Digital Q & A with Richie Rich
Author: Mark Burton
Friday, April 22, 2005
Q. What's the idea behind Digital-
DIGITAL is about new music. Everything in the world of electronica and its about tomorrow future classics/legends. Artists that are massive overseas but not so big here. I think it will take time to develop but we're all sick of seeing the same old artists everytime and we are guilty of that ourselves so we're trying to do something completely fresh.
Q. Is it an event that you'd like to see becoming an annual fixture in the clubbing calender-
Yes for sure. We'd like to eventually incorporate vidual artists as well as digital art exhibitions and film.
Q. How are you differing the decor and vibe for each of the arenas-
Themed by Simon, Brad and myself. More tribally stuff. Fairly basic as the venue itself lends to a unique middle-eastern/docklands style which is amazing. I love the fat dock sleeprs on the floor.
Q. The live element of electronic music seems to be something that's on the up in Melbourne, with Oliver Lieb doing a live set at Belfast on NYE & the Prodigy headlining this year's Two Tribes. Will Hardware be looking at furthering the promotion of live acts throughout the year-
Yes for sure. We're looking at a lot more live stuff actually. Can't say too much but yeah, there will be a lot more live stuff from all spectrums of sound.
Q. To what extent do you think that live performances using software such as Ableton will become the norm in the future and replace DJ sets-
Hmm it wont replace everything. But it will become more prevalent. Only thing with Ableton is it mixes itself, while this is so cool it kinda takes a bit of the artform away and then creates a further new kind of artform being the reconstruction of new tracks. So it has pros and cons and obviously some djs will use it and others wont.
Q. Atlantic Wharf South seems to be a favourite venue for Hardware. It must be great having a venue which is near to the old docks where Melbourne's most (in)famous parties used to be held-
Yeah, I love it. The guys down there are OK and the venue itself is in a nice spot. I prefer the day thing, lots of bands to see and better value. There's enough shit and night so it's nice to do something different!!!
Q. Of the diverse and wonderful array of talent appearing at Digital, who are you looking forward to seeing most and why-
Dabid Carretta was a hightlight for me at Sonar last year. I love Slam, Scratch Perverts and The Hacker. It's going to be hard to see all of them but I did a sneaky programming session and managed to have them all flow on from one another! But I'll miss an hour of the Perverts when Hacker is on! But 2 1/2 hours of Slam will be farkin fantastic!!! And playing with Mike at the end...
Q. What 5 tracks are hottest in the McNeill box at the moment-
Tiga - debut album advance
Johannes Heil & Bartz - Don't Stop
Kompakt Speciher 21
Technasia - Melodia
Jasper Dahlback - Vou Le Vous Tags