Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Debuting with the acid-trance rocker "Narcotic Influence," which was voted one of the 100 greatest dance singles of all time by no lesser an authority than Mixmag, Empirion formed in 1993 at an Essex club featuring resident DJ Jamie Smart. Smart, who had spent time bumming around with the Prodigy's Liam Howlett (the two both worked at a car wash), met up with reformed industrialist Bob Glennie and rock & roller Oz, and the trio soon formed Wanted Records, recording "Narcotic Influence" in just two days. Unlike the Prodigy, however, Smart, Glennie and Oz all take an equal part in recording and running the label. Later singles "Quark" and "Ciao" furthered the band's reputation as forward-thinking dance hooligans, and Smart's DJ sets at Prodigy shows also increased their fame until Beggars Banquet signed the trio to a major-label contract. The debut album Advanced Technology was released in early 1997.
Wikipedia:
Empirion are a British industrial techno band, from Essex, England. They were formed in 1993, and the original line up consisted of Austin Morsely, Bob Glennie and Jamie Smart.
Beginnings
Smart was a resident DJ at the Essex nightclubs, Oscars in Clacton and TooToo's in Frating. He provided the vehicle for the band to release their music through their own record label, Wanted Records, and later went on to support The Prodigy. Morsely and Glennie met on the local rave scene. They had both been playing around with basic music equipment for a few years, and came together when Morsley purchased a Roland W-30 synthesiser which eventually spawned the track, "Narcotic Influence". The track was released and distributed by the band in November 1993, and initially pressing 500 copies on vinyl, it went on to sell nearly 5,000 copies.
Signed to XL Recordings
They followed "Narcotic Influence" with two singles in 1994, "Quark" and the double A-side "Ciao" / "Advanced Technology". During the latter part of 1994 XL Recordings offered them a recording contract.
XL chose to re-release "Narcotic Influence" in 1995 accompanied by a music video, and it went on to sell 15,000 copies and peaked at #64 in the UK Singles Chart. This was followed up with the release of the single "Jesus Christ" (1995) and the album Advanced Technology in 1996.
During this time the band toured both the UK and Europe including the Phoenix Festival in 1994 and 1995, and Tribal Gathering in 1996 alongside Kraftwerk. They also toured with The Prodigy. They also remixed The Prodigy's "Firestarter".
The band toured the US in 1997 as a part of the big top tour, alongside Moby, 808 State, System 7 and BT. The same year they issued "BETA" (UK #75) featuring remixes by Front 242 and Doc Scott, followed later in the year by "See Yourself" as a vinyl only release.
Tragedy then struck the group when Glennie was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and the band was eventually put on hiatus when it became impossible to complete the follow up to Advanced Technology. Empirion parted ways with XL Recordings in 1998, and Glennie died in 2005 after a brave battle against cancer.
Morsley went on to start his own project called Kloq, and released several singles through the 2000s culminating in his debut album, Move Forward, in 2008. Smart continued to DJ, and remixed for Leeroy Thornhill alongside Pete Crossman as Controlled Change, for the Flightcrank single "Amazing" in 2001, and the tracks "Machines" and "Depression" in 2010 on the Electric Tastebuds label.
Re-formed
In 2011, Smart and Morsley came back together under the Empirion name with a remix of the Victory Pill track, "Burnout". They have also embarked on several live dates throughout Europe, and are planning some new material.
