Wolfgang Gartner: Unmasked

Wolfgang Gartner: Unmasked

26 June, 2008 | 9.00AM

• Written by: francispreve
• Filed under: Music News: joey youngman

He’s been called the next Deadmau5.

Pretty much every track he’s released in the past year has dominated the Beatport charts.

DJs and producers are dissecting his production style and attempting to emulate it.

He’s 2008’s “It” boy.

And he’s been working under a pseudonym all this time.

Now, in conjunction with the release of his latest single, ‘Bounce/Get It’, Wolfgang Gartner is revealing his true identity and Beatportal has the exclusive.

Wolfgang Gartner is actually the acclaimed house producer, Joey Youngman.

Here’s the scoop.

You had a strong and successful career as Joey Youngman, so what’s the reason behind the name change?

This change had been coming for a while. 

When I started doing all of this full-time and making a living off my music in 2004, record sales had already dropped considerably from the late ‘90s.

Even so, there was still a lot of fresh music coming out and I was still really inspired and I had a lot of ideas to get out of my head. 

That “creative honeymoon”, as I call it, lasted a few years.  2004 through mid-2007 were great for me. 

So those really were golden years.  I was making a comfortable living doing what I loved, which is what I think everybody really wants, right? 

But over those years I didn’t grow much musically.

The quality of my music got better as I honed my abilities to get out my ideas, but stylistically it was still basically just boompty disco house and I wasn’t really advancing the genre although people did credit me with doing that - which I don’t necessarily agree with. 

In 2007 I started thinking it might be time for a major change. 

Just a lot of factors adding up, mainly my creative brain was really craving something new. 

If I wanted to go any further creatively, I would have to step outside the genre and explore other styles. 

That’s when I really opened up my mind and looked outside the disco/jackin’/deep house genre, started poking around, and realized how much great music was out there that I had just shut myself off to. 

So I started making it, I ended up being kinda decent at it, and here we are! 

As for the name change, I have always been pretty out of control with the aliases. 

But I did one this time because I didn’t want to freak out my Joey Youngman fans by changing styles so quickly, even though I’m basically done with the Joey Youngman project. 

The two styles are so different from each other that I felt there needed to be separation there, I didn’t want people who were into electro and tech house to have to dig through pages of disco house to find what they liked in my discography.

Your “Joey” sound had a huge following with the classic house crowd, will you ever produce Joey Youngman tracks again?

Who knows?  I don’t want to say never. 

That sound is still so close to my heart, it’s what I grew up on, it’s what I had all my teenage “firsts” to—the soundtrack to my adolescence! 

But right now I just don’t have time. 

I am the kind of person who likes to dive in head first to something and get immersed in it, sort of a one-track mind. 

So while I’m knee deep in this Wolfgang Gartner business, there’s just no chance I’m going to step outside for a minute and do anything else. 

Wolfgang is gonna be my focus for a long time now.

What about the Loopmasters Joey Youngman library… We reviewed it a few weeks back and it’s hot. What’s the story behind that?

That was a really great project all around. 

My first sample collection, and probably not my last, since it has been such a fantastic experience so far. 

Loopmasters was doing the artist series and we got linked up, and they thought I would be a good match for what they were going for. 

I did a lot of the sounds myself, and got some friends to do guitar loops (Josh Marquez from the group Uneaq) and vocals (Fourfeet, an amazing vocalist who I’ve collaborated with before). 

So far the reviews have been really positive, I’m stoked.

So will there be a Wolfgang Gartner library in our future?

Interesting question.  I have thought about this a lot. 

It’s not going to happen in the very near future, but it could happen down the road. 

My main concern now is that I feel like I’m starting to develop a signature sound and I don’t want to give that away yet, it still has some life left in it. 

If I did a sample CD, everybody would be able to sound like me, which was fine with the Joey Youngman one since I’m not doing that style now, but Wolfgang still has the golden years ahead of him I think. 

I don’t know… I’m also so ridiculously busy that I don’t know where I’d fit it into my schedule right now!

It’s really incredible how far you’ve come in such a short time—it’s almost Deadmau5-like. How are you handling all of this attention?

You know, a few people have used that comparison. 

It’s not going to happen as fast for me as it happened for him, plus I think he’s light years ahead of me with his production. 

But you’re right, it has been happening fast, and definitely faster than I expected and the support and feedback has been amazing. 

I went through all of this once before in 2003, 2004, when I was just starting to put out records, and you see people buying your stuff and playing your stuff, and it really is a great feeling. 

I sorta got jaded to it after a few years, but now that feeling has come back again with this project, I really do feel like a kid again, as cliche as that sounds. (laughs)

What about the Billboard market? Any designs on going the Dirty South and Starkillers route - cranking out pop remixes for mainstream artists - now that all ears are on you?

Again, who knows? 

Nobody has contacted me to do anything like that, so the opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet, though I am certainly open to it.

The main thing for me with remixes is the parts I’m working with, and the tone of the original song. 

Nowadays I really like to be picky and only choose remix projects that have parts that will work well for me.

I don’t really care who the artist is, what label it’s on, or any of that stuff.

It’s all about how I like the original and how cool the parts are.

There’s a rumor that even game developers are in hot pursuit of the Wolfgang Gartner sound. True? False? Hearsay?

True. 

I am still in shock that this even happened, but I got license requests from Rockstar Games for two of my tracks to be included in Midnight Club LA (street racing video game).

The tracks were ‘Frenetica’ and ‘Squares’.

I just approved both of them this week, so I will find out next week if they are going to use both of them in the game, but I assume at least 1 of the 2 will make it in there. 

Now I just need to buy a Playstation!!

And the really big question… Joey Youngman was revered for his ultra-funky house sets. Will Wolfgang Gartner tour anytime soon?

Yes! 

From now on I will be touring as Wolfgang Gartner, and yes, I will be playing the same style that I have been producing as Wolfgang Gartner. 

I took a break from gigs for the past 5 months to really cram in the studio and focus on the production end, so I can’t wait to get out there again and finally start playing this stuff in front of people. 

The past few years of touring I’ve made a lot of friends at gigs all over the world who I’ve kept in touch with, so I’m really looking forward to seeing some of them in person again, hopefully! 

Most importantly, playing gigs has always been the best source of inspiration for my production. 

I always come home bursting with ideas and my music really benefits. 

So I think it’s going to do wonders for my tracks to finally get out there again.

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