Jon Walker: Over the past 15 years you've been very instrumental in
helping to guide the sound of American dance music. Back in the days
when dance music was truly underground, where did you go for inspiration?
Gavin Hardkiss: I was living in NY in 1986 and in Philadelphia from 1988-1991. New
York was red hot and my sister and I used to run between Mars, The
Tunnel, Morissey, Limelight and The Palladium. Then in Philly, I used to
go to a small Monday night party on a caboose called Silk City that King
Britt used to put together, and Josh Wink used to DJ at some of the frat
parties on the Penn campus and he had an amazing acid house night at The
Bank. Traveling around Europe in 1990, I went to the Glastonbury Music
Festival where I saw the Happy Monday, The Cure, and De La Soul on one
stage and partied all night with the Tonka Sound System. You can
imagine how out of control that experience was and it had a huge
impact on me. Between 1990 and 1991, I hooked up with Frankie Bones
and the whole Brooklyn Crew and would join them for renegade parties
on the train tracks in Brooklyn and on Shelter Island. Those
parties were amazing and were attended by a list of techno warriors like
Adam X, Jimmy Crash, Mundo Musique, Joey Beltram and Heather Heart.
When I moved to San Francisco there was a strong British Disco House & Space Funk thing happening and the parties were amazing. That's when we started the Hardkiss label and I began producing music myself.
JW: You come from (essentially) the most popular dance music
legacy. What role did each of your brothers play in you're early
involvement and how do your careers line up today?
Gavin Hardkiss: When we got things rolling in San Francisco in the early '90s,
Robbie was the little party gnome, Scott was the mysterious DJ wizard
and I was the mastermind managing the label. As time passed, our mutual
passion for music pushed us all into the DJ world and then deep into the
production world. Now we're all producers making a wide spectrum of cool
innovative music.
JW: You've been doing loads of commercial production such as
product branding, TV work, video game soundtracks and the lot. Did this
naturally fall into place or is this something you worked towards?
Gavin Hardkiss: It's all about hard work. Nothing comes easy my friend.
Dedication, devotion and shameless self-promotion. There are a million
brilliant musicians with a billion great songs. There's a great song
made every minute.
JW: What are the centerpieces of your studio kit? What is so
special about these pieces?
Gavin Hardkiss: Laptop. Who would have though 10 years ago that I would be able
to fit my entire studio in a briefcase. Magic happens!!