Black Sun Empire is a DJ/producer collective consisting of Milan Heyboer, Micha Heyboer and Rene Verdult. Based in Utrecht, The Netherlands, they have been making music together since early 1993, but after experimenting with various styles they found their musical direction during 1997. Heavily influenced by darker labels such as No U Turn, Prototype and Virus, drum'n'bass has been their main focus ever since. Around this period (1999-2000) they started making demos and sent them around to Dutch labels resulting in the release of their tracks Skin Deep, Voltage, The Silent and Bombrun on the Rotterdam based label Piruh. While these releases did well, they felt they needed to expand their horizons. CDs were sent, this time to labels in the UK, and it didn't take long to get a response. DJ Trace was the first to get in touch with them and immediately signed Black Sun Empire to his massive label DSCI4. Their first release on this ground breaking imprint was a remix of the massive Mutationz. It came out on the Mutationz EP alongside three other remixes of DJ Trace's classic track by Stakka & Skynet, Shimon and Kemal. After this, two of their tracks, Firing Squad and Radiation, were released on the compilation album 23' from Vertical, which also featured tracks by the likes of Matrix, Optical & Ed Rush, Kemal & Rob Data, Marcus Intalex, Technical Itch, Stakka & Skynet and Trace himself.

Following that, Black Sun Empire released an EP on DSCI4 in July 2003 containing the tracks Smoke, Asphyxiation, Geiger and 1-800 Contact. During this time they also did remixes for SKC (Recharcher) and Technical Itch (Telekinetic) on labels Nerve and Penetration respectively. Early 2001 the empire decided to take control of their own destiny by setting up a regular output without compromises, whether in the area of music or artwork, for what they created and what others made in the same vein. The first release on BSErecordings in early 2001, The Rat backed with B'negative, set the tone, but this label proved to have a lot more up its sleeve resulting in their debut album: Driving Insane. Released in 2004 and still considered by many a true classic. When mother label BSErecordings proved to be such a success they again felt the need for a new imprint. It would be called oBSEssions, staying true to the BSE sound, but this time concentrating on the even more atmospheric, funky or sometimes plain weird side of things. Productions from heavyweights such as Kemal (alongside hosts BSE), Noisia, SKC and Chris.su and many newer artist from around the globe gave this fresh label a great start and has been building its own fan base altogether. Don't mistake this label for a lightweight: these tracks mash up any dance floor! With their first album Driving Insane getting such great response they started working on the inevitable follow-up, Cruel & Unusual, which was presented late 2005. They are currently playing gigs all over the world to support it, lately incorporating live elements into their Dj-sets. Next up is a third album, this time of the 'various artists' variety featured new solo material, remixes, collaborations and solo tracks by some of the empire's favorite artists.

Web info: www.blacksunempire.com
My Space: www.myspace.com/blacksunempire