From their humble roots in the groove, jazz, and loungecore music scene in 90s London to now managing one of the most successful drum and bass labels in the world, Chris Goss and Tony Colman have created a musical empire that other labels can aspire to. Hospital Records is not merely a label that plays house to a family of the most successful drum and pass producers in the industry (High Contrast, Netsky, Camo & Krooked, Fred V & Grafix and SPY to name a few), but they are also a management company, licensor, publisher, radio show and podcast hosts as well as event promoters. Their award winning club night, ‘Hospitality’, is regularly sold out in venues around the world, not just in their native England. The Hospital logo, represented as a simple ‘H’ is universally recognized, whether it be on a record sleeve, event flyer, or one of the many articles of merchandise they offer. It is immediately associated with great talent and energy and a great approach to releasing drum and bass music. When the duo set out to start the label seventeen years ago their only vision was to create something “vaguely unique” and they have certainly achieved, and surpassed this goal. With innovative ways of marketing their music and artists, whether it’s through unique album covers, catchy EP titles or artistic event flyers, the label has branded themselves in a distinct and refreshing way.
While drinking tea in a room above the studio at the Hospital Records headquarters, nestled off a small street in South London, I spoke with the Managing Director and founder of Hospital Records, Chris Goss. We discussed the past, the future and how they choose not to give a fuck what people think. Goss also plays the role of art director, merchandise manager and is the artist manager of many of Hospital’s biggest names. He helps shed a ray of necessary light onto the challenges of releasing music in the current digital age that we all love and loathe, and discusses the trials and triumphs each artist faces when beginning a career. Goss provides a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make the label (and sub label Med School) run successfully, manage a growing artist roster and a full staff, while trying to stay “organic and unique” in a rapidly changing industry. He also gives us a run down of what we can expect from the label this year with a list of releases that will keep Hospital fans happy and their iPods full for all of 2013.
When you started the company back in 1996, you started with a loungecore and jazz sound and started the label as a way of pushing your own music. Now you are running arguably one of the most successful drum and bass labels around. How did this happen?
CG: I don’t know really, the thing is that our entry point to drum and bass was very left field. My background, as well as Tony’s, whom I have worked with for 21 years, was in the rare groove scene of London from the late 80s. We were part of the massive jazz scene of London, which for a long time has been frowned upon as being ‘uncool’ but in fact, it was a major part of the British music scene in the 80s and early 90s. Then in 95 we made some big changes in what we were doing, and we turned around and reassessed our music and what we wanted to be. Drum and bass and jungle was something that, as Londoners, we were very excited by, and we wanted to make our own version of it. But I guess it was what we naturally came up with was very exotic sounding. With Tony’s background as a singer/songwriter and musician and my background as a rare groove DJ, this allowed us to throw our stuff into a pot and try and work out what the hell we were doing. We put out our first album in 99’ and we were tagged in the ‘jazzy drum and bass’ ghetto and then ‘liquid drum and bass’ emerged. We never
labeled ourselves as making liquid drum and bass but people are so quick to put a label on you and you just nod, and say ‘if that’s what you want to call it, go for it.’ What truly kicked it off were our first few artists that we signed and the key members of our team. The main thing is that if you are blessed to find the right people to work with, who can bring the right spirit, originality and good humour to the table then you have every chance to build something with a bit of longevity.
Who was the first artist that Hospital signed that really helped with the initial kick off of the label?
CG: Danny Byrd was really our first drum and bass act that we signed in the late 90s. Now, here he is, in the studio downstairs right now, finishing his third album to be released with us. After Danny we signed High Contrast and of course the success that came with Lincoln [High Contrast] very early on in his career was a major step forward for the label. These people have become family for me, you work with them for thirteen, fourteen years and that’s massively satisfying. It makes you feel like you are really doing something right. To bring someone in at the birth of their career and watch them grow… it’s almost a parental thing, and that’s truly how we feel with some of our younger artists such as Boris [Netsky], or Fred V and Grafix. Hopefully you bring those feelings to bear in the right way, because in reality as a company you want to build careers for people, and if we can actually afford these artists full time careers in music then we know we have done a good thing.
I guess to put it in a more daunting sense, you’re also not just making careers for these guys but really, you’re helping build their lives. Helping them go from making beats in their bedrooms to travelling the world …
CG: Exactly! The best way to really illustrate that is what has happened with Boris. Boris has grown so fast, and we could not have expected that. He rose similarly to High Contrast. When High Contrast put out his first two singles a lot of people in the scene kept saying ‘you know it’s not going to happen …’ but over time it did. The kind of process that was around in producing music, releasing music and promoting music was much slower than it is now. There was no Internet. With Boris, in a much more current and modern setting of 2010/2011 no one could have guessed that what has happened, could have happened. He has only just turned 23 and he came to us when he was 20. When we are all hanging out together backstage at a gig, he will look out at crowd and say to me ‘I cant believe this is happening’. As we all know there are 100,000 Boris’s out there making music on a computer in their room and practicing their DJ skills and thinking about how they can build something. But it’s supremely important for none of our artists to ever take it for granted because in reality, it is a very charmed life. Before we ever take an artist on full time we will sit down and have a few meetings so we can all get to know each other, and what is most important for me is that I can sit down and say look I don’t ever want to be in a position where you are moaning to me about your flight, the car picking you up, the rider or the hotel … because you need to keep in mind that there are many people working very hard for you. This will not last forever. You need to manage yourself, critique yourself, and for God’s sake, don’t become an asshole. Because before you know it, plenty of people will be sharing that information and the brand’s name can be ruined.
“…FRANKLY, WE DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT PEOPLE THINK. WE KNOW WHAT WE’RE DOING, AND WE KNOW THAT WE LOVE DRUM AND BASS.”
CHRIS GOSS
www.djmag.ca 29
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