Collapsed Lung | id

History

After their debut performance they were invited to play an all-day festival in Harlow at which guitarist Steve Harcourt (formerly a member of metal bands 'Gethsemane', which was largely a farce, failing to gig and 'Bomberz') first met Nihal Arhanayake. Nihal was a rapper of Sri Lankan descent who was studying law in Twickenham, Surrey at the time. He was consequently invited to record some of his material over the trio's existing tracks. Nihal's Co-rapper was Anthony Chapman, with the line-up completed by bass player Johnny Dawe. However, Arthanayake left the band in 1994 after signing a deal for his own group - Muddie Funksters - with Go!Discs (the first label to offer Collapsed Lung a deal, which they declined).

Collapsed Lung replaced him with rapper Jim Burke and drummer Chris Gutch. Chapman also bolstered his reputation with DJ-ing work at a variety of London venues. He was keen to reinstate Collapsed Lung's rap credentials, stating "at the end of the day, it's just hip-hop", while promoting the release of 1995's Jackpot Goalie. In late 1995, drummer Chris Gutch left the group to join a band called Rehab. Gutch was replaced by Jerry Hawkins, previously of The Fuzz (later to mutate into The O) and The Atom Seed.

In 1996 they released their 2nd album 'Cooler' (written as 'C**ler'). In June 1996 a double A-side 'London Tonight / Eat My Goal' was released which reached number 31 in the UK charts. Eat My Goal was re-released in May 1998 and reached number 18 on the charts, and was subsequently used in various sportswear adverts.

In December 1996, the band played their final show at Camden Palace, London.

Nihal has gone onto become a DJ on BBC Radio 1 and 1 Extra, alongside and makes up one half of the DJ team, 'Bobby and Nihal' .