Best-known for injecting former porn star
Traci Lords with some hi-NRG trance on her 1995 solo album,
Ben Watkins and co. have pursued a fusion of Goa trance and techno on their own recordings as
Juno Reactor.
Watkins, who has produced
Alison Moyet and worked with
Youth (in both the Empty Quarter and
Brilliant), formed his own band in the late '80s,
the Flowerpot Men (not to be confused with the '60s band of the same name). Not long after,
Watkins retreated to travel around the world with a portable DAT recorder, using the results to soundtrack a traveling art exhbition. After meeting up with
Stefan Holweck, an old comrade from
Brilliant, the duo formed
Juno Reactor with
Mike Maguire and occasional contributors
Johan Bley and
Jens Waldenback.
Juno Reactor hit big on the dancefloor with a 1993 single, "High Energy Protons," and signed to Mute Records. Later that year, the group released its debut album,
Transmissions, and toured as
the Orb's support slot for chillout-room duty; a deal with
Orb's Inter Modo label resulted in 1994's
Luciano. The hype increased a year later as
Traci Lords recruited the group to produce her debut album,
1000 Fires. Signed to Wax Trax! a year later (but on Blue Room Released in Europe),
Juno Reactor returned with their third album,
Beyond the Infinite, in 1996.
Bible of Dreams followed in 1997 and
Shango in fall 2000.
Watkins' side-projects include
Psychoslaphead and Electrotete. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide