I was shocked to hear - Before his Tahoe debut, Wolfgang Gartner clears up a misconception

Before his Tahoe debut, Wolfgang Gartner clears up a misconception

If heads bobbing in unison at an electronica dance concert occurs before the music even starts, that might be because people are going back and forth, debating where the music began.

A well-know artist from the United Kingdom who recently performed in the MontBleu Theatre said the music started in Europe. California's Wolfgang Gartner, who plays Sunday, Sept. 18, in the same venue, disagrees.

“There's always misconceptions that the music started in Europe and we catch on later, but, really, the music started here,” he said. “Festivals were here probably about the same time they were in Europe. It's been going on here just as long if not longer than in Europe. It just hit a big lull in 2000-2002 here. Maybe that's why people who haven't been paying attention before that time (would make that assumption).”

Then why would the artist who was born Joey Youngman choose to call himself Wolfgang Gartner?

“It's total randomness, to be honest,” he said. “I've used a lot of production aliases over the years in my life. And some of them have been random things and some of them have been nationalities and I just figured why not make up a German name for this one. It really doesn't have any deep-seeded meaning.”

What cannot be disputed is that electro-house music, along with hip-hop, is ascending worldwide faster than any other genre.

And Wolfgang Gartner's career has mushroomed in the last year. He spent half the summer festival season in Europe and will perform about 100 shows this year.

“I don't notice it as some meteoric rise to success,” he said. “But then everybody else on the outside or at least people who interview me and are around me and my friends see it as happening very quickly. Maybe that's my way of keeping it in check.”

Gartner said he has played every region in the United States and usually knows what the crowds want to hear. He said he has to improvise much more across the pond.

He has collaborated with many well-known artists, including will.i.am, Britney Spears and Timbaland. He said the working relationships vary. Sometimes they are together in the studio and recently he sent music to will.i.am, who added lyrics.

Gartner also worked in the studio with will.i.am's band the Black Eyed Peas. Some of the material wasn't used but it wasn't wasted.

“I'll take things I've written for other purposes and just modify them and put them on my album as long as nobody had any creative input on it and I'm sure he'll probably take those lyrics that he wrote and use them on something,” he said.

“Everything that gets scrapped is a candidate for being used later in some form or another.”

Sunday marks the Tahoe debut for Wolfgang Gartner. Because these dance events sometimes last well into the morning, there is a MontBleu hotel room discount for concertgoers. The rooms will go for $59.