System 7

From Gong to the dance floor

System 7 is Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, both formerly of Gong, billed as 777 in North America because of another act called System Seven. Wikipedia gives 1989 for its formation, while Hillage in a 1995 interview describes a 1990 start, with a first record, "Sunburst" (or "Sunburn"), made with Alex Paterson and Youth. The origin was Paterson of The Orb playing Hillage's 1979 ambient album Rainbow Dome Musick, made with Giraudy, in chill-out sets at Heaven in London. The first live show was at Linford Studios in Battersea in December 1990.

System 7 (September 1991, Ten Records/Virgin) was produced by the duo. Hillage recorded much of the guitar at home, jamming over tracks running on C-Lab Creator, to DAT, then edited in StudioVision and Sound Tools, with a Korg Wavestation as a key sound and two Akai S1000s, an E-mu Proteus and an Atari 1040ST among the gear, per Music Technology in October 1991. Guests included Derrick May, The Orb, Steve Waddington, Mick MacNeil, and the DJ Paul Oakenfold. Singles were "Sunburst", "Habibi", "Freedom Fighters" and "Miracle". 777 followed in 1993 and reached 30 in the UK; the 12-inch "Altitude" with Derrick May and Ultra Nate came in 1992, and the duo moved to Butterfly, Youth's label, in 1992.

Point 3 (1994) was followed by the first Japan show on May 4, 1994 at On Air in Tokyo, and the band has made 28 further Japan tours. Hillage oversaw the first official dance stage at Glastonbury in 1995, and they have played it 15 times. Later albums are Power of Seven (1996), Golden Section (1997), Seventh Wave (2001), Mysterious Traveller (2002, with Derrick May), Encantado (2004), Phoenix (2007 or 2008, from a Tezuka manga commission and their biggest seller in Japan), Up (2011), Phoenix Rising (2013, with Rovo), X-Port, Cafe Seven, Field of Dreams (2020) and Flower of Life (2026). They founded the A-Wave label in 1999 and started the chill-out project Mirror System in 2006. They were one of the few techno acts built around heavily processed electric guitar, per NEO, and Hillage is cited as an influence on Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static and the Future Sound of London.