Johan

seen live

There are at least three artists called Johan. 1. Johan is a Dutch indie rock band, established in 1990 in the town of Hoorn, The Netherlands, by singer, guitarist and songwriter Jacob de Greeuw, who initially named the group Visions Of Johanna (after the Bob Dylan song of the same name). The name was changed into Johan in 1996. That same year the band put out their début album, Johan, to overwhelming acclaim from the Dutch music press. The band underwent several personnel changes. De Greeuw soon was the only permanent member. Johan recorded and released three more studio albums of melodic, crafty, Beatle-esque guitar pop with English lyrics that often touched on De Greeuw's personal life. The frontman suffered several bouts of serious clinical depression, the subject of many songs on the Dutch indie classic Pergola (2001) as well as THX JHN (2006). By 2006 De Greeuw had re-located to Amsterdam and formed an Amsterdam-based line-up of the band. The album 4 (2009) would be thought to be Johan's swan song: the band - to the surprise of many fans - decided to call it a day after a sold-out 'farewell show' at Amsterdam's Paradiso in December 2009. In 2018 they released their 5th studio album Pull Up(2018) All five of Johan's albums (particularly the first three) are regarded as Dutch indie gems, but Johan never made a mark outside of The Netherlands, which is why they are regarded by many (in spite of their domestic success and 'gold' certification for Pergola) as criminall...