Words by Patrick Staveley

Legendary Australian music promoter Richie McNeill is leading the partying for the longest running producer of electronic shows in Australia - Hardware - as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.

McNeill and Hardware threw its first rave party on the banks of the Yarra River on NYE, 1991 which was just the beginning of a long-standing relationship between Hardware and Melbourne’s electronic music culture.

To commemorate the 30 years, McNeill has dug deep and gone through the archives to create a book ‘True Faith : 30 Years of Hardware Tales from The Dancefloor.’ There will also be a True Faith:30 event across three nights (Dec 9-11) with a night in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and set to feature some huge names in electronic music. I spoke with Richie about the 30 years so far and what more is to come.

FMM: 30 years of Hardware. How special of an achievement is this for you?

Richie: We hit our 30th birthday last year during Covid so I’d planned on doing something special anyway but yeah it’s been a long road. I’m still young so I think there’s still a few more years ahead. You see promoters come and go so to get to 30 years is amazing but it’s gone quick!

FMM: How’d the journey begin with Hardware?

Richie: As a kid I was always into music. I always had music going from a really young age. I got into break dance when I started high school in the early 80s. (80’s) was very different to now, there were a lot of underage discos. There was a disco called Hot tracks which ran every friday. There was a real underage culture in the 80s that doesn’t really exist now in Australia. Kids are on social media and they don’t go out as much. I think that culture of going to clubs as a young kid - I got excited by the music and then I heard electronic music for the first time as a kid with the Gallipoli soundtrack by Jean Michel Jarre. (The music culture of Melbourne) is just what got me into promoting. It was just growing up in Melbourne which was such a cultural, musical place in the 80s. I just wanted to work in music, it just grabbed me and it was in my DNA I think.

FMM: How would you describe the music scene in Melbourne these days?

Richie: I try and talk to the crowds and get a feel for what they’re into. The digital age has changed everything. Social media has created a pathway for artists to become popular through a marketing campaign online. I think talent, which used to be at the forefront of musical and entertainment success, has been replaced by clever marketing and gimmicks and concepts. The real different thing between now and back then is the cultural thing (impact of social media now). The way people socialise these days compared to 20 years ago has had a massive profound impact on how people find about music and how they spend their time. The engagement levels are different, the attention span of audiences… everyone’s on their mobile phones and looking for that moment to record stuff as opposed to just being in the moment. I think the way people socialise has had a massive impact on clubs and concerts. I’m thinking of starting up an underage club in South Yarra just to try and promote social engagement and regenerate that kind of culture again.

FMM: If you can pinpoint a moment in time in Hardware’s history that you can measure its success by, what would you choose?

Richie: Probably Apollo festival which was the first kind of dance festival and it was in ‘98 with Daft Punk and all that. I think that whole thing was really good and important. The whole launch of Apollo. After that we launched Two Tribes which became the first national festival - that spawned summer days going national and Parklife and good vibrations and all those sorts of things. Being there and being part of that spawning of the festival culture in Australia. That was probably a milestone I think. There were these festivals that were popping up in the mid-90s, late-90’s and we sort of thought Australia’s ready. The New Year’s Eve Millennium in 1999, winning the contract for sheds 2 and 4 and we did the Welcome 2000. It was the biggest event at that time in terms of rave - it did 15000 I think. That was definitely a highlight. Working through the years, working with the onelove guys and starting Stereosonic obviously. That was the biggest national event that’s happened in history - bigger than the biggest Soundwave year and biggest Big Day Out year. To do over 200,000 people across the five shows was pretty incredible. Winning the inthemix lifetime achievement award was a personal honour for me. To still be around after 30 years is pretty awesome.

FMM: What do you think is one of the most difficult things about being a promoter?

Richie: I think the legislative challenges; the licensing and the inconsistencies in Australia. Every state is different with policing and liquor licensing. There’s no national standardization. Even the health requirements state by state. All of those key things is really inconsistent. The music licensing regime here compared to other countries is quite difficult. I don’t think it’s fair. The way it’s skewed - it’s just open to exploitation and manipulation by the labels and publishers to get money out of the system. It’s not fair, it’s not accurate, it’s not fair in any shape of form. That’s a big challenge. The labour challenge coming out of Covid is a challenge. The costs have gone up significantly (because the demand is higher for labour). You got labour on a basic skillset getting overpaid because there’s just a shortage at the moment. It’s definitely not talked about enough.

FMM: Tell me a bit about the True Faith: 30 event coming up later this year?

Richie: Yeah so we’re doing Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. It’s basically a celebration of the 30 years. It’s a party to celebrate the 30 years and the launch of the book called True Faith:30- Tales from the Hardware Dance Floor. That comes out at the end of November in bookstores and through our website. The aim through this and the parties as well is to celebrate the 30 years with some of my favourite acts old and new. If people buy two tickets to the event, they get the book for free. The book contains 440 pages of old fliers, about 1500 photos but there are short stories in there as well. We’re also building a True Faith website where we have an archive section. The idea of the birthday was to celebrate the 30 years. A lot of people (who had a big impact on the Melbourne music scene) never got a mention so with the book I want to fill the gaps and mention the people who deserve to be mentioned.