Toby Tinwell aka Colossus is a Drum & Bass Produced based in Leeds, UK, easily recognised by his deep rolling liquid style often incorporating Motown accapellas, moody pianos and carefully programmed amen breaks. He had taken some time out after his earlier success but now is back in the game. With releases on labels such as Hospital & Galacy Toby has supported the likes of Andy C, Bad Company, Mickey Finn, Lenzman, Commix, Hybrid Minds, Roni Size, Technimatic, Serial Killaz and a whole lot more. We spoke to Toby to see how he was getting on and what he has in store for his return.

Hi Toby, been looking forward to to picking your brain for a while now. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into music?

Yes mate! The pleasure is all mine my guy. So, I go by Colossus in the Drum & Bass world and I have been making music for around 15 years now. I was always the arty/creative type; from an early age I would always be drawing and other arty activities and when I was about 12 years old I started my first band with a group of friends, this was a definite starting point when my brain started to become very music driven. I soon started to discover more and more genres of music and especially those of the electronic genres – when I reached 14 I started making my own “beats” on my mums old MacBook using GarageBand.

And as a child/teen who were your biggest inspirations in music?

So originally I really got into nu metal – I particularly bands like Slipknot, Korn, Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Mushroomhead (you know, just that classic nu metal era), but also the Animated Band Gorillaz had such an impact on me, particularly Demon Days – what an album! As I entered my mid teens I started to get into more electronic music, discovering genres such as UK Hardcore and Gabba – artists such as Dougal & Gammer, Recon, Squad-E, Scott Brown and Angerfist all definitely had a pretty big impact on how I would begin looking at music. Back to my younger years, my dad and mum used to play a lot of Orbital, Moby, Groove Armada, Massive Attack and Fatboy Slim (to name a few) when we went on car trips, I think on a subconscious level that these artists really helped to shape a lot of the inspirations that I take even to this day.

How do you get yourself in the zone? Take us through your creative process.

For me, I have to be in the right state of mind or it just won’t work. To get into this state of mind I often go for a lengthy brisk walk and try to listen to as much varying music as possible – all music is essentially taking ideas and inspiration from different sources (no music is unique!). Once back at my home studio, I will often go through some samples to see if there is anything I think I could use in a creative way, I then often spend a long time jamming out on my keys and come up different melodies, chord progression, until I find myself really getting into it. I then usually try and get down a rough version of a track as quick as I can, while I am still in the flow and vibe – I then often go back over these rough versions and spend between a few days up to a few months fine tuning and making sure I am happy with the end result.

What are you currently working on? Any collaborations or EP’s in the works?

Yeah, so I have quite a few collaborations on the go, I am making some great new music with the wonderful DnBethh (I’m sure some long time fans will be delighted to hear), I have been working on some stuff with my good friend Imprint using a new joint alias that we will reveal soon enough. Me and Soul:Motion have been back bringing back some tasty vibes that we cannot wait for everyone to here. I have recently joined the Think Breaks Podcast crew and I have been working on loads of new music with those guys – those being Echo Motion, K2T & Enok. Other projects that I aim to get into are a few forgotten projects with Hosta and also a new project with Reforest.

Release wise, I have a new track with an amazingly talented vocalist called Jess Ratcliffe. The track “Black From Blue” is apart of a new mixed artist LP called “Redefining the Spectrum” from a new charity label called Liquid Drum & Bass 4 Autism – such a fantastic cause that I am super proud and grateful to be apart of (that drops on the 31st of May). Second confirmed release is on Galacy’s (Liquicity’s sister label) latest mixed artist LP called “Identities 2” – again I had the pleasure of working with another very talented vocalist called Anastasia, she did the vocal for mine and ALB’s release on Galacy back in 2017, so I was delighted to work with her again as I have always rated her super highly! Other than that, I have a couple of bits that I can’t really confirm as of yet, but keep an eye out – Oh, and you heard it here first; I may have been working on an album that I plan to self release later this year…

Who would your dream collaboration be with?

Good question, I have answered this before in the past and I think it is still the same…. Lenzman, I have always really looked up to his music and I just love the moves he has been making over the last few years.

What would you say to someone starting out in the scene with producing/mixing? IS there any key advice you could give?

Honestly, just do you. Don’t expect to get big quick, as soon as you start putting those kinds of pressure on yourself is when the whole point of being a musical creative is lost. Just practice your craft, again and again and again. Be prepared to be turned down, a lot; it sucks but in the long run you learn from it and it shapes you into become bigger and stronger than ever – like a lot of things in life.

What is your favourite track/EP/project you have worked on in the past? Our’s has to be The Road EP! Specifically ‘What I want’. Banger.

Big ups! I will always have a special place for both The Road and What I Want, as Hospital featured The Road on their Hospitality 2015 CD, which gave me such a boost to my profile at the time – I can never be more grateful for that and hope one day I can return! And What I Want because of the legendary titan himself A.M.C playing it at Let It Roll 2014 and coining it is favourite Liquid track of the year! That truly blew my mind at the time, f**k it still does now!

But as far as my favourite? I’m not sure I really have one – I know it sounds like a bit of a cop out haha! But I listen back to my music and can’t help but instantly hear what I could have improved on – it honestly ruins listening back to my music a lot of the time! But I guess if I had to, Under The Weather – not because of the production or anything, but because of the reaction it got and the love I received from people all over the world for it. That was my first taste of recognition, not just outside of my hometown, but outside of my country – it makes you feel very special and realises that you do in fact have a purpose, no matter how big or small that may be.

Outside of Drum & Bass, what would you say your favourite genre is and why?

Ambient, allllllll f**king day. It just resonates with me so much – I love the textural soundscapes and how many different emotions and interpretations can be through a 10 minute piece of music, that to an outsider I’m sure just sounds the same the entire time. It is also a very nice break away from the pulse raising electronic music that we are all heavily immersed in.

In your opinion, what’s your biggest achievement when it comes to music?

Again, Under the Weather. Obviously The Road and What I Want are very close seconds due to exposure it gave me as an artist. But the comments I saw on Under the Weather on the Liquicity Channel – people saying that it has helped them through hard times and have stopped them from progressing down a bad road mentally – that is the biggest achievement I could wish for. It might be a bit corny, but I guess I am a corny guy haha!

We noticed your record label Rush Records has been quiet of recent. Are there any plans for future releases?

Never say never 😉

COVID 19! How do you think it’ll affect the scene and the music industry as a whole?

ARGGGH! Yeah what a shitter ey, 2020 was looking to be the year of goals to be completed. Honestly though, with the presence of internet in todays age, it has made this all so much easier as artists. The amount of livestreams and artist to fan interaction has been really increasing and in my opinion that’s what music should be all about. Let’s just hope we can all get back to the clubs and festivals in the not so distant future!

What’s your favourite club night?

Favourite I played, was Gun Audio in Belgium. Those guys are nuts and the vibes were seriously flowing – and the promoters know how to treat their artists right! But all time has to be Overflow in Leeds in all honesty – I have spent the last 10 years here and have made some incredible friends in that time – in its heyday it was just simply incredible – pure family vibes!

What are you listening to at the moment?

Dnb – pretty much everyone on Bay 6 Recordings and Detached Audio; such underrated artists on those labels and every release is just incredible. Soulvent too – really good stuff coming out of that camp at the minute like In:Most’s latest album “Voyager” phwooor – same goes for Galacy, loads of huge releases. Halogenix new EP “Dragonforce” is truly something else too (out on Critical Music). I have been also hammering a lot of mixes recently, mainly Enok’s mix for the new Bay 6 in the Mix series that they have recently launched (expect one from myself soon), MrBurntYoghurt’s mixes are always fantastic – definitely check him out, my good pal Manoeuvre has also been shelling it recently and also Esskay has too – be sure to check these guys out too.

Non Dnb – I have been rinsing Thom Yorke’s latest album “Anima” a lot recently – absolute work of art. I find myself listening to a lot of film or Tv soundtracks too, PJ Harveys original music for Shane Meadows “The Virtues” is an absolute vibe (if you are into super dark textural sounds) and also Ben Frost’s original music for “Fortitude” and “Dark” – such good experimental music with loads of elements fused together! Klashnekoff’s latest album he dropped last year “Iona” – fantastic hip hop album and as raw as ever.

Thanks for chance to talk Toby, any shout outs you’d live to give?

Anytime guys! Just to everyone I mentioned first off Dnbethh, Imprint, Soul:Motion, Echo Motion, K2T, Enok and everyone in the Think Breaks discord – simply too many of you to name! (and big ups for officially adding me to the Think Breaks Podcast team!), Hosta, Reforest, Jess Ratcliffe, Anastasia, the Galacy and Liquicity crew, the Liquid Drum and Bass 4 Autism crew, Scott Allen, the Soulvent Records crew, the Context Audio crew, Hospital and A.M.C again for giving me my breaks those years ago, Overflow and my entire Leeds family, Transcript, Manoeuvre, Esskay, Rameses B, Zoe Moon and the artists that have been supporting my comeback recently – Degs, Melinki & SyRan. And of course to you guys – thanks again for chatting with me!

Social Media Links:

https://www.facebook.com/Colossus.Uk.DnB/
https://twitter.com/colossus_dnb
https://soundcloud.com/colossus_drumandbass

Latest Releases:

https://linktr.ee/colossus_dnb