HardSouth is the best party on the south coast. Hard dance fans of all tastes travel from miles around to be part of a special crowd of uninhibited, mad, enthusiastic clubbers. Hard dance has become a broad church of musical styles, and, as a big club, HardSouth caters for all – including bounce, hard trance, hard style etc etc. This month it was the turn of the filth merchants – purveyors of the dirtiest, most danceable hard n fast music.

For this punter, this was a special treat. Normally I have to travel to London for nights specializing in this kind of music. But here it was – my favourite music in my favourite club! :o)

The club filled up very quickly. In fact it seemed to be one of the busiest months this year. When resident Krunchie kicked off the night with some pretty uptempo techno grooves, the crowd responded immediately. In the past, techno sets have not always gone down well with the HardSouth crowd. However, Krunchie knows this crowd and what will work. On this occasion, the high energy bpm and constant groove made dancing irresistible. It was faster and harder than a normal warm-up, but that was probably what this crowd wanted, knowing the line-up. Krunchie’s set finished with some electro sounds before the decks went quiet to herald the arrival of guests OD404.

The odd (OD?) thing about OD404 is that this team are probably the greatest musical talents that Brighton has ever produced, yet many hard dance fans don’t realise who they are. One half of OD404 is Superfast Oz (who IMHO played one of the finest sets heard at HardSouth back in 2005), well known on the Brighton clubbing scene from the year dot. Many of his old fans came out of the woodwork to see him tonight. The other half of OD404 is Dom Sweeten (aka Defective Audio aka aka aka etc.), widely acknowledged in the scene as the producer’s producer, the man everyone in hardhouse wants to work with.

OD404 and their equipment were up on the podium, giving the crowd a close up view of them at work. Their set was a combination of careful planning, craft and improvisation around a series of massive tunes.


Oz n Dom do their thing, not in Studio 404 this time

After a grand entrance, they got us into the groove. As expected they took us through many of the hardhouse hits we love and know. Two that stood out were their ‘Compromise’ (we know this cos Krunchie played it every month around the time it was first produced) and ‘Drugs rock n roll’ (‘Shiny disco balls’) – this one produced a huge cheer. They also reworked one or two old hardhouse classics, such as ‘Brain is the weapon’. This was a set of big big tracks, put together as a special event, with thoughtful breakdowns and ad-libbed samples thrown in to make it quite different than a normal DJ set. (And, by the way, giving the lie to my long-standing impression that top DJs are too cool to dance, once his set had finished, there was down-to-earth Dom on the dance-floor throwing some shapes with the rest of us.)

Then it was the turn of the FlashPoint 5th birthday boys, Dave Curtis and Marc Johnson. I have been following their music for a while now, mostly by going to London, and it was just great to see them on the big stage of the Honeyclub, with a big crowd of up-for-it punters who I knew would enjoy it.

Dave Curtis, hardhouse workaholic, slave to the music, played a banging set of anthems-in-the making and remixed classics. Well-known crowd-pleasers such as Energy 52 Café del Mar sat well alongside many of Dave’s own tunes, which are characteristically quirky in style and cheeky in tone. He combines uncompromising hoover-onslaught with uplifting melody, and has some of the most memorable and funniest voice-overs in hardhouse right now. His ‘Weekender’ is a statement about what hardhouse is and should be, an updated ‘Hostile’ but with a smile on its face.


Dave Curtis* announces that the police are here** to the alarm of some in the crowd
(* Reconstruction – not actual HardSouth picture of Dave.)
(** ‘Submission’, Trauma vs Nik Denton, Dave Curtis ‘hot fuzz’ remix)

Marc Johnson was on late, so as not to frighten the horses. This was high-bpm, high-energy, non-stop stomp from perhaps the best all-rounder in hardhouse right now – an unrelenting blitz of distorted grooves, pounding double beats and hoover madness. Proper underground hardhouse!

You can expect nearly all new tracks when you see Marc Johnson play. One of them, ‘Five dollar hooker’ (named by FlashPoint fans and produced with Dom Sweeten) was only written on Monday! Marc connects with the crowd not by relying on over-played classics that everyone knows but at a more primal level, with simple driving rhythms and a beat so hard and fast you just have to put your foot through the floor and punch your fist in the air. So many of the tunes I know and love were banged out – Karim and Frank Farrell’s ‘Sharona’, Adam M’s ‘Sweatbox’, Marc and Dom’s ‘Blunt force’, ‘Cuz the house gets warm’ (Marc remix of UK Gold). But two stand out as the best tracks of the whole night: ‘Hyperscum’ (Marc and Dom again) – what a rip-snorter of a tune! – and ‘Nails’ (Marc’s remix of Defective Audio) – the most danceable tune around at the mo IMO!


One of the smiliest men in hardhouse – also the hardest postman in the West!

This, then, was the hardest set we have seen at HardSouth since Karim blew us away in October last year. And it was great to see a big crowd of up-for-it, luvdup friendly clubbers loving this music and giving it 100%. This is music designed for dancing like a lunatic into the early hours, and everyone I spoke to thought it was great.

This HardSouth I had to leave a little early to make sure I caught all of Durty Den’s banging set at Harder… along the road (quite a bit of FlashPoint and Defective Audio in there, unsurprisingly), so I’m sorry to say I missed most of DJ Twisted’s set. But I and all my mates had a fantastic night with a super crowd of high energy people. Best HardSouth of the year so far – and here’s to the next big Weekend.

:o)

Agreed! Best Hard South of the year by far...loved it! *:)

Rock on!

OMG, my feet are killing me! (not to mention my ears). Top set played by all!

Cheers Nick ;)

Great review - thanks John!

And thanks to everyone who came along and made it such top night - not just Oz, Dom, Dave & Marc, but every single one of you who came to party - you are the ones who make Hard South what it is! :-)

Superb review! :D Hardsouth ALWAYS dishes out one of, if not THE best nights on the southcoast....infact i will go so far as to say, because of Hardsouth, I dont feel the need to trip to London to go clubbing!

Best Hard South of the year! Musically, it was AMAZING - OD404 blew me away & getting to see some of my favourite people down from London and as far away as Hollingdean (!) made this night the best one in a long time. Smiles all around!

Yep that was an absolutely epic night. My ears stopped ringing about an hour ago. Definately one of the best Hardsouth's so far this year.

It was awesome to finally see OD404 play, especially in Brighton!

Dave and Marc both blew me away!

was a musically perfect night! non-stop grot!

roll on Karim and Farley next month!

:o)

A very very very FABBYTASTIC night was had...harder than i expected which made me love it so much more cant wait for the next one.... WOOP WOOP WOOP

tiki tiki tiki xxxx

Spot on!

yeah i agree at last hardsouth was at last hard pure banging my feet were sore afterwards from the stomping woooooohoooooo, and it was good to see nick really happy and saying to me in the dj box propper banging hardhouse haha with a big smile on his face,


cheers nick the best hardsouht this year cys next month,

Great review Nutter! buds in :oD

as said in the other thread... had a really good time and thanks again Nick!

LONG!!

Just what the doctor ordered! I couldn't stop smiling, stomping and laughing. The most fun and random night I've had in a long time. :D

It was my first visit to Hard South and absolutely loved it! Great venue, great people and above all great music!

Thanks Nick for putting on such a top night. I will definitely be making the journey down there again :)

wicked sick was worth the 180mile drive lol hardsouth is awsome i get down there everyfew months as one of my mates lives in brighton and none of his mates like hard house what the hells that about?
More hard nights needed in brighton! oh and it needs to be open later ! like till tuesday or something? was awsome stompage tho:)

it was alright!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxx much love to all the hard south regulars!! xx

PMSL!!!!

:o)

we would still be there now

And the problem with that is?