KOXBOX

Stalwarts of the Danish scene for sometime Frank'e, Peter Candy and Ian Ion started working together in the early '90s.Frank and Peter had made their names as DJs, influenced throughout the eighties by bands such as Kraftwerk, Front 242, Tangerine and Nu Beat when the pair met the producer Ian Ion, known for his work with The Overlords.After releasing their first single on Where's The Party Records and a follow-up on Peter Candy's own Outloud Records, Koxbox came to the notice of DJ Sven Väth who signed them up to his seminal Harthouse label, who released six singles before the first Koxbox album Forever After.The album was widely recognised and increased the band's profile considerably. With the success, Koxbox decided to try out their material in front of a live audience and the unit had their debut together with house act Fluke at The Blitz in Denmark. After this experience the London house-boys had to spend quite some time recovering from post-psychedelic stress symptoms.In 1997 Koxbox decided to sign with the London electronica label, Blueroom Released and in November 1997 the album Dragon Tales was released. Dave Fowler pretty much summed up the reaction to the album in Muzik magazine; "Probably the most in-yer-face psychedelic outfit ever, with the possible exception of Brian Jones and his nomadic Moroccan tribesman circa 1967, Danish floor fillers Koxbox are not know for pulling any punches."The same year saw Koxbox remixes of Juno Reactor and Slinky Wizard and at the same time Frank'e and Ian formed the band Psychopod which released a couple of successful singles on T.I.P. Records.The following year of '98 was a year of change for Koxbox, Peter Candy left the band and Frank and Ian spent most of the year working on film music and a new album.In the summer of '99 after some exciting gigs all over the world and after Frank'e having his first child, Koxbox put the finishing touches on a new album The Great Unknown.The Great Unknown was a radical departure from the known Koxbox style, slower and more funky, but retaining the crystalline production and exquisite application of state of the art technology for which the band is known. With the album in hand the duo went to the new successful German trance label, Novatekk, who signed them immediately.The Great Unknown went on to become one of the best selling psy-trance albums of the new millennium, backed with a number of gigs all over the world that established Koxbox as one of the leading bands on the scene. And with the following 12”/CDM “A Major Problem in Australia”, they broke into new markets with a variety of remixes in a progressive style.After the success of The Great Unknown, Frank’e and Ian set out to work on the Psychopod project and give it a new spin. After the demise of T.I.P. Records, they decided to take the project in a new, more club oriented direction, while still retaining the original “sound breaker” concept. So the twosome decided to change the name to Saiko-pod. “Saiko” meaning “great” or “the highest” in Japanese. In 2000 and 2001 a number of tracks were released on different compilations to mark the beginning of a new style from the Koxbox lab.In the beginning of 2002 the first Saiko-pod album, “Phutures and Options” was finished and licensed to Spiral Trax (Sweden), Solstice Music (Japan) and Sound Sorcery (Mexico), thus securing that audiences all over the world are able to find the tracks they’ve enjoyed on the dance floor in their local record shop.While finishing Phutures and Options, Frank’e and Ian have been building new studio facilities in their hometown of Copenhagen and the cover of the album features a picture of the studio command centre. From this place comes 74 minutes of intelligent trance and downbeat that builds on the Koxbox tradition for punch and innovation. Following the release of Saiko-pod is a number of live gigs and remixes to stun and enjoy. And the rest is future history....