Hey Johan Reinhold! We are superhappy to have you over at WiMP Live Sessions!
Thank you so much. I’m just thrilled to be a part of it and happy that you guys want me to perform.

You are a fairly new acquaintance to us. We love you songs. Tell us a little bit about who you are?
I guess I’m new to most people considering I killed my own hiphop career a few years back and started from scratch, on purpose I might add but sure yeah, I’m kind of starting over again. Anyway, I’m a simple man from Gothenburg, Sweden that once became so fed up with myself and decided to quit the music industry all together. But then a year later or so I started playing my guitar again for the first time in years without any intention of ever releasing anything which felt awesome. A few months goes by and my old producers Astma and Rocwell thinks we should try and make a couple real songs out of my demos and here we are two years later.

I know I should get out more. I tried running but it wasn’t for me but I’d so like to change that and really get into it again. I’m thinking I should also pick up Yoga or something and get back to meditating but it hasn’t happened yet. I also probably need to see a psychiatrist once in a while which is also something I should try to make happen soon.

I enjoy wine more than I probably should do and right now any Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough district in New Zealand does it for me. I’m also really into coffee and like to spend a pretty penny on expensive beans that only come in small quantities from even smaller roasting-houses in Italy. I’m also a sucker for movies, especially documentaries and all sorts of TV-shows to the point I know I shouldn’t get into video games again If I want to make this album happen.

But when I’m not making music I’m also a multi-award-winning graphic designer so it’s only natural for me to make all of my own artwork, record covers, merchandise and so on. I try to be creative in any way I can.

Like you mentioned, you’ve had a career in hiphop before? What’s the difference in how you make your music nowadays?
I kind of discovered singing, meaning I realized I wasn’t too shabby at it a few years ago and then wanted to pursue it some more. You know just see what happened and If I could make something real out of it.

In my hiphop days I just picked an already finished beat that somehow appealed to me and just went with it. Today I write my music myself either on the piano or on the guitar which also inspired me to do something different than in the past. Not that I’m very good at it but I play around with it until we have something to build on me and my producers.

Let’s talk a little about inspiration! Who’s inspired you during the work with the new material?
Life inspires my, ups and downs of all sorts but of course a lot of my inspiration comes from other great artists but it’s not like I have this one single group or artist that has inspired my whole sound. It’s more like one particular song might have inspired one of mine to come alive and the next time it happens it’s a totally different artist with a totally different sound. I usually work on gut-feeling when it comes to a certain sound, or string of chords or perhaps a sentence in a movie that strikes me. I like to act on those hunches and just work my way from there.

But I take it you want some names which music I enjoy so here are a few that I like listening to when I’m not in the studio myself. I like Iamamiwhoami’s latest effort Kin very much. The same goes for my other fellow Swedes Niki & The Dove and their debut Instinct. But usually I like to listen to music that is not what I myself is making for instance Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, James Vincent McMorrow, The Black Keys, Frank Ocean and so on.

Finally; What three songs would you choose if you could only listen to three songs for the rest of your life?
I’ve come to realize I got stuck somewhere in the 80s so here are some of my guilty pleasures:

1.) Billy Idol – Eyes Without a Face
2.) The Commodores – Easy
3.) Frankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love

Johan Reinhold will be performing at WiMP Live Sessions the 7th of november 21:00.