HARD Haunted Mansion creator chats with The Vista

Kaitlin Perry / Arts & Culture Editor / The USD Vista

Halloween is a holiday now considered trashy in many college communities. With girls dressing up in as little clothes as ever and Top 40 songs remaining popular for much longer periods of time than should be acceptable, typical Halloween house parties are now redundant and not as fun anymore.

An exciting alternative to these house parties, which will inevitably be broken up anyway, is HARD Haunted Mansion, a music extravaganza taking place on Halloween night at the Shrine Expo in Los Angeles.

HARD was founded by Gary Richards, aka Destructo. Inspired by his underground rave background and the impressive talents of today’s electronic musicians, Richards decided to put on a different type of rave to be enjoyed by people that appreciate artists such as Justice, Boys Noize and DJ AM, all of which are included on the HARD Haunted Mansion lineup.

“Kids that go to raves are young and really high on drugs. At our event people are here for the music. They don’t show up with glowsticks and pacifiers in their mouths, they’re more mature and cooler than that. I’m trying to provide a place for cool people to enjoy good music,” Richards said.

Richards and concert promoters alike agree that there’s a new scene brewing right now in the music world, and it has aptly been titled Neon Punk. Neon Punk kids dress in bright colors and love to have a good time, consistently following musicians that play music they can dance to.

HARD caters to that and provides these Neon Punkers with a safe and exciting environment where they can enjoy some of their favorite bands, as well as crazy, creative visuals and legit Halloween costumes.

The way the festival works is very simple. There are three stages total, one of which is the main stage, which will be performed on by the big names, like Soulwax. A new act will take this stage at the top of every hour, while the smaller stages will alternate acts every half hour. Attendees will be able to see everyone; they’ll just have to leave performances a little early. The way the stages and times are set up, people will be making a loop around the venue and never be without amazing sounds.

Richards is most excited for Soulwax’s performance. According to him, Daft Punk could be considered the grandparents of electronic music, Soulwax could be considered the parents and Justice could be considered the grandkids. Soulwax is a huge act on the lineup and has had a huge impact on the electronic music world.
Almost all of the acts on the lineup are connected in some way, such as Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, who both have their own version of Simian’s song “Never Be Alone,” aka “We Are Your Friends.” Richards himself is on the lineup as Destructo. He’ll be acting as emcee and running the whole show from stage to stage, hour to hour.

After working on this event for a year and a half straight, Richards’ one hope is that he gets to enjoy the music and not be overwhelmed by logistical happenings. “HARD has a good reputation and we’re trying to build trust with the audience,” Richards said.

In my opinion the lineup alone has the gained the trust of thousands, and this Halloween will definitely be one to remember if you spend it at the Haunted Mansion. Tickets are guaranteed to sell out by next week and can be purchased at groovetickets.com.