A Conversation With Henry Hacking

In 2018, after 10 successful years as one half of successful duo ‘The BeatThiefs’, with releases and tours on a global scale, Henry Hacking decided to go solo, with an aim to take his reputation to even higher heights. He swiftly ensured mass A-list DJ support from the likes of Nervo, David Guetta & Fedde Le Grand as well as featuring on many of the Worlds most popular Spotify dance playlists. Now, 2019 looks set to be his biggest year yet – With 8 new singles finished, including an incredible revamp of Inaya Day’s huge hit – ‘Nasty Girl’, an Ibiza residency this Summer for Pukka Up and a number of new Asia tours already confirmed.

Hey Henry, welcome to Dance Rebels, please introduce yourself, where are you from? And how long have you been working in the music industry for? Thanks for having me!  I’m based in Cambridge, UK and been in the music industry for 20 years. Blimey – that’s a long time! Aging like a fine wine though ;-)

 What inspired you to pursue a career in the music industry? Also, what sacrifices have you had to make to enable you to pursue your career in the industry too? I’ve always loved music and originally wanting to be a radio presenter.  With that, my first job was producing a breakfast show for one of the local stations.   In doing so, I became friends with the afternoon presenter who was also resident DJ for a local nightclub.  I started to hang out with him at the club, which really opened my eyes up to being a club DJ.   It was amazing to witness the reactions of all those on the dancefloor and instantly made me want to get behind the decks.    I soon decided to swap the early morning wake ups for early morning bedtimes! Regarding sacrifices – the industry is relentless. I’m on hand virtually 24/7 to try and answer questions, build contacts and pursue opening doors. My sacrifice has been the inability to switch off.  

You’ve just released a feel-good single entitled ‘Higher’ featuring Effs via Vicious, tell us about the track; what’s your favourite part of it, and how long have you been working on it for? It’s been about 10 months in the making.  It started off as an instrumental, but I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with a great song writer who brought the track to another level with the lyrics and bringing Effs onboard, who absolutely nailed the vocals. My favourite part has got to be the piano! 

The track also features remixes from ATFC and Konsin, how do you think their remixes are different from yours? Did you pick them to remix too? The package is hugely diverse, which is really important.  The record label Vicious Recordings, who have been so positive and committed to my music, got ATFC on board, whilst my manger brought in Konsin.  There is also a really lush downtempo version from Luke Vecchio.

I love the piano and vocal elements within the track, how important are vocals in tracks nowadays? Also, are you musically trained to play the piano too? I grew up learning to play the Piano – but actually by ear rather than reading it.  I had many piano lessons at school, but I’d always like to listen to songs and then replay them.   Right now, I’m also working with a fantastic producer called Nathan Cross – insanely talented. My music really is a team effort.  Vocals are extremely important if you want to take your music to a wider audience, although ‘Roller’ was made purely for the underground.

Do you have any other releases scheduled soon? How important is it to release regular when building a reputation in the industry too? 2019 is a massive year of music for me.  I went solo in 2017 – I was formerly part of The BeatThiefs – and released a few tracks, but nothing like the consistency of 2019.  This year has been a game changer; a steady, but credible stream of music is essential.   I’m not talking a track a week, I’m, talking every couple of months. This way I’ve found it’s helped maximise the exposure for each track, rather than diluting them. 

What are your plans for the summer? Any shows or tours you’re looking forward too? What’s the hardest aspect of touring, and do you have any tips for it? Most of my tours are in Asia and can literally be weekend trips; Cambridge to Singapore on a Thursday, play Friday night, fly to Bali on Saturday, play Saturday night, Bali to Cambridge on Sunday….   It’s demanding and exhausting, but thankfully I’m an expert sleeper on planes – even more so now I have two daughters under 3 years!  That really is the best tip I can give – sleep where you can! I’ll be heading to Estonia to Sugar Club on 13 July, to Bali on 26^th July to play a brand new venue there, plus I have another Asia tour lined up.  The remainder of the summer will be involved with Pukka Up, WNDRLND and House In Paradise events in Ibiza, plus we are working on a new China tour.

Finally, if you could give any upcoming artist one piece of advice what would it be, and why? Be true to yourself, be respectful to every other dedicated artist in this industry and ensure you are prepared for more ‘downs’ than ‘ups’ during your journey to the top.     Whatever patience you have, quadruple it… things take time, but that’s just business.

Higher by Henry Hacking ft. Effs is out worldwide today on Vicious Recordings https://vicious.lnk.to/Higher