The Techtonics are an all-male a cappella group from
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
. The group was formed in 2008, and has since risen to prominence in the world a cappella scene.
The group is best known for winning the
International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in 2016.
The group is also known for winning ''Best Male Collegiate Song'' at the
Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards
The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...
(CARA) for their cover of Earthquake in their 2012 album "Groundbreaker",
[CARA Awards 2013](_blank)
/ref> and for busking weekly on Portobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is ...
.[Busking on Small Business Saturday on Portobello](_blank)
/ref>
History
Formed in 2008 by Edward Brightman and Christian Carter the group is composed solely of STEM students from Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
. The Techtonics performed their first gig at 'ArtsFest' (an annual celebration of arts at Imperial) in February 2009. They went on to perform at their first full concert in December 2009 in the Imperial College Christmas concert, which has since become an annual fixture for the group.
In 2010, The Techtonics competed in their first competition, The Voice Festival UK
The Voice Festival UK (VF-UK) is a UK arts education charity dedicated to providing opportunities to get involved with contemporary a cappella, unaccompanied singing.
The Voice Festival's central purpose is to increase the awareness and popularit ...
(VFUK), and won the award for ''outstanding arrangement'', awarded to Christian Carter for the arrangement 'Come Undone'.
In August 2010, the group performed for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.
In 2015, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) began hosting annual live competition rounds in the UK. Imperial College A Cappella Society hosted the semi-finals from 2015 to 2016, which The Techtonics competed in both times. In 2016, the group placed first in the UK, and went on to win the ICCA world championships in New York.
The following summer, the group performed for a second time at the Edinburgh Fringe festival with their show ''Don’t Push the Button'', which was awarded 5 star reviews.
From March - April 2017 the group went on tour to Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
to perform as a part of the ''Hong Kong International A Cappella Festival''.
In April 2017, the group recorded a cover of Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj song)
"Bang Bang" is a song by recording artists Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. It was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson, Grande and Minaj. It was produced by Martin, Göransson, and Ilya, with Kuk Harrell serving as ...
, arranged by Kyle Alexander Hogan, former member of the University of Rochester YellowJackets, for the UK TV series Tonight at the London Palladium
''Tonight at the London Palladium'' is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End theatre, West End. Originally produced by Associated Television, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network ...
, which aired on 19 April 2017.
Competitions
Voice Festival UK Awards:
* Outstanding Soloist: Peter Noden, March 2014
* Outstanding Soloist: David Maguire, Outstanding Vocal Percussion: Max Hunter, March 2013
* Outstanding Performance, Outstanding Soloist: David Verhoeven, Feb 2012
* Outstanding Performance, March 2011
* Outstanding Arrangement: Christian Carter for 'Come Undone', Feb 2010 (2nd Year of VFUK)
International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA):
* 2016
** World Champions of Collegiate A Cappella 2016
** Outstanding Choreography: UK Quarter Finals (overall performance) and Semi Finals (Bicycle Race
"Bicycle Race" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album ''Jazz'' and written by Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a double A-side single together with the song "Fat Bottomed Girls", rea ...
by Queen)
** Outstanding Arrangement: ''Bicycle Race'' (Arranged by Conrad Godfrey and Alex Moore) UK Quarter Final
* 2015
** Competed in 2015 UK Semi-final, did not place.
Tours
Every year the group embarks on a self-managed tour, normally international, providing the opportunity to perform in many unique venues as well as meet other groups from around the world.
Recordings
Studio albums
* ''Groundbreaker'' (2012)
** CARA winner for ''Earthquake''
* ''Clockwork'' (2015)
Live Recordings
The Techtonics recorded a collaboration with Matt Mulholland, a popular YouTube musician,[Matt Mulholland Youtube](_blank)
/ref> in 2015, of a cover of Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud
"Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, recorded for his second studio album, '' ×'' (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the ...
.
Many live recordings of The Techtonics busking on Portobello Road are found on Youtube.
Alumni and Current Members
Imperial A Cappella Society
The Techtonics were ineligible to become a society of the Imperial College Union (ICU) because as a stand-alone group, it is too small in size and single gender. This led to members of the group starting the Imperial College A Cappella Society[Imperial College A Cappella Society](_blank)
/ref> of which The Techtonics would be part of, with the wider aim of making the activity of A Cappella open to all ICU members and to promote other groups to form.
Societies at Imperial are able to purchase pewter tankards for their society, and get them engraved with leading members - however due to the historical independence of The Techtonics (existing before the a cappella society), both a tankard for The Techtonics and Imperial A Cappella Society reside in the Union bar.[Imperial College Union Tankards](_blank)
As of 2016, 5 established groups are recorded as being within the society, making it one of the largest university a cappella societies in the UK:
* The Techtonics
* The Imperielles (all-female, formed in 2011)
* The Scopes (mixed, formed in 2011)
* Take Note (all-female, barbershop style)
* Surcery (mixed, fusion style)
The Techtonics perform with the other a cappella groups at Imperial frequently, singing alongside them in Christmas concerts, Easter concerts, and a number of times at the annual Imperial Summer Ball.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Techtonics
Collegiate a cappella groups
Clubs and societies of Imperial College London
Musical groups established in 2008