Steve Hillage

by Jason Ankeny
A guitarist who first found fame in the progressive-rock era only to later resurface as an ambient techno cult hero, Steve Hillage was born August 2, 1951. In 1967 he co-founded the group Uriel with bassist Mont Campbell, organist Dave Stewart and drummer Clive Brooks; the unit subsequently continued on as the trio Egg upon Hillages 1968 departure for university. He did not return to music for another three years, reuniting with Stewart in 1971 in Khan, which recorded the 1972 prog-rock effort Space Shanty before soon splitting.
After touring in support of Kevin Ayers, Hillage joined Gong, winning acclaim for his echo- and delay-heavy brand of guitar work over the course of the groups 1972-1975 Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy (consisting of the LPs Flying Teapot, Angels Egg and You). In 1975 Hillage went solo with the album Fish Rising, the first fruits of a longstanding writing partnership with keyboardist Miquette Giraudy. He next travelled to New York to cut 1976s L, produced by Todd Rundgren and featuring guest appearances from Utopia as well as jazz great Don Cherry.
At the peak of the punk era, Hillages work was by no means fashionable, but he pressed on regardless; in 1977 he issued Motivation Radio, an album recorded with Malcolm Cecil (the creator of an influential early electronic project, the studio-synthesizer T.O.N.T.O.). 1978s Green, 1979s Rainbow Dome Musick (an early ambient outing) and Open, and 1983s separately released For to Next/And Not Or followed, but as interest in his music continued to dwindle, Hillage turned to production, helming records for the likes of Robyn Hitchcock and Simple Minds.
By the close of the 1980s, Hillage had largely disappeared from music; however, in 1989 he was visiting the ambient room of a local club when, much to his surprise, his own Rainbow Dome Musick began to play. He introduced himself to the DJ, one Alex Paterson, and soon Hillage was working with Patersons seminal group the Orb; out of their collaboration grew a new Hillage-Giraudy project, System 7, a dance collective also comprised of club luminaries including Paterson and fellow DJ Paul Oakenfold.
After debuting with an eponymously-titled 1991 LP, System 7 plunged completely into blissed-out ambient sound on 1993s 777, which reached the Top 40 on the U.K. album charts. 1994s Point 3 appeared in two different versions: the first, The Fire Album, offered heavy beats and rhythms, while The Water Album featured drumless mixes of the same music. With 1996s Power of Seven, System 7 turned to Detroit techno, recruiting the services of mixers Carl Craig and Derrick May.