Congrats Richie on celebrating ‘30 Years of Hardware,’ what an incredible milestone. You’ve worked with some of the biggest Artists in the world over the years. Which ones would you say impressed you the most over the years and why?

Carl Cox, he’s the nicest guy in the industry whose heart and passion and drive is genuine, and music always comes first for him.

Richie Hawtin for his dedication to forging new sounds and pushing the envelope.

Laurent Garnier for his sheer musical knowledge and spectrum of electronic and house music he promotes through his radio shows and DJ sets.

Armin van Buuren for the hard work ethic!

Infected Mushroom. Israeli’s love food and we have had so many great times together over the years, eating out and making schnitzel’s en masse when they are here.

You’ve put on hundreds (or is it thousands?) of events over the past 30 years, which ones were your favourite and why (please mention both festival shows and club shows)?

Apollo, being the first national electronic festival, with such a great line-up including maiden trips for Daft Punk, Fluke, Basement Jaxx and more!

Welcome 2000. Jeff Mills and CJ Bolland playing to 10,000 people at the largest dance event in history (at the time), it was epic down at Docklands in every which way: music, vibe, production and sunrise.

Hardware 5 with Laurent Garnier, the music and range of selection were incredible.

As DJ Richie Rich, where / what were your favourite gigs in Australia and overseas to perform at and why?

Belfast playing all the music of the 90s is amazing. And Big Day Out Boiler Room was awesome, such a vibe in the 90s.

Overseas my favourite two gigs were Motor Lounge in Detroit, and Tresor in Berlin, in 2000.

How would you compare the Dance music scene in Australia compared to overseas in the 90s vs the scene today?

This is a hard question. But I think Australia hasn’t progressed with the authorities in regard to how we deal with social issues like drugs and alcohol, policing etc… Our music licensing schemes are crafted but the majors are a rout. And crowd wise, with too many mobile phones and social media involved, it’s now become less about the music.

Were there any big records that broke in Australia as a result of a touring Artist being in market and playing at one of your events? Or any tracks that stood out and remind you of being at one of your events?

Not really. We were mainly doing underground stuff for many years. I would think Stereosonic had a big impact on the crossover music from 2005-2012 and Artists such as Swedish House Mafia, Avicii, were very influential..

With the forthcoming launch parties coming up in December to celebrate Hardware’s 30 years, you have a stellar line-up. Why did you select these Artists and was it hard to curate this list?

Richie was a no brainer. Sama is an up and comer from Palestine, Victor Ruiz has done an amazing new album and Joseph Capriati is an incredible new generation DJ/Producer from Italy. Add CJ Bolland for old Skool good measure and Adelaide’s HMC, it’s going to be a cracker!

Thanks for your time and speaking with us.

No problems!

The ‘Hardware 30: True Faith’ Event, will take place in 3 cities across Australia: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The event will host a huge line-up of some of the biggest names in electronic music.

Richie Hawtin (Canada)
Joseph Capriati (Italy)
Victor Ruiz LIVE (Brazil)
Sama' Abdulhadi (Palestine)
DJ HMC + CJ Bolland LIVE (Belgium) +

and more…

+ Playing MELBOURNE ONLY

Hardware 30: True Faith Tour Dates:

Dec 9 - Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

Dec 10 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne

Dec 11 - The Yard in Dock A, Northshore, Brisbane

Buy Tickets: www.hardwaregroup.com.au/truefaith

HARDWARE 30 : TRUE FAITH – A CELEBRATION OF 30 YEARS OF HARDWARE WITH RICHIE MCNEILL