Formed in 2009, the Techtonics is a 12-piece all male a cappella group that has toured in Europe and the USA and has now released its debut album.
At the College we’re used to having staff with an international profile but it might come as a surprise that, in our midst, is a student musical outfit that has toured Europe and the US, featured in a Sky TV show and just released their first professionally produced album.
Enter The Techtonics – Imperial’s premier all male a cappella group. Originally formed in 2009, the group has seen members come and go but is now 12-strong.
“I’d never heard of a cappella before I came to university. I didn’t know you could sing without instruments other than in a choir setting,” says current group president Peter Scott (Medicine), who joined in 2011 after seeing the group perform at Fresher’s Fair.
After successive tours to Edinburgh, Europe and the USA this summer, Peter is now organising next year’s tour off the back of the group’s debut professional album Groundbreaker. It was recorded in the IC Radio studio then produced in America and is availableon CD and iTunes.
“The projects have gotten slightly bigger but the drive has also matched it,” explains Peter, who is keen to point out that they invest income from appearances back into projects and tours.
“We had one or two gigs last year and from that it’s snowballed. People have hired us to do their weddings, sometimes even proposals
– Peter Scott
Techtonics President
With the festive season now in full swing the group is busy performing, with nine gigs in the last 10 days of term.
“We had one or two gigs last year and from that it’s snowballed. People have hired us to do their weddings, sometimes even proposals – for example, we sang All You Need is Love in flashmob style at Greenwich Park, which was great fun.”
Although the group has diverse influences from Bollywood to drum and bass, they will be succumbing to a few Christmas classics in their upcoming performances – in particular a mash-up of The Twelve Days of Christmas originally written by professional US a cappella group Straight No Chaser in the 1990s.
“It’s the most enjoyable song to sing: it’s hilarious – a play in itself, really,” Peter says.
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Andrew Czyzewski
Communications Division
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