London Elektricity is a man. And a band. Actually both, or sometimes neither. London Elektricity is mostly Tony Coleman; studio boffin and co-honcho of influential broken beat UK label Hospital Records. It has been – from time to time – a band with at least 6 members, which wound up as a touring and performing group in 2005. London Elektricity has a reputation for being a 21st century byword for ‘jazz influenced drum and bass’. And at the moment – in 2006 and 2007 – London Elektricity is a studio and DJ project with Tony at the centre, with guest MCs and artists recruited from time to time.
Tony is bringing the London Elektricity DJ tour to Australia for the Good Vibrations Festival in February, something which is not an uncommon activity for him: as a DJ Tony plays in the UK and Europe most weeks, and – as can be seen in the recent London Elektricity concert DVD – sometimes traverses half the country in a night in the name of laying down the broken beat live. We flagged down his Elektric tour bus to ask him about the upcoming Australian dates.
Enthusiastic about the tour, Tony described what he’ll be bringing to our shores in the New Year. “I have a nice DJ tour with MC Wrec that is built around the Good Vibrations Festival. The best things about touring as a DJ is that there’s only me to worry about, only a box of records to check in instead of 250kg of instruments. I still, and always will, play only vinyl or acetate dub plates. I’m old school. Also, we don’t have to wait for the Jungle Drummer to set his kit up, and I get to play vinyl for 2 hours! Also I sometimes get some sleep on tour and I don’t have to drive a pikey van with 11 people in it all round Germany.”
When asked why he decided to change London Elektricity from a live touring project to a DJ project, Tony was gently circumspect about the highs and lows of touring a band intensely. “We were touring with a party of anywhere from 8 to 11 people on the road for 2.5 years with no tour support. Hospital is far too small to act like a major and bankroll tours. The gigs broke even, but each band member, including me, was sacrificing solo work for that period. I always knew it would have a finite life expectancy. We stopped in December 2005 because we knew we had to stop sometime, and we were on a high creatively and in terms of performance, and that’s the ideal time to end a project. Sad thought it is, when you’re on top of it all. I have no plans to resurrect the band! I’m still recovering from the last one .”
The things he misses most about that live project are, “No water pistol fights, no one else to gang up on Wrec with. I miss Liane Carroll singing our songs totally differently each night. That’s all!” DJing allows Tony to be much more in control of the journey – he will be able to draw from the whole London Elektricity back catalogue, other Hospital tracks, and some new sounds. He is keeping the details under wraps, preferring to unveil his new LE material when he is really ready. “Without giving too much away or tempting fate, a totally new sound is the order of the day. [I’m] keeping it under wraps though, in case I shoot my mouth off and it doesn’t work then I look like a twat!”
But, I gently prompted, will it sound like a London Elektricity show? Will it be drum and bass, will it be as much about positivity and fun as the usual London Elektricity live show, or something else again? Tony reassured us that while the show will be varied, he’s not about to go emo on us or anything… “It’s more fun to enjoy your work than to be a moody idiot! No, I like playing all kinds of music – when I DJ I do play some darker tunes, but I love em so I tend to grin while I play em. I mean, come on, if you’re an A list DJ you get well paid to play music you love to people who come to listen, you travel the world and get free beer, how can you not smile while you work?” But it will definitely be within the drum and bass sound he’s known for, barring sudden firework accidents or an unexpected Metallica concert. “I love the fact that the framework itself is evolving so much. I cant put my finger on what it is that holds me to drum and bass, but I know I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. Unless my right ear goes as deaf as my left one.”
2006 was a big year for Tony, not only did he retire the touring London Elektricity band and concentrate on DJing and studio work, but his partner gave birth to their first child. Becoming a father has had a significant influence on his life and on his musical outlook and what keeps him motivated to write and perform. “Hunger. It’s all about that,” said Tony excitedly. “And yes the calling as you call it is as strong as ever. Celebration is definitely there, especially as my first child has just been born – my son Kenji! Also very significant has been my DJing – around 85 shows in the last 12 months covering nearly all the globe. It’s been amazing. My downtime is spent staring with amazement at my son – and changing his nappies. I have discovered that putting vicks under the nose post mortem style helps sometimes as he is a pretty powerful little chap.
And apart from touring, 2007 looks to be as hectic as 2006. “January 2007 sees the release of my first proper DJ mix album ‘Hospital Mix 5: London Elektricity’. It showcases my particular style of mixing, and I had 2 years of Hospital music to pick from, so I somehow ended up with 30 tunes in the mix across one hour. Then it’s into the studio for 4 months in the summer to break the back of the next studio London Elektricity album, due for release in 2008.”
Is he still politically motivated at all? London Elektricity songs of the past, like ’ Billion Dollar Gravy’, had a political message, and it seems that these days it’s all the rage to either follow in Sir Bono’s footsteps and get political, or to dismiss the entire concept of celebrity politics altogether. Where does Tony stand? He remarked thoughtfully, “I think it’s important that artists don’t shy away from expressing their opinions, but career ‘do gooders’ can be a bit counter productive sometimes, they just end up being background noise. I’m pretty vocal about my political observations and have been throughout the disastrous Iraq conflict – ‘Billion Dollar Gravy’ was all about that. I just don’t want to bore people with it – best to make something creative out of it if you can.”
And finally, are there any musical heroes he’d like to work with in the future, anyone who inspires him – and had he found any new inspirations lately? “My musical heroes are XTC, Todd, Maynard Ferguson, the KPM stable. The most interesting collaboration I’ve already done would have to say Ennio Morricone on ‘The Great D&B Swindle’, although that was not a collab strictly speaking, it was a sample that we cleared. He liked the tune and he gave it to his son to use on a new movie they were making. I’d love to write and produce some tunes with the Yacht Rock greats, like Michael Mcdonald, Hall + Oates, Christopher Cross…” Of course we hope he was joking, but with this guy you never know.
Tony Colman, aka London Elektricity, touches down in Australia to tour with Good Vibrations in February. ‘Hospital Mix 5’ is out later in January through Hostpial/Inertia.
quannum says...
Tony was talking about Yacht Rock on the latest Hospital podcast - check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnqOg6F9lak I hope to see London Elektricity in a small Sydney venue whilst they're over here!