The Techtonics


The Techtonics are an all-male a cappella group from Imperial College London. 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 for their cover of Earthquake in their 2012 album "Groundbreaker", and for busking weekly on Portobello Road.

History

Formed in 2008 by Edward Brightman and Christian Carter the group is composed solely of STEM students from Imperial College London. The Techtonics performed their first gig at 'ArtsFest' 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, 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 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 to perform as a part of the Hong Kong International A Cappella Festival.
In April 2017, the group recorded a cover of Bang Bang, arranged by Kyle Alexander Hogan, former member of the University of Rochester YellowJackets, for the UK TV series Tonight at the London Palladium, which aired on 19 April 2017.

Competitions

Voice Festival UK Awards:

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.
YearLocationCities Visited
2018USA East CoastBoston, MA, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Washington, DC
2017USA Deep SouthOrlando, FL, Gainesville, Florida, New Orleans, LA, Memphis, TN, Nashville, TN, Knoxville, TN, Durham, North Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, Jacksonville, FL, Tallahassee, FL
2017Hong KongHong Kong
2016UKEdinburgh Fringe Festival
2015USA and CanadaNew York City, NY
New Haven, CT
Providence, RI
Boston, MA
Montreal, QC
Toronto, ON
Rochester, NY
Collegeville, PA
2014CaliforniaSan Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Monterey
2013USA East CoastNew York City, NY
New Haven, CT
Providence, RI
Collegeville, PA
Rockville, MD
Washington, DC
Durham, NC
Raleigh, NC
Pigeon Forge, TN
Atlanta, GA
2012USA East CoastNew York City, NY
New Haven, CT
Providence, Rhode Island
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
Syracuse, NY
Rochester, NY
2011CroatiaRijeka
Krk
2010UKEdinburgh Fringe Festival

Recordings

Studio Albums

The Techtonics recorded a collaboration with Matt Mulholland, a popular YouTube musician, in 2015, of a cover of Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud.
Many live recordings of The Techtonics busking on Portobello Road are found on Youtube.

Alumni and Current Members

NameJoinedLeftVoice PartCourse
Ed Brightman20082011Tenor I/II, Vocal PercussionPhD Fuel Cells
Christian Carter20082011Tenor I/II, Vocal PercussionMechanical Engineering
Joe Illingworth20082010Tenor II, BaritoneBiochemistry
Jacob Brady20082010Tenor II, BaritoneBiochemistry
Eugene Chang20082012Tenor I/IIPhD Bioengineering
Jonathan Silver20082009Tenor IIBioengineering
Ryan Dee20082013Bass, BaritonePhysics
Ben Krikler 20082010BassPhysics
Nic Church20082009Tenor ICivil Engineering
Attakorn Saiyasombat20082010BassElectrical and Electronic Engineering
Abdul Kamara20082009BassElectrical and Electronic Engineering
Reuben Rowe20082011Tenor I/IIPhD Computer Science
Steve Garland20082009Tenor IPhysics
Tom Horner20092010Bass, Baritone, Vocal PercussionMSc Science Communication
Jamie Wasley20092010Tenor IIVisiting US
Niall Smith20092010BassMathematics
Zain Khawaja20092012Tenor I/II, Vocal PercussionChemistry
Luke Johnston20092012Baritone, Vocal PercussionChemical Engineering
Ayman Osman20092011Tenor IMechanical Engineering
Ben Chadwick 20102012BaritoneMathematics
James Hayward20102014Tenor IChemistry
Ed McDonald20102012Tenor IIMedicine
Guy Needham20102011BassBiochemistry
Chandra Kaza20102012Tenor IIChemical Engineering
Tom Stokes20102012BassMedicine
Peter Scott20112015Tenor IIMedicine
Philip de Grouchy20112011BassPhD Physics
Max Hunter20112013Bass, Sound EngineerPhysics
David Maguire20112013BassCivil Engineer
Alex Moore20112016BassPhysics
Mike Ronan20112014BassChemical Engineering
David Verhoeven20112012Tenor IMSc Civil Engineering
Chris Witham20112015Tenor IPhysics
Will de Renzy-Martin20122012BassComputer Science
Conrad Godfrey20122014Tenor IComputer Science
Akash Mehta20122013Tenor IIElectrical and Electronic Engineering
Peter Noden20122016BaritoneGeology
Chris Pellew20122015Tenor IIBiochemistry
Theo Barfoot20132018Vocal PercussionBiomedical Engineering
Freddie Barker20132014BaritoneMathematics
James Hay20132014Tenor IComputer Science
Will O'Reilly20132016Tenor IMedicine
Ehsaan Shivarani20132017Tenor I, CountertenorGeophysics
Alex Wedderburn20132014Tenor IIEarth Sciences
Henry Harrod20142016BaritoneMechanical Engineering
Arran Bayliss-Chalmers20142018Tenor IEarth Sciences
Nick Bradley20142017BaritoneTheoretical Physics
Ezra Kitson20142015Tenor INatural Sciences
Arun O'Sullivan20142018Countertenor, Tenor I/II, BaritoneMedicine
Laurence Pallant20142015BaritoneMedicine
Edric Ramirez-Valdez20142017Tenor II, Vocal PercussionBiological Sciences
James Cunningham20152016Tenor IIElectrical and Electronic Engineering
David Smith20152016Tenor IIPetroleum Geoscience
Tom Stephens20152018Tenor IIMaterials Science and Engineering
Hugh Blayney2016-BaritonePhysics
Matthew Guy2016-Tenor IIMaterials Science and Engineering
Jonathan Hedley2016-BassChemistry with Molecular Physics
Alexander MacLaren2016-Countertenor, Tenor IMechanical Engineering
Louis Sharrock2016-Tenor II, BaritoneMSc Statistics
Dan Bartley20172017BaritoneCivil Engineering
Charlie Houseago20172018Tenor I/IIPhD Robotics
Benjamin Wu20172017Tenor IIMSc Computer Science
Thomas Briggs2017-BaritoneMechanical Engineering
Cornelius Carlsson2017-Vocal PercussionMaterials Science and Engineering
Paul Monaghan2017-Tenor IPhysics with Theoretical Physics
Shanil Panara2017-Tenor IIMaterials Science and Engineering

Imperial A Cappella Society

The Techtonics were ineligible to become a society of the Imperial College Union 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 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, both a tankard for The Techtonics and Imperial A Cappella Society reside in the Union bar.
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 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.