Robert Johnson
Bio
Where do poet musicians come from? Some far away place that isn’t a place… Perhaps. Not unlike poet musician Robert Johnson who was born in West Germany, which isn’t a place anymore, but there is still a Germany. And much like how a country can be split and then come back together, poet musicians can learn their craft separately and then bring it together.
Two things happened to Robert at the age of 9: He started writing poetry and he started playing saxophone in the school band. When he was in High School he joined the School Jazz band and started to publish his poems.
At 17, he heard the call of the Rock Gods and started playing electric guitar. After High School, he and his friends at that time started a band called White Knight, playing originals and covers and performing some gigs in the city. That was fun for a while, until his friends went in different directions.
After that, he was hired by a company called C-Pan Entertainment, to work as a DJ at parties, weddings and Night Clubs. This fed the music in his soul but he longed to play again. He bought some equipment from the company to start his own recording studio. He rented a garage and set up all his audio equipment. His idea was to have a band, so he placed an Ad inviting musicians for an audition. They could use his space in exchange for recording his own songs. Soon enough they were all set and the vocalist named the band “Available in Cream”. They played various gigs in Victoria and recorded a few songs together.
Everything was going really well and the band was starting to take off, when Robert suddenly became a single parent and needed more time to dedicate to his kids. He had to sell all his equipment and find a job that would allow him to take care of his children. And more children would come after that which forced him to postpone his dream once again.
In the years that followed, he wrote and published his first book of poems entitled “Emotional Undercurrents”. As a prolific poet, he was invited to and participated in many poetry slams and open mic events in Victoria. He was an active member in the Bardic Union and the Victoria Writers’ Society.
Yet his creative appetite wasn’t sated. Then something changed inside of Robert. His poetry began to transform into songwriting.
At this point his children had become adults, so he could finally rededicate his free time to his old passion.
And this finally happened when he met his wife Femi Heqet and invited her to start Hekate’s Torch.
He invested in the gear they needed and set up their own home studio.
He started to write the lyrics for almost all of their songs.
He plays the guitar, records and mixes all of their songs.
His transformation was complete.
This is how poet musicians
are created.
