By the time they started the group in 1999, Stephan Mandrax and Sebastien Kohler were two brothers who blended their knowledge to form their genre, a modified disco infused house crossed with electro.
Stephan 'Mandrax' Kohler, a fan of new wave and punk, made his 1984 DJ debut in a notorious music club called Dolce Vita in Lausanne.
Stephan moved to New York City in 1992, starting the labels, Liquid Groove and Boombastic and with the American DJ, Mike Delgado.
After a stint studying and working as a sound engineer in London, from 1993 to 1996, Sebastien also returned to Switzerland and started the Bel-Air Project and the label Cornflex, which lasted from 1997 to 2000.
[citation needed] Recognising they had developed a complementary set of skills, the two brothers created their musical project, Shakedown.