[Interview] Exclusive interview with Swedish Progressive Rock artist Johan Steensland

Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with a Swedish composer, educator, singer and guitarist best known for his contributions to the Progressive Rock scene. We welcome Johan Steensland.

Hi Johan how are you?

Iā€™m good ā€“ working hard on my new album!

You are a composer and multi-instrumentalist, how did your passion for music and in particular Progressive Rock come about?

As a young boy, I started to realize that the musicality I had within me, was unusual. At first, I was surprised that other kids did not, as a rule, have the ability to sing and taprhythms, like I could. I wondered why they couldnā€™t. As a teenager, my musicality became my vehicle to gain respect, get friends and ā€“ of course, girls. My passion for music grew, and I was heading for success and stardome. Or, at least I thought so, ha ha. I was very immature. I skipped school and formal education, I worked low-paying jobs to make ends meet. I devoted all my time to my bands and my compositions.
However, after finishing writing the rock-opera Crossfade, at about 23 years of age, I was done. I wanted no more.
I was poor, uneducated, single, and worked only sh*tty jobs. The commercial market was not interested in my music. And I was uninterested in the commercial music market. It was lose-lose. So, I made a clean break. The following decades, I educated myself. I earned a PhD and I built a family. Travelled. Made money. Trained endurance sports. Was happy.
Then, when the kids were all grown up, I wondered: what now?
I was 50, and suddenly my passion for music started burning brighter than ever. I recorded some old works, and after a couple of years, I decided to start re-recording Crossfade. And now itā€™s out ā€“ almost 40 years after I wrote it!

What are your main sources of inspiration in this regard?

When I was about 15 years old, I heard Secondā€™s Out, by Genesis. Of course, I was already exposed to music from Sweet, ELO, Deep Purple etc, but Genesis really hit me like a ton of bricks. I must have played Secondā€™s Out a million times. I could sing and air-drum every section of the entire album. Oh, how I loved it! After that, we explored a lot of progressive rock. Of course, all Genesis albums, but also bands like Yes, King Crimson, Rush, UK and Gong. To me, this music was like comming home.

Your new album ā€˜Crossfadeā€™ was released on September 09, 2024, how would youdescribe this work?

Musically, it is a mix of lots of styles. Some reviewers have loved that, while others were more sceptical of the lack of staying in one box. Crossfade has purely orchestral parts, some fusion-like parts, some rock-pop parts, and of course, a lot of prog parts. Underlying it all, is the fact that it is a rock-opera, a little bit like Chess. To me, it is all connected. But I understand people who think it spreads out too much.

It is an intense and rich Prog Rock Opera, what themes does the album’s concept deal with?

Well, as opposed to e.g. kings, dragons and swords, I love writing about ā€œrealā€ people. I believe life is complex, mysterious and beautiful enough as it is without going into phantasy. Crossfade is about the characters Joseph and Linda and what happens in the aftermath of their turbulent break-up. Itā€™s quite a ride, becuase both characters develop a lot during the play of the rock-opera.

14 tracks make up this new work, intense and elaborate, how does the creative process of your music take place?

Oh, tough question, as it was about 40 years ago I wrote it ā€¦ But I write allone, most often by the piano, or keyboard. To me, nothing beats sitting by the grand piano and just letting the songs come to me. At the keyboard, I love having access to strings, horns and a host of cool sounds to play with. My writing process might seem a bit weird, because I am a guitarist. I am probably the worst piano player in the entire universe (ha ha), but still, I am the most happy by the grand piano. Being the way I am, I most often also write the guitar parts, the bass parts, and ā€“ yes ā€“ the drum parts. I am used to this since the early days back in the 80:s. “

As a solo project, many of our readers and your fans wonder if there will be a chance to hear your music live, do you have any plans in this regard in the near future?

Good question! Right now, I am establishing myself as a serious prog rock composer and musician. Hence, there are not yet a huge demand for live gigs. But if things go like I want them to, my following will grow and there will be a demand for live gigs. Of course I will absolutely love a large following that voices their wish.

However, Iā€™m afraid I will have to let them down. This is for several reasons. One, I suffer from type-1 diabetes and the stress of being on tour will not be good for my health. Two, I love working in the studio, trying to perfect this and that. I get stressed over live gigs because of their inherent dynamics. Three, ever since I was a teenager, I have never been
comfortable on stage. I think some of it had to do with a need to create a fantastic stage-persona, which I never could. Today, as an older guy, I donā€™t care about that. But the discomfort is still there.

Sweden is one of the most interesting countries in Prog Rock, how do you see the modern scene in your country and more generally in the world?

Funny you should mention this. I grew up in the prog-rich city of Uppsala in Sweden. Uppsala has been home to The Flower Kings, HFMC, Samla mammas manna, and Kaipa. And my own band Sheik Ahmeed. Even if we were a bit of novices, we were one of the pinoneers in the genre in the city. Nowadays, ā€œprog rockā€ is just a name. There is nothing progressive about it anymore. Itā€™s just the name of our genre. Some prog bands just repeat what was already done in the
70:s. Others borderline to pop, although with a bit of mellotron on top. Then we have the progressive metal, which is huge right now. Still, thereā€™s alot of wonderful music in the genre, progressive or not. Sweden keeps on being very productive in all kinds of progressive rock. The Flower Kings, HFMC, Kapia and myself are still going strong. Then we have acts like Meshugga and Scar Symmetry. All in all, I am happy that the genre has so many fans over the world. That makes it
possible for me to reach out and touch many souls with my music. I love that.

What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with more elaborate sounds like yours?

Oh, man. I would say: Get an education, build your family, live your life, but work with your music as much as you can. You will probably not make any money from your music. But it will give you joy, love, friends, and it will make you grow as a person. Life is a big puzzle. Putting the pieces in is a unique thing for each individual. Make your life count!

In a market that values more commercial sounds, how difficult is it (if at all) to assert yourself by proposing a more refined genre like yours?

Well, I am a researcher, and a bit of a nerd. So I try to learn as much as I can about web precense, social media platforms, the do:s and donā€™t:s etc. You got to be careful, as though it has a tendency to take all your time if youā€™re not careful. Even if I am a pedagog and like making videos, Iā€™m not a ā€œyoutuberā€ ā€“ I am a musician. However, thereā€™s no use
writing music if no one will ever hear it. So, you got to balance these things. For example, now Iā€™m working extremely hard with my album. That means, I cannot be as active on social media as I would like to.

Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside of music?

Iā€™m a runner. Love running, although I am not particularly good at it. Putting on my running shoes, getting out in the woods for a hard session is just wonderful to me. Also, I am a math teacher. Helping young adults with their education is among the best part of my life.

I thank Johan for the interview and wish him all the best for the continuation of his artistic career.

Stream the concept album here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/johansteensland/crossfade

Johan Steensland |Official Website|Bandcamp|Facebook Page|Spotify|YouTube Channel|

Author: Jacopo Vigezzi

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