“Between [the ages] of 18 and 30 you’ve got three choices in New Zealand: marriage, overseas or jail,” states Harry “The Bastard” Russell. “I didn’t like the one and three.” Lucky for him, as the head buyer for Watts Music – the United States’ largest import and export source for dance music distribution for the last 12 years – Russell’s memories of his childhood in New Zealand are in the very distant past.
Moving to England to take a course in advertising, Russell’s path took a life-altering change after having drinks with a friend at a local pub. Offered a job at London music distributor Rough Trade during the pre-acid house days, Russell took it and became instrumental in getting that music over the pond. Of course, acid house became a cultural revolution that’s still reverberating with DJs worldwide. During his four-year stint at Rough Trade, Russell worked with the likes of Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins, and Nick Cave, while sharing breathing space with Joey Negro and Dave Lee.
Then he visited New York. His first instinct? “Hell yes, this is my kind of place!” And a move was soon happening. Now, over a decade later and at 40 years of age, Harry the Bastard has become a near-infamous fixture in that city’s dance-music culture and he’s carved a palpable presence throughout the rest of the States and the globe via his Club H compilation series.
The concept of the collections was the result of the endless nights-turning-into-mornings at Russell’s Chelsea loft. Usually, it worked like this: After the Manhattan clubs finished and its revelers became reluctant to go home, many would make their way back to Russell’s place (aka Club H). As can be expected of a professional music distributor, Russell enjoys an immense music collection – not to mention very tolerant neighbors. So with two Technics 1200s, an old Numark mixer, plus a few NAD Electronics pieces (tape deck, CD player/burner) in tow, Russell’s Club H parties became full-on after-hours events. “Anybody who’s still standing can DJ,” says Russell, who says he steadfastly manages to show up at the Brooklyn-based office the next day, in time to deal with calls from various time zones in Europe and the rest of the world.
Harry The Bastard Presents Club H, Vol. One was released in 2000, and there have been two follow-ups: Volume Two in 2001 and Volume Three in 2002, all on Statra Recordings. Not necessarily bothering to choose time-sensitive material for his CDs, Russell says the objective is to turn people on to electronic music they don’t know about, but would be comfortable listening to at home or in a club environment.
Volumes One and Two stuck to the formula of quality house with a chill-out track to close out. But with Volume Three, Russell offers a somewhat different flavor. While it does carry over the first two volumes’ deep, soulful, dubby house, he offers touches of stylish jazz inflections, refined melodies and sophisticated grooves. Highlights include Nikkie D’s “Kugsarre,” the At Jazz Mix of Summer Transport’s “Sol Patrol,” and Carl Craig’s mix of Domina’s self-titled track.
Although he’s inspired and fueled by the go-for-it vibe of Club H, Russell travels far away from that location to pick the music for the impressive series. “We fly out to California, hire a car in San Francisco with a big wad of tracks and then just drive around for three days,” Russell says. “Go on a road trip and listen to it all and then write down what we want and take it from there. [Volume Three] was Yosemite, the last two were Tahoe. We nearly wrecked a Jag to One and Two.”