Jonny L


Jonny L, real name John Lisners, is a British drum and bass producer. He has also released music under the alias of Mr. L and was one half of the UK garage duo True Steppers.

Biography

Early career (1992–1995)

He first came to prominence with the single "Hurt You So" in 1992, popular in the rave scene. The single was sampled and looped in the 1997 track "Oh Boy" by the Fabulous Baker Boys. He signed to XL Recordings, the same label as the Prodigy and SL2. He produced more singles such as "Ooh I Like It" and "Make Me Work".

Early drum & bass work (1995–1998)

In 1995, he changed direction producing drum and bass records, beginning with "I'm Leavin'". With that, he produced two other EPs before his first album Sawtooth in 1997. From this album, the hit single "Piper" proved to be a success even though it was extreme in its sound, although on the album there were other electro-influenced tracks. In 1998, the next album, Magnetic, carried on in a similar vein.

Piranha Records and mainstream success (1999–2003)

He left XL to form his own record label, Piranha Records in 1999. He continued to produce singles, but these had a darker sound to them. He released a single on the record label Metalheadz in 2002 titled "Synkronize" / "Phreak". "Synkronize" featured vocal sampling speculated to be from Brian Harvey of East 17. Another album, 27 Hours a Day followed with the George W. Bush-sampling single "Let's Roll" in 2003.
Jonny also co wrote and produced True Steppers' "Out of Your Mind", the hit single featuring Dane Bowers and Victoria Beckham, and also co wrote and produced "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Do It Till We Drop" for S Club's 2002 album, Seeing Double.

Mr L and Lo-Rider (2005–2008)

Jonny set up Mr L Records in 2005, paving a more experimental sound for his Mr L alias. In 2007, he started a project with vocalist Paul Cumberbatch called Lo-Rider. They released two singles; the first, "Skinny" was released in 2006, with "Watch Me" being released in 2008.

Current work (2009–present)

After a brief stint on another label, Munk Recordings, he produced a track called "1 N 2" on Hospital Records, for the compilation album Sick Music 2, released on 26 April 2010. The following year, he signed to Spearhead Records.
On 26 November 2012, Sick Music 3 was released by Hospital Records, which contained his track, "Moon".
In November 2013, his fourth album In a Jungle was due for release on Spearhead Records. Much of the album, as the title suggests, is a throw-back to the jungle music movement in the mid-1990s.
In 2015, he started a digital Drum & Bass label known as 23:22. It currently has five releases.

Discography

Albums and EPs

As Jonny L, on XL Recordings:
As Jonny L, on Piranha Records
As Jonny L
As Mr. L:
In Lo-Rider
Appears on: