Editing Alec Empire (section)

===Atari Teenage Riot and Digital Hardcore Recordings===
{{Main|Atari Teenage Riot|Digital Hardcore Recordings}}
In Empire's words, Atari Teenage Riot's complex musical style was intended to "destroy" the "simulated harmony" of the mainstream electronic music, and that, besides their [[Protest song|protest lyrics]], "riot sound produce riots". Empire, who is [[straight edge]], also stated that it was a reaction to both the [[Fashion victim|fashion-victimized]] and drug-fueled nihilism of the rave scene of the 1990s, once saying that "You can't read or do anything else while listening to our music."<ref>{{cite magazine|access-date=19 March 2018|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGB0iIRXtJEC&pg=PA26|title=Bring on Der Noise|page=26|publication-date=January 1997|volume=12|number=10|magazine=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|first=Mike |last=Rubin|date = January 1997|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180319041912/https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=xGB0iIRXtJEC&pg=PA26&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false|archive-date=19 March 2018}}</ref>

ATR signed a record deal with [[Phonogram Records|Phonogram]], a major UK label, in 1993. The two parted ways after only a couple of single releases, due to the band's refusal to play by the label's rules.<ref name="atronion">Todd Hansen, [http://www.avclub.com/content/node/23323 Interview: Atari Teenage Riot] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227021736/http://www.avclub.com/content/node/23323 |date=27 December 2008 }}, ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', 7 July 1997, last accessed 12 December 2006</ref><ref name="indymedia">[http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80386 Alec Empire Interview: "People Are Organized But Political Music Is Not Really Being Made."], Indymedia Ireland, 28 December 2006, retrieved 23 January 2007.</ref> In 1994, using the non-refundable cash advance from the deal, Empire started an independent [[record label]] that allowed its artists the freedom of expression Phonogram were unlikely to give. He named it [[Digital Hardcore Recordings]] (DHR); the direction his sound had taken came to be known as "[[digital hardcore]]". That year, DHR released [[Extended play|EPs]] by [[EC8OR]], Sonic Subjunkies, and Empire himself.

While working with ATR, Empire continued steadily with his solo output. He recorded for Force Inc. under several pseudonyms, including the [[Detroit techno]]-inspired Jaguar. He also recorded several albums for Force Inc.'s experimental sub-label [[Mille Plateaux (record label)|Mille Plateaux]], including ''[[Generation Star Wars]]'' (his first full solo album) and ''[[Low on Ice (The Iceland Sessions)|Low on Ice]]'', which he recorded entirely on his laptop during a three-day tour of Iceland with ATR. In 1995, ATR released their first proper album, ''[[Delete Yourself!]]'', on DHR, and, in 1996, Empire released his first solo album for DHR, ''[[The Destroyer (Alec Empire album)|The Destroyer]]''. In that year, Empire and [[Mike D (musician)|Mike D]] signed a deal to release a number of DHR's recordings on the [[Beastie Boys]]' [[Grand Royal]] record label in the United States.<ref name="dhrbiog">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhardcore.com/artist_bio.asp?Artist_ID=90|title=Digital Hardcore Recordings: Biography|publisher=Digital Hardcore Recordings|access-date=30 November 2016|archive-date=9 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509033535/http://www.digitalhardcore.com/artist_bio.asp?artist_ID=90}}</ref>

ATR spent the next few years touring the world with artists such as [[Blues Explosion|Jon Spencer Blues Explosion]], [[Beck]], [[Rage Against the Machine]], the [[Wu-Tang Clan]] and [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]], as well as headlining shows as the Digital Hardcore festival at [[CBGB]]'s in New York City in 1998, and the [[Queen Elizabeth Hall]] show in London in 1999 at the request of fan [[John Peel]].<ref name="atrpeel">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1990s/1999/Mar19atariteenageriot/ Keeping It Peel – 19 March 1999], [[BBC Radio 1]], last accessed 14 December 2006.</ref> During this time they introduced [[Nic Endo]] to their ranks as a fourth member.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}

All of the members found some comfort in their solo work – Empire's output at this time would include his sole release as [[We Punk Einheit!|Nintendo Teenage Robots]], and the [[bootleg recording]] ''[[Alec Empire vs. Elvis Presley]]'', as well as remixes for the likes of [[The Mad Capsule Markets]], [[Mogwai]] and [[Thurston Moore]]. However, ATR's problems worsened. Onstage at one show in [[Seattle]] in 1999, Empire slashed his forearms with a razor.<ref name="yates" /> At another show that year in London, in which ATR supported [[Nine Inch Nails]], the band dispensed with the usual song-based formula and delivered one long barrage of what could only be described as "noise"; this would later be released as ''[[Live at Brixton Academy (Atari Teenage Riot album)|Live at Brixton Academy]]''.

By the end of 1999, Empire was mentally exhausted, Elias was pregnant and Crack was suffering from [[psychosis]] induced by prolonged drug use.<ref name="dhrbiog" /> The band was put on hiatus; its future was made even more doubtful following Crack's death in 2001,<ref name="crackmtv">Corey Moss, [https://web.archive.org/web/20021106043908/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1449099/20010924/atari_teenage_riot.jhtml Atari Teenage Riot Cofounder Dead At 30], [[MTV]], 24 September 2001, retrieved 3 February 2007.</ref> and Elias' decision to leave DHR and create [[Fatal Recordings]].