London Elektricity

Max Dräxler's Hospital Christmas comic strip

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:54:55 -0500

And the winner of the 2011 Hospital Xmas photoshop comp is this...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:46:08 -0500

And the winner of the 2011 Hospital Xmas photoshop comp is this inspired piece by Jan Fabian. Jan describes it for us:

Hi Tony,

I’m sending my entry. The original stamp was illustrated by the famous czech artist Josef Lada.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Lada
I tried to imitate his style well known for simple shapes and basic lines. Btw. can you notice all hospital artists in the pic? ( watch out-its a tricky one:) )

Beside the image I want to send a big shout from the Czech Republic to you. Thanks for the podcast and for the Hospitality taken place in Prague 3 months ago.
I really enjoy music you spread, continue, because you do it epic way.

I look forward to 30th anniversary of Hospital

See you,

Jan

hospital photochop final entries!

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:42:12 -0500

today's xmas hospital photocops!

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:37:42 -0500

chops pt3!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:17:35 -0500

today's photochops pt2

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:15:40 -0500

First Hospital Christmas photochop entries incoming!

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:09:46 -0500

Christmas Photoshop Competition

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:21:00 -0500

It’s nearly time for the Hospital Christmas podcast, so as has become
a Hospital Podcast tradition we are asking you photoshoppers to have a
go at taking our artists and making them a little more seasonal. We
have a Hospital goodie pack for the winning entry including the brand
new Hospital Book, a Hospital Apron, Tote Bag and of course lots of
music. We will also give out a few prizes for the best runners up.

Send your entries to podcast@hospitalrecords.com . You can enter as
many times as you want. You can find some artist images bottom right
of Hospital Artist pages on our site. Head to –
http://www.hospitalrecords.com/artists/ or use google image search!

Good luck, the competition shuts on December 16th, so be quick. We
will announce the winner on the Christmas show!

Here’s a good one from last year:

LTD Edition Hospital Album Specials

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:28:53 -0500

the Colman family are moving house soon and whilst sifting through old CDs in my lounge I came across some ‘specials’ - limited edition or promo only album versions. To honour our release of 15 Years of Hospital i thought i’d post em here:

The cassette single of London Elek’s Rewind, Office 1, Sony Japan, 1997. Aren’t cassettes lovely?

The cassette album of our first album, Pull the Plug, Office 1, Sony Japan, 1998.

This was the promo mix we gave away at the very first Hospitality night at Herbal in Hoxton. We very swiftly and at the last minute pressed this up as Hospital Mix 1 - it was a total afterthought, but went on to sell 25,000 units and is to this day our best selling CD ever.

Radiotherapy: a collection of rarities and B sides released in Japan only on Office 1, Sony.

Nile Rodgers Changed my Life

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:55:00 -0500

15 years is a while, so it’s time to reflect on the events that caused this label Hospital Records to happen.

Way back in 1978 when I was 17, I reluctantly went to my first disco. Reluctantly, because all I liked listening to was punk, new wave, prog rock and early metal. I simply hated dance music up to that point, i had no idea what it was for or why people liked it. Well that night would change everything for me. One song in fact - the intro to one song to be exact. That intro was the rhythm guitar intro to ‘Le Freak’ by Chic. I was on the dancelfoor trying my best to appeal to a girl I really fancied and failing - I wasn’t feeling the music, therefore i wan’t dancing well. When I heard the opening bars of Le Freak something clicked and a big switch marked ‘FUNK’ went on somewhere between my legs. Suddenly I could dance. She was interested now. By the end of the song we were dancing together, singing together and by the time the next tune came in we were lost in a deep snog, as it was known back then. The girl became my girlfriend for about 7 weeks which was a record for me then. The song however has been my best friend ever since. As soon as i got home I picked up my guitar (which had only ever felt my fingers trying to be like those of Jimmy Page of Led Zep or Steve Howe of Yes) and attempted to play the very simple sounding ‘chucking’ intro from Le Freak. It was impossible. I kept trying and after about 2 or 3 years I started to get the feel. I can ‘chuck’ pretty much any chords now and it’s become my natural way of playing, it’s automatic for me.

What has this all got to do with Hospital Records? Well, that was a turning point for me. Right there on the dancefloor i got dance music, got the bug for it and started buying as many records as my Sunday job cleaning the bar at the Berni Inn would pay for, which at £4.99 for a whole day’s work equated to approx one album every 3 or 4 weeks. I got into Funkadelic, Parliament, more Chic, Michael J, Stevie Wonder, Narada Michael Waldren and black music became my first love along with Greenwich Village minimalism like Steve Reich and electro pioneers Kraftwork - being a teenager can play interesting games with your taste hormones. Had I not had that formative moment, I may never have switched from prog rock to dance. Or I may have had it in another disco to another tune, and my musical path could have been totally different. All I know is that my journey in dance music started at that point in that disco with that girl and that guitar intro. And I know that learning the mechanics of funk informed an outlook in me that I apply to everything I do in music, wether I apply it to music I write write or to the process of A&Ring it. Funk has taken me on a journey that is not over yet - i’m hopefully in the middle of it, and I don’t ever want it to end.

Nile Rodgers who was one half of the Chic Organisation is the only surviving founding member and a year ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His self prescribed therapy is to tour the world like a crazy man. Not bad for a 59 yr old in rehab from cancer treatment. The band played at the Forum in Kentish Town on 10.11.11 and I dragged the Lady Colminator there early so we could be down the front. I don’t generally get my phone out when i’m enjoying something but I captured the end of the encore - one of my fave Chic tunes Open Up. The whole gig was amazing, i danced and sang and cried like a kid - I was back in that disco 33 years ago, but this time I was 10 feet away from my hero. Thanks Nile, you changed my life. I recommend everyone to buy Nile’s autobiography ‘Le Freak’. If you think your upbringing was in any way strange or hard and therefore an excuse for you to bemoan your fate, chances are you’ll think again after you read this book.

The prototype for Just One Second was this remix i did in 2007...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:53:11 -0500

The prototype for Just One Second was this remix i did in 2007 of a track called Niji (Rainbow) by the Japanese band Nirgilis. After this was released in Japan, Elsa Esmeralda hit me up on Myspace and on the spur of the moment I asked her to write an original vocal over the instrumental of the remix, and she wrote the Just One Second chorus and verses. I then rewrote the music and Just One Second was born.

IZIT - ‘Stingray’ live at The George Robey, 1987. My...

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:50:47 -0500

IZIT - ‘Stingray’ live at The George Robey, 1987.

My second band was called IZIT and initially i was the front man. This recording of us covering the theme tune from Gerry Anderson’s Stingray animation is from one of the many ancient VHS recordings i recently had archived, hence the scratchy tape quality and jumps. I would have been 26 years old at the time, and we were at the ‘pay to play’ stage of our career - ie the band had to pay the venue to be allowed to play. Not sure if that practice still goes on but it was everywhere in London at that time. The band members in this video are: Andrew Missingham on drums, Peter Spencer on keyboards, Sam Craft on Bass, Peter and Catherine Shrubshall on wind

Hospital classics in polyphonic midi ringtone format!

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:18:46 -0500

At the dawn of time before phones could play mp3s the only way you could get your favourite tune on your nokia was to buy a polyphonic ringtone, usually from a ringtone shark who never paid any of the artists or writers involved (nothing changes huh). We got one of our work experience crew to do some of our classics for us in 2003 and these are the results. timeless preset renditions that now sound achingly hip. enjoy!

Pretty decent video of Mr Darrison and me giving it 110% in...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:42:28 -0500

Pretty decent video of Mr Darrison and me giving it 110% in Moscow recently at the WODNB event. Always a good idea to play a bit of Paul McCartney and Wings at a rave.

London Elek ‘Rewind’ Japanese 1996 version. We had...

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:26:06 -0500

London Elek ‘Rewind’ Japanese 1996 version.

We had this video made in 96 for the Sony Japan release of Rewind, which was a totally different mix of the tune we released in the UK. We lost touch with the company that made the video, and a VHS copy was the only archive we had, hence the grainy nature of the video. Chris Goss and I appear briefly in the video that was shot in Old St, Hoxton, Mr Bongo and a swimming pool.

hospital medical kit memorabilia

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:52:00 -0400

14 years ago, one year after Hospital Records was born, we signed a deal with Sony Japan who had a d&b sub division called Office 1. They released our first ever album ‘Ultrasound’ and to promote it they created a bespoke promotional medical kit to give to journalists and taste makers around Japan.

The Hospital office in 2011 is currently compiling an archive of everything visual to celebrate our 15 years AND our upcoming 200th release. This was in my studio and it’s untouched and intact - check out the plasters inside!

Addition: I just posted the link to this post on twitter and Toru Nihongi hit me up - he was our key man at Office 1 and one of the nicest blokes i’ve ever met. big up Toru!

My grandpa used to cut dubplates.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:53:20 -0400

I’m getting ready to move house and this always involves shedding some vinyl that i know i will never ever play. While going through my shelves I came across two acetates (aka dubplates) well they may be shellac or some early form of acetate but in essence these are custom pressed records and they contain music recorded by, and in one case composed by my grandfather, Dr Summers. It’s nice to know that i’m carrying on the tradition!

This Priestley’s pressing is, i believe, a clarinet concerto composed by grandpa. it’s unplayable as the surface is coming apart.

brown paper bag :)

the Queensway pressing is, i think, grandpa playing Brahms clarinet quintet. Fantastic artwork on both of these plates.

Grandpa died in 1973 when i was twelve. A few years ago I inherited his piano - you can see me playing it on the videos page in an acoustic version of Elektricity Will Keep Me Warm. I wonder what he’d make of the music I make. He was a classical hobby musician of high standard, and he even had a lounge jazz trio that used to practice in his sitting room. I clearly remember the cool electric organ he bought a couple of years before his death.

After he died, I was allowed to take whatever i wanted from his dispensary - can you imagine letting a 12 year old do that? I was mad about chemistry and my parents figured it would be a good way for me to add to my bedroom laboratory, which it certainly was. I went mental in the dispensary - it was a dark small room full of bottles of pills and powders and liquids and capsules and it smelled divine to me. I took:

a bottle of hydrochloric acid.

a huge jar of Potassium Nitrate.

A blue bottle of coper sulphate.

a small bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid

a tin of amyl nitrate ampules (yes poppers)

a massive sack of flowers of sulphur

a bottle of glycerine

a rather large bottle with a wicked glass stopper of nitric acid

loads of retorts, test tubes and a lovely bunsen burner.

If you know your chemistry you’ll know that what i actually took were the ingredients to make nitroglycerine and gunpowder. And some poppers. Luckily i never blew myself up, but i had a whole lot of fun with my grandpa’s chemicals.

Camel rider wearing a Hospital shirt

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:51:39 -0400

this is Add Senior who says he will be at the front row of Hospitality in Leeds on Friday. I hope you don’t forget your camel mate.

Danny Byrd’s voicebox. Danny premiered his live show in...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:26:38 -0400

Danny Byrd’s voicebox. Danny premiered his live show in London last week’s Hospitality. I was onstage preparing for my set and caught Danny’s voicebox solo with my phone. I love the voicebox and I used to play one rigged up to my guitar amp. What is it? it’s a tube, like hosepipe, that goes from a loudspeaker box into the back of your throat. you shape your mouth and the sound from the speaker comes out of your mouth into your vocal mic with added vowel sounds courtesy of you! it’s great fun but it makes you wretch if you put it in too deep. ugh. Danny will be playing only ONE more live show before next summer at Hospitality in Leeds on Oct 14th so now you know what to expect!

a little tour around my ‘traditional’ Bavarian hotel...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:19:19 -0400

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

a little tour around my ‘traditional’ Bavarian hotel I stayed in when I played Wurzburg last weekend with MC Wrec