Johnston is a founding member of the San Francisco electronica music group Mephisto Odyssey, which originated in the early 1990s.[1] Following the release of several singles, including "Dream of The Black Dahlia" on his label, Mephisto Records, Johnston signed with progressive West Coast label City of Angels, home to The Crystal Method.
The Warner Bros. Records Years
On December 23, 1998, Johnston's band Mephisto Odyssey signed a six-record, 6 million dollar deal with Warner Bros. Records. During his tenure at the label, besides work on his own albums, Johnston also collaborated with other label artists including Jane's Addiction on a series of remixes for their maxi single "So What." Other collaborations include remixes for Soul Coughing's "Rolling (song)," Los Amigos Invisibles' "Mi Linda," and Joe Rogan's "VooDoo Punanny."
Mephisto Odyssey's first official band release on the label was an EP called "The Lift." The title song, "The Lift," hit the Billboard Magazine Hot Dance Club Play Chart, peaking at #43.
On their debut full-length release, "The Deep Red Connection," [5] the song "Some Kinda Freak," written by Johnston, is prominently featured in the Amsterdam club scene in the horror film Hostel (2005 film)[6] directed by Eli Roth and produced by Quentin Tarantino. The song was chosen for the film by Roth and Tarantino because they liked that it used a sample from an obscure horror film called "Ganja & Hess" as the chorus hook "Everybody's Some Kinda Freak..." Mephisto Odyssey also contributed songs from their debut album including "Jump" and "Some Kinda Freak" to the soundtrack for the X-Box game, Mad Dash Racing.
In 2005, Johnston moved back to the Bay Area, where he grew up. Shortly thereafter, he started work on the shared EP "Takeover Records 3-Way Issue No. 2," producing, engineering and mixing the contributions from the Epitaph Records band The Matches. The songs that Johnston worked on included "A Girl I Know," "Sick Little Suicide (acoustic)" and "Shoot Me In The Smile (acoustic)."
Also in 2005, Johnston began collaborating extensively with producer Jeff Saltzman (known for producing The Killers' "Hot Fuss"). Johnston's work for Saltzman spanned 8 years and included: co-engineering for The Sounds' "Dying to Say This to You;" assistant engineering for Smashmouth's "Summer Girl;" co-producing, recording, engineering, and mixing Sleep Party People's "Floating," while also writing and playing guitar on the track "Floating Blood of Mine;" recording and mixing for Blondie's "Blondie 4(0) Ever" as well as cowriting the song "I Screwed Up"(featuring Los Rakas)."
Johnston was the rerecording mixer and dialogue editor for the film "Butchers Bluff" in 2024.[9]
In 2025, a 25th anniversary single for "Crash" is planned for release, on Rhino Records. The single will feature a 4K re-edited version of the original video; a new mix and master of the original song; a new version of the song, "Crash Reborn," which includes a revised chord progression (written by Johnston) and features guitars by Brad Gillis and vocals by Wayne Static; with a video co-directed by Len Wiseman and William Instone.[10][11]
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