Draft:Star Children

Formation and "Weaver" (1995–1999)

Twin brothers Andreas and Petros met Giannis in high school in 1995 in Chania, where they started sharing their passion for electronic music, initially centered around the music of The Prodigy, and electronic music styles such as happy hardcore, drum and bass, and later on Goa trance. In the fall of 1998, Andreas joined the Department of Economics of University of Piraeus in Athens, while Petros and Giannis remained in Chania to retake their university entrance exams. Between fall of 1998 and spring of 1999, Petros and Giannis started collaborating with the local Goa trance DJ Yokki, producing two tracks, "Shut down" and "You are all our Prisoners". In the meantime, Petros and Giannis started composing the first track together, influenced by the Israeli and Greek nitzhonot/uplifing trance sound which was on the rise in the Greek rave scene of the time. In the summer of 1999, Andreas joined in the composition and by August their first track was ready and distributed to athenian DJs under the band name Star Children and titled "Weaver", together with the two collaborations with Yokki as "Yokki & Star Children".

Weaver was an immediate success in the uplifting trance events and radio shows of the genre, and was eventually released in argubly the best Greek uplifting trance compilation Transistance 3, published by the electronic label Discobole Recordings ^[1]. The popularity of Weaver made the band famous inside the Greek rave scene, and since then it is considered one of the most recognizable tracks within, but also outside, the Greek rave culture.

In the fall of 1999, Giannis joined the department of Physics of NKUA, reconnecting with Andreas in Athens, while Petros joined the department of Law of Democritus University of Thrace in Komotini, but would frequently visit Athens where the band continued composing tracks in their home studio in Dafni, Attica.

Albums, compilations, collaborations and performances (1999–2004)

During 2000, Petros was transfered to the department of Law of NKUA, reconnecting with the rest of the band members in Athens. After that, Star Children tracks were composed in two home studios, in Dafni and Pireus.

Between 2000 and 2004, Star Children composed and released several tracks in uplifting trance compilations such as Transistance and Melodic Morning. They had two split albums, Trance Wars and Trance Wars 2, together with uplifting trance bands Darma and Space Odyssey, respectively. They also collaborated with various other artists and bands such as Qsys (tracks released as "Starsys"), and Space Odyssey (tracks released as "Space Children").

During that time, they appeared in numerous events all over Greece, mainly in the uplifting trance events organized by "RLoad" and later on by "Funky Bee".

Band discography inactivity, events, remixes and current status (2004–today)

Since 2004 and after their release "Filter effect", the band has not produced any new tracks. By that time, the Greek uplifting trance scene had declined into a subculture often connected with the use of drugs and hooliganism. Radio shows of the genre were stopped, and event organizers cancelled uplifting trance events or moved to organizing events of more mainstream EDM genres. Thus, there where no venues to play the music, no radio shows to promote the music, and hence the uplifting trance audience noticebly shrank and corresponding record labels either closed or were relactant to release more music material. These events practically marked the end of the golden age of Greek uplifting trance. Additionally, the band members focused on their studies and did not have much time for music composition. Finally, after the end of the uplifting trance era, the band could not agree to another electronic music style, since brothers Petros and Andreas favored the house music genre, while Giannis favored a more downtempo style not connected to EDM.

However, the band remains active in performing in occasional uplifting trance events in smaller venues and with limited audience. These events are seen as an opportunity for reunion with other artists/bands and friends of the audience.

Despite the shrinking of the Greek uplifting trance scene, the genre still retains some composers that continue to release tracks, mostly in online platforms driven by online greek uplifitng trance record companies. Some of these composers have remixed and published Star Children tracks, often without the concent of the group. In other cases, some unreleased Star Children tracks that were produced in early 2000s were released years later after their production.

In 2010, Andreas co-founded the progressive house act "House Twins", interestingly not together with his twin brother Petros. House twins released several tracks, video clips and had collaborations with famous Greek singers such as Helena Paparizou.

In 2011, Giannis founded the electronica band "mim0" with vocalist Nota Dimou, which had some radio success with their track "Superposition" in 2012 but has not released any tracks.

In 2012, Giannis left Greece due to the Greek government-debt crisis and remains abroad since, while Andreas and Petros are still located in Athens.