To all those UK Hardcore fanatics: if you have not seen this flyer on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media outlet, you have missed out on the biggest announcment of the year! HAS (Hardcore Appreciation Society) teaming up with HU (Hardcore Underground) to throw probably the biggest UK Hardcore this year. With a killer line-up I thought it would be suitable to speak to one of the people behind HAS, and find out how he managed to get such a line-up, and to work with HU. Sid P is the man we are about to speak to, so sit back and enjoy!
Sid! How are you, how’s life?
"I’m very good, thank you for asking. Life is hectic balancing a tough full time job, Promoting and gigging every weekend around the uk; but it’s great to be busy."
Tell the boys and girls who you are, and what it is you do!
"As we know my performance name is Sid P, I’ve been a raver for over 20 years, a promoter for around 14 years and an mc for around 13 years. In this time I’ve put on roughly 50/60 events and have performed roughley 350 sets. The nights pre H.A.S that people may know me from are Hektik, Incisions, Whos hardcore and Core addicts all of which paved the way for what we are doing now. By day I am a Retail Area Manager and by night an ‘old boy’ pretending he is still young trying to keep up with the kids."
A couple of weeks ago, you (HAS) and HU released an image so interesting, it made me curious. You teased us with an image, and now the full line-up was released. Before we delve deeper into this upcoming event in Milton Keynes, let’s talk about HAS and its past. What is HAS?
"H.A.S stands for Hardcore Apprieciation Society, essentially it is what is says on the tin. It’s about celebrating the music, the people and the artists that we love!"
What HAS’s mission? What’s the main reason behind it all?
"H.A.S was thought up by myself, Delite and Pegsy roughley 5 and a half years ago, from us essentially reminissing around how the scene wasn’t like it used to be. We decided between us to try to recreate what we belived the scene felt like back before the dub infested sounds and ego’s that we get today. Our USP (unique selling point) was that we would only book artists that were around during the era that we celebrate 2000-2012.
We started in a back room of a pub selling out our first night with 140 ravers. After 2 years there, and a pit stop in Bedford, we found a brand new live music venue in the mecca of rave - Milton Keynes. We were the very first rave to be held there and although it took some convining once we had sold out event 1 the venue fell in love with us and what we were trying to do. We often get told that it’s the community / family of our ravers that sets us apart from anything else out there at the moment."
According to Facebook you have already organised 17 events in the past, and with sick line-ups. It looks like a doddle, requesting artists such as Darren Styles, Technikore, Joey Riot, Gammer, CLSM, Scott Brown, Chris Fear, JB-C, Thumpa, and more. But how does that come about? You just ring them up and ask ‘have you got anything planned on ..... ? Do you wanna play for us?’
"Great question, we have become infomous for getting artist out of ‘retirement’ like Robbie Long, Flyin, Scotti B, Ethos, Unknown, Dodgee, Rampant etc. Luckily I have a lot of contact details stored for artists from my previous promotions. The way I used to approach these artists I think is what set us apart. The first 10 mins of the conversation was always selling them the idea of what our brand stands for, showing them footage of previous events and getting them to buy into our passion for the past. Once they were excited the conversion would then switch to the idea of them taking part, and of course the fiancial element of booking people. We have found that a lot of artists over the years have knocked ‘it on the head’ due to the politics of it all. We are 100% non political and have shown that consistantly over a long period of time. It also helps that artists are recommending us to other artist, so these days there is a lot less begging involved."
17 events. That’s an achievement. But it’s probably not easy to pick one out, but if you had to, which of those 17 events was your favourite, and why?
"There are 2 that stick out to me. 1) The last Summer one at the Racehorse in Northampton. We organised a big outdoor day party on the lead up to the main event. The sun was shining down, everyone took part in the bad summer shirt theme, the music was fantastic and it helps that the event was a total sell out. 2) The first time we Booked Darren Styles in Bedford. We were turned down pretty consistantly for 6 months by Darren’s agent as our 180 was simply too small. I think he finally gave up saying no and let us have him. The event sold out 5 weeks in advance and the vibe was unbelieveable.
On top of the 17 events we have also done 2 VS nights along side Fusion and 1 VS with B2T and we took HAS out to Corfu with the Unity crew earlier in 2018 too."
The events’ focus is the earlier sound of UK Hardcore. But what’s so appealing to this music?
"Yeah, we literally only do 2000-2012, for us the euphoric sound and stunning vocals is is what makes the tunes so memorable. For a lot for us durning that era the scene felt like a community that grew together, celebrated every positive step and time the music hit a new milestone. After 2012 it started to feel a little stagnated and had lost it’s progress. Very few of the newer tunes that you hear these days are instant classics. Very few do you hear now days, and feel like you’ll be still hearing in 5 years time. "
Ok, let’s focus on the upcoming event. The line-up is ridicilous! Let me just name all the artists coming: Fracus & Darwin feat Jenna (Live PA) with MC Whizzkid, Mark EG with Sharkey, Al Storm with MC Wotsee, Sharkey with MC Energy, Entity with yourself, Dodgee with MC Wotsee, and Pegsy with MC Superbeal. Wow! Now that’s a sick line-up. Who’s going to play what kind of music?
"This is certainly one of the more varied line ups we have done. When we book artists we literally say “enjoy yourself, have fun and do what you want just as long as its between 2000-2012”. Our ravers are quite eductated and as such there isn’t a need for constant anthem bashing. From my knowledge Pegsy and Alstorm will be all about the anthems, Fracus and Darwin will be doing classic Hardcore Underground tunes, Jenna will be singing a few of her biggest songs from that era, Dodgee will be doing a scratch Freeform set, Sharkey an edited live Freeformation classics set and Entity a more breaks inspired set. Although don’t quote me as things are always changing. Oh! and Mark EG has just been told to rip the arse end out of his set!!! Who knows what he will come up with. "
Mark EG and Sharkey. Both notorious for their stage behaviour. Any safety features installed, just to make sure they will make it to the end of their set without bashing their heads onto sharp bits, etc?
"Believe it or know we have had to sign a contract with the venue to cover any possible breakages. Strangley we have never had to sign one of these at any of our other nights at the same place. I think they may have done their research. For a while this set was code named #StageChaos, and I can’t see it being anything but Chaos lol."
The venue: Unit 9, Milton Keynes. I’ve never been there, can you explain for those travelling what they need to look out for.
"Of course, we are a 300 plus cap warehouse unit on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, smack bang in the middle of an industral estate. We are a 5 minute walk from the Wolverton Train station and about a £6 taxi ride from the Milton Keynes station. Loads of Hotels etc local. The venue its self has a state of the art lighting and sound rig and we add extra UV cannons, lazers and genral décor to give it an extra rave feel. Drinks are cheap with some beer cans at £3 and 3 Jagers for a fiver. The owners are a passionate bunch that opened the venue about 18months ago going against the grain with most of the live music venues in MK closing down. Some have compared it to a mini Sanctuary venue, although one of the main differences is that this warehouse is comicbook themed."
300 tickets maximum, so it’s going to be a very close evening/night. If you are in, you are lucky. How many tickets are left, and how long do people have before they are all gone?
"The UK Hardcore scene has recently become a very last minute scene and this has intern created a trend of events cancelling as they have had too much debt closing in on a night to run the risk. We have never cancelled a night and have never cancelled an artist. 5 of our last 7 events have sold out in advance and as such we always recommend people to buck this trend and to buy early at www.ukhardcore.net ."
TCD will be there, so make sure the night is going to be epic!
"You have our promise sir!"
Any future events you want to ‘warn’ us about?
"Early Feb will be our 5th birthday, we are planning the biggest event that we have ever put on with plenty of suprises, but all is a top secret right now so sshhhhhhhh!"
Last question: if you could organise a party, and you had unlimited resources, who would you book and why?
"For me Seduction and Odessey were always the dream set. We have tried to book this set multiple times but have always been knocked back. My own personal dream line up would have artists like Luna-c, Robbie Long, CLSM, Dave Skywalker and Sharkey infact anyone who wasn’t scared to try something a bit different and in turn push Hardcore forward."
TCD would like to invite everyone to this very exclusive rave in Milton Keynes, organised by HAS. The line-up will be on the back of the flyer, which you can see underneath this interview. Time for us all to hop on a time machine and go back in time, and reminisce. We would like to thank Sid P for this interview, and we all hope to see you at HAS vs HU's party!
Before you all get mad and start getting tickets, make sure you bookmark these pages!!!
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