Frank Johansen

Frank Johansen a composer/writer born in 1981 in Sweden. He began playing electric guitar when he was 15 years old, his main focus was on the rhythm guitar. Listening to the amazing riffs from early Metallica and Megadeth as well as Slayer, Pantera and Sepultura boosted his inspiration to play. His guitar skills began to evolve and he got his first microphone which he put up in the basement where he used to scream his heart out as he played the new ESP Esplorer ?James Hetfield copy? guitar.

At this time his brother Dan Johansen had become extremely interested in playing electric guitar as well and Frank showed him everything he knew and he developed quickly. He can remember them playing together in the basement. Frank's first visions of maybe forming a band began to take form and as his brother's skills developed he began to focus more on lead solos. They then recorded a 2 song demo with Frank on vocals at his sister's father's house in Sweden. The two tracks were titled Hatred and Confusion, which Frank still has on a CD somewhere.Frank soon applied for a 1 year Rock school that went on a mini-tour with original made tunes by the students. It was a decision that he felt he had to make just to test if his skills were good enough to focus his entire life on. He hated the notes and music theory lessons, however he taught himself and notes and such were a waste of time and effort. During that year Frank came to the conclusion that music was what he wanted to focus on in his life. Frank's roommate introduced him to the possibilities of creating music using software on a computer and it blew his mind. He thought WOW! But when he never found anyone to really make songs with at the school he thought back on his brother Dan who was sitting at home, just having fun with his guitar beginning to blast Pantera riffs and developing his solo skills. Hatred and Confusion came to mind and it hit Frank that his brother was the one whom he wanted to form a band with. However when Frank came home he got called into the army for his obligatory one year. When he got in he quickly got himself out by choosing to serve civil duty. He was an assistant at a school and wasnt happy about it. When his ?punishment? was over he could finally return home and their path towards creating their own music could begin to take shape.
They got their hands on a computer and a few software programs and began their journey through the world of music and music programming. They dove into music and a lot of videogames the following year. However his brother Dan had school which seemed to suck a lot of life force from him as well as Frank so it went slow with the music and they played more games. As the year went by and they managed to complete 2 new tracks called Mighty science and Awakening meant to be included in a musical story project called The Dark Era with Frank on vocals. Their vision of music had begun to take form in original ideas and they developed their ideal of music, the thought was: Only create the best parts, no filler parts that really didn't do any thing for the song. Basically only focus on parts that had equal greatness. After Dan quit school they found themselves in a position of choice, what did thdy really want to do with their music? They still didn't have a band and they had gotten a reply from Nuclear blast that they were interested in hearing more from them in the future but they didn't have the capacity to sign anymore bands at that time. But as they reflected on the situation they found themselves less willing to be a band that travels around playing live. They are all about the music and giving every part of it its full attention.
They began to think about the media they loved most, video games. Video games such as the JRPG's have great stories and amazing music and they began to move in that direction.
They created two separate websites that would promote their original instrumental compositions which included city/town themes and battle tracks. Time passed by as they evolved and they learned that the road could be less honourable as it seemed that the way in would have to be as apprentice musician or as something totally different. This was not something they agreed with and they felt that the music they had on their websites did not do their current level of skills justice so they were shut down. Leaving the thought of ever becoming a band their ambitions grew larger as they wanted to create their own visions. They began their first thoughts on solo projects but they never really took form as community began pressuring them to get jobs. Eventually they found a website called www.gamedev.net and they thought that maybe they could make something happen there as composers and they are still working on that part.
But by now they really wanted to release original music, no more working behind the scenes.
It was time to step up and deliver some kick ass music.
However loose tracks did not sit well with them so they decided to do concepts and release two solo albums. And now they are released! Both Frank and Dan want to thank you all for showing interest in their music and what they are all about.