Wolfgang Gartner talks addiction and recovery, shares new single, 'Supercars'

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In a recent interview, Joseph Youngman, globally known as Wolfgang Gartner, revealed the intimate details of his more than one year break from the stage and studio to focus on getting sober.

Addiction is something that Youngman has struggled with since he was 20-years old, the age that he first checked himself into rehab to seek assistance for his alcohol and drug use. For nearly nine years thereafter, Youngman avoided substances, until an evening in April 2010, specifically, the evening before his debut set at Coachella, derailed his abstinence from alcohol and drugs. Describing the full, open can of beer that he saw at a party that night, Youngman said,

“Without even thinking, I just grabbed it and started going. It wasn’t even a choice I made.”

The relapse, which extended from that evening to the summer of 2019, almost completely deflated his creative drive along the way:

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.

After a stint in a rehabilitation center in Tucson, Arizona, Youngman is making music and feeling great about his path forward. He has a new EP on the way, Tucson, as well as several new collaborations:

 I’m very happy about [Tucson]… [I’m way excited about] the things I’ve started since then and a few collabs I’m doing, and I’m extremely optimistic about the future right now.

The first single from Tucson, “Supercars,” sees Youngman take a much more musical approach to his brand of hard electro house, and it’s possible to hear it as a reflection of the raw emotional journey he undertook over his 13 month hiatus. “Supercars” begins with solemn acoustic guitar picking that could very well belong to a Bon Jovi tune. A robotic vocal quickly surges through just before the android dance beat enters, to remind the listener that this is indeed a Wolfgang Gartner track.

H/T: Billboard

Featured image: Kristopher Han