is going to happen depends on the people over there, if they want it, and how we're going to do it. Obviously it has become quite hard with this worldwide financial crisis. You find that the music industry is going down and we feel that, in every country, they firstly look at their own acts. We'll see what happens.'

'We would like to make a new album as soon as possible, I expect it to happen in about a year and a half. We're not, like we did before, going on tour for four years and then afterwards thinking about an album; it needs to go on now. There aren't any specific plans, but there's definitely going to be a new album.
There are no plans to do something different, or to try out other music styles. We know what we're good at, what we want and what we like and that remains the same. I hear so much beautiful music, and different styles I like, but it's very hard to turn away from something you developed. I don't think we're good in doing that either, I think we're good in what we do and that's what fans expect us to do as well, I think.'

Johan's discography

'Johan' & 'Pergola'
'The first album, 'Johan', is, what I mentioned before... after all those previous bands we were going in a different direction. This is what we wanted to do, making pop songs, as good as possible, nice, things we like ourselves. It developed more on 'Pergola', though that one is more like an album of mine. I did most of it myself, I left the idea of the band album 'Johan' was behind; it was more like some kind of solo project and it dealt with my mental condition.'

'THX Johan' & 'Four'
'With 'THX Johan' we went back to...we tried to pick up the old thing, songs of a band, and we partly succeeded.
I think we did a better job with 'Four', that one looks more like our first album. We now found something between a band album and a studio project and we try to combine it. It has become easier now with Pro-tools, everyone is able to work on the songs from home, with his laptop. All four of us has got it at home. That wasn't the case during our first album, it wasn't technically possible. The four of us just went into the studio, in one room, to record. Now it's all a bit easier. You could record a guitar at home, bring it over to the studio and finish it over there. And 'Four' is, we tried to work more as a band, in the studio too.'
'(Concerning song writing contributions), Maarten, the guitarist, came to me with a couple of songs and I liked them so much - and it also fitted perfectly with the material I had written - so I felt his songs had got to be on the album, and 'you're going to sing them yourself too'. See what happens. And Diets, the bass guitarist, also wrote a song on 'Four'. Yeah, I think it's quite funny, that it's coming from more people. Only Jeroen, the drummer, doesn't write song and it's not going to happen very soon (laughs). He doesn't have to, he's a very good drummer and that's also important. It's a new development within the band and I like the fact that I'm no longer the only one responsible for the songs. I do have the final word and the responsibility because I am the main songwriter, but I do like the development.'

Tour schedule

August 1 - Schollenpop, Scheveningen
August 2 - De Veste, Alkmaar
September 3 - Speakers, Delft
September 5 - The Great White Open, Vlieland
September 11 - Mezz, Breda
September 19 - De Pul, Uden
September 24 - Luxor Live, Arnhem
September 25 - Hedon, Zwolle
September 26 - Perron55, Venlo
October 2 - Gigant, Apeldoorn
October 3 - Manifesto, Hoorn
October 9 - Paradiso, Amsterdam
October 11 - De Amer, Amen
October 17 - Poppodium Romeijn, Leeuwarden
October 23 - Tivoli, Utrecht
October 29 - Paard van Troje, Den Haag
October 30 - Oosterpoort, Groningen
October 31 - Patronaat, Haarlem
December 4 - Fenix, Sittard
December 11 - De Kade, Zaandam
December 12 - LVC, Leiden
December 18 - Metropool, Hengelo
December 19 - De Kelder, Amersfoort