Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Johann Caruana
Johann Caruana is a 32-year-old musician, producer, husband, and father whose passion for music has shaped more than 15 years of his life. Skilled in drums and bass guitar, he explores and creates across all musical styles, driven by curiosity and emotion in equal measure.
Dedicated to constant growth and artistic expression, Johann continues to refine his sound while producing fresh, engaging music for listeners worldwide.
Follow his journey, discover his releases, and add his tracks to your playlists to stay connected with his evolving musical world.
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
Basically the earliest connection I had with music was when I was still unborn! My father tells me that he used to put a radio near my mother’s tummy and she felt me moving inside! In addition, my earliest memory is when I started experimenting on various music making software around 15 years ago and this continued to develop until present.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
I consider myself a person who likes to experiment. I play the drums and bass guitar as well and I self-taught such instruments so it comes natural for me to always want to grasp more musical knowledge.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
I am currently working on some songs with a profound, sentimental and personal messages. I basically write about life experiences and try to give positive messages through my productions. To give you an example, I suggest checking out one of my latest releases named, ‘No regrets, only blessings’, currently sitting in 3rd place in Malta’s Top 20!
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
My sound can be calm like the sea and ferocius like thunder! This is because my productions are multi-genre and range from Christian worship to dance, funk, and also metal to name a few! So I believe I pretty much hit the liking of many people!
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?
By time and practice, I familiarized myself with how a general song structure works and I am trying various methods to sort of go out of the norm and try to invent a unique, yet captivating sound while keeping the basics in mind.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?
Basically all digital instruments are needed to create music in the vast diversity I produce in. I experiment with various DAWs, however, I am mostly loyal to Ableton. With regards to drums and bass, I sometimes also record my own playing and include them in the song, rather than generating them digitally, such as the drums in my song ‘Highway’.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
One of my main inspirations who I like to listen to is Kamtin Mohager (known as The Chain Gang of 1974). This indie artist has a number of albums but my favourite one is Honey Moon Drips from 2020.
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?
I love to sit down and think about what I should write, the music style, the message I want to put out, the mood the song will provide. My personal experiences, both positive and negative allow me to channel what I want to produce and this helps set the setting for the song I will work on.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?
While I produce both happy and sad songs, with both positive messages and also negative ones, I wish that the listeners get the grasp what I really want to promote. My main themes are about finding yourself, trusting in God, moving on in life and never giving up.
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Music taught me that the more you experiment, the more you find out that there is more that you need to know! This helps me to continue venturing and engaging myself in the music world!
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
To be very honest with you I never thought about this since I create music as a hobby with no intention of playing in front of crowds. Obviously if an opportunity arises, I might think about it. Always keeping the door open for what might crop up!
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
Two names that quickly came up to my mind right now are completely opposite in music genres and this is because as I said I like the majority of styles and compose in different styles. The first would be to drum with Linkin Park as I love their raw emotion and freedom of expression in a musical setting. Secondly would be with Martin Garrix as I love progressive house as well.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links)
Basically the below are all my social media links:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheDjjcar
https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/338232021
https://music.apple.com/mt/artist/johann-caruana/1809637543
https://www.facebook.com/johann.caruana
https://www.instagram.com/johann.caruana
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
I wish to continue exploring, learning, elaborating, producing and releasing more songs in different music genres as I feel that music speaks in different ways! By this, I want to share what I feel with the world!
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?
I really wish that the listeners enjoy my music and that the positive messages are received. As an independent artist it is more difficult to keep up with all the work; writing lyrics, producing music, producing the music videos and promoting your work but seeing that your work is appreciated gives you a lot of courage to continue venturing!
This is the latest release I produced. Hope you enjoy that 70s groove!
