Johan

In 1997 the Dutch pop band Johan issued its debut, a self-titled album whose sound fused the jittery indie guitar strum of the Wedding Present with the cool, ironic retro-pop charms of the Cardigans and the manic hooks of the best Buzzcocks singles. The quartet took shape in Hoorn, Netherlands, when singer Jacco de Greeuw and drummer Wim Kwakman first assembled it under the name Visions of Johanna, borrowed from the Bob Dylan song. Deeming that title both pretentious and imprecise, they shortened it to Johan in tribute to Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff. Once guitarist Remco Krull and bassist Niels de Wit completed the lineup, the group signed with Amsterdam indie Excelsior Recordings and tracked the self-titled album in 1996. New York’s Spin Art label subsequently licensed the record for American release the following year, yet Krull and de Wit exited the band shortly afterward. For the next two years de Greeuw and Kwakman continued sporadic work on a successor, bringing in Diets Dijkstra on guitar and vocals, Diederik Nomden on keyboards, guitar, and vocals, and Maarten Kooijman on guitar and vocals. The resulting album, Pergola, appeared in 2001.