Emergency Broadcast Network

The first EBN video project was a musical remix of the Gulf War, created in 1991 as the war was still ongoing. Pearson cited their interest in how the media turned information about the war into entertainment as an inspiration for the band.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/article/1995/08/18/emergency-broadcast-networks-mutated-ads|title=Emergency Broadcast Network's mutated ads|last=Kenny|first=Glenn|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=1995-08-18|accessdate=2016-12-06|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106133417/https://ew.com/article/1995/08/18/emergency-broadcast-networks-mutated-ads/|archivedate=2017-11-06}} The VHS tape of the remix project, which contained the George H. W. Bush "We Will Rock You" cover, became a viral underground hit, and was distributed widely by fans as bootleg copies. In the summer of 1991, EBN traveled with the first Lollapalooza tour, distributing tapes and showing their videos on a modified station wagon with TVs on the roof.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT59|title=EBN Expands The Multimedia Envelope|last=Gillen|first=Marilyn A.|magazine=Billboard|volume=197|issue=10|date=March 11, 1995|page=60}} The group also became well known for their media sculptures and stage props which were created by Gardner Post.{{cite web|url=http://makezine.com/magazine/make-11/made-on-earth-grand-master-video/ |title=Made On Earth — Grand Master Video |last=Nalepa |first=Steve |work=Make |date=2007-08-28 |accessdate=2015-06-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615140724/http://makezine.com/magazine/make-11/made-on-earth-grand-master-video/ |archivedate=2015-06-15 }}

Bono of U2 took notice of their work and hired them to provide visuals for their Zoo TV Tour. EBN's video work featured prominently into the show, and their "We Will Rock You" cover was played at the beginning of each show. EBN also produced visuals for The Edge's performance of "Numb" on the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.{{cite book|title=U2: Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song|last=Stokes|first=Niall|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2005|isbn=9781560257653|page=206|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCcuuWbemcAC&pg=PA206}} In addition to the visuals, audio from those clips were featured in the live performance to create rhythmic effects. In 1997, EBN collaborated with U2 for an MTV miniseries, ZooTV: The Television Program, which featured satirical videos and remixes.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Aw4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA75|title=U2's ZooTV Finds A Home On MTV|last=Atwood|first=Brett|magazine=Billboard|volume=109|issue=15|date=April 12, 1997|page=75}} In 1998, EBN returned to the MTV Video Music Awards fold by designing the respective montage videos for the 1998 nominees announced in their signature "video scratching" style.

In 1996, the group contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 2011, EBN collaborated with Nico for the 10th Year anniversary of the EJ Midi Turntable at First Avenue{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}.

Commercial Entertainment Product was released in 1992 on TVT Records. Spin called it "dizzyingly hypnotic, politically subversive sound-and-vision barrage that renders superfluous its repeated exhortation to 'try psychoactive drugs!'".{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ADSCfip83cC&pg=PA26|title=This Is Only A Test|last=Stathis|first=Lou|journal=Spin|volume=8|issue=12|date=March 1993|page=26}} Videos included a cover of "We Will Rock You" by Queen, with a vocal track made up of remixed clips of George H. W. Bush, who made announcements about the Gulf War.

1. Psychoactive Drugs
2. Get Down, Get Down
3. Station Identification
4. Don't Back Down
5. I Will Teach You
6. Behavior Modification / We Will Rock You
7. I Am A Man
8. Lawrence Welk Is Dead
9. Watch Television
10. Syncopated Ordinance Demonstration #1
11. Operational Report

The album Telecommunication Breakdown, released in 1995, was one of the first Enhanced CDs ever produced, and contained contributions from Bill Laswell, Institute of Technology, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Brian Eno, and Jack Dangers.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IS0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21-IA14|title=Emergency Broadcast Network: Telecommunication Breakdown TVT|last=Frere-Jones|first=Sasha|journal=CMJ|issue=18|date=February 1995|page=21}} Among the videos released are "Get Down" and "Electronic Behavior Control System", which mocks the way television controls our lives. The band used a video/audio sample of R. Budd Dwyer's suicide in "Get Down".{{cite web|url=http://www.medicinefilms.com/digs/185442|title=EBN Theme, Get Down - MedicineFIlms|author=emn_agent_g|publisher=}} Wired.com described the band's use of samples on "Get Down" as "the video equivalent of Public Enemy's Bomb Squad".{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/1993/02/scratch-video/|title=Scratch Video|last=Kreth|first=Will|work=Wired.com|date=1993-02-01|accessdate=2016-12-06}}

Josh Pearson, EBN's charismatic front man and principal performance artist, was also EBN's music composer and main video editor. He says that the band are not musicians but use sampling technology to create multimedia performance art.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cygEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76|title=Interactivity Spurs Different Views|last=Bessman|first=Jim|magazine=Billboard|volume=105|issue=21|date=May 22, 1995|page=76}}

The EBN modus operandi was to take cable television broadcasts and remix them with a funky beat, often having the lyrics "sung" not by a singer but by half-second sound clips from TV, spliced together. For example, the lyric "electronic behavior control system" would be created with a clip of Ross Perot saying "electronic", followed by a clip of George H. W. Bush saying "behavior", then Ted Koppel saying "control", and finally a clip of Bill Clinton saying "system". This technique has been named video scratching.

Though recognizing a long tradition before EBN, author and academic Holly Willis traces modern VJing to them.{{cite book|title=New Digital Cinema: Reinventing the Moving Image|last=Willis|first=Holly|publisher=Wallflower Press|year=2005|isbn=9781904764250|page=70|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f21G0d3wX7wC&pg=PA70}}

Following his departure from EBN, Kane co-developed video sampling software Vujak.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32|title=VuJack Heralds New Era Of Video Sampling|last=Russell|first=Deborah|magazine=Billboard|volume=107|issue=2|date=January 14, 1995|page=32}} Kane has since worked a number of times with British AV artists Addictive TV on many of their projects, both live and recorded, including Mixmasters and at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts.

Deocampo founded Company of Science and Art, which developed After Effects.{{cite book|title=Inside the Cult of Kibu: And Other Tales of the Millennial Gold Rush|last1=Gottlieb|first1=Lori|last2=Jacobs|first2=Jesse|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2002|isbn=9780738206912|page=260|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V2N_KWtk_IoC&pg=PA260}} He continues his video remixes independently today, using footage from the 2003 invasion of Iraq (which he refers to as Gulf War II). In 2006, Deocampo started working with a trio of London video turntablists, Eclectic Method: Jonny Wilson, Ian Edgar, and Geoff Gamlen.

Joshua Pearson is Senior Editor at Outpost Digital / RadicalMedia,{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2003/digital/news/video-artist-in-at-outpost-1117891098/|title=Video artist in at Outpost|last=LaPorte|first=Nicole|work=Variety|date=2003-08-18|accessdate=2015-06-14}} and has edited numerous commercials, television shows, and documentary films, including Under African Skies: Paul Simon's Graceland Journey, and Whitey: The United States V James J. Bulger, both of which were Sundance selections. In 2015, he edited What Happened, Miss Simone?, directed by Liz Garbus, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and won an Emmy for Outstanding Documentary.

Gardner Post has continued to work in sculpture and audiovisual performance, including the band United Content Providers.{{cite news|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/head-spins-tom-laroc-6383703|title=Head Spins: Tom Laroc|last=Hood|first=John|work=Miami New Times|date=2010-04-01|accessdate=2015-06-14}}

{{reflist}}

• {{AllMusic|artist|emergency-broadcast-network-mn0000184333}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080314000206/http://emn-usa.com/ebn/ EBN Telecommunication Breakdown - Mediatronica Televis.es Edition (now obsolete Flash website)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040803072304/http://www.tvtrecords.com/artists/?art_id=58 EBN page on TVT Records site (Dead link: archived page served by Archive.org)] – Group discography and brief history.
• [http://www.briankane.net/ Brian Kane] – Personal site of Brian Kane
• [http://www.gregdeocampo.com/ Greg Deocampo] – Blog and video site.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140729173136/http://www.joshualpearson.com/ Joshua L. Pearson] – Personal site featuring EBN music videos in iPod Video format.
• [http://www.myspace.com/tedorraudio Ted Orr] – Personal site for EBN's original project audio engineer.

• [http://www.mvwire.com/dynamic/article_view.asp?AID=10731 Deocampo Interview] - Interview with Greg Deocampo, featuring The EJ MIDI Turntable.
• [http://www.some-assembly-required.net/blog/2007/11/episode-193-some-assembly-required.html Radio Feature] The Some Assembly Required Interview with Emergency Broadcast Network's Gardner Post.
• [http://www.skynoise.net/2009/10/23/ebn-heads-brian-kane-interview/ Kane Interview] - Interview with Brian Kane.

{{Authority control}}

Category:American experimental musical groups

Category:Culture jamming

Category:TVT Records artists

Category:American artist groups and collectives

Category:Musical groups established in 1991

Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1999

Category:Sound collage artists

Category:American electronic music groups