London Elektricity

You don’t have to be massively into the Drum & Bass scene to know, or have heard of Tony Colman a.k.a London Elektricity, as he is better known musically. Along with friend Chris Goss, they created Hospital Records; which has gone on to be the ‘Daddy’ of Drum & Bass labels, signing themselves firstly as London Elektricity Live and then signing artists such as High Contrast, Netsky and Danny Byrd amongst other major acts. Since 1996 when Hospital Records was born in South London; they have gone on to throw parties, which will go down in history under the name ‘Hospitality’. They have created a great number of studio albums, live albums and Singles, some alongside his mate Chris Goss before becoming a solo project as London Elektricity, allowing Chris to be able to focus on Hospital Records. Tony is still producing Drum & Bass today as a solo project and he explains this journey of Drum & Bass, as he knows it, to BBM’s Frankie Salt.

Good morning Tony, how have you been?

Yeah, really good thank you. Things have been good and very busy which is always a positive!

I remember your music to be the first D&B I ever came across in my early teens, music in all areas has obviously progressed and changed since then, have you found yourself purposefully adapting to the new sounds or have you kept yourself producing what you enjoy and hoping it gains a good reception?

Yeah well I just make the music that I am feeling. I am very much aware that the music that I make is pretty different from everyone else and from the scene as a whole and I am very happy about that. It’s not about following what everyone else is doing; in fact it’s the complete opposite. So instead of being attracted to the sounds of the moment, in some ways I’m repelled if you get what I mean.

What is usually your first inspiration when it comes to making a track? Do you have a structured system in place for production?

It completely varies. It varies from track to track, tune to tune; sometimes my starting point will simply be a drum break. Sometimes it’s a chord sequence or even a song I have written. It really does vary. When I make a track, I do not have a set structure of production as the tunes can end up very similar. I try to work organically and I proceed with the production in the way in which it starts. This probably will explain why I am so slow with my output.

Exactly, surely it’s going to be better to run freestyle in production and take your time, rather than just produce music in a militant way, which will always run the risk of being very similar to the last. So Tony, do you have a favourite artist you have collaborated with? Who would you love to work with?

Well I have been very fortunate to work with some supremely good singers. Lianne Carroll is amazing; she is in my opinion the best Jazz singer in the country. Other highlights are working with Robert Owens and writing with Esmeralda was also amazing as she is a sublime singer. They’re all so different and you can’t just say that she or he is better than her or him, it’s not like that. The others I would love to work with are unfortunately dead which makes it a bit tricky obviously (well you can still say who your hero is even if they’re sadly not with us anymore) Cole Porter is my favourite songwriter, and of course heroes like Jimmy Hendrix.

The female vocals on your track ‘Just One Second’ are truly beautiful, how did you decide the artist who sang on this track and who wrote said vocals?

That varies as well, so if you look at Different Drum off Billion Dollar gravy, I wrote that myself for Robert. With ‘Just One Second’, I sent some stuff to Esmeralda and then she sketched into it and she came to the studio where we explored the track and so it was a collaborative effort. Its like writing a script, in Dance music people forget to pay attention to the song a lot of the time but you have to rewrite and rewrite.

Every one of your albums has been slightly different, do you have a personal favourite that you have made or do they all mean something to you from different times in your life?

When you write music, it doesn’t really mean anything to you as such, as you just want it to sound as good as you can possibly get it. It doesn’t have a subjective or psychological meaning I don’t think. What meaning there would have been when you first write a song is sometimes lost when you tweak it to make it sound as good as you can for the listener. However, when people then come to you on Facebook, on Twitter etc. saying “this is what your tune means to me”, that’s what matters.

Do you think that Drum & Bass has seen its hay day due to the new genres of music being created around it? Or do you believe that a rebirth is happening?

It is very funny you have asked me this Frankie, as I was only having this conversation with Chris Goss at the weekend. I think Drum & Bass is in a fantastic place at the moment and there is this thing called Bass Music that you can hear on Radio 1, it’s nothing like Drum & Bass, as that I have always said is rooted in Breaks etc. People think that this is an extension to the genre, and you can play it at the tempos of Dubstep and D&B etc- but I think that Drum & Bass is exploding with it’s own original sound still not with this other sound that seems to be everywhere.

In ’96, the label Hospital Records was born and then you released your first album ‘Pull The Plug’ in ’99, what were you doing in the three years between the record label being born and your album being released?

We had another label first. Then that went tits up. There was a compilation first before that album on Hospital Records actually, well I say it was a compilation, it was all our music but we wanted to make it look like we had a lot of artists so we used different names (laughing).

That’s brilliant. So, how did you feel becoming as solo project after the formation for London Elekricity was yourself and musical partner Chris Goss?

Chris was always less involved with the music than me, he would go out and find the most interesting samples and then manage the label more as I made the music. It felt right when he took that risk as the label became so busy, and I have been making music on my own since 1988 so I was ready.

How is your sister label ‘Med School’ more experimental?

Well with Med School, its an outlet for more Underground music, we allow a lot more risks to be made. Not to say that we don’t take risks with our other label. Two albums by Bop for example, amongst others, are very experimental and explore very intelligent Drum & Bass. They have so much potential but are more underground and so Med School suits this better. Our latest release by Villem – ‘Shimmer’ is like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

What music do you listen to when you are chilling at home on your own and any guilty pleasures you want to own up to?

There’s not much Drum & Bass that I like to listen to when I’m off duty as there is so much when I’m at work! Calibre takes me somewhere else; I can always listen to his music. Music for me is essentially to take me somewhere else. I reach for Modern Classical music; Arvo Part is a growing and enduring favourite of mine. I like Led Zeppelin and a crazy array of Rock music.

2012 is set to be a huge year for you yet again with your Australia tour?

Well I have just finished compiling my set music, which is very important. S.P.Y’s album is out in the next few weeks and I have been very involved with that, and I am very proud of the album. I’m a huge fan of him and I’m delighted that we are releasing it. I’m excited for my crazy and traditional weekend in Melbourne. If I can figure the internal flights ok, it works well as it’s like I’m playing at lunch time, when I’m playing at midnight over there – so in some ways it is less tiring!

I can’t wait for the new WHP season too, which you are featured in!

Yes, I’m very much looking forward to the new venue for the Warehouse Project. My Diary is looking mega exciting, I just hope I get enough studio time, and the rest is all good in the hood!

Thanks Tony, see you in Sydney!

Check Out London Elektricity’s Tour Dates in Music News