Mikael Johnston

Mikael Johnston is an electronic dance music Musician, Producer, Remixer and DJ, of the Warner Bros. Records act Mephisto Odyssey, currently of Dresden & Johnston with Dave Dresden formerly of Gabriel & Dresden.
Biography
1993-2002: Mephisto Odyssey
As a co-producer, DJ and songwriter for the Warner Bros. Records act Mephisto Odyssey, Johnston gained the reputation of being eclectic, pivotal in defining the nascent San Francisco house sound. Johnston didn't start out doing electronic and house music though; like many current electronic artists, he got his start in the rock and new wave scene of the 1980s. By the end of the 80s Mikael decided to put aside his rock roots and check out the as-yet-uncharted territory of electronic dance music, which proved to be a wise career move. His first single under the artist name Mephisto Odyssey, "Dream of the Black Dahlia,"Was self released in January of 1994 and quickly earned kudos from Bay Area promoters and the international underground scene, including DJ Garth and the legendary DJ François Kevorkian. Johnston continued to release singles on the Mephisto label and eventually signed Mephisto Odyssey to the progressive West Coast label City of Angels, where they shared the talent roster with future breakbeat kings The Crystal Method.
After releasing a string of singles and a full length album on City of Angels, Mephisto Odyssey became the first U.S. electronic dance music act to sign to Warner Bros. Records, swiftly evolving them from underground darlings to crossover potentials. While at Warner Bros. Johnston produced a series of remixes for the Jane's Addiction "So What" maxi single, which spent 6 weeks in the Billboard Magazine charts. To date these are the only sanctioned remixes ever done for Jane's Addiction. During his tenure at Warner Bros. Johnston also had numerous collaborations with the electronic influenced Nu Metal act Static-X as a remixer and co author of the hit song "Crash" which was featured in an MTV video helmed by director Len Wiseman. Mephisto Odyssey left Warner Bros. Records in January of 2002.
2002-2005: The Athens Years
Shortly after leaving Warner Bros. Records Johnston relocated to Athens, Georgia to be with then girlfriend Alison Lipman (founder of Selva International) who was attending graduate school at the University of Georgia. While living in Athens Georgia Mikael worked on two notable projects. He co produced, and mixed the Gammon Records release, The Cover Up by I Am The World Trade Center , and he released the Mephisto Odyssey progressive house single, "Rites of Passage." Rites of Passage featured vocals by late Qawwali singer Badar Ali Khan which Johnston had recorded in 1999 . The single was released through mediaservicesnyc.com which was founded by Oscar Poche. Johnston returned to the San Francisco bay area in September of 2005.
2005-2006: Engineering and Production
After returning to the San Francisco bay area Johnston began working as an engineer at Skyline Studios which was part of the indie rock venue IMusicast. It wasn't long before IMusicast founder Bryan Matheson introduced Mikael to Miles Hurwitz manager for the pop punk band The Matches. Johnston's fresh approach to production and background in electronic music intrigued Miles, so he offered him the opportunity to work with The Matches as an engineer and co-producer for the Takeover Records 3-Way Issue #2 compilation. Mikael's work with The Matches reached the ears of Jeff Saltzman producer of The Killers debut album Hot Fuss. Saltzman was impressed with Johnston's engineering skills and knowledge of vintage gear. He soon invited Mikael to attend recording sessions he was doing with the band Smash Mouth. Mikael quickly found himself helping with vocal production on the sessions which earned him an assistant engineering credit for their album Summer Girl. Saltzman then invited Johnston to work as a co engineer on the upcoming album, "Dying to Say This to You" for Swedish New Wave band The Sounds.
2006-2008: Mephisto Odyssey Reborn
In 2006 the Mephisto Odyssey song "Some Kinda Freak" from their Warner Bros. Debut The Deep Red Connection was licensed for the Quentin Tarantino production , (Directed by Eli Roth). The song appeared in a European discotheque scene and was featured prominently for almost 3 minutes. It was rumored through the music licensing company that worked on the film that Quentin Tarantino picked the song personally because of the songs vocal hook, which was a sample from an obscure horror film called Ganja and Hess. The licensing deal garnered a nice payday for Johnston so under the advisement of his attorney Elliot Cahn Johnston decided to bring Mephisto Odyssey out of moratorium with the idea that he would attract more licensing deals by writing new material. Friend and Mephisto Odyssey touring DJ Josh Camacho was invited to join the latest incarnation of the band and the two got to work producing new tracks. Over the course of the next 2 years Mephisto Odyssey released 5 new singles including Superphonic, Sexy Love (Featuring Kristo), Watch You Go, Bump (Featuring DJ Polywog & ), and Supachron. The band did indeed have measurable success licensing their material to both TV and video games such as ABC's show "", and the MTV show "."
Johnston also continued to work as an engineer and producer during this period. His credits include San Francisco based singer songwriter Stacy Kray, DJ Toure of the Hip Hop collective , and R & B singer songwriter Goapele. Johnston Mixed the Goapele single "Don't Be Shy", Mixed much of DJ Toure's upcoming solo album, and engineered and mixed Stacy Kray's album "My Last Eye."
In addition to his production and engineering duties Mikael was also involved in the design of a new private studio complex being built by friend and fellow music collaborator David Watson called The Zoo. The Zoo is now home to several bay area entertainment industry entities including Mephisto Odyssey, Dresden and Johnston, Skyblaze, David Watson and Elliot Cahn to name a few.
2008-present: Dresden & Johnston

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