Juno Reactor

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Juno Reactor


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Origin = London, United Kingdom
Genre = Electronic, Trance, Goa Trance
Years_active = 1990–present
Label = Metropolis, NovaMute, Inter-Modo, Blue Room Released
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.reactorleak.com/ www.reactorleak.com]
Current_members = Ben Watkins
Mike McGuire
Stephane Holweck
Taz Alexander
Mabi Thobejane
Michael LaDonga
Simpiwe Marele
Mandala Lande
Greg Ellis
Paul Jackson
Steve Stevens
Sugizo
Squid
Xavier Morell
Past_members =

Juno Reactor is a musical and performing act known for the cinematic fusion of electronic, orchestral and global music, the Matrix score and other film works. Central to the project is Ben Watkins, and his collaborations with a constantly changing ensemble of musicians from across the world, including percussionist Mabi Thobejane from South Africa along with countrymen Amampondo, Eduardo Niebla, Steve Stevens, Greg Ellis, Taz Alexander, Ghetto Priest, Sugizo and recently Yasmin Levy.

Originally Juno Reactor was formed as an art project in 1990; Ben Watkins wanted to collaborate with other artists to produce and be involved in exciting projects that were not commercially driven. He wanted to create experimental music/non musical soundtracks that would work with installations, art pieces and film projects.

History

In 1993, Juno Reactor released their first single, "Laughing Gas", on the NovaMute label. This was soon followed by their debut album, "Transmissions". This release is considered to be one of the first albums in the goa trance genre. Later, the band released "Luciana" on Alex Paterson's (The Orb) Inter-Modo label. Juno Reactor left NovaMute and Inter-Modo in 1995 and signed to UK's Blue Room Released label to release the "Guardian Angel" single. Their album "Beyond the Infinite" was released in 1996.

The 1997 release on Wax Trax! Records/TVT Records, "Bible of Dreams", was Juno Reactor's fourth album. It had a sound much different from the previous albums and moved away from the traditional dance beats by implementing tribal influences. Watkins collaborated with Amampondo, a traditional South African percussion act, on the single "Conga Fury". Ben Watkins and Amampondo went on a five week tour of the U.S., doing the opening for Moby. In 1998 Juno Reactor played a stunning live set with Amampondo at Glastonbury Festival.

Watkins released the fifth Juno Reactor album, "Shango" in 2000. It was the first of his albums on Metropolis Records. The first track from the album, Pistolero, was done in a collaboration with guitarist Steve Stevens (Billy Idol). The song opened up an entirely new direction for Juno Reactor. This same track was also featured during the trailer for the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico, as well as the film itself. In the fall of 2002, Juno Reactor released a new single titled "Hotaka". It was recorded in a Japanese studio overlooking Mt. Fuji. "Hotaka" once again featured Steve Stevens on guitar, and included traditional Taiko drummers, GOCOO. In 2003, the "Odyssey 1992–2002" album was released as a compilation of the best Juno Reactor tracks of the past decade.

The sixth Juno Reactor album, Labyrinth, was released in October 2004, and featured Watkins' work from the Matrix films. The new album once again cemented the tribal influences present in their music through tracks like "Conquistador II".

In 2006 Ben Watkins was hired to compose an orchestral score for Brave Story (A Japanese Feature anime). Sony Japan released the Soundtrack in July. Recorded in Slovakia with the Bratislava Radio Symphony Orchestra and choir, it shows a new versatile and unexpected side of Ben Watkins and Juno Reactor.

2008 will see the collaboration of Koji Morimoto and Ben Watkins, an experimental anime project called "Genius Party".

Juno Reactor's new album 'Gods and Monsters' was released in March 2008, and features the introduction of Ghetto Priest and Sugizo into the Juno Reactor fold along with Eduardo Niebla, Xavier Morel, and Yasmin Levy. In an interview with Side-Line Magazine [ [http://www.side-line.com/interviews_comments.php?id=31640_0_16_0_C Juno Reactor - Touring is very expensive when you have to fly over up to 15 people] ] Watkins talks about the recording process of the album.

Current works

In October 2006, Juno Reactor performed a taped concert in Tokyo including an extended lineup and some new work. This show will feature in the forthcoming tour DVD.

Lineup:
* Ben Watkins
* Mike McGuire
* Stephane Holweck
* Taz Alexander (vocals & dance)
* Mabi Thobejane (congas)
* Michael LaDonga (African drums)
* Simpiwe Marele (African drums)
* Mandala Lande (African drums)
* Greg Ellis (drum kit)
* Paul Jackson (bass)
* Steve Stevens (guitar)
* Sugizo (guitar, violin)
* Squid (Ghetto Priest) (rap & dance)
* Xavier Morell (dj)

Play List:
* Conquistador I & II
* Biot Messiah
* Giant
* War Dogs
* Komit
* City of the Sinful (New)
* God is God
* Navras (from The Matrix Revolutions)
* Mutant Message
* Hotaka
* Pistolero
* Conga Fury
* Nitrogen II
* Insects
* Rotablade
* Zwara
* Hulelam
* Masters of the Universe
* Angels & Men
* Kaguya Hime
* Guardian Angel

Juno Reactor are also providing part of the soundtrack for Genius Party, a forthcoming Studio 4°C Animation

Appearances in media

Their remix of Traci Lords' song "Control" as an instrumental was featured on the soundtrack for the "Mortal Kombat" movie. They returned for the sequel "Mortal Kombat Annihilation" with tracks like "Conga Fury". Later, the group, in collaboration with Don Davis, had a number of tracks featured on the soundtracks for the "Matrix" series of films and video games (most notably the famous freeway chase scene in "The Matrix Reloaded", which featured "Mona Lisa Overdrive", as well as the "Animatrix", which featured the tracks "Masters Of The Universe" on the short "Kid's Story", and "Conga Fury (Animatrix Remix)" on "Final Flight of the Osiris". Their single "Guardian Angel" was featured as the opening theme of the anime series "Texhnolyze". "Guardian Angel" was also featured in the movie "Drive" starring Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison. Other Juno Reactor tracks appear on movies such as "Eraser", "Virtuosity", "Lost In Space", the "Romeo + Juliet" trailer, the 1999 film "Beowulf" and even "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". Juno Reactor soundtracks have also been played during baseball, basketball, and gridiron football games, the Japanese Grand Prix, and appear on the PlayStation game "Jet Moto 3" and also PlayStation 2's "Frequency", as well as the Xbox game "Mad Dash Racing". Juno Reactor also scored the entirety of the "Mark of Kri" game.

Juno Reactor has also made a song in the game "Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 4".

Trivia

* One of the band's logos is actually a form of the symbol associated with the asteroid Juno.
* The title of the album "Beyond the Infinite" could be a reference to , and the sequence "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite". This may be related to the several occurrences of their sampling of this movie on the "Transmissions" album.

Discography

Full-length albums

* "Transmissions" (NovaMute Records 1993)
* "Luciana" (Inter-Modo 1994) (61-minute track originally recorded for "The Missile Project" traveling art installation)
* "Beyond the Infinite" (Blue Room Released 1995)
* "Bible of Dreams" (Blue Room Released 1997)
* "Shango" (Metropolis Records 2000)
* "Labyrinth" (Metropolis Records, Universal Music 2004)
* "Gods & Monsters" (Metropolis Records 2008)

ingles and EPs

* Laughing Gas (1993)
* High Energy Protons (1994)
* Guardian Angel (1995)
* Samurai (1996)
* Conga Fury (1996)
* Jungle High (1997)
* God Is God (1997)
* GOD IS GOD!! (Front 242 Mixes) (1997)
* Pistolero (Blue Room Released 2000)
* Masters of the Universe (2001)
* Hotaka (2002)
* The Zwara EP (2003)

Live recordings and compilation albums

* Odyssey 1992–2002
* Shango Tour 2001 Tokyo (Live In Tokyo) (2002)

References

External links

* [http://www.reactorleak.com/ ReactorLeak.com] - Juno Reactor official website
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* [http://www.specialradio.net/juno_reactor/inter.shtml Interview with Ben Watkins by Special Radio]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Juno+Reactor Extensive Juno Reactor discography] at Discogs
* [http://www.last.fm/music/Juno+Reactor Juno Reactor] on Last.fm, a social music profiling service