16-17 started in 1983 in Basel, Switzerland as a three-piece “industrial punk jazz” outfit with Alex Buess, Markus Kneubühler and Knut Remond.
They released a number of cassettes, before debuting with their self titled album in 1987. Two years later this was followed up by When All Else Fails, an LP of treated live recordings on Vision, the precursor label to Praxis.

By this time 16-17 had already garnered a cult following with their incredibly forceful live performances. Around the same time there was a proliferation of side-projects and Alex Buess became the sound mixer/co-producer of the Vision material and it wasn’t till 1994 that the band came out with a new album. Gyatso was produced by Kevin Martin (Techno Animal, The Bug) and originally released on his Pathological label. Following Gyatso there were to be two other significant releases bearing the 16-17 name. Human Distortion, released on Digital Hardcore Recordings in 1998, a direct outgrowth of the collaborations with Kevin Martin, and Mechanophobia on Praxis (Praxis 31, 1999). Mechanophobia presented two “Sound System Mixes”, dynamic, morphing tracks, produced by Alex Buess and Roger Graf, and featuring Daniel Buess on drums.

Out of a number of unfinished 16-17 recordings from 1995 with the line-up Alex Buess / Damien Bennett / Michael Wertmüller, the album Phantom Limb was crafted in 2018/2019 and released on Trost in January 2020.