Furthermore, he has firmly established himself as one of the most electric solo DJs through his extensive touring that spans over a decade.
Before coming to Australia, Hartnoll was in Thailand for the Jungle Experience in Koh Phangan. Hartnoll loves it over there. “[I’ve been] going there every year for the last six years for the full moon party with loads of DJ mates. I have the opportunity to party every night for two weeks of the month and a place where I get to listen to really great music.
“There’s always a great groove over there too, so I absolutely love it.” However being able to tour under his own name didn’t come before Orbital was formed. Hartnoll says the impact of Orbital on his careers has been big. “Obviously Orbital came first. I’m a producer first and foremost and then I’ve been DJing for 15 years as a solo act and as Orbital for 25 years. It’s so different from each other. When I’m DJing, I get to play grooves with some dance music that’s 125bpm and with some classic techno records,” Hartnoll says.
When confronted with the preference of djing or playing live, Hartnoll can’t decide. “They’re both very different. With Orbital we get to do new records and with Phil Hartnoll, you get a bit of everything. When you’re not doing a live set, there’s not tons of equipment surrounding us and we don’t have a crew of 12 people along touring with us, it’s just me and my wife. It’s very different but both highly enjoyable,” he says. “The DJing is much easier, Orbital can’t always come together but Phil Hartnoll can.”
Having played alongside incredible artists including Mark Knight, Basement Jaxx and Critian Valera, Hartnoll has come to learn who his favourites are. “Underworld, they’re really good mates of ours and so too are the Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy. We’ve known The Prodigy for about 25 years,” he says. “They’re like our work mates, especially when you do the festival circuit; you get to muck about together and play together.”
Hartnoll has played some epic stages including Creamfields, Space in Ibiza and Secret Garden Party. “[I love] smaller ones like Secret Garden Party over the bigger ones like Glastonbury, which would take you an hour walking from one side to the other of the festival,” he says.
“We’re doing this one in an observatory in Manchester, where they do loads of seminars about science. It’s another take on festivals, in a really nerdy way. They have all sort of ideas. I got an email the other day that you know when you get a Star Wars character, like an action figure in a box; they want to use that concept except with our faces on them and stick them in a weather balloon. Send Orbital into orbit.”
Coming to Melbourne for Come Together Festival, Hartnoll is looking forward to the simple things. “[Being] back in Melbourne. I got involved with Paul who’s a DJ mate of mine who performed last year and told me about it. When I was contacted about playing it I was happy to do it.
“The festival is also about bringing awareness with mental health and I didn’t realize the high percentage of suicide, which was quite shocking. This festival is all about bringing that awareness to the community. I’m really looking forward to hearing some of the local bands, it’s a great festival that’s family orientated, I’m very happy to be here.”
The rest of 2017 is going to be quite a big one for Hartnoll and Orbital and he is ecstatic to announce that after a four-year hiatus Orbital will be back. “[We’ll] do some festivals that have started to come in. We are going back home and producing some new music to release later this year then hopefully I’ll be back in November for Strawberry Fields. I can’t wait to be back in Australia for that.”
By Giddy Heine
