Despite a few problems here and there, which is to be expected I suppose, I would say that HardStyle was a success. Everyone who was there had a great time, the bands, the guests, everyone. And that’s what this was all about, having a great time. Before I get started, I wanted to thank everyone that contributed in some way to making this happen. The bands that played were awesome and really made the day that much better. Thanks to all the sponsors for hooking you guys up with all kinds of free stuff; the sponsors that had booths had some great stuff, and the ones who weren’t there really came through with the goodies. Special thanks to Amber at The Lab and of course Radical Ramps and Rails, and Lost & Found Skate Co. You all rock! You guys are what made it such a fun event.
Let’s start at the beginning; seems like a good place, huh? I arrived a bit later than I had planned, but they were running a bit late so I was actually right on time. When I got there I helped finish setting up the booth, putting out all the free stuff. Like I said before, the sponsors gave us some really great goodies to give out, and everyone really loved all the freebies. I mean, come on, it’s free. And this stuff wasn’t just cheap crap either, there were some really nice goodies bags full of stuff, free shirts, CDs, tapes, everything. And that was just at the UnEarthed table. Plus, all the other booths had awesome goodies as well. Anyone who was there that day made out like a bandit, let me tell ya.
Once the bands were ready to play, I found out that the guy who was supposed to do the sound was MIA, so I ended up doing it most of the day. I haven’t done sound in a while, so it was fun to do it again, making then day even more fun for me. First up was Depswa, what a great way to start the day. They played an awesome set, plus it was early in the day so the skaters were full of energy. After Depswa got everyone ready for what would end up being an incredible day, Fractional Importance took the… uh… floor. They definitely kept the crowd going. I ended up doing sound for the last part of their set, and pretty much from then on. After Fractional’s set, we were treated to a viewing of their new video. Then San Diego’s Ghoulspoon gave us an incredible set, this was the first time I had seen Ghoulspoon. They were great, a very eclectic sound, reggae-hardcore sound, very cool. Matt from Agrokulcher joined them for a cover of London Calling. Next was an UnEarthed favorite, Agrokulcher. These guys rock! I really can’t say enough about this band. So much energy, they got the skaters, who were getting tired after skating all day, back on their boards, and hitting the halfpipe. The final band of the day was Substance D, and they were worth the wait. Substance D was as hard as ever, even though they weren’t using as many samples as normal, and they were just wearing their street clothes. They were just there to hang out and have a good time. Just like all the bands that day, they were pretty much all about having fun. You could just tell that they were having as much fun playing as the rest of us were having watching them. All in all a great bunch of bands playing some awesome music, and just having a great time.
Again I want to thank everyone who donated their time, or goodies, or whatever to make this whole thing possible. Thanks again to Amber and all of her staff at The Lab. Huge thanks to Radical Ramps and Rails for their loan of the halfpipe for the day, and Lost & Found Skate Co. for their loan of the skaters for the day. Special thanks to all the bands who came out and played and kept us rocking all day long. Most importantly, thanks to all the people who came out to the show. We couldn’t have done it without you guys.
See you next time around.
Seth
Metalboy’s take on .H a r d S t y l e.
What a blast! UnEarthed.Com‘s first sponsored show, HardStyle, was so freaking cool! Starting off at noon, HardStyle had everything needed for a good time: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, a picture slide show at the UnEarthed booth, music from the bands playing that day, skaters on skate ramps, mini-golf, T-Shirt vendors, kick-ass food and MUSIC!
There were no lack of video cameras and photographers at HardStyle, snapping pics of the bands and taking video for various reasons (one being the Surf Channel). All of the bands played for about 45-50 minutes. I feel like I can’t review this show, since I was a part of setting it up, so if any of you out there was at the show, and would like to review it, email me, and I’ll post it! But I’ll say it anyways; all of the bands kicked some major ass!
HardStyle did have its share of bumps, but we got through it. The sound guy didn’t show up at all, so we had missing equipment. Luckily Depswa and Fractional Importance had brought mics and cables so the vocals where powered, and only the mics were amped, because of the venue, nothing else had to be plugged into the board, really cool. And if you were there, (you may be able to see in the video clips to be up sometime soon at HardStyle.net) the second mic stand was Gordon, of Agrokulcher’s, symbol stand. I have to thank our UE soundman Seth for taking sound engineering at school! You saved the day!
After Substance D, DJ Hector Contreras let me try my hand(s) at being a DJ. Needless to say, I won’t be quitting my day job anytime soon, but I had fun! At one point, one of Substance D’s crew put his hands up in the air and started to chant ‘Mix Master Mike, Mix Master Mike.’ I don’t think he meant to insult Mix Master Mike like that, but thanks!
I have to give special props out to Lesa; she put her heart and soul into this show. She really knows how to throw a party! Everyone in attendance said that they had a good time, and asked us when we were going to put something like this on again.
I have to thank Radical Ramps and Rails for the AWESOME half pipe that saw action all day long, and to Lost & Found Skate Co. for the rails, ramps and the athletes that did the most of the skating during the bands sets. KNAC.Com, thanks for interviewing Todd from Substance D to help promote HardStyle! Thanks to all the people who donated items for the giveaways: Golden Apple Comics (X-Men stickers, Heavy Metal 2000 Samplers and cards, and the other killer items, Skateboard.Com for the stickers and T-Shirts (they were gone in the first 20 minutes!), Hot Topic for the goodie bags, No Cover for the magazines, Savage Magazine for the zine’s and the Subscription giveaway, G-Shock for the awesome watch, Urban Decay for the goodie bags, Road Runner Records, Century Media for music samplers and Streetteam.net for the music samplers and the autographed giveaways! And to Concussion.org for the magazine and shirt giveaways, Steve Joh at Century Media for always hooking us up large, ELEKTRA/TMC for the Goudie giveaways, Jessica, of the Linkin Park family for all the cassette samplers, and to the many incredible artists, photographers, and skateboard designers that displayed their work at the Laboratory.
Much thanks to the vendors that were selling their wares at HardStyle: Sikworld, killer shirts! I wish I had money on me, I would have bought a ton of shirts! Angry Girl Wear, awesome merch! Papa Johns Pizza, the best pizza on the planet! Concussion.org, shirts and awesome photos
I would also like to thanks the bands that made HardStyle ROCK! Depswa, thanks for playing an awesome set! Fractional Importance, thanks for the music and the video for Pathetic! Ghoulspoon, thanks for coming up from San Diego to play at our little party, I know you guys picked up some more fans. Agrokulcher, I have never seen you guys go off as much as you did at HardStyle, I’m glad you guys had fun! And to Substance D, thanks so much for blasting the walls off of the Laboratory, you rock! Extra special thanks to Depswa, Fractional Importance and Agrokulcher for the use of their equipment for the show. We couldn’t have done it without you! And DJ Hector Contreras for the spins and scratches!
Last but not least, I’d like to thank Amber and the Laboratory for letting us put on the show at the venue! For what we wanted to do, there was no other venue that could fit us! Thank you so much!
Brian
– brian@unearthed.com
