about
Gary Richards, founder of Nitrus Records and HARD, started his career in the music business in 1991. He propelled the LA underground party movement with events such as Double Hit Mickey, Magical Mickey's Haunted Mansion and the original Electric Daisy Carnival. In 1993 Rick Rubin hand-picked Richards from the underground club scene to be one of his key A&R men at Def American Recordings. During his tenure, Richards signed techno/rock band God Lives Underwater to the label and inked an exclusive deal with up and coming British label XL Recordings. In addition he worked with Lords of Acid, Messiah and Digital Orgasm at Def American. In 1997, Richards founded 1500 Records. Distributed through A&M Records, 1500 immediately established itself with the release of David Holmes' acclaimed debut album "Let's Get Killed", Dub Pistols, Breakbeat Era, the Tattoo the Earth live album, and a Depeche Mode tribute album which went on to sell over 500,000 units worldwide featuring Depeche Mode classics by The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Rammstein, Deftones, and more. After the Universal Polygram merger 1500 ceased to exist and Richards moved on to management with his late brother Steven Richards and his company No Name Worldwide. Gary Richards worked with his brother managing and developing top metal bands such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, American Head Charge and Hatebreed. Gary continued Nitrus Records with releases such as American Head Charge, Wired All Wrong, Whitey, God Lives Underwater, Uberzone, the UFC compilations series, and most recently Kill The Noise. Recognizing the global slump in record sales, Gary built the brand HARD for his ambitious events in LA. With two massive festivals and a string of sold out mini-parties under its belt, HARD is a juggernaut of cutting edge music and a very welcome cultural mash-up. HARD advances with the HARD Haunted Mansion on Halloween night featuring international legends Justice, Soulwax, Boys Noize, Simian Mobile Disco, Deadmau5, Crystal Castles, The Crookers and much more.
