HARDFLOOR'S history stretches back to 1991, when the two were introduced
by a mutual friend at a club. Oliver was already making his name as a DJ,
while Ramon had found his feet in the studio, whacking out commercial
hits at a fair old rate. They hit it straight off, and immediately set
about finding their sound.
"I was listening to acid house since '87,
" remembers Oliver,
"since the first Phuture tracks and stuff. In '91 I met Ramon and I
said to him, 'Let's create a new track.' In '90, '91 there was not so
much acid music about, so we decided we had to create some.
""This track was amazing,"
Oliver confirms. "When we finished the work in
our studio we looked at each other and we said, 'Woah. That's it. This
is the best track we ever did.'""I thought it was a good track,
" adds Ramon. "We
didn't make it to have success with it, we were only pissed off with
the hardcore thing at this time.""Japan is the greatest thing you can imagine,
" gushes Ramon. "We
were there five days, and we were five day superstars.
""But one week or two weeks is enough,
" Oliver stresses. "
Strange place. Very strange, everything, the food... It's good to go
there, but... Every record shop or equipment shop we went to people were
waiting for us.""Little kiddies, children came to me with
Hardfloor albums. They know me and what I do, they know everything
exactly. If I walk about in Germany, nobody knows what I do, but in
Japan the little kiddies know everything.""They're waiting for us with the album
everywhere and we had to sign it. After one show two girls gave us a
comic they'd made. They drew our tour and both of us were characters in
it. That's cool. A Hardfloor comic."
"I have a story," he
says by way of an explanation. "I tried my first
E in 1991, and I liked it. I started selling DJ tapes to get E's - I
give him a tape and he gives me an E. And then in Holland at a rave I
met this very big dealer selling E's for half the price they were in
Germany. So I bought 100.
At this time it gets bigger with my DJ job, so
a lot of people knew me, and when I spin they knew I had E's. Everywhere
I played there was a good party, good music and good E's. It got bigger
and bigger, and then they arrested me. I was in jail for two months.
""My girlfriend wrote me a letter
in jail saying 'Acperience' is in the chart in England. And then when I
came out the live PA thing with Hardfloor started, so I didn't need to
sell drugs any more to earn money. Now I'm totally against drugs.
""It sucked then, but now I think it was a good
thing. I learned a little bit." Ramon
meanwhile opted for civilian service, and has two years left to run on
an eight year stint with the Red Cross. Hang on a minute - eight years?
"I do one day a month,"
he explains. "One day a month I go to a football
match or a tournament with horses, and I go and do - nothing. It's good
for me to get together with normal people. The only thing is I can't
stand the sight of blood."
"He lives there,
" offers Oliver laughing. There he bangs out
tracks for his highly underground No Respect label, and with Oliver
creates Hardfloor's original acid-fests and remixes. Recent triumphs in
the do-over department include their blistering re-working of Mory
Kante's 'Yeke Yeke', injecting more bounce to the ounce in the floor
stakes than is medically advisable.
"I have some ideas for the future, for the new Hardfloor,
" reveals Oliver. "I
got it last night when I was listening to a new record I bought. It's a
minimalistic record and I think we're gonna do some minimal stuff. Also
going more funky is a good way for the future. And not to work with the
build-up any more. No more build-up."