Page 24 - Zone Magazine - Issue 033 - Jan Johnston

featureinterview featureinterview
________________ Words Anthony Piercy _________________________ Photography Evy Vinck, Niven Bonar, Gavin, Robbie, L. Wing _______________________________ Connect https://www.hardkissmusic.com
24
ZONE-MAGAZINE.EU
Back in 90’s San Francisco; Scott, Gavin and Robbie Hardkiss helped pioneer the American Underground/EDM/Rave scene with their club nights, warehouse parties and groundbreaking record label. They forged a new direction for dance music with a string of vinyl releases culminating in the seminal compilation Delusions Of Grandeur.
Hardkiss are an original DJ band. For many of their fans, Delusions of Grandeur was the first time they encountered electronic dance music. The Rave scene was raging and Hardkiss DJs, Gavin, Robbie & Scott were hitting multiple cities every weekend, introducing a new generation to their psychedelic funk techno sound collages. It was unclassified music. Before there were genres, there was Hardkiss.
Delusions Of Grandeur made the Billboard Dance charts, went to #1 on the Rolling Stone Alternative Album chart and launched the international DJ/ production careers of the Hardkiss brothers. This hard-to-find compilation celebrated its 20th Anniversary with an official digital release in 2015.
In 2014, a year after the heartbreaking loss of “brother” Scott Hardkiss, Gavin and Robbie Hardkiss partnered with Scott’s wife Stephanie, to relaunch the Hardkiss Music label with the release of a new Hardkiss album - Hardkiss '1991' - which was described by Magnetic Magazine as “a throwback to that heady time as well as a timely loop into the future.” Reunited in the Bay Area in 2010, Gavin and Robbie produced this album that stands tall in the often repetitive world of electronic dance music. Named for the year the Hardkiss collective was formed, 1991 references the sounds and sentiments of their early rave days while exploring new musical directions.
Acclaimed British music journalist Kris Needs declared that "Hardkiss’ music defies musical barriers, time and space with off-the-teabags loved-out majesty and manages to suspend the listener in a bottomless pool of fragrant intoxicants and rabbit aphrodisiac heart rhythms."
Hardkiss celebrated the 20th anniversary of Delusions of Grandeur with a PledhMusic campaign through which they released a commemorative 20th Anniversary double CD includes a 32 page booklet written by Terry Matthews of 5Magazine. This and other special offers including vinyl and The Hardkiss Vault '91 – '99, which contains 65 songs, remixes, b-sides, unreleased gems and obscurities, are now available exclusively on their website .