Empire of the Sun (band)Empire of the Sun is an Australian electronic music duo from Sydney, formed in 2. The band is a collaboration between Luke Steele of alternative rock act The Sleepy Jackson, and Nick Littlemore of electronic dance outfit Pnau.[7][8] Their 2. Walking on a Dream brought the duo international success and has been certified double platinum in Australia and gold in the United Kingdom.[9][1.

The album provided a number of internationally charting singles including "Walking on a Dream" which peaked at number ten on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and reached number sixty four on the UK Singles Chart, and "We Are the People", which peaked at number fourteen on the UK Singles Chart.[1. The duo's second album Ice on the Dune was released in June 2. Alive" on 1. 6 April.[1. The band are signed to EMI Music Australia/Virgin.[1. A live band, fronted by Steele, has performed internationally and is known for its flamboyant appearance and elaborate stage sets.[1. The duo have won a number of Australian music awards.[1. History[edit]2. 00.

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Formation[edit]Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore met in 2. Steele's A& R executive, Simon Moor,[1. Sydney.[2. 0] Both were at the time signed to EMI and had already been working on different projects.[6] Over the years that followed, the two collaborated on a number of occasions.

Littlemore helped write the song "Tell the Girls That I'm Not Hangin' Out",[2. The Sleepy Jackson's 2. Lovers,[1. 9] and Steele had some artistic input in Littlemore's 2.

Teenager.[2. 2] After a falling out over the song on Lovers the co- operation ceased for a while, with Littlemore commenting "I’m a very intense person and I take things to heart".[2. The two reconvened in 2. Pnau album that was released in late 2. They collaborated on the tracks "Freedom" and the opener "With You Forever" where Steele supplied the vocal. This prompted a change in direction for the band who began to craft a work more vocally- centered album featuring guest performances.[2.

A track- by- track analysis of the album Pnau revealed that writing of "With You Forever" with Luke Steele inspired Littlemore's band to begin work on a collaborative project.[2. Littlemore said, "We fell in love with music again with [With You Forever]; I think this is [Pnau's] first great song." The release of Pnau brought an interest from Elton John, who signed Littlemore to his management company.[2.

The new project began to develop under the working title of "Steelemore" as a collaboration between Steele and Littlemore,[2. Pnau partner Peter Mayes listed as a producer and occasional co- writer.[2. As Steele was living in Perth and Littlemore was in Sydney the two spent time writing songs separately while meeting occasionally in Sydney to decide on the musical direction and style.[2. When they had accumulated enough material Mayes and duo began to record the album throughout 2.

Jonathan Sloan.[6][2. Walking on a Dream[edit]While the record had been largely recorded and mixed throughout 2. Pnau album took precedence for Littlemore and Mayes in the first half of 2. The duo put out the title- track "Walking on a Dream" in anticipation of the album's release. It appeared in digital format on 3. August 2. 00. 8,[2. Australian radio and reached number ten on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.[3.

A second single, titled "We Are the People", was released on the 3. September and peaked at number twenty- four in Australia.[3. The album Walking on a Dream appeared on 3 October 2. ARIA Albums Charts, peaking at number six.[3.

The duo embarked on an international promotional tour in support of the album that was released in Europe in February/March 2. North American release in April of the same year. While the project had initially been conceived as studio- only, the growing success brought "an audience [to which] we felt a duty to be good to them".[3.

Upon their return to Australia Steele began to prepare for a live debut of the band at Parklife Festival in September and October 2. The headlined three shows, described as a visual "overload [where] giant graphics swam and spun over the stage as costumed dancers writhed to the beat and Steele on a pedestal onstage, [wearing] a gigantic metallic headpiece and his usual ‘Ming The Merciless' robe".[3.

A third single, "Standing on the Shore" was released in June 2. Steele suffered from exhaustion.[3. A remixed version "Without You" was released as the album's fourth single the following September.[3. Littlemore decided to opt out of performing with the band live, citing 'I’ve always felt that once you make a record it’s not yours anymore'.[3. Steele gave the impression that his partner left the band in September 2.

Littlemore resurfaced in the following month, citing his production work and a project with Cirque du Soleil as the reason for the lack of communication.[3. He divided his time between the UK and Montreal while working on other creative commitments.[3.

Steele continued to perform live with the band at a number of Australian outdoor events.[4. Towards the end of 2. ARIA Awards for Walking on a Dream, including Best Album of the Year.[4. The band performed as a co- headliner at the touring Future Music Festival around Australia in February/March 2. The band made their international debut at the Vivo Latino Festival in Mexico City in April of that same year.[4. They moved to Europe for the summer festival season where they performed at among others Glastonbury and Rock Werchter.[4. The band made their American debut at the Lollapalooza festival.[4.

In October 2. 01. We Are the People" was used as the soundtrack for a Vodafone TV commercial in Germany and subsequently topped the German Singles Chart.[4.

In November 2. 01. Littlemore indicated that he had "talked to Luke (Steele) the other day; we're doing a new record. We've already written a couple of tunes. You know when it's right I guess".[3. In July 2. 01. 1, Littlemore announced that the band had gone into the studio at the end of June to begin working on a second Empire of the Sun album while he confirmed would "come on board this time, actually come together and tour".[5. As recording continued, Littlemore continued to have Pnau related commitments, releasing the album Soft Universe in 2. Elton John remix album Good Morning to the Night in 2.

Ice on the Dune[edit]For much of 2. Steele and the band retired from touring. On 1. 1 March 2. 01. Ice on the Dune directed by J. D. Dillard and confirmed the release date as June 2. The lead single "Alive" was released on 1.

April and on the same day, the album was made available for pre- order on i. Tunes.[1. 3] The single had moderate success in Australia and Europe.[3. On 1. 8 April 2. 01. Farrelly brothers announced that the band would score Dumb and Dumber To.[5.

Ice on the Dune was released on 1. June 2. 01. 3 in Australia[5. New Zealand.[1. 5][5. Steele would later describe the lack of success of the album as part of their progression as a band.[5. Steele received global media attention following an interview he completed with music publication NME in August 2.

Sziget Festival in Budapest. During the interview, Steele compared Ice on the Dune with Daft Punk's 2. Watch The Recruit Online Fandango.

Random Access Memories, stating: "They had a great marketing campaign, but we’ve got better songs."[6. In 2. 01. 4 the band performed at the Coachella Festival, headlining the Sahara Tent.[1. Alive" was used in the introduction video for Google I/O 2.

It was also played within the introduction video of the new Yahoo!