N-trance were formed in 1990 by Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth who were the students studying Sound Engineering in Manchester. At first it was just an excuse for four or five students to get a load of free studio time and to mess about with the college's equipment, but after a while they began to produce stuff which they thought was comparable to what was in the charts at the time. With the 'rave' scene just taking of in the U.K)
They made their first Demo tape in 1991 (a dance version of the theme from the children's TV cartoon 'Roobarb'!), which failed to get any reaction from record companies, so they decided to try something a bit more serious. The next track to be Demo'd was 'Back to the Bass', a hardcore, sample-laden tune that brought them to the attention of Dead Dead Good records (Charlatans, Oceanic, etc.) Just as they were about to sign for DDG, Pete Waterman heard the song and came in with a better offer and the band signed to PWL's Manchester company 380 Records.
White label request:
"Back To The Bass" was re-recorded at PWL in London and was then put on hold because of sample problems. By this time the band had recorded four or five songs, one of which being "Set You Free" featuring Kelly Llorenna (from the same college as Kev and Dale) PWL decided to put this song out and white labels were pressed and a release date set. Due to unknown problems at 380 Records the release of 'Set You Free' was postponed a number of times during the next twelve months until eventually the band had had enough and split from the record company.
The 'Set You Free' Phenomena:
In 1993 N-trance signed the new label All Around the World (Love Decade, 2 For Joy, etc.) and "Set you Free" was at last released, reaching the dizzy heights of 81! During this time the band had started to gig regularly and the reaction to "Set You Free" in clubs (especially Scotland) was phenomenal.
This led to the songs second release which actually made the top 40 (number 39) The follow up to this was the more Euro Style "Turn up the Power", which featured Rachel McFarland (later of Loveland) and rapper T-1K. This reached number 23 in October '94 but still this wasn't enough to kill the buzz generated by "Set You Free". The record company, were asked for it daily by the shops, so it was decided to give it one last try. In January '95 it reached number 2, stayed in the charts for 5 months and sold 600,000 units and went on to be the eighth biggest selling single of the year. It also opened up new markets for the band abroad charting in Europe and Australia.
'Staying Alive'- Disco Anthem:
During the summer of '95 the band recorded their debut album "Electronic Pleasure" which features no less than seven vocalists (Kelly Llorenna, Vivien Wray, Gillian Wisdom, Ricardo Da Force, Jerome Stokes, Rachel McFarland & T-1K) as well as David Grant and his choir. Having such a large range of artists meant that they could produce an album containing many different song styles.
Rap, Techno, Pop, Gospel, Ballad, Euro.everything is covered and no two tracks sound the same.
The next single in (September '95) was a cover of the Bee Gees disco anthem "Stayin Alive". This was the first track to feature Vivien Wray and ex-KLF rapper Ricardo Da Force. N-trance have always cited the KLF as one of their biggest influences and this collaboration proved to be their biggest hit to date, charting in every European country, Japan, USA, South America and reaching number 1 in Australia, Canada & South Africa. It became the second biggest selling British single in the world that year, with only Seal's 'Kiss from A Rose' ahead of it.
Electronic Pleasure - Jan '96:
In January '96 the title track from the album "Electronic Pleasure", was released featuring Ricardo and Gillian Wisdom. A more serious dance song than Stayin Alive with loads of club mixes, it reached number 11 in the UK chart. The video (shot in a freezing cold morgue in a disused mental hospital!) featured the band's latest toy a World War 2 army tank!
The rest of '96 was taken up with recording their second album - "Happy Hour". The first single from this album was cheese anthem "D.I.S.C.O" which was released in April '97 and reached number 11 in the U.K. this was closely followed by the "Mind of the Machine", a nine minute super-fast techno tune sung by Kelly (her first since "Set you Free"), and featuring scary British actor Steven Berkoff.
Happy Hour:
It was back to the seventies for the next single, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" a cover of the old Rod Stewart song, it had the dubious honour of containing the longest vocal sample ever to be cleared! The video was shot on location in Japan but due to a falling out with Ricardo he had to be edited in afterwards.
1998 saw the release of two more singles from "Happy Hour", the tongue and cheek cover of Guns 'n' Roses 'Paradise City' (complete with spinal tap video), and "Tears in the Rain" featuring Kelly and Jerome naked!
Also in 1998 N-trance worked with Jeff Wayne on the remixed version of his classic album 'The War of the Worlds'
.. and finally
Their next single, in 2000 saw them up to their old tricks, reworking the seventies Jackson's classic "Shake Ya Body". Also around this time it was noticed that there seemed to be a lot of unauthorised remixes and bootlegs of "Set you Free" around in the clubs. It was decided by the record company that rather than pursue these legally it would be a good idea to collect the best ones together and release them properly. The new remixed package was released in September 2001 and reached number 4 in the U.K giving the band their 11 th top 40 hit.
2002 saw the release of "The Best of N-trance", which includes all the hit singles and more from the last ten years. Taken from this album were new songs "Forever" which went to number 6 in the UK charts in September and "Destiny" which again hit Top 10 upon release early 2003. The release of "Forever" saw the band chalk up their 14 th UK Top 40 hit and take their global record sales past the 5 million mark!
The next single from N-Trance will be the start of a new album project from the band - "Feels Like Heaven" will be released sometime in February or March 2004 on All Around The World Records with vocals from Gillian Tennant.
