Meet Ed Real — the main man behind The Hard Dance Awards 2006
Reported by mostwantedkat
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Submitted 21-02-07 02:13
Unless you’ve been living under a stone for the past five months, you may be aware of a certain little gig going by the name of the Hard Dance Awards 2006 that’s about to happen. In fact, you may have been living under said stone but seeing as we’ve left nothing from a pebble to a boulder unturned in our mission to publicise this quite frankly majorly phat party, there’s the distinct possibility that even you may have heard of it.
To the thousands of people who every single weekend get up out of their beds, pull on their clubbing clobber and then have it so large they almost don’t know what to do with it, Saturday February 24th has been a date in their diary with a huge red ring around it since we launched the HDAs last year. But it’s not just the clubbers that are coming in their droves. Every single person in the industry is itching to get through the doors of the massive Brixton Academy. The main room is like a wet dream come true if you’re into your hard dance, with a line-up including two massive live sets from K90 and the awesome Edison Factor (if you haven’t experienced Matt and James in full-on unbridled flow, this is something that you seriously need to remedy), the Tidy Boys, Lisa Lashes (plus Lashettes), Lisa Pin-Up, Ed Real, Rob Tissera, BK and Anne Savage. The word pedigree hits you like a rather smashing soft brick in the face.
There’s no let-up in pace in the second room either. Andy Whitby, Mark EG, Amber D, Alex Kidd, Nick Sentience, Kevin Energy, Organ Donors, Vinylgroover, Jason Cortez and Phil York add even more quality to the growing quantity. That brick starts to look more like a demolition wrecking ball.
It’s the culmination of months of work from various bodies within the scene. From the guys at www.trackitdown.net who created the website and monitored the voting, to Most Wanted PR who have been firing out press releases at the speed of sound and bringing the UK and European press out in force to witness the event, it’s been a massive effort and a driving passion for everyone involved.
If we’re equating driving passion with involvement in the HDAs then there’s one particular man that would be in a ten tonne monster truck with a jet propelled engine strapped to the back, powering all the way towards the Brixton Academy. One of the original HDA team, Ed Real hosted the very first ceremony at London’s AKA Bar when just 200 industry bodies piled in to celebrate themselves and attack the bar. Now he’s on the verge of presenting in front of 4,500 thousand people. We caught up with Ed after he’d taken a recce tour around the massive Brixton Academy in preparation for the night itself.
What was it like standing on that empty stage? Could you just imagine the roar of clubbers? Did you get the willies?
I love getting the willies! Seriously, it felt really good standing on that stage having spent four years working towards the 24th February. Our scene deserves this recognition and I can’t wait to step out and present awards to the high achievers in front of their fans!
Do you think there’s a place for hard dance in a venue as big as the Academy?
I bloody well hope so! Over the last five years the Brixton Academy has been home to some amazing hard house raves and the HDA team are all really excited about joining that lineage. Our music and the fans aren’t shrinking violets so it’ll be nice to have a venue of a similar calibre!
Personally speaking how much work have you put into the HDAs this year?
Each year we put more effort in as the scale increases. We started making plans for this year’s voting and event in April last year. Voting started in October and the time seems to have gone so quickly. If that’s a barometer of how much work has gone on then it’s been a tonne. However, the scene needs a focus and a project that everyone can get involved in to celebrate the vitality of our weekend world. So many promoters, labels, producers, DJs, media and clubbers have put energy into this year’s event and we deserve to have the mother of all parties to show the rest of the dance music world that we’re alive and kicking!
How much support have you had this year?
Every year more people come out of the woodwork to help this celebration. They give their time and energy in the spirit in which this project was founded. Clubbers, labels, DJs and promoters need hard dance to be as healthy as possible. It’s not about this person or that sub genre, it’s about our weekend world and the way we like to party and live our lives. Whether it is a positive comment on a forum or just placing a vote, everyone has the chance to be involved and support this movement and I’m just please that this year is an improvement on last because that sends out a positive message.
The Hard Dance Awards has also been on the case with the regional clubs, making sure that they get the maximum amount of exposure. Whether you’re from oop North, darn Sarf, from the East or over the hills and far away across the Welsh borders, you’ll find the clubs who’ve been there for you when you’ve needed some bosh the most represented in Room Three as part of our Regional Heroes campaign. Mark H (Polysexual), Andy T & Olly Perris (Addiction), Big Ben (Big), Brian M & McBunn (Bionic), Matt Handy (Contact), Steve Gillen (Cyberkitten), Krunchie (HardSouth), Chris Pollock (Kubik) and Avaline (Tranzaction) will be firing on all cylinders for some seriously healthy competition.
You’ve personally made a big deal about the Regional Heroes this year. How important has it been for you to get them involved and why?
I was a regional hero! For four years I promoted a great party in Portsmouth called Vurt. But despite my best efforts I seemed to have hit a glass ceiling when I wanted to break out. Peter Pritchard at Media Records saw the passion and desire to move on up and gave me a chance to live the dream. Put simply, I have to repay that wherever possible and if there is a chance to showcase talent from around the UK in one of my projects then try and stop me! Ditto, with Riot! Recordings we’re now running a lot of remix competitions where BK and I try to find new talent. It’s out there, but maybe in unexpected places. Our new guns are two producers from Ukraine called Yuri & Leonid and they entered the first remix comp. Without a future there’s not much going on!
Speaking of the future of hard dance, it’s obviously not dead as the HDAs have attracted some extremely big partners this year from the media, including www.faceparty.com, M8 Magazine and MTV Dance. What has their involvement meant to you?
More exposure helps hard dance to thrive. If the next Andy Whitby is sitting at home and sees the Awards on TV and feels inspired to become a DJ or producer, then that’s brilliant.
With all this support you’re giving to the scene, do you feel like a godfather to the next generation?
I am passionate about this! For the last 15 years I’ve worked really hard to make a living from the music I love and this is a chance to give something back. Ignoring the wankers that I’m sure you get in every business (anyone who works for a big company will probably have far more horror stories to tell!!), my peers and partners have been supportive and enthusiastic about this passion and if I can do it then I want to show all the people on the dancefloor that it that’s their dream they can do it too. I take great pleasure signing and supporting new talent and in that sense I guess being labeled a ‘godfather’ is really apt.
So this godfather of hard dance sees what has got to be one of his biggest moments so far getting ever closer. The tickets are flying out the window, the prospective winners are perfecting their speeches, MTV are warming up their cameras, the presenters are busy getting their hair and nails done. On 9pm, Saturday February 24th, the doors of the Brixton Academy will open themselves up to welcome the very best of the UK’s hard dance scene. We’ll be there… will you?
For more information about the Hard Dance Awards 2006 visit: www.harddanceawards.com
To buy your advance ticket for just £22.50 go to www.ticketweb.co.uk or call 08700 600 100.
www.trackitdown.net
www.riotinlondon.com
Photos courtesy of Ed Real and Most WantedPR. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Hard Dance Awards
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On:
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Saturday 24th February 2007
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At:
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Brixton Academy [map]
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From:
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21:00 - 06:00
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Cost:
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£22.50 / MOTD
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Website:
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www.harddanceawards.com
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Ticket Info:
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Carling Brixton Academy Box Office - 0870 7771 2000
www.ticketweb.co.uk - 08700 600 100
www.harddanceawards.com
Never Enough Maria - 07813 684 399
www.toomuchbutneverenough.com
Cyberdog (Camden Market) - 0207 482 2842
Coaches
Cardiff coaches - Calling in Cardiff, Newport, Bristol and Swindon
- Call Jon on 07900 055 090
Milton Keynes & Surrounding area - Call Yojo or Colin on
07849 375 534 or e-mail cyberkittenkitten_events_uk@yahoo.co.uk
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Buy Online:
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Click here to buy tickets
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More:
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By now you all know that we’re taking over the BRIXTON ACADEMY for the ultimate celebration of the hard dance scene, recorded ecxlusively by MTV for a one hour special. You’ve put a big red ring around FEBRUARY 24th 2007 and you’re already locked in fierce debate on the message boards as to who should get what award. Now here’s even more information to get in a state about…
VOTE HARD!
Click through to www.harddanceawards.com and get a load of our fabulous new site. With Top 10s for the year from the scene’s biggest artists, interviews with some of hard dance’s brightest stars and all you need to know about voting in the Awards, it’s our brand spanking new home and we’re very proud of it.
Voting is free to do and all categories are open except the Lifetime Achievement Award (see below). You can vote for anyone and have your say in who’s doing it right!
This year we have added two new categories; LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD and BEST INTERNATIONAL EVENT. The shortlist for the LFA has been voted for by the Hard Dance Awards committee and represents a selection of hard dance heroes without whom the scene would be a different place today. Plus we’ve introduced the Best International Event
category to cope with the thousands of fans voting from around the world. We want to see who is the biggest force outside the UK is!
Event organiser and the man behind the whole show, ED REAL is your host with the most alongside a mouth watering selection of industry characters lending a helping hand. In a change from previous years, the ceremony itself will be split up into three 15 minutes sections. LISA LASHES & LISA PIN UP, ANNE SAVAGE and ROB TISSERA, and the TIDY BOYS will each have a quarter of an hour to present a clutch of these highly sought after awards in between some stunning live acts and DJ sets.
GET TICKETS
As expected, all Early Bird tickets for this event have sold out in record time. But for only £22.50 you could be having it large with 4,499 other mental clubbers and all your favourite DJs. Putting it into context, that’s 4 packets of cigarettes, 36 packets of Max Flavour Paprika crisps or 21 Pot Noodles. To be precise. Want one (a ticket we mean)? Then just log on to www.ticketweb.co.uk and get yours before they all vanish in to thin air and you miss out on the biggest party of the year!
SPONSORS & MEDIA PARTNERS
MTV will be filming inside the venue for an hour long special programme about the event.
FACEPARTY, the world’s biggest party, will be joining us in all their glory to present the FACEPARTY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL EVENT, which you can vote for in the coming weeks at www.faceparty.com.
PIONEER are giving us a brand new Pioneer CDJ1000 worth £800 to give away to one lucky voter who has their say on www.harddanceawards.com
TRACKITDOWN.NET is administering the voting process for the fourth year running. With over 3,500 dance labels supplying 100,00 tracks, www.trackitdown.net is the home of digital dance music online.
M8 MAGAZINE is the No 1 place to find out all the info you need to know about this years Ceremony. Keep your eyes peeled over the coming months for interviews and competitions as well as the exclusive 48 page Hard Dance Awards booklet in February’s issue.
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The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1.gif)
The best line up i ever seen!!!!
Ed's deffo the Hard Dance Daddy bar-none !!
xx
Not sure that being the "god father of hard dance" and party animal quite go together 
