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Back in November 1993, three friends, a former rocker, a skater,
and a snowboarder who all had their lives turned upside down by
acid house, got together and released what was soon to become
a huge selling anthem for drug-crazed clubbers across Europe.
They called themselves Empirion and the 12" was Narcotic
Influence, merrily sporting the catchy refrain "giving
them drugs taking their lives away" sampled from what sounds
like a conservative evangelist, over slamming hardhouse beats.
Skip forward to 1995, the year of Leah Betts in the UK and Anna
Wood here in Sydney, and despite the massive sensationalism in
the tabloid press, the kneejerk government backlash, and the incredibly
rapid response of the subcultural presses, club promoters, and
record labels to distance themselves from drug-use, the refrain
is no longer so refreshingly humorous. Within the techno scene
a renewed focus upon "the music" has replaced what once
was a collective longing for a utopian community. A community
that was generated by a combination of the music, the drugs and
the people - but now the whole game, the energy and the passion
has, since Anna Wood, become cornered by too much seriousness,
carefulness and ultimately conservatism. Add this to the crackdown
on venues, and it is of lilttle wonder that "the vibe has
gone".
Speaking to Empirion's Bob, shortly after the local release of
the band's debut album, Advanced Technology, essentially
a collection of their superb singles to date, we agree that in
terms of both music and punters, things have splintered; "I
think now there a whole lot of different scenes, whereas before
it was all different styles but under the one roof. Everyone's
into their own little scene at the moment with their own little
clubs and its all quite segregated. Its a shame in some respects
but at least when you're paying your money you know you'll get
something you're into all night long". Strictly on a hardhouse
minimalist driving bent, Empirion's tracks are sharp clinical
cuts, aggressive and searing, tracks like Jesus Christ,
the title track Advanced Technology and Ciao recall
the era of Nitzer Ebb, the aforementioned Front 242 (later responsible
for early rave anthem T99's Anasthasia) and the Electronic
Body Music movement that swept Europe in the late 1980s and is
still the mainstay of Sydney's 'gothic' clubs. "Back in the
late Eighties I was listening to a lot of industrial bands, Front
242, Ministry, and Jamie was deejaying electro-style music, and
Oz was in a rock band then when '88 hit we all started clubbing
together. A lot of those industrial bands went really 'rocky',
too, and that's when I got lost in the whole dance thing".
"When we had Narcotic Influence pressed up we had
a run of 500 copies and got back to the house and though 'what
the hell are we going to with all these?' then it just went from
there. Before the re-issue at the beginning of the year [with
remixes by Dave Clarke, Meat Beat Minifesto and Secret Knowledge]
we had sold 5000". Recorded for UK label XL Recordings, Empirion
have stepped into a major label deal; "we had the album ready
with seven tracks, (minus Jesus Christ and New Religion), in 1995
and that's when [big label] XL stepped in and we put the extra
couple of tracks in the nine or ten months it took to sort the
contracts out . . . it got to a stage where we were getting phonecalls
from all over the world saying 'where can we get your stuff' and
we realized it wasn't getting very far at all being sold out of
the back of three or four vans . . . . so we felt we had to get
more professional and XL was up for letting us do what we wanted
to do". Signing to a major has also had its financial rewards.
. . . Live, Empirion have toured the UK extensively, and recently
played some shows in Europe. Rumoured for the Big Day Out's Boiler
Room, their live shows have been receiving rave reviews throughout
the UK. "Over the last six months our live rigs have been
growing. After signing to XL we invested in sorting the studio
out at home so the production on the second album will be much
higher. The last few gigs we've had a drummer that has played
with us on a couple of tracks, Oz is playing guitar on some others,
and a friend is putting together a MIDI triggered video thing".
And for a final word on THAT sample; "we've been through
the scene and we're still doing it now but you started off with
a lot of friends and seen some of them mess their lives up. Have
respect for yourself and do what you are doing but you mustn't
let it take your life over. People can take what they like from
the record and even if its just making people stand back for a
second". Now if the Anna Wood Foundation would use it for
their advertisements . . .
Yellow Peril