UK hard house

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UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music [1] that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. [2] [3] [4] It often features a speedy tempo (around 150 BPM but hard house ranges from around 135 BPM to around 165 BPM), offbeat bass stabs, [5] hoovers and horns. [5] It usually contains a break in the middle of the track where no drums are present. UK hard house often uses a long and sharp string note to create suspense. Most of the time, the drops are introduced by a drum roll.

Contents

Origins

Hard house has its immediate roots primarily in Belgian and German techno, American disco-sample based house music, handbag house and early trance.

UK producer and label owner John Truelove was quoted as saying of hard house's origins: "I would say that tunes such as XVX's "Tremorra Del Terra" and Interactive's "Amok" (essentially the same tune) were absolutely defining moments. Early German trance led directly to what Daz Saund and Trevor Rockcliffe were playing at Trade." [6]

Tony De Vit was one of the key DJs to codify and popularise the hard house sound (earlier often referred to as 'hardbag'), taking inspiration from his early visits to Trade in the early '90s — where he soon became a resident DJ. De Vit is often cited as the "godfather of UK hard house". [7] [8]

Hard house clubbing brands

Certain brands have reached legendary status with die-hard hard house fans, such as Birmingham based Sundissential and the record label Tidy Trax who also branched out in the early 2000s into putting on club events, including the Tidy Weekender 3 day events. Clubbers are known to travel cross-country to some parties. The venues associated with certain brands are almost the stuff of legend themselves and are remembered fondly and given almost cult status by veteran ravers. For example:

The Tidy Boys

The Tidy brand began in 1995, when Amadeus Mozart and Andy Pickles formed the record label known as Tidy Trax, with its first release, the Handbaggers' "U Found Out", sampling Minnesota R&B group the Jets 1986 release "Crush on You", which peaked at number 55 on the UK Singles Chart. [9] [10] Pickles previously performed as Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers group between 1986-2002. [11] Releasing music under the pseudonyms the Handbaggers and Hyperlogic, Amadeus Mozart and Andy Pickles did not officially use the name the Tidy Boys until 1999.

Between 1999-2006 The Tidy Boys were regular performers at festivals, music venues and night clubs around the UK and across the rest of the world playing locations such as Australia, New York, Las Vegas, Tokyo, South Africa, Ibiza, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Norway & Finland. In 2005/6 the Tidy Boys headlined key festivals such as Creamfields, Godskitchen Global Gathering, Escape Into The Park, Planet Love Festival and Dance Valley.

The Tidy Trax label, based in Leeds, was at the forefront of the hard house scene, specifically the years 1998 to 2005. [11] The brand struggled in the late 2000s to keep going financially with dwindling sales (through its Tidy record label) and poor attendance figures to events. During the mid-2010s, however, the brand has had a huge resurgence and revitalized the UK hard house scene putting on huge events across the UK has been possible due to the fans being able to reconnect with the brand through the Tidy Boys official Facebook page and growing social media presence.

Tidy is known for its sell-out club nights and one-off events such as TDV20 – a 20-year memorial event of the death of Tony De Vit – one of the original pioneers of hard house. It is also known for hosting "The Tidy Weekender"; three-day parties which were held from Friday to Sunday at Pontins resorts in Prestatyn, Camber Sands and Southport. [12]

Storm

Launched in 2000, Storm regularly attracted up to 2000 clubbers in its heyday, and people came from as far as Bournemouth, Edinburgh and Belfast. The remoteness of Coalville made the venue tricky to get to, as there were no buses there which run on a Sunday and no local train station, meaning that the majority of clubbers who made it to Storm each week were usually die-hard ravers and for this reason, the brand and the venue had a cult following and very quickly reached legendary status amongst hard house fans. [13]

Sundissential and Sundissential North

Originally held at Pulse in Birmingham, the sheer popularity of the weekly Midlands-based, self-styled "Most Outrageous Club in the World" saw it quickly set up its second base in Leeds – firstly, at Club Uropa from 1998 till 2000 and then Evolution from 2000 till 2005. Known for its cult following by fans who would wear elaborate and often home-made outfits, largely made from red and yellow fluff. Several controversial and tragic incidents kept Sundissential firmly at the forefront of the hard house scene, with several deaths of clubbers, [14] as well as the antics of the promoter Paul Madden, a.k.a. "Madders", [2] which created gossip amongst fans online on Leeds based clubbing forums, biscuitmonsters.com and 4clubbers.net and kept the brand firmly in the spotlight until the doors closed in 2005. In 2016, the brand was relaunched under new management and began putting on events again in Leeds, at the Mint Club and at Church. [15]

Frantic

One of London's most popular and frequent hard house nights, Frantic was launched in 1997 by then-history teacher Will Paterson, who wanted to create a night based purely on the harder sounds that formed part of the night at clubs like Sunnyside Up and The Garage at Heaven. “I started Frantic as I wanted to go to a night for clubbers like me that preferred the ferocious hoover led sounds of Tony De Vit rather than the softer hardbag sounds" he said in a 2005 article. "I didn’t see why the night couldn’t be tough from the beginning and knew loads of clubbers who felt the same. I got into hard house by accident.” Frantic would go on to host hundreds of events, including regular sold-out shows at the 4500-capacity Brixton Academy. [16]

Fish! and Superfish! [17]

From the mid-1990s to early 2000s, club nights included Fish!, Superfish!, and Warriors at Turnmills. Hard house and hard NRG artists and DJs at these venues included Captain Tinrib, D.F.Q., Ben Javlin, Steve Thomas, Steve Hill, Rubec, Simon Eve, Pete Wardman, Dave Randall, Johnnie "RR" Fierce, Karim, Chris "Drum Head" Edwards, and Weirdo. Other venues were the Soundshaft nightclub (next to Heaven in Charing Cross) and The Fridge in Brixton.

Sin:ergy

Manchester's longest-running hard house club night, launched in October 2000 and ran every Friday at The Phoenix until 2003. In 2003 Sin:ergy moved to a monthly event at club North (under Afflecks Place). With the tag line was... "All Nations, All Persuasions" Sin:ergy and welcomed anyone and everyone, it was a place all about the music no matter what the colour of your skin or sexual orientation. Sin:ergy welcomed artists such as; Tidy Boys, Karim, RR Fierce, Sterling Moss, Ilogik, Lab 4 and many more and boasted Paul Glazby and Ian M as resident DJs. Originally founded by Jeremy Couzins and joined by Stuart Moir in late 2000. In 2003 Stuart founded spinoff night PureFilth! and Sinergy was later sold to Lord K who still owns the brand.[ citation needed ]

PureFilth!

PureFilth! was a hard dance club based in Manchester for clubbers who liked their music extra hard, the night was setup and run by Stuart Moir (an original Sin:ergy promoter). PureFilth! started as a monthly Thursday night @ Club Phoenix and quickly progressed to a monthly Saturday which we moved to The Park Nightclub, Manchester and a monthly student night (Thursday) at Scubar, Manchester. PureFilth! was the only club night in the north and one of the first in the UK that solely concentrated on the harder side of house, in its day PureFilth! had a hardcore following putting on events packed with DJs with the 1st birthday being a highlight of many people clubbing history... 14 hours, 2 venues and 20 artists including; Captain Tinrib LIVE, Paul Glazby, Energy UK DJs, Ben Stevens, Nik Denton, JP & Jukesy, Tim Clewz and many more.[ citation needed ]

Resurrection

Resurrection is a hard house night that started in Manchester promoted by the same people behind the club nights Sin:ergy and PureFilth! Launched in May 2019, Resurrection 1 had a lineup featuring Rob Tissera, Ilogik, Dynamic Intervention, JP & Jukesy, Tim Clewz, Casper, Little Miss Natalie, Frank Farrell and resident DJs. [18] In December 2019 was Resurrection 2, featuring Lab 4 LIVE, Defective Audio, Eufex, Jon Hemming, Joe Longbottom, Bass Jumper, Jodie Rose and many more. [19]

Subgenres and derivatives

Donk

Donk, also known as Bounce or Hard Bounce, is a style of UK Hard House "featuring an upbeat, energetic sound and a heavy focus on the 'pipe' sample as an offbeat bassline". [20] [21] [22] There is debate about Donk's origin, but the sounds are thought to have come from the Netherlands in the 1990s. [21] [23] The name itself is a neologism, derived from the scene in the UK. [20] In the UK, the style originated in North West England, around towns and cities such as Wigan, Liverpool, Bolton, Blackburn, and Burnley, and was first known as Scouse House or Bounce - as it spread out of the area and became more mainstream, it became known as Donk. [20] [21] [24] [25] "Donk" was the name given to the "particularly rubbery, rebounding thwack" sound that predominated Donk tracks and became "the umbrella term for the genres that feature it". [26] [21] [23] In other parts of Europe, the versions of Donk are known as bumping and poky (Spain); in Russia, as Hardbass. [23] [27]

Pumping house

Pumping house [28] (or bumping) is an intermediate term and a local variant of the early scouse house scene, which was popular Russia and Spain in the late 1990s to early 2000s. The genre takes start when the Dutch duo Klubbheads invented so called bamboo-bass in the track Ultimate Seduction - "A Walking Nightmare (Klubbheads GP Mix)" in 1997. Years later the genre gave birth to Britain's donk scene and Spain scene poky. [27] Pumping house is used as an interchangeable term for scouse house in Russia, Spain and Poland.

Hardbass

Hardbass (Russian : хардбасс) is a development of pumping house, that originated in Russia in the early 2000s.

Hard NRG

Hard NRG is a genre that emerged from trance and UK hard house that gained popularity on the rave scenes. The genre is distinguished by the offbeat bass patterns that were inspired from Hi-NRG, which were added over darker and more anthemic trance beats and synths. Though lacking the trance melodies it has more of a rhythmic structure.

Confusion

Hard house is similar to, but distinct from hardstyle. Confusion can sometimes arise as some club nights and events will play both hardstyle and hard house. This may be because hardstyle is quite well known across western Europe, whereas hard house has only ever had a limited audience outside of the UK, Australia and South Africa, so there is more new music being released in the hardstyle scene.[ citation needed ].

Related Research Articles

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony De Vit</span> Musical artist

Antony de Vit was an English DJ and music producer. He is considered one of the most influential of his generation. He was credited with helping to take the "hard house" and fast "hard NRG" sounds out of the London and Birmingham gay scene into mainstream clubs. His single "Burning Up" reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1995, with "To the Limit" making number 44 in September 1995. During that year, he won BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix of the Year Award, as voted by listeners of the show, and Music Week's re-mix of Year Award for Louise's "Naked". He remixed several UK top 40 hits during his career with artists such as Taylor Dayne and East 17. Between 1994 and 1998 his popularity with the clubbing public was rivaled by only Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox. In September 2010, Mixmag UK announced the nominations of 35 DJs chosen by other big names in the world of dance music as those they considered the best DJs ever. A subsequent 15-month survey, which polled hundreds of thousands of global votes, asked who was the "greatest DJ of all time" and when the result was announced in January 2011, de Vit was ranked number 9.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Lashes</span> Musical artist

Lisa Lashes, is an English electronic dance music DJ and music producer known for mixing numerous Euphoria albums and for her Lashed dance music events. She has headlined European and international music festivals such as Global Gathering, Creamfields, Nocturnal Wonderland and Dance Valley, UK events such as Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Inside Out and Planet Love and has toured China, Canada, US, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.

Anne Savage is a British hard dance DJ.

Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the early 1990s as the Breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic music, all influenced by Hard house, New beat, Happy hardcore and Jungle music. The popularity of hard trance peaked during the late 1990s and has since then faded in scope of newer forms of trance.

Sydney born Nik Fish is an Australian DJ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphoria (compilations)</span> Series of dance music compilations

Euphoria is a series of dance music compilations that debuted on the Telstar Records label in early 1999. During the first year, Euphoria focused primarily on trance music until mid-2000 when Euphoria released the first chill-out album in the series and the first hard house album in late 2000. Euphoria was later spun off into a number of associated club nights around the UK, Ibiza and Cyprus. Over the course of three years, in excess of 500 tour dates were chalked up with tour DJs such as Adam White, Robert Van Ryn, Simon Webdale and Darren James. The compilations included box sets usually priced at around £20.00. The Euphoria albums were of high quality and still are highly collectible and the earlier versions are somewhat rare.

Signum is the name for two Dutch producers, Pascal Minnaard and Ronald Hagen. They are producers who create and remix mainly trance music. Since 2007, Signum has been Hagen's solo project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fergie (DJ)</span> Musical artist

Robert Ferguson, known professionally as Fergie, is a Northern Irish DJ and electronic music artist from Larne. He has been an internationally touring DJ and a music producer for over 20 years. He presented a radio show on BBC Radio 1 for over four years while recording 13 Essential Mixes for the station. He was featured in the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll seven years in a row and currently holds the record for the highest new entry since the poll began, achieved when he was voted 8th in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nukleuz</span> UK dance record label

Nukleuz is a dance record label based in the Clapham area of London, UK. Nukleuz is the home to many artists and compilation series in various genres including trance, UK hardcore, tech house and hard house.

Hard NRG, nu-NRG, filthy hard house, or more recently just filth, is an electronic dance music genre similar in structure to UK hard house form, taking influences from German hard trance. The main difference is in the musical/thematic content of each style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensation (event)</span>

Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event which originated in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and organized by ID&T. The original event, which ran exclusively in the Amsterdam Arena for a period of five years until 2005, is now located throughout various European and a few non-European countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kutski</span> British radio DJ

John Walker known by his stage name, Kutski is a British radio DJ, from Chester, England. He presented various shows for BBC Radio 1, playing a variety of hard dance music, including breakbeat, electro, hard trance, hardcore and hardstyle. Kutski now produces and hosts a weekly podcast, "Keeping the Rave Alive", which plays music similar to that heard on his BBC Radio 1 shows.

Amber D is a British hard dance DJ from Staffordshire. As Amber D’Amour she plays electro, fidget, and tech house.

Hannah Laing is a Scottish disc jockey and electronic music producer from Dundee specialising in high energy trance, techno, and house music. In 2023 she was nominated for a DJ Mag Best of Britain award. Laing has been regularly featured on BBC Radio 1, including performing a two-hour Essential Mix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tidy Trax</span> British hard house record label

Tidy Trax, currently known as Tidy, is a record label based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1995 by Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart, Tidy is known for promoting a style of hard house that is both fun and high tempo. It has featured a roster of hard house and trance artists, and hosts regular live events including the Tidy Weekender. Since 2005 the Tidy label also includes Tidy Two and Untidy.

Rachel Auburn is a British fashion designer and hard house and trance disc jockey and music producer. She has performed her music extensively internationally, and was both the first female DJ to play in China and the first to showcase 1980s London clubland fashion in New York and Tokyo. Auburn has held DJ residencies at club events including Tidy Trax, Taboo, and Trade, and has achieved UK chart success under her own name and the Tidy Girls and Candy Girls aliases.

Steve Blake is a London-based trance and hard house disc jockey and record producer. He has released a number of well-received records, and plays high-tempo bass-heavy DJ sets at c. 145 BPM.

The Tidy Boys are a UK-based hard dance music duo formed of Andy Pickles and Amadeus Mozart. They are known for creating the Tidy Trax record label, and their hard house DJ and production work.

References

  1. ↑ Ishkur (2005). "Ishkur's guide to Electronic Music". Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Who, Stewart (7 November 2023). "Don't Ever Stop: Tony De Vit, Trade, and the infinite energy of hard house". DJ Mag . Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  3. ↑ Gerstner, David A. (2012). Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Routledge. p. 154. ISBN   9781136761812. Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2020-11-22.
  4. ↑ Skruff, Jonty. "Mark Kavanagh- Ireland's Hardest DJ on Ending Up in U2's Gutter (interview)". trackitdown.net. Track it Down online webzine, June 3, 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 Ishkur (2005). "Stupid house". Archived from the original on January 29, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Timeless Preview - The History of the UK Hard House scene". HarderFaster.net. 22 March 2005. Archived from the original on 2024-02-05. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  7. ↑ Page, Tim (30 October 2023). "Tony De Vit: Don't Ever Stop premiere celebrates 'godfather of hard house'". BBC . Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Guttridge-Hewitt, Martin (13 July 2023). "Tidy Trax commemorates Tony de Vit's 25th anniversary with compilation featuring Patrick Topping, Nicole Moudaber, more: Listen". DJ Mag . Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "IS TIDY TRAX THE LABEL OF THE DECADE? VOTE NOW". Mixmag . 1 March 2017. Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  10. ↑ "HANDBAGGERS Songs". Official Charts Company . Archived from the original on 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
  11. 1 2 Roberts, Joe (14 July 2021). "How Tidy Trax embodies the loud, proud spirit of Northern hard house". DJ Mag . Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024. The Tidy Boys and their label Tidy Trax epitomised the early '00s hard house scene, at one point selling a million records a year.
  12. ↑ "Review: Tidy Weekender - Hard House is Dead? | Ibiza Spotlight". Ibiza Spotlight. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  13. ↑ "Storm's 10th Birthday". Resident Advisor . 2010. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Ecstasy, the agony, and the culpability". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  15. ↑ "Sundissential North returns to Leeds!!". moreonthedoor.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  16. ↑ "Frantic is 8! A history of the world's most successful hard house promotion". HarderFaster.net. 1 August 2005. Archived from the original on 22 November 2005. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  17. ↑ "About Us - The Tinrib Story". Tinrib Digital⚓. Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  18. ↑ "Resurrection - Sin:ergy Vs PureFilth!". visitManchester. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  19. ↑ "Resurrection 2 - Lab 4 Live, Defective Audio, Eufex, Jon Hemking, Joe Longbottom More". Resident Advisor . 2019. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  20. 1 2 3 Laura Burton (12 March 2016). "Put a Donk On It!". Laura Barton's Notes from a Musical Island (Podcast). BBC. Event occurs at 19:41. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Hodgson, Jamie (2 February 2009). "Put A Donk On It". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  22. ↑ "Donk Music". www.discogs.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  23. 1 2 3 Tippitt, Zach (12 April 2022). "A History of Donk in Ten Tracks". Resident Advisor. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
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  25. ↑ Young, Georgina (2010). "Dance moves: finding a place for house music in Liverpool". In Leonard, Marion; Strachan, Rob (eds.). The beat goes on: Liverpool, popular music and the changing city. Liverpool University Press. p. 158. ISBN   9781846311901.
  26. ↑ Mackay, Emily (8 January 2018). "8 music things we'd like to see make a comeback - BBC Music". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  27. 1 2 Eror, Aleks (11 April 2013). "Welcome To Russia's Hard Bass Scene". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  28. ↑ Yegorov, Oleg (2017-12-22). "Russian hard bass: How a musical monstrosity went viral". Rbth.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
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