Halloween haunt: Promoter/DJ Gary Richards wants to put you between rock and a HARD place

Kevin Bronson on
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By Rich Thomas

I can’t remember a time when this much quality electronic music was going off in one weekend. Voodoo Experience in New Orleans and Moogfest 2010 in North Carolina are your places to be in the South and the East, but if you’re here in L.A., you need to be at HARD Haunted Mansion. Going off once again at the Shrine Expo Hall, this year’s show packs in the same ilk of artist that has come to define the HARD sound: massive, brick wall-limited electro-punk from the likes of Bloody Beetroots, Busy P, Crookers, Jack Beats, Rusko and a ton more. Crowd favorites like A-Trak and Calvin Harris should turn in some eclectic sets as well, but the big grab of the weekend is dance music patriarchs Underworld, who are poised to debut probably their most inspiring new set of material since the “Beaucoup Fish” era in early 2000.

At last report, tickets for Saturday night were sold out, but that’s all well and good because Sunday is the night you can’t miss. (Special low-key incentive: Vello Virkhaus will be providing all the visual mixing and multimedia goodies for the show. Dude is a straight up digital alchemist.) So trick or treat early, then head downtown. But first a little quality time with HARD Events CEO and longtime DJ Gary Richards on what it’s been like putting his little shindig together.

You’ve got 48 hours until go-time. Are you running around like a crazy man today?

Gary Richards: I just left a meeting that started six hours ago, but it’s all good. We’ve done this event now a few times at this location so the police, the fire, the medical, we’re all in sync.

What makes a HARD event? You’ve done a great job cultivating a very distinct musical and artistic aesthetic, but you’re still a pretty young brand. When people talk about HARD events, what do you want them to take away?

Gary Richards: The main thing is the music. I hope that they would think we’re bringing the newest and coolest electronic music on the planet. The next thing would be the sound, the lights and the production. Sometimes people might not necessarily know all the artists that are playing there, but I want people to say, “I like that kind of music that they play at HARD.”

And what kind of music is that?

Gary Richards: I would call it electronic rock; like punk rock, electronic, dance, techno, disco, funk. (Laughs) I don’t really know.

There’s definitely been a rise in that style of aggressive dance-rock sound over the last few years, and you’ve managed to align HARD pretty well with that element.

Gary Richards: Definitely. I’ve been DJing and producing electronic music for 20 years, and my take always has been that rock people are going to like it. I love metal. My brother was Slipknot’s manager, and I managed American Head Charge and God Lives Underwater, who are both rock/techno bands, so I’ve tried to lean it more on the rock side. We’re trying to be aligned more with groups like Crystal Castles and the Bloody Beetroots than the more trancey mainstream DJs.

Which is why Underworld stand out so much on this bill. Their new album is incredible and they’re a huge get for any festival or show, but why add them to the HARD mix this time out?

Gary Richards: Every kind of music has its roots – R&B, rock, country. Electronic music, we have roots too, it’s just that people don’t really talk about it or a lot of the new kids don’t know about it. At all the events I do, I’ll always mix in something from when I first started. At my last event in the summer I had Green Velvet. I love Underworld. I actually tried to sign them to my label back in ’93, but I just felt like it was a good booking. It might not be the perfect fit, but I want these newer kids to know that Underworld would be like, say, the Pink Floyd for our style of music. If you don’t know about them, you should know.

Depending on what kind of audience you’re trying to attract, themed decor can a bit of a tricky decision, especially for something like Halloween weekend. You guys have done a bit of that in the last, but it seems like you do a little less and less every year.

Gary Richards: The first year we had a graveyard and we had the dead guy and the vampire and all that shit, and nobody really cares. So I just focus on the stages and the acts and the sound. The eye candy is everybody dressing up. You’re not going to see too many cobwebs and spiders. We’ll have some of that on the LED screens, and it’s a Halloween-themed event, but what makes it Halloween is the people. We’re gonna have 10,000 people each night, and they dress up for HARD when it’s not a holiday! (Laughs) Most people, they just want the music, man. It could he HARD Easter or HARD Hanukkah.

Who are some of the newer acts on this year’s lineup you’re looking to give some shine to?

Gary Richards: We’ve got CongoRock, he’s part of that whole crew with the Beetroots and Crookers. We’ve got Reset! on the bill with Sticky K. and Nero. Calvin Harris has been around a long time and it’s the first time he’s ever played HARD. I’ve been trying to get him to play since I started and it finally worked out. L-VIS 1990, for sure. I’m a DJ so I just pick what I like. I worked with Rick Rubin in the beginning and we were signing techno bands in ’93, and I asked him, “What’s the secret to your success?” And he was like, “I just make records so I can drive around in my car and listen to them.” I try to adapt that philosophy with HARD. I’m just going to book what I would DJ and what I think is cool, and it just so happened that groups like Crookers and Deadmau5 blew out and those are the bands I was digging at the time.

Dance music took a bit negative hit in the press this summer after what went down at Electric Daisy Carnival. What did you take from all that, and how has it affected how you’ve planned out your events since?

Gary Richards: I think that this show is kinda business as usual. This is the third year we’ve done it, we haven’t had too many major issues. We know what we’re doing, the police and fire know, and we’ve worked together to develop a plan with security and the Shrine to make sure it runs smoothly. Things like no backpacks and no glow sticks and searching for people with contraband, we do that anyway. We’ve always done that. Our plan was the same for HARD Summer as it was for the events prior. (What happened this summer) shined more of a light on what we do, but we were already undertaking a lot of these regulations that they’re implementing, and we changed the age limit this year from all ages to 18-plus for Haunted Mansion. I was kinda nervous about what that would do to the event, but it actually made the tickets sell faster. I think a little bit of an older crowd is happy that they’re not going to be hanging out with the youngsters. Being around it so long, I’m just tying to figure out a formula that the city is happy with and that makes a safe event, because that’s the most difficult thing; where do you do it and how do you keep it safe? If you can figure those two questions out, you’ve answered 90% of the formula.

Got anything lined up yet for HARD New Year’s Eve?

Gary Richards: As far as doing something on a grand scale, I think we’re going to take a little breather. I need a break, dude. (Laughs)

Rich Thomas’ work can be found at Mining the Landfill.

Photo of Underworld by Perou.