HARD Holy Ship! Hits The High Seas in 2012
The 21st Century has extended the music festival rage into the high seas. Musical adventures like Jam Cruise, Groove Cruise, Bruise Cruise and ShipRocked have all catered to boat-loving music enthusiasts in search of the perfect escape. In 2012, L.A.-based electronic event pioneers HARD presents HARD Holy Ship! Known for it's signature brand of debauchery, if HARD's Gary Richards knows how to one thing, it's how to throw a party. Société Perrier caught up with head honcho Richards to find out what's in store when HARD Holy Ship! sets sail for its inaugural three-day run on January 6, 2012.
Why did HARD decide to take its raging electro brand of music events to the open waters?
Gary Richards: I could not think of any better place to party than the Caribbean aboard HOLY SHIP! Can you?
Why disembark from Fort Lauderdale when HARD is known for being an L.A.-dominant organization?
Its was important to base out of South Florida because it's closer to Europe and NYC. We have people coming from all over the globe for this event. We are going to a private Island and my partners work well with MSC cruise line that runs out of that port for the USA. If all goes well we will see you in L.A. very, very soon.
Will there be pre- and post-festivities scheduled in the South Florida surrounding the chosen sail date?
We have a pre-party [with Mad Decent] on January 5th in Ft. Lauderdale.
Similar concepts like Jam Cruise – which has been around for about a decade – have made a big splash with the cruising music fest concept. What makes HARD Holy Ship! Different from these other ventures?
The artists and the people we attract. Were taking HARD to the high seas.
Cloud 9 Adventures, the brand behind Jam Cruise, has taken HARD Holy Ship! under its wing. How did that relationship unfold?
We meet via the other part of this triangle, Bowery Presents, who I work with in NYC for lots of events.
Will HARD Holy Ship! offer unique meet-and-greet and on-board opportunities to get to know artists one-on-one?
Steve Aoki is hosting some poker tourneys and A-Trak is giving DJ lessons. We don’t have any special meet-and-greets, but the artist will be partying with everyone on board.
In addition to cruising DJ sets, there’s a special Fatboy Slim private island party in store. Any other surprise perks cruisers can expect?
Yes. We've got a few big ones, but I am not telling.
The lineup is pretty HARDcore, but stays true to HARD’s regular rotation of artists. Why is it important for HARD to continue supporting the same artists time and time again?
We feel that we work with some of the best artists in the world for electronic music and we want to keep it that way.
Are there any new artists that haven’t spun at a HARD event before who will be on Holy Ship? Who else can we look forward to besides the (most impressive) roster of regulars?
We’ve never had Justin Martin, DJ Craze, Arthur Baker, Danny Brown and the Paris Social Posse — plus we've got a surprise or two up our sleeves.
Similar music-based vacations usually top out at seven days. It seems like quite a HARD bender to cram this all into a three-day trip. Is it an experiment this time around with potential to lengthen in the future? Or is three days just enough, according to HARD.
I will let you know once we get back from our trip on January 9th!
