Darren Hart, aka ‘Harts’, has always had a bit more depth to his music than many of his contemporaries on the airwaves and at festivals.
Ranging from shredding guitar rock to the smooth neo-soul sensibilities exuded on his latest LP Queens, Kings and all Big Things, it’s no surprise that the artist can rock with the likes of both Denzel Curry and Prince in the space of a few years.
Thing’s looked like they might be wrapping up for the solo artist a few years ago, but as the new decade comes in so does a new chapter in Hart’s creativity, with new original music, a Jimi Hendrix tribute tour and even a partnership with the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup on the cards for the coming months.
“Previously I put stacks of mental limitations on what I thought I could do – but I wouldn’t have thought so at the time”, recalls the musician, speaking to us ahead of his performance at the opening ceremony of the aforementioned cricket tournament.
“I just felt like I could do more – I loved the music that I was creating, but I had this sense of just wanting to do something ‘else.’”
Listen to Harts cutting loose on ‘that’ Like A Version’
Darren looked to one of his hero’s, Jimi Hendrix, for inspiration moving forward with his career.
“The fearlessness of Hendrix’s playing has taught me to be fearless as well, so now I feel like I’m not worried about results as much when releasing more music, whereas I used to be obsessed with results, always looking at ‘why isn’t this getting airplay or on playlists’, or whatever”, he says.
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His upcoming theatre tour ‘Hart’s plays Hendrix’, is evidence of that newfound love for taking creative risks, something that Darren reveals has been in the pipeline for quite some time.
“Purple Haze was my biggest video on YouTube, and an overwhelming amount of people suggested that I do just a Hendrix show,” he tells us.
“I did think about expanding it into a broader range of guitarists, but I’m not sure if there’s a market for that… but this is also 50 years since Hendrix died, so this actually works nicely to pay tribute to the legacy that he has.”
Watch: Harts covers Purple Haze online
The upcoming tour comes with some serious endorsement as well, with members of the Hendrix family expressing their excitement for the project.
“When I met Austin Hendrix, Jimmy’s nephew – I basically said to him ‘would you give your blessing to this?’ when it wasn’t even a concrete thing, and he thought it was awesome.
“Then the booking agent that represents me said ‘we have a chance to do this if you want to’, and I thought ‘yeah, let’s just go for it,’ so it worked out really well – hopefully, I didn’t wait too long to do it!”
In addition to the tribute show and his cricket partnership – something which he notes he loves because “my Indian heritage plays into it because my family is very very into the game” – there’s also going to be a stack of new original music this year, of which we already have the first taste in the form of funky new single ‘Twenty Somethin’.
“If I can be perfectly honest, I was pretty hell-bent on changing the name of Harts, because where I’m at now is a really far departure from where I started,” he says.
“But then I thought ‘what’s the point?’ Harts is me, so I should feel free to expand where I’m at, the same as the artist that I’m into did, like Prince and Gorillaz.”
“Once I free myself of the limitations of what I think Harts is as a brand, then I should, in theory, not have to worry about it fitting a brand, and have the freedom to travel between all the different areas of influence.
“I’m just a lot happier in my mindset than what I was a few years ago – I’ve tried to free myself from that self-doubt and what the voices in your head tell you.”
‘Harts Plays Hendrix’ National Tour
Friday, March 6th
The Gov, Adelaide
Saturday, March 7th
Palms at Crown, Melbourne
Friday, 27th March
Anita’s Theatre, Wollongong
Saturday, 28th March
Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday, 3rd April
The Tivoli, Brisbane
Monday, 13th April
Bluesfest
Friday, 29th May
Twin Towns, Tweed Heads
Saturday, 30th May
Event Centre, Caloundra
Friday, 5th June
Astor Theatre, Perth
Saturday, 6th June
Bunbury Rec, Bunbury
Friday, 12th June
Penrith Panthers, Penrith
Saturday, 13th June
Arthouse, Wyong
Saturday, 20th June
Costa Hall, Geelong
