HAVOC have emerged from the remnants of the late great Johnson Engineering Co; a band whose debut album Unleach, released at the end of 1988 to overwhelming apathy in the UK went to the top of the German Techno charts a year later, with its high tech blend of electronic dub, hard industrial rhythms and grating vocals. A taste of what was to come.

When Johnson Engineering Co. split in two, the two core members Ian Hicks and Sean Bailey locked themselves away in their South London studio and worked out the blueprint for Havoc. The first release was the single Attitude which appeared in June 1990, licenced to the German Frankfurt based techno label Parade Amoureuse. This original version of Attitude has been a firm favourite in the German Techno clubs ever since. So much so, that in response to an increasing flood of import copies leaking back into this country, a remix version was prepared by Electro Terrorists BEATBOX INC., the production team behind Concrete Productions legendary Funky Alternatives compilation series and was subsequently released six months later as the official Havoc UK debut.

Therefore, although they remain as yet unknown in their own country, the South London duo enjoy growing cult status on the European Techno scene and have gained the praise and support of Frankfurt techno guru, Talla 2XLC.

According to their enthusiastic UK press, Havoc combine film-star looks with the hardest of electro-sound and a melodic sensebility which is never far away. Havoc are a cyber-punk fusion of Erasure, the Beatles White Album and hardcore electro. They're arrogant, but they can get away with it.

Late this month sees the Hippy Havoc Cultural Collision, with the release of a new 12" Mechanicville (a tale inspired by the true-life Texan town where a 10pm curfew exsist for all those under the age of 18 years). This is the first time on vinyl Havoc have met head-on with rave master Caspar Pound (ex Hippy, Homeboy and a Funki Dredd). The resulting record speaks for itself with the AA side featuring an exclusive edit courtesly of the enigmatic Beatbox Inc.

June '91 and their debut album will be unleashed, 319 a hardcore Techno mix built for the dancefloor. One again assembled by the band and Beatbox Inc., influenced though the normal channels by the rhythmic electronics of Portion Control and the On-U Sound Dub Masters; Havoc's real innovation is to couple those major influences with their own interpretation and create thirteen tracks of hard-hitting electronic rhythms and aggression, which leaves an end result which is provocative and yet accessible.

Havoc attain strong accessibility through a black and white approach and with little or no body armour.