Founder-member of Trouble/Trouble DJs (with Erik d'Viking), Andy 'Tha Hat' Richardson, aka Hobbes, is a genuinely creative soul. Hobbes (inspired by the cheeky, philosophical tiger/imaginary friend of Calvin in Bill Waterson's hilarious Calvin & Hobbes comic strip) has been living and breathing (dance) music and club culture for well over ten years now. A quasi-religious zeal for Edinburgh's seminal Pure helped him acquire a taste for the deepest, heaviest sounds from the international underground (c. 1993-1995), but these days Hobbes is just as happy making people move with nuggets from the world of pop as esoteric club gems. Understanding that the 'best music' often means the music that the most people on the dance floor recognise, this is no po-faced DJ concerned only with 'educating' the crowd. With an incredibly broad taste in, and understanding of, music, he is equal parts entertainer as 'educator' and thus not about to bore the majority by only playing to the minority.

That said, Hobbes loves to push the boundaries as far as they will go and knows that people also love to be surprised, so teasing the crowd with decent music that people might not recognise is just as vital as giving them enough of the dope stuff they know.

Check out what new releases Hobbes is supporting/playing out here

Type Hobbes in DJ Search box (left hand side of front page). 

N.B. Also consult the Trouble charts archive (starting with the most recent one on the front page of the website on the RHS) for more info on Trouble-related charts and play-lists.  

Crucial dates & details

1984: Buys first record (Prince's Take Me With You / Erotic City 12"

'sure, there were those Pet Shop Boys and Madonna albums but this was genuinely the first vinyl i ever actually bought'); starts collecting records.

1994: Starts DJing.

'As a child i learned violin, piano, alto sax and even once had a Teach Yourself Guitar book, but I never got past Grade 3 with any of them, too lazy to practise regularly and distracted by other things (always had quite a good ear, though, and did once end up with a choral part in a very memorable school production of Joseph And His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - hahaha!). 

So, basically just another frustrated musician, at first I didn't really want to be a DJ.  I just loved collecting records and listening to music.  In my first year at Edinburgh University (1993) I was either spending all my time in record shops, or going to clubs or hanging out with friends who were DJs. 

It was they, as well as Pure's awe-inspiring residents (Twitch & Brainstorm) and all the brilliant guests they were booking (Derrick May, Plastikman/Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier, Jeff Mills, Kevin Saunderson, Underground Resistance, Miss Djaxx, Andrew Weatherall, Mr C etc) and later other seminal Edinburgh clubs such as Tribal Funktion, Seen, Manga and Scratch, who gave me a proper education about dance music and a taste for the most exciting, underground music of the day and it was these same friends who encouraged me to start DJing myself.

I did a very brief bit of music/clubs journalism for the Student newspaper then and after uni I went on to run my own fanzine, called underword, dedicated to Edinburgh's underground music/club-scene, and released a short series of limited edition compilations of local beats / dance / electronic music (1997-1999).  underword was pretty short-lived, but The Skinny didn't arrive for about another five or six years and The List's coverage of club culture was very poor then.

I also got really heavily involved with student radio station Fresh Air FM at that time, bringing on board a lot more local clubs and dance music programming and helping to run it for a few years.  That was where i met (Trouble partner) Erik d'Viking - originally my nemesis on Yogi Haughton's controversial Jukebox Jury show.  In 1997 we won the contract to broadcast T In The Park Radio for 28 days and ended up all having free reign back stage at the festival.  in Slam's Dance Tent, I interviewed all the major players (Weatherall, Garnier, Green Velvet, Slam, DJ Deep, Daft Punk (who had just released Homework), Nightmares On Wax, Warp Records boss Steve Beckett - they were all there that year...) for a series of live links and on-air features alongside Jem Giblin.  Later we helped Jay Feeney to navigate the station's programe 100% towards dance music and consequently gained a BBC Radio 1 nomination for Best Student Radio Station.  That was the first time Fresh Air had been nominated in this category (the station went on to actually win the award many years later).

All that media activity eventually led to a freelance journalist position (2000-2006), writing all of the club and alternative music copy for the Scottish Metro (free paper), most notably Thursday morning's weekly round-up of the upcoming weekend's clubbing highlights.  Under editor Rory Weller's sympathetic stewardship, i made a point of being the first to cover all the key, cutting edge figures when they were touring Scotland, presenting them to a mainstream audience of commuters/young professionals etc. 

Since 2006, my focus has been running club nights such as Trouble, promoting live music and other DJs/producers, starting a record label (Black Spring), running a rehearsal studio (also under the Black Spring banner - now defunct), DJing as much as possible and, most recently, getting into production.' 

Other residencies:

Limbo, The Voodoo Rooms, West Register St, Edinburgh, weekly Thursdays for 18 months but now monthly Fridays/Saturdays (with DC as Black Spring DJs).  Described as the 'barometer of pop' by the press, Limbo presents consistently great live music in a well produced environment with the right mix of the most established, brand new and freshly breaking live acts from Scotland and beyond.  Previous live acts include Marina And The Diamonds, James Pants, Micachu And The Shapes, Found, Frightened Rabbit, Broken Records, Electronicat, XVECTORS, Findo Gask, Fangs, Meursault, Sparrow And The Workshop, Zoey Van Goey, Jo Gideon And The Shark, Night Noise Team, The Chap, Miss le Bomb, Wounded Knee, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Paul Vickers & The Leg, Punch & The Apostles, Withered Hand, Come On Gang!, Come On Gang!, Pit Er Pat, Colourmusic, The Lovely Eggs, A-lix, Modernaire, Sara & The Snakes and Dollskabeat...  www.black-spring.com/limbo

Facebook Group

Myspace Page 

Slabs Of The Tabernacle, La Cheetah, Glasgow, monthly slabsofthetabernacle.com

Various bars: Villager, Dragonfly, 99, Hawke & Hunter, The Green Room, Bramble, Sygn etc

Split, weekly Tuesdays at Cabaret Voltaire (FREE ENTRY)

Facebook page  

Production: 

Hobbes & Flooze produce music together for the club / dancefloor.

Studio work in progress (plus the occasional mixtape) can be sampled on Hobbes' Soundcloud   

Guest spots / tour dates / other DJing / critical accolades:

2009

The Stonhouse, Clapham, London, NYE 09-10.  Great night.

Knockengorroch Festival, Dumfries & Galloway, September 2008 - in the Soundhaus Tent. 

Bestival 2009, Isle Of Wight, September - in the Big Top, supporting La Roux, DJ Yoda, Diplo and Mercury Award winner Speech Debelle, among others, with the Viking.  And Kratwerk headlined, which was definitely the highlight this year, apart from all the glorious sunshine and ace fancy dress costumes...

Limbo London, The Social, London W1, August - following four great Limbo bands (Over The Wall, Come On Gang!, Night Noise Team, Haight-Ashbury), promoting the Limbo Live Volume 1 CD

Trashcoteque, Belgrade, Serbia, August - two dates alongside Presiden T'obama at a couple of hot-spots for the Belgrade hipsters.

Soundwave Festival, Croatia, July - storming, bass-fuelled four-day event at sunny, seaside hot-spot, a holiday resort on the pretty Dalmatian coast.  other acst included Hexstatic, Yoda, The Bays, Red Snapper, Kid Kanevil, Vadim, Trojan Soundsystem, Rustie, Alice Russell...

Plastic Soul, Reading Rooms, Dundee, May - Desperate Dan's residency at Jim Grieve's evergreen club for alternative souls, freaks and the chic in Dundee.  

Mixtape, Snafu, Aberdeen, May - Giles Walker's night for the electro-house heads in the 'deen. 

Belle Villa, Hackney downs, London, NYE '08/'09 - With Leonidas and Alex T and ABSOLUTELY ROCKING! 

Cosmo Bar, Farringdon, London, NYE '08/'09 - With Francesco Poggi, Stefano Cosmo and friends  www.cosmobar.com

2008

The List Magazine Hot 100 'People who rocked our world in 2008' - Hobbes places at Number 86, alongside the great and the good from Scottish arts, film, music, clubbing and other entertainment industries, including club/dance acts Optimo, Slam, Calvin Harris, Dolby Anol and Drums Of Death. www.list.co.uk

Knockengorroch Festival, Dumfries & Galloway, September 2008 - headline spot in the Mungo's HiFi Tent with the Viking. www.knockengorroch.org.uk

Bestival, Isle Of Wight,  Sept 2008 - supporting Santogold, Chromeo & The Breeders in the Big Top on Friday (Trouble DJs).  Even Bigger! www.bestival.net

Universal Vibes, Lockside Lounge, Camden, London, August 2008, with Paddy Freeform, Yam Who? and Mr Shiver www.universalvibes.com

Avastar, Berlin, April 2008 - one of the coolest bars in east Berlin, with DJs spinning all kinds of sounds most nights of the week...

2007

Royal Academy Of Arts, Staff Party, December - playing records to the great and the good from the RA crew, following the success of the event below.

Royal Academy Of Arts, Contemporary Patron's Dinner Party, October - playing records to the great and the good from the fine art world at one of the establishment's swankiest venues.

Bestival, Isle Of Wight,  Sept - supporting Bonde do Role and Robyn in the Big Top on Saturday, plus the hidden Disco on Friday (Trouble DJs).  Big! www.bestival.net

Bacardi Sino Sessions, Shanghai & Beijing, China, March 2007 - supporting Bugz In The Attic live & The Nextmen.  An eye-opener! www.bacardisinosessions.com

2006

Bestival, Isle Of Wight,  Sept - Bollywood Bar, Saturday (Trouble DJs).  www.bestival.net

Bounce, Sandinos, Derry, N. Ireland, June - with resident DJ Kwame.  Incredible vibes all night.  Amazing spot.  www.sandinos.com

Mono, Belfast, N. Ireland, June.  Belfast faithful showed us some great hospitality.

Soul Food, Bia Bar, Dublin, Eire, June - with the ace Remedy crew.  www.remedyireland.com  

King's Affair, King's College, Cambridge, June - supporting Ladytron.  Another wicked fancy dress fandango at King's. 

So'sa, Porto Pino, Sardinia, June - launch night at this swanky new joint in southern Sardinia, a future gem in the med for sure.  www.sosadisco.com  

Projekt Praga Festival, Warsaw, Poland, May - with Paul Murphy, Glyn Bigga Bush, Up, Bustle & Out, Max Tundra and UFO + residents Phil Jones & Rafal.  Wicked people, great vodka!  www.projektpraga.com

King's Mingle, King's College, Cambridge, March - supporting Bugz In The Attic.  Another wicked night at King's.  

Electric Lady, Reading Rooms, Dundee, February - Jim Grieve's evergreen club for alternative souls, freaks and the chic in Dundee. 

Best Kept Secret, Medicine Bar, Shoreditch, London, February - Nick Matthews' regular party for everyone on his agency's books. 

Gary's Bar, Hoxton, London, February - after-hours party in exclusive location.

Clues Cafe, Deinze & Decadance, Gent, January - headlline & after-hours support spots: wonderful parties, wonderful people....  www.decadance.be

2005

Knockengorroch Dance Tent, Dumfries & Galloway, September - headline spot with The Rookie and MC Ratty B, following Desmond Dekker RIP (main stage). This was pretty special...  www.knockengorroch.org.uk

Big Chill, Fat Tuesday Tent, August - supporting Aficionado, Soul Jazz Sound System, Dub Pistols Sound System...  www.bigchill.net

Cafe Leopold & Pavillon (Volksgarten), Vienna - headline spots + guest spot  on Patrick Pulsinger's radio show on FM4, La Boum De Luxe, July.  The highlight of my career thus far: being interviewed by a personal hero on Austria's equivalent of BBC Radio 1 before doing a 1 hour guest-mix live.  Surreal.  www.fm4.orf.at/station

King's Affair, King's College Cambridge, June 2005 - supporting Andy Smith

2004

Fat Tuesday, The Caves, Edinburgh - supporting Mark Rae and Veba, Ayak live PA, Ashley Beedle and The Unabombers, December 2004.

Ultragroove & Solescience, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh - regular back room spots since 2004.  Wicked people.  Always.  www.ultragroove.co.uk / www.solescience.co.uk  

Restless Natives, Paris: Behave!, Les Caves St Sabin, Bastille, November 2004.  Paris's Les Caves give Edinburgh's Caves a good run for their money...

Rouge Passion, Montmartre, Paris, February 2004.  Warehouse parties in Paris on the theme of red, anyone?  

2003

Pussy Promotions, Hogmanay parties in luxury Scottish locations, NYEs 2000, 2001, 2003.  Legendary parties that lasted four days and four nights.  Decadent and quite awesome.  www.pussypromotions.com

2002

Jungle Exotica, Fortress Studios, N1, July 2002.  This one rocked.  All the way. One of the best nights of my life.  Fortress Studios are very special and mid-summer in the Big Smoke is always HOT!   

Email: hobbes@getintotrouble.com