System 7 (band)
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System 7 | |
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 System 7 performing in London, September 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Chingford, England |
| Genres | Techno, ambient, tech house, progressive trance, psychedelic trance |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | A-Wave, Big Life Records, Virgin/EMI Records, Caroline Records |
| Spinoff of | Gong |
| Members | Steve Hillage Miquette Giraudy |
| Website | a-wave.com/system7 |
System 7 are a UK-based electronic dance music band. Due to the existence of another band called System Seven they were initially billed as 777 in North America.
Steve Hillage[1] and Miquette Giraudy,[2] both formerly of Gong,[3] formed System 7 in 1989, after a period of several years becoming gradually immersed in the developments of electronic and dance music in the UK while Steve was working mainly as a record producer for other artists. A key early collaborator was DJ Alex Paterson (of the Orb), whom Steve and Miquette heard[4] playing Hillage's 1979 ambient record Rainbow Dome Musick in an ambient DJ set at the London club Heaven. They soon became part of the underground dance scene in London. While Hillage and Giraudy form the core of System 7, it is an extended collaborative project with artists such as A Guy Called Gerald, Paul Oakenfold, Carl Craig, Laurent Garnier, Derrick May, Alex Paterson, and Youth. System 7 makes extensive use of Hillage's electric guitars.
Hillage and Giraudy later launched a chill-out and downtempo sister project called Mirror System,[5] and have also worked under the name Groovy Intent.
The first System 7 album was released on Virgin's 10 Records dance music label, followed by the vinyl-only Derrick May collaboration Altitude (featuring Ultra Naté). In 1992, System 7 moved to Youth's Butterfly label, releasing four albums, until 1999 when they founded their own label A-Wave for all future releases, also re-releasing their Butterfly catalogue.
In addition to the albums, System 7 have released a number of club singles with notable remixes from, among others, Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman),[6] Dubfire, James Holden, Liquid Soul, and Son Kite.[7]
System 7 Live
[edit]Early 1990s
[edit]System 7 were one of the first techno groups to play live, and have developed a live performance approach that is a bit more extreme than their records, with tougher beats and hypnotic live echo loops. The first System 7 live show was in December 1990 at Linford Studios in Battersea, London, consisting of Steve playing guitar and Alex Paterson playing samples and DJing pre-release versions of the upcoming first System 7 and Orb albums. In 1991 there were some more shows and a tour to support the System 7 album release, with Miquette's synthesisers incorporated into the live sound. In 1993 System 7, now playing as a duo, developed a new live technical format and joined Orbital, The Drum Club, and Aphex Twin on the Midi Circus tour[8] of the UK with Megadog[9] party crew.
Festivals
[edit]Partly through their extended involvement with Megadog, by 1994 System 7 had become an established live act, in particular playing at many music festivals. In 1995, through his previous association with Michael Eavis, Steve Hillage was asked to oversee the putting together of the first official dance music stage[10] at Glastonbury Festival. In subsequent years System 7 played at Glastonbury a further 15 times, often at the open-air Glade stage,[11] a further dance music development at the festival that started in 2000. The crew from the Glastonbury Glade stage created their own spin-off festival, the Glade Festival, starting in 2004,[12] with System 7 playing there 5 times.
Other major festivals where they have played include Phoenix Festival, Beach Festival, Wickerman, Willowman, Womad, Sunrise Celebration, Waveform, Whirl-Y-Gig, Guilfest, and Eden Festival (UK); Printemps de Bourges, Borealis and Francofolies (France); Lovefield and Burg Herzberg (Germany); Pink Pop and Lowlands (Netherlands); Dour Festival and I Love Techno (Belgium); Sonica (Italy); Open Air Field (Czech Republic); Odinstown and