What To Aim For Once You've Already Gained "Respect And Props" From Your Idols?

The tail end of 2018 and beyond promise much for Darren Hart, who releases music under the Harts moniker at present. An exclusive, worldwide publishing deal with Embassy Music Publishing is freshly inked and there are two new Harts albums on the way, we're told. 

"Much of 2017 was spent in the States," Hart explains. We're sitting inside a Fitzroy cafe and Hart pours tea carefully from pot into cup. "I signed to a record label there [Razor & Tie] that were promoting the second album, Smoke Fire Hope Desire, so I was going back and forth... Trying to get things going and it was cool, you know. I did that for a year — we got some smaller things and stuff — but then the label got sold and they didn't tell me, so I had no idea. So, like, here I was thinking everything was all sweet and next thing you know, my manager calls me and says, 'Ok, the head of the label just called up, they're selling the label to Concord [Music]. And I was like, 'Ok.' I thought that would mean that I just would be transferred onto Concord, but that wasn't the case so I was kinda left in limbo. I was just working through the logistics of that for ages then we figured out that I'm free of that and I'm independent again. 

"Dew Process as well — who I'm signed to for Australia — didn't take the option on the next album so I was free in the US and Australia. So I started working on new stuff and I had all this other stuff written as well, so I started just releasing stuff."

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Hart has already released four singles so far this year: Ain't Nothin' On Me (February), Mercy (February), 21&19 (March) and Consciousness Of What You Think, which is out now but will be officially launched at his upcoming Melbourne show. "There's two albums coming out," he confirms. "There's one that's like a traditional — what you'd expect of a new Harts album — and there's another one that's a full rock album with just blues and rock, and things like that." 

Punters heading along to Hart's upcoming show will get to hear this new material before everyone else. In fact, Hart is off to rehearse with "a whole new band" at the conclusion of our chat and shares, "I'm kind of thinking more ambitiously in terms of the musicians that I want, like, a revolving door of people that can come in and showcase Melbourne talent. So I've got a new drummer, new bass player, new keys player and two horns players... I generally change the band every two years."

Reflecting on his career trajectory thus far, Hart observes, "The highs have always been incredible highs and that's why everything gets to you, like, mentally, 'cause it's like, 'Well, if I have these huge highs and I've got the respect of all these people behind the scenes as well... Why does it still feel like a struggle to get people's attention or to get my music out there? Or why does my stuff not get the same love from the industry as it does from people that are above the industry?' 

"There's a certain roof on the Harts brand, because it got attached to Prince and because it got attached to all these kind of other things that the general public - not my fanbase, they all get it - that just heard maybe one or two songs and they come to a show; they're not really resonating with it as much, because they don't see the full picture." 

Hart admits he's frustrated that his Harts moniker too often gets pigeonholed as "a rock'n'roll guitar project", which, he stresses, "it was never s'posed to be". "So, because of that, I wanted to start my own project when I'm doing hip hop and getting, like, guest features and things like that, and I'm still creating all of the music and, yeah! That won't be a Harts project, because I just don't feel — it's not related." 

Time spent stateside saw Hart taking advantage of "random opportunities" to meet people, which resulted in him meeting someone close to another of his guitar heroes. "I got to meet a representative from the Jimi Hendrix Estate," he tells. "So Jimi Hendrix's nephew came to one of the shows." Did he give Harts the thumbs up? "He flipped out," Hart enthuses. "He loved it. He gave me a really cool quote as well; we're gonna start using [it] for press releases and stuff, from the Jimi Hendrix Estate. They love what I do and I can't really announce anything now, but I've got something in the works with them for a Jimi Hendrix project, so that's gonna be huge news when that comes out." 

There's already a corker testimonial on Harts' official website, when His Purple Highness weighed in: "He reminds me of how I was at that age." Wow. We can't help wondering whether Hart found it difficult to imagine he'd ever top this accolade. "I definitely felt that way about the Prince thing," he allows, "'cause he's like, literally, my number one so it's like: if I got respect and props from that person, where do you go from there? There's no one — apart from Jimi Hendrix, which I got [props] from his family. So it was like, 'I dunno, personally, where my goals are anymore,' you know? 

"The Harts project has always been a weird backwards kinda thing; it's kinda like I get respect from people like that, but then I still have to fight my way onto triple j and things like that — it's a crazy situation.

"But, you know, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and the music industry is so inconsistent," Hart laughs, but in a baffled way, "like, ups and downs and ups and downs and stuff, and that plays havoc on you, to a point, in terms of your emotions and stuff like that. So you go through a lot. I'm just still figuring it all out. I've been doing it for a while, but it's still a learning process for me just figuring out where exactly I fit as well as what I can expect from the industry, or what I can't expect from the industry and how much I have to, I guess, rely on my own ambition and intuition and stuff like that for the future."