Tony Colman, better known by his stage name London Elektricity, is an English electronic musician and the co-founder and CEO of Hospital Records.
History
The first incarnation of London Elektricity was the duo Tony Colman and Chris Goss. Founders and backbone of Hospital Records, they also pursued parallel projects under the monikers Peter Nice Trio and Dwarf Electro, but it was their tune "Song In The Key Of Knife" under the guise London Elektricity that first gained them widespread recognition. In 1999, they released their debut album Pull the Plug on Hospital Records. Although session musicians contributed a wide range of live instruments, and jazz singerLiane Carroll provided vocals on two tracks, the LP was essentially a studio work, under the control of producer/DJ duo Colman and Goss. In 2002, Chris Goss departed to concentrate on managing Hospital Records, leaving it a solo project of Tony Colman. The second albumBillion Dollar Gravy was released in 2003. During the making of the album, the session musicians began to coalesce into a band, and Colman decided to take the band live. The line-up included Colman, Andy Waterworth, Landslide, MC Wrec, the Jungle Drummer, Liane Carroll and Robert Owens, amongst others. In 2004 they released a live DVD entitled London Elektricity: Live Gravy, which was recorded in October 2003 at the Jazz Café. 2005 saw the release of their third album, Power Ballads, using the same line-up as the live band. London Elektricity announced at Pressure on 2 December 2005 that they had no plans to play live in future. They were joined on stage for the announcement by former member Chris Goss. Tony Colman now produces and DJs drum and bass solo under the name of London Elektricity. Colman presents the Hospital Records podcast. It generally features many releases from Hospital Records, and a wide spectrum of drum and bass from around the globe. The podcast recently won 'Best Podcast' at the BT Digital Music Awards, and has over 30,000 downloads a show. The podcast regularly involves special guests who are signed to Hospital records such as Logistics. Colman, along with Goss, also host the Forza Horizon series' in-game Hospital Records radio station, beginning from Forza Horizon 2 onwards. In 2007, London Elektricity won the BBC 1XtraXtra Bass award for best live act. London Elektricity's fourth album, Syncopated City was released in September 2008. The month before this marked his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1. London Elektricity's fifth album, Yikes! was released in April 2011, followed by "Are We There Yet?" in November 2015.
Influences
According to his MySpace page, Tony Colman's influences include a large array of musicians, such as Talking Heads, Fela Kuti, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Led Zeppelin, and others. Jazz, soul, Latin, dub, rock, and punk are present in many of London Elektricity's songs, such as "Rewind", "Attack Ships on Fire", "South Eastern Dream", "Do You Believe", "Main Ingredient", "Remember the Future", "Round the Corner", and "Song in the Key of Knife".
