STOP PRESS!!! DANNY D INTERVIEWS TOM FOR THE FIRST TIME
Recently we gave Tom's fellow HQ resident Danny D a chance to interview him and ask him all the questions that many of his fans have been wondering but haven't dared to ask. Here's what Tom had to say:
DD: Your ‘new’ style (well you’ve been doing it for over year now so it ain’t really new, but you know what I mean) of playing more non UK hard house tracks, seems to have confused some of your fans but they remain loyal to you whatever you do. But what about HQ? It seems you have changed and club has not and most of the HQ die-hards seem to love your hard house sets more than the you new sets. Do you notice this? And what do you feel about it??
TH: I’m really glad you asked this as it is something that has been causing a lot of debate recently and I feel that I need to shed some light on the situation. I read a lot of stuff about my new style/old style on chat rooms and forums but no-one ever seems to ask me to my face so, in all honesty, thank you mate!
TH: Over the past year I have developed my style a lot to include a lot more tech-trance and techno. There are a number of reasons for this, but mainly it is all about personal and musical development. I have been playing UKHH ever since the term ‘hard house’ was first used (about 7 years ago), and in my mind a lot of the stuff that’s being produced now isn’t really pushing the boundaries of the style like it used to. The same breed of producers and DJs still really dominate the scene none of whom are doing anything new so I just wanted to try something a bit different in my sets. That said, I still have still been playing a lot UKHH, you only need to look at say my set at Dance Valley for proof of this.
TH: The second reason why I expanded the style of music that I play was to allow me the scope to play in certain clubs and countries where I had not played before. Again this was to help develop my career as a DJ. I have been playing at certain clubs in Holland and the UK on and off for nearly a decade and while I dearly love playing at all of them I was keen to branch out and play in some new places. Also, UKHH is quite a niche style of music that is very popular in the UK, Holland, Canada, Japan and Australia but a lot of countries simply don’t have a hard dance scene or have clubs that book hard dance DJs. By evolving my style to make it more ‘exportable’ I suddenly found that I was getting booked to play at lots of new clubs that I hadn’t played at before.
TH: All things considered though, I can see why a lot of fans were confused and maybe even disappointed about the change in style. In Holland I am known for pioneering Hard House and helping to create the hard dance scene as we know it today. Because of this I can see why people wouldn’t like the change, but I hope understand why I did it from what I’ve said above.
TH: BUT and here’s the big BUT…it has become apparent to me that my new style hasn’t been working that well at HQ. People go to HQ for hard house, not tech trance, as it is one of the best hard house clubs on earth, so it seems foolish not to play the sound for which I am famous. SO… from now on I want to make it completely clear that at all HQ parties plus any events where I am representing HQ (like Dance Valley, Impulz, HQXL or whatever) I will be only playing nothing but UK hard house. I feel that I owe this to my loyal army of fans who come to HQ month in month out to hear me play. This means that from this month’s HQ onwards I will use my sets at the club as a platform to showcase the best of UK and European hard dance both old and new. You can expect all the signs of a ‘classic’ Tommy performance ie lots of action on the cross-fader, a bit a scratching, three deck mixing and a whole lot of jumping about and arm waving. In actual fact I can’t wait so please, if you’re reading this and feel that I’ve not been playing enough UKHH at HQ recently get down to HQ on the 24th September and be pleasantly suprosed…
DD: Where do you see the crossover techtrance-hard-dance style that you’ve been championing working best? In the hard dance area or more in the main room alongside trance and techno DJs?
TH: At the end of the day I am resident at HQ so I love to represent the club at all major events by playing in the HQ room or on the HQ stage. As I have explained above from now on I will only be playing UKHH when I do this and am really excited about doing so. That said (and being the greedy git that I am), I’d love to play in both arenas. I can see the broader end of what I play working really well in the main room of a big event alongside DJs like Marco V and Mauro Picotto, both of whom are heroes of mine. However, if I had to choose between the hard dance and the main room I’d always go for rocking the hard dance area or stage.
DD: I have been asked by quite a few HQ regulars on several occasions (and I know this is on lot of peoples minds) it’s not that we don’t like what Tom is playing now but it’s not exactly closing set material is it? I’ve also been wondering this… when I have been to gigs with you in the daytime/early night and you do your new thing, it really works real well and it goes off left right and center. For example think the last Beachpop was a brilliant gig. But when it comes to a closing set at HQ it doesn’t really work. What are your thoughts on this?
TH: As I have said above I can totally see their point. Over the past months I have been pioneering an expanded sound and it has been working well in some places and not so well in others. At places like Beachpop and some other venues the new stuff has gone down a storm and the reactions have been fantastic. At others, let’s take January’s HQ for example, it hasn’t, so it is obviously right for some venues and wrong for others. This is part of the reason why from now on if you come to HQ to hear me play I can promise you that’ll all you’ll hear is the best of hard house old and new because that is what HQ is all about. Put it another way, if you still need convincing come and listen to my closing set at HQ this month and make your own mind up. I know that you won’t be disappointed!
DD: Right enough of the difficult questions… one of the most interesting things that’s resulted from you developing your sound is your growth as producer and the wider influences you are picking up from the new records that you’re playing. Your co-production with Marrz ‘Bring Back the Feeling’ on Detox was Top Tune in Mixmag last month which is a huge achievement for any producer. What other stuff have you got in the pipe line and what can we expect from your labels Recover and Discover?
TH: Yes, the producing has been going really well. I was over the moon with ‘Bring Back the Feeling’ as it represents the cutting edge of my sound, but has been really well received by all the traditional Hard House DJs and magazines, proving that more techy stuff can work really well. There is loads more stuff planned for the future, the first being an EP on Recover coming out in the next few weeks. One side is a techy collaboration with Scott Mac and the other is a more ‘traditional’ hard dance workout. I am really pleases with both.
DD: In your sets over the last year I have also noticed a few exclusive Tom Harding bootleg remixes like the one you did of ‘Raw9 vs Cowgirl’ and another one with ‘JDS – Nineways’. I really like the Raw9 bootleg (I still want a copy!) but I’d like to know if you’re working on any new secret weapons?
TH: In a word yes.. the thing is if I told you about them they wouldn’t be secret so you’ll have to wait and see! I was really pleased with the Raw 9 bootleg which went down a storm wherever I played it, and I have also done another sampling ‘For An Angel’ which has been going down well. As far as future bootlegs and re-edits are concerned you’ll have to check out my sets over the coming months to hear for yourselves, but I think they’ll be right up your street.
DD: To add to the last question who do you really want to get in the studio with and why (bear in mind they don’t have to be hard dance producers)
TH: Well, I am making more tracks with Scott Mac, but also want to work with Greg Brookman, Randy Katana, and, in an ideal world Mauro Picotto, Marco Bailey and also Alex Morph for more trancey stuff.
DD: Tell us about how you run your record labels? Are you sitting behind a desk in the day like executive? What is day in the office like for Tom music mogul?
TH: The labels are going really well at the moment, despite the general trend of low sales in the market. We have three, Recover (traditional hard house), Discover (cool trance) and Flux Delux (more commercial trance). We are also currently looking at launching Recover Red (techno) and Delux Grooves (techy beats and tools).
TH: I do obviously have a desk, and take an active part in all the A&R decisions. However, my fellow Director Chris Hampshire is actually label Manager as I spend so much of my time away, and he is also better at it than I am! However, I still get to sign tracks I like which is a great luxury.
DD: These are difficult times for record labels especially within the hard dance community, (as I type I’m hearing rumors that Nukleuz records has let all its staff go due to real bad sales). What are you doing with your labels to avoid these difficult problems?
TH: You are right Nukleuz is going down the tubes due to poor record sales but this is mainly due to the fact that most of the tunes that they’ve released recently haven’t been very good. Their A&R man needs a kick up the bum and needs to spend more time looking for fresh talent and less time churning out the same old tracks that they’ve been releasing for years.
TH: At the Recover Group we make a point of only putting out top quality tracks. It is a cliché, but a good record will always sell if it has the right distribution, and we have utter faith in the tracks on our labels and in the ability of our A&R managers. Also, with MP3s and downloads getting more and more popular, we are soon going to offer a full digital download service on our web-site
www.therecordbox.com It cuts out the distribution side, and means people can get the tracks cheaply, quickly and easily. It is the way forward for an industry that is constantly changing. Keep checking the site for more details.
DD: Fausto! Your playing back to back with Fausto at HQXL. What can we expect from you two at this?
TH: I will whip his arse, simple as that! Seriously though, you can expect THE standout set of the night. Fausto is a very talented DJ and a good friend and I have every confidence that when we get on the decks together sparks are going to fly. We have arranged a few practice sessions before the gig so that we know how we are going to interact on the night so expect something rather special.
DD: What is the plan for you for the next 12 months?
TH: More DJing, nothing but firing UKHH sets at HQ, more production and collaborations and also longer sets so I can mix the new tech trance with UKHH and have the best of both worlds. I can’t wait!
), Tom Harding en Danny D 
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