Wolfgang Gartner gets candid about addiction, releases new single ‘Supercars’: Listen

Wolfgang Gartner (real name Joseph Youngman) opens up about addiction and the road to recovery in a new interview with Billboard Dance. For the past two years, Gartner has spent time in a rehab facility in Tuscon, Arizona. His new EP is aptly named and details the accounts of his experience. This will be the first EP since his 2018 release ‘Medicine‘. The lead single from the album is entitled ‘Supercars’ and provides an upbeat futuristic vibe with robotic vocals and pumping synths, the perfect track for a big return.

Gartner, via Zoom, sat down with Billboard Dance and discussed topics such as mental illness and addiction, and the creativity that can ensue from the road to recovery.

“…it’s going to be a huge sigh of relief when it’s out there, just to have music out there for people to know that yeah, I’m still doing it, and that I have been doing it this whole time basically. I didn’t go away. I mean, I did for a short period of time, but I’m still doing it. I’m way more excited about other things I’ve been working on since that EP. I’m very happy about it, but the things I’ve started since then and a few collabs I’m doing, I’m way excited about, and I’m extremely optimistic about the future right now.”

He also detailed the moments that made him question whether or not he was going to continue with music professionally.

“This most recent addiction really just killed my drive, my passion. The drug became the only thing that I thought about. And it was no longer about doing drugs to make better music, it was literally just about doing drugs, period. So throughout all of my prior addictions in life, drugs and music kind of went hand in hand, and I used the drugs to boost my creativity, I thought — or tricked myself into thinking it was better for me. With this past year, with what I got into, there was no desire to do anything but do drugs.”

Gartner also added that rehab inspired some creativity musically.

“Making music, for me, is like exercise. And when I haven’t done it in a long time or if I’m not doing it very often, I can see retrospectively that the quality of music that I’m making is not very good. And when I’m just cranking them out nonstop, the music is actually better. For me, it comes down to creativity being a muscle, and I have to exercise it. That’s why it took so long after rehab to get it back.”

As the long-awaited return of Wolfgang Gartner finally comes to an end, we can anticipate the new album ‘Tucson’ to be released on July 17th.

To read the full interview click here.

Listen to ‘Supercars’ below:

Image Credit: Rukes.com