Mikael Johnston is a musician, producer and remixer best known for his work in electronic dance music. Johnston is a founding member of the San Francisco

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

group

Mephisto Odyssey Mephisto Odyssey is an American house music group from San Francisco, California, United States, who have been credited with helping to pioneer the San Francisco house music sound. The group went on to release a number of self-released singles ...

which originated in the early 1990s. After a string of successful singles on his own label imprint Mephisto Records (starting with the 12" Dream of The Black Dahlia), Johnston signed with progressive west coast label City of Angels, home to future break beat kings

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...

. Johnston's notoriety in the major label music industry began in the late 1990s with his collaboration with

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

on a series of remixes for their maxi single "So What" under the name Deep Red. A recording contract with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

soon followed. While at Warner Johnston worked with

Nu Metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

act

Static-X Static-X is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his ...

on a remix for their single Push It. This eventually led to their collaboration on the crossover alternative song, "Crash" which later became a video directed by

Len Wiseman Len Ryan Wiseman (born March 4, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Underworld'' series, ''Live Free or Die Hard'', and the 2012 film '' Total Recall''. Wiseman runs the production company Sketch Films. Early ...

that appeared on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and in the film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Johnston's other projects include, Deep Red, Seraphim and The Swerve. Currently Johnston is one half of the electronic dance music duo Dresden and Johnston with

Dave Dresden Dave Dresden is an American electronic dance music DJ and producer, co-founder of the collaborative acts Gabriel & Dresden with Josh Gabriel, and Dresden and Johnston with Mikael Johnston. History 1988–2000: Early years Dresden's zeal for ...

formerly of

Gabriel and Dresden Gabriel & Dresden is an American electronic music duo comprising Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden, formed in San Francisco, California. They collaborated from 2001 to 2008, then again from 2011 to the present. During that time, they have created nu ...

. Dresden and Johnston's remixes of

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

and Nadia Ali both hit #1 in the

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot Dance Club Play Chart in 2009. Other remixes by the duo include BT "The Unbreakable", JD Webb "Better Man",

"Black Rainbows" and

Owl City Owl City is an American electronic music project created in 2007 in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is one of several projects by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Adam Young, who created the project while experimenting with music in his pa ...

"Hello Seattle".Dance Music Authority: Dave Dresden & Mikael Johnston: Dance Music’s Newest Remix Gurus & THE ‘go to’ producers for EDM

/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Mikael American house musicians Musicians from San Francisco 20th-century American musicians Living people 21st-century American musicians 1973 births