Stereosonic Exclusive Interview With Destructo
Gary “Destructo” Richards may be a new name to Australians, but the Stereosonic-bound DJ has an extensive history in his adopted Los Angeles. Not many can claim to have worked alongside Rick Rubin – the co-founder of Def Jam best known these days for producing Adele. “He was awesome,” Gary recalls enthusiastically.
Gary arrived in LA from Washington DC as a teenager. “My father was in radio, so we started out in DC and New Orleans and then ended up in LA. Dad’s still rolling now – he’s still in the music industry. He’s the coolest dad in the world.”
Gary instituted the famous RaveAmerica at Knott’s Berry Farm, a Californian theme park, in the early ’90s. The canny DJ/promoter somehow landed a gig at Rubin’s Def American Recordings, A&Ring its electronic roster. The music legend had checked out his warehouse parties in downtown LA. “Then he asked me if I knew anyone who would wanna do A&R and sign bands under this kinda music and I was like, ‘Hello! I’ll do it!’ So he hired me. We signed all this cool shit – I think him and I were the only ones who were listening to it here. We did a record deal with Harthouse, with Sven Väth, we signed Lords Of Acid, we signed XL Recordings, Prodigy was a part of that in the beginning, [UK acid house duo] Messiah – all this crazy, cool techno. You go back and listen to it now, it still sounds good – [but] nobody was interested.” On hiring him, Rubin paid Gary to go raving in Europe for ‘research’ purposes. He established 1500 Records, signing David Holmes, as well as Nitrus Records.
In the meantime, Gary’s older brother Steve, also in the biz, discovered and managed Slipknot. For a spell, he supervised metal bands at No Name Management. But since 2007 Gary has focussed on developing the HARD party brand (www.hardfest.com), initially throwing a New Year’s Eve mega-party in LA with Justice as headliners. These days HARD stages HARD Summer Music Festival, HARD Haunted Mansion and the cruise Holy Ship!. Then there are one-off gigs with the likes of Odd Future. This last summer Gary accompanied HARD on its second tour around North America with Digitalism and others, “all in two-and-a-half weeks – in a bus!,” he says knowingly.
However, Gary, who digs everything from techno to disco house to, yes, metal, has found time to produce music. He teamed with breakbeat pioneer Überzone to remix Major Lazer’s Bruk Out. ”I’m in the studio right now – I just stopped for 45 minutes to do these calls,” Gary reveals. “I’m making this stuff for the clubs or festivals, whatever you wanna call it, just stuff to get people jumpin’.”
Gary is anticipating his first Australian trip – he once managed Queensland’s Regurgitator in the US, don’t you know. Not being the event’s promoter, it’ll be like a holiday. “A lot of the people [billed] are my friends, so it’s just so cool that I get to see them in a different capacity. Usually, when they come to my show, I have to handle or be responsible for everything. So I can just hang out, have a drink with Annie Mac and shoot the shit and have fun.”
Even today Gary loves to flip the script. He’ll occasionally wear a suit while DJing. “I rock the suit sometimes. I feel like it’s a performance – you gotta step it up.” Maybe that’s just at some swish Hollywood party? Gary laughs. “If it was one of those, I’d go the opposite route – I’d wear a ripped-up shirt or something. I try to go against the grain.”
Words: Cole Laroche