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The Essence
Discography:

Similar artists:

The Essence
Hans Diener, Mark Tan and George Tan

The Essence
Mark Tan, Hans Diener and George Tan

Country:
Holandia / The Netherlands

Date of establishing :
1984

Music genere:
80s, new wave, post-punk

WWW:
http://ghstan.wix.com/the-essence
https://www.facebook.com/the.essence.faceboo/timeline

Band members:

Hans Diener - vocals and guitar
Mark Tan – keyboards and bass guitar
George Tan – drums

Biography:

The Essence are: Hans - vocals and guitar, Mark – keyboards and bass guitar and George – drums, an alternative, gothic rock/popband from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Their unique sound varies from sheer power to dreamy ballads, ever changing, evolving, sometimes reminiscent of vintage Cure or a postmodern Pink Floyd.

As a live band, The Essence built a strong reputation with their powerful, passionate and capturing concert performances. Formed in 1984, The Essence signed to Midnight Music after a year of constant gigging. In 1986 this collaboration resulted in the release of their debut album "Purity" preceded by the 12" single "Endless Lakes", which were both received very well, especially in Holland and Germany. A track very popular with the radio- and club-DJ's was "The Cat", which was remixed and released as a second 12". 1987 saw the release of the follow-up album "A Monument of Trust" and the single "A Mirage", a catchy tune that made the top 10 in Spain. It was then, that The Essence started to tour Europe extensively, building up a strong and faithful following in amongst others, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

The popularity of the band continued to grow with the release of the third album "Ecstasy" in 1988. The videos of the singles "Only For You" (1989) and "Like Christ" (1990) got regular airplay on MTV. The group recorded their fourth CD "Nothing Lasts Forever", a powerful and dark concept album, released November 1991, making its way to an ever growing following around the world, including Japan and the USA.

In this period the band played the Leipzig Gothic Wave Treffen festival twice in 1993 and 1995. Meanwhile the band was working on a new album which was set out to be released in 1996. A "best of.." CD was released by Cherry Red Records in 1994 entitled "Dancing In The Rain", accompanied by the single "A Mirage '94 - The Mixes". The following year, a coverversion of "A Mirage" by Spanish group "Esquema" was again a hit in Spain.

1996 saw the release of the fifth studio-album 'Glow', on CNR international records, receiving great critical acclaim and more than ever proving the original and international potential of the band.

The years after that the band started touring where they frequently played Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. The band also started to do outside projects on an individual basis, that varied from writing, producing to even playing with other bands. Also, collaborations with DJ’s from over the world gave a new meaning to several of The Essence songs, amongst others Italian DJ Giancarlo Carone who did various remixes of “Only for You” in 2005.
After a long period of silence, doing the occasional tour and home-based club gigs, 2006 brought the band from a four piece to three piece, creating a more basic sound.
At this point, the band has written enough material to record a new album.