Guitarist, songwriter, producer, and engineer Alain Johannes has been a mainstay on the American rock and pop scene since issuing Walk the Moon in 1987 in collaboration with his songwriter, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist wife Natasha Shneider. They co-founded hard rock power trio Eleven with drummer Jack Irons in 1990. The pair released half-a-dozen albums between 1991 and 2003, including Avantgardedog in 2000, and they wrote and produced Chris Cornell's Euphoria Morning in 1999. In 2004, Johannes wrote, co-produced, and played on Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum. His extended résumé includes production, session, and live work with Queens of the Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, PJ Harvey, and Desert Sessions. After Shneider's death in 2008, Johannes emerged with the solo Spark and toured behind it internationally. He contributed three songs to Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel documentary soundtrack. In 2014 he was the subject of Hifiklub's documentary Plans Make Gods Laugh: A Drift About Alain Johannes, and privately issued the solo Fragments and Wholes, Vol. 1. Johannes co-scored Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands in collaboration with Steve Ouimette and reprised the role with Alessandro Cortini and Norm Block on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint in 2019. He issued the solo album Hum in 2020.

Born in Chile in 1962, the nephew of Nueva ola musician Peter Rock, Johannes and his family immigrated to Los Angeles during his adolescence. Playing guitar, bass, and writing songs since he was eight, he formed his first band, Anthym (later renamed What Is This?), while in high school. The group's lineup included future Red Hot Chili Peppers members Flea and Hillel Slovak. In 1987, the newly married Johannes teamed up with his wife, Russian keyboardist/bassist Natasha Shneider, for Walk the Moon. Three years later, the pair recruited drummer Jack Irons to form the progressive hard rock trio Eleven. They released five studio albums over 12 years.

During that time, Johannes contributed to dozens of records by various alternative/indie and grunge acts, playing guitar on Jason Falkner's Presents Author Unknown, and co-writing tracks for Danish rock outfit the Royal Highness and many others. Johannes and Shneider co-wrote and co-produced Chris Cornell's solo debut, Euphoria Morning, in 1999. In 2004, he wrote, co-produced, and played on Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum. Johannes subsequently produced and played on recordings by Natalie Imbruglia and No Doubt.

In 2005, he joined Queens of the Stone Age, where he played bass and guitar on Lullabies to Paralyze and Era Vulgaris before bowing out two years later. Johannes then joined the side project of the Distillers' Brody Dalle, Spinnerette, toured as a backing musician with supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, and co-penned Adam Lambert's 2012 soundtrack number "Time for Miracles."

After Shneider's death in 2008, Johannes emerged from an extended grieving period with 2010's solo Spark, a tribute to her, and toured it globally. He collaborated with French art rockers Hifiklub in 2012 on the album From Coast to Coast. A year later, he contributed three songs to Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel documentary soundtrack. Tracks included "Your Wife Is Calling," co-written with Pat Smear, and featured a studio band that included Grohl, Lee Ving, and Taylor Hawkins; "Centipede" featured Grohl, Josh Homme, and Chris Goss, and was the set's first single. Johannes joined Grohl's Sound City Players for the support tour.

In 2014, Johannes played on and was the subject of Hifiklub's documentary Plans Make Gods Laugh: A Drift About Alain Johannes in 2014 and produced its soundtrack. He also began working in the studio with PJ Harvey that year. In 2015, he produced the K's Choice album The Phantom Cowboy and Edith Crash's Partir.

Johannes played on Harvey's The Hope Six Demolition Project in 2016 and spent two years on its support tour. He made his video game debut in 2017, scoring Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands in collaboration with Steve Ouimette. He also privately issued his own Fragments and Wholes, Vol. 1, on which he performed all instruments and voices. A year later, Johannes performed in one of Jan Douwe Kroeske's final 2 Meter Sessions workshops -- the conductor died that year. He also reprised game scoring with Alessandro Cortini and Norm Block on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint in 2019.

Late that year, Johannes was laid low with pneumonia and almost died. During his recovery, he wrote songs and stories. Using his acoustic guitar, he crafted a set of tunes that reflected his feelings of loss over the deaths of his parents, Shneider, and Cornell. After a lengthy recovery, Johannes entered the studio and cut the tracks in 12 days in early 2020. The set, titled Hum, was released by Ipecac Recordings at the end of July. ~ Jon O'Brien & Thom Jurek, Rovi