DJ Tekin - Wait Forever
(David Harness Taboo Remix)
Deep, sultry, edgy vocal house from Tekin featuring hypnotic vocals from Beth Trollon. The original is straight-up no-nonsense deep house, with lush synths, sub-bass, and a nice pop to the drum line. David Harness delivers a stellar remix upping the intensity with bellowing drums, and a cool whoo-whoo synth stab that makes this very San Fran. Mark Picchiotti's Impatient Mix gives the track a kick in the bum and picks up the pace with cool a acid house feel, and then a bassline reminiscent of Lego's "El Ritmo de Verdad".
(NocturnalMagazine.net)

Tuesday Boomin'
House legend David Harness's Taboo night at Pink delves way deeper into the African rhythms and R&B-influenced hymns he's famous for, in an underground-Chicago-style setting that shines up the family feeling and leaves behind the shirtless Endup boys he usually attracts.
(Marke B. - San Francisco Bay Guardian - January 11-17, 2006)

Bay Area DJ Profile (2005)
DJ Name:
David Harness

Hometown:
Monterey, California

Trademark saying or philosophy toward your music/life:
Music is from the heart. So play from your heart!

What kind of music do you spin?
I play all kinds of music. I am known for playing very soulful house.

Where do you spin regularly?
I have a party I do on Tuesday nights called Taboo (taboosf.com). I also play at Fag Fridays and Sunday T-Dance - both at the End Up. I am also at Remedy once a month - all here in San Francisco. I have a monthly party in San Diego called Reach (every last Saturday of the month) at Rich's.

Discography:
I have just released my second mix cd compilation for Loveslap Records called Heartbeat. Just had a Top Ten Billboard hit for my remix of Simply Red's "Home" single. There are too many others to mention. I have been busy!

The first record you ever bought:
A Parliament live album back in 1977. I thought I was the shit at 9 years old.

Most influential record(s) in your life:
There are a lot for me to choose from. I would say my parents' musical collection was very influential. On the House tip it would have to be Frankie Knuckles, "The Whistle Song". Still amazing!

When/where did you first DJ?
I started DJing at a local gay bar in Monterey called the After Dark.

What made you want to be a DJ?
I used to have a radio show when I got out of High School. Was doing that for a few years and a friend told me After Dark was looking for a DJ so I auditioned and got it.

Will you always be a DJ do you think?
Hell yeah... Is a pig's ass pork?! I love what I do and all the things that are a part of the DJ culture.

What is the most memorable performance of your DJ career?
Playing for SF Pride for the first time and also playing for President Bill Clinton's 2nd term inauguration party. So over the top!

Do you play CDs as well as vinyl?
I have found myself playing a lot of cd's as of late. I am still a vinyl junkie!

Who in your opinion are the Bay Area's Top Five DJs of all time?
1. Aaron O
2. Hosh Guereli
3. Stanley (of Stanley's After Parties in Oakland)
4. Hector the Ejector
5. Nadeah

Nominee for Best Resident DJ
2005 Club World Awards
Capturing the essence of a good after-hours and distilling it into a tightly programmed set is a challenge for most DJs. But making a reputation around that format is particularly difficult. David Harness has done just that, cranking out soul-dripping deep house at San Francisco's seminal afternoon event, the Sunday T-Dance at The EndUp.

Harness, who made a name for himself amongst the luminaries of the early 90s San Francisco house renaissance, spent the last three years cultivating a crowd that shakes it to his gospel-tinged cuts, at a "NightStalker" award-winning venue renowned for its solid, open energy. "My music always comes from the heart; it's always an expression of how I feel, and I think the crowd can sense that," Harness said. With gigs from Tokyo to Amsterdam over the next few months, and a compilation coming out on Loveslap in January, the rest of the world will soon get to feel it too.
(Ryan Hammill)

Follow the DJ
In the beautiful chaos of clubland, there are a lot of gorgeous catastrophes. The space is right, your look is tight - but your cute little ass hasn't moved all night. Now you feel overly tipsy and all talked out. Maybe you need a new DJ, one who'll put a spring in your step to go with those neon green Pumas you just got. To help you shop around, we asked 10 of San Francisco's hottest body-rockers, each hyping his or her own wildly different style, to dish their sound, their gigs, their guilty pleasures, and their future goings-on. Find one or two you like? Grab ahold and don't let go. Someday they could save your nightlife

What's he like?
David's been spreading his world-famous deep house love around the city for 15 years, from the airwaves of KMEL-FM to the dance floors of DV8, DNA, and beyond. His tunes are lush, orchestral, and tinged with soulful R&B - but he knows how to drop the top down with some stripped-down African rhythms and old-school 303. Lately he's been adding slight elements of chromatic polyphony to his mixes, going all Doric scale on our asses. The result is a sound located somewhere between Chicago and Mars by way of Nigeria - and all San Francisco.

Where's he at?
* Taboo, Tuesdays at Pink
* Fag Fridays, Fridays at the Endup
* Sundays at the Endup
* Once a month at Remedy, Fridays at DNA Lounge

What's he love?
"I just went to Sugar at the Stud, and they were pumping some amazing house up there. I try to catch Patrick Wilson from Nulife Records when he spins at his club Remedy at DNA Lounge. I'm a huge fan of local visual artist Debbie Green. Oh, and I'm crazy for the mac 'n' cheese at Blue, that restaurant up in the Castro."

What's he looking forward to?
"I'm about to go on a world tour for my new CD, Heartbeat, on my record label, Loveslap - Seattle, New York, Italy, the U.K. Also the Winter Music Conference in Miami is gonna be wild this year. But don't worry - I'll be coming back in between to spin for the S.F. kids. They're off the hook in springtime!"
(Marke B. - San Francisco Bay Guardian)

Simply Red - Home
(David Harness Taboo Vocal Mix)
Simply Red's 2003 album, "Home," is proving to be one fertile recording for remixes. It has yielded three hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, including chart-toppers "Sunrise" and "Fake." The album's title track is the fourth single to be put to the remix test. And like its predecessors, it is poised for clubland success. In his Taboo Vocal mix, David Harness surrounds Simply Red leader Mick Hucknall's voice with warm house beats, lush strings and heartfelt horns‹all of which go hand in hand with the song's melancholic storyline. Motivo takes the song down a delicious electro path, while Tin Tin Out delivers a gorgeous midtempo radio mix, just perfect for AC formats.
(Billboard Magazine - December 11, 2004)

David Harness - Hearbeat
(The Pulse of the Groove Generation)
David Harness, best known for his house-heavy headlining slots on San Francisco's own KMEL FM, is about to make you shake your booty whether you really want to or not. Why would he make you do such a thing, you might ask? Because David's got the funk that will only result in one thing: the aforementioned booty-shaking. With a little assistance from Loveslap Recordings, David has put together a fantastic mix chocked full of funky soul-filled house music complete with blazingly deep disco rhythms, funky pop'd basslines, and sweet R&B harmonies. The album features singles from Charles Spencer, Martino, Spencer Gray, Gigo Supreme, and of course David Harness himself (among other extraordinary artists). With Loveslap pushing the buttons, and David spinning the records, there is no mountain high enough that can stop this DJ.
(Dustin Michael - About.com)

David Harness - Hearbeat
David has taken the skills honed over a decade of playing Bay Area nightclubs such as the legendary Tilt and the Sound Factory and applied them to creating a deep house mix of artists from the Loveslap label along with some special guests. The album quickly kicks into funky high gear with "Gimme That Music" from Alma Horton and finally lets you go sixteen tracks later with Blaze's "Found Love".
(About.com)

David Harness - Hearbeat
A new CD series for San Francisco based Loveslap Recordings, "Heartbeat" features 16 cuts of silky, soulful deep house gems, expertly mixed and compiled by Bay Area legend David Harness. From the uplifting garage stylings of "Gimme That Music" by Alma Horton through the jazzy flavor of "Even Now" by Charles Spencer and the broken beat feel of "Live In The Light" by Fertile Ground, this is a superior collection of quality tunes. Simply put, this is a required purchase for any house head in search of a new musical fix and a CD that you will find yourself reaching for again and again. Pure class. (Paul Dailey - About.com)

David Harness: DJ Remix Compilation
Let's face it, DJ remix compilations are now a dime a dozen. That's why reviewers are always somewhat dubious when one happens across our mailbox. In the case of San Francisco House DJ David Harness, however, things are somewhat different.

His new mix compilation Heartbeat, Volume 1 takes smooth garage house music outside of the clubs and after hours and puts it into a warmer place, the soul. It is this soul that makes him such a skilled manipulator. Harness has selected tracks like Goapele's majestic Closer, Charles Spencer's mighty Even Now and Beady Belle's deep house excursion, Hindsight that swerves from seemingly different directions and converges into a furious eddy of deep underground bliss. He's also included two stellar collaborations with Loveslap founder Charles Spencer (the uplifting Breezy's Groove and the charismatic Tribal Stomp) that not only fit warmly into his set but testify to the fact that Harness knows how to pick songs that strike chords and shuffle feet.

From the opening of Alma Horton's Gimme That Music to the closing notes of Found Love by Blaze, Harness declares with a loud house beat-laden exclamation point that he is in it for the long haul. He is a DJ who uses high hats, tribal thumps and subtle backbeats to get his message that house music is an emotional musical force to be reckoned with. Like the genre itself, Harness is matriculating. As demonstrated with this release, he's gone from being the don of SF house music to an artist who understands how to work a room and really reach an audience. For a DJ there is no better feeling in the world. Heartbeat will undoubtedly introduce many new people to David Harness while thrusting him into the upper echelon of renowned club jocks.
(Rob Levy - Saint Louis Gateway Arts)

House Music is alive and thriving, y'all...
...and here's the proof: Loveslap's new CD series Heartbeat fuses the grit and synthetic sounds of current cutting-edge House with a hefty dose of old-school, earthy Soul. And no contemporary mixologist better embodies this fusion than legendary San Francisco DJ David Harness!

One of the true stewards of the REAL Garage sound on the West Coast and a veteran music maker as well, David is known for his emotional, innovative, rump-shaking DJ sets and studio time for labels like Chez and Loveslap. David was clearly the man for the job here, and his mix on Heartbeat, Volume 1 proves once again he has his finger firmly on the pulse of the groove generation.

DJ David Harness shows exactly why he's considered the don of San Francisco soul, and a top draw of 'those in the know' as he selects songs and tracks from his favorite artists and labels. Any witness to one of his DJ sets would gladly testify that this man knows his house. Highlights include tracks and remixes by Blaze, Alma Horton, DJ Spinna, Franky Boissy, and Loveslap label head honcho Charles Spencer.

Harness' mix moves easily through a wide variety of styles, from radio hit material - the deep house smash "Closer" by Goapele to deep underground house, never losing his creative spark. In true Loveslap form, David Harness draws together organic sound elements and solid musical composition as foundation for this lush and funky mix...
(Hype Sheet - courtesy of Funky Dumpling PR)

Big Club
Nightlife maven Audrey Joseph emerged from retirement in April, opening a new venue: Mezzanine. With avant-garde art, including human sculptures, and foxy fashion shows along with the obligatory state-of-the-art sound and light systems, she and developer-partner Patrick McNerney bring a slightly South of Market space to life as a gallery on weeknights (no-cover art shows on first Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and a dance club on weekends. The balcony offers a view of revelers below, and from the main floor, observers lounging against its railing are mere sexy silhouettes. The best night for serious music lovers is Thursday, when our favorite DJ, David Harness, spins his blend of deep neo-soul and garage house for the congregation. Look for Harness to go experimental, performing with live musicians and pushing the boundaries of the booth.
(San Francisco Magazine)

DJ Inferno
These days, pop music's true stars aren't rockers but spin masters, creating wild new sounds with vinyl and iMacs instead of guitars.

One of the best parties in the city is the EndUp's Sunday T-Dance, where DJ David Harness spins house music that borrows heavily from soul and gospel. Starting at 5 a.m., it's half detoxifying all-night clubbers and half electronic-music aficionados who are "going to church." With his shaved head, pudge, and T-shirts with the sleeves cut off, Harness is the "preacher," giving the congregation music that heals what ails ya.
(San Francisco Magazine)

If you are ever in San Francisco...
...and you really want to experience the vibe of House Music to its fullest potential, David Harness is one Artist that will satisfy all of your dancing needs. Spinning in some of SF's best clubs, and also around the globe, he shares his emotions through the music he plays to packed dancefloors each and every week. People in SF know this man for his skills behind the decks and now the rest of the world can expereince his magic with a new CD on the infamous LoveSlap label.
(Selekta.com)

David Harness Stands by House
The past year has been rough for Toronto dance music promoters, but the slump isn't just a local phenomenon. All over the world, club attendance and record sales are down, in part due to growing economic uncertainty, but also because of shifting trends.

San Francisco-based soulful jazzy house DJ David Harness isn't worried, though. He sees what's going on as a part of the natural evolution of the scene.

"A lot of people have been saying that house music is dead in the States, but it's not. It's just gone back to its true form, which is the underground," Harness explains from his Bay Area home. "Now the real heads, the ones who want to hear passion and pain, can go and frolic, instead of having people filling the clubs who don't appreciate it."

Harness has the distinction of being one of the few DJs playing soulful vocal house to a dedicated gay crowd. While the gay dance scene in general has moved toward the harder, trance-inspired circuit sound, Harness has maintained a relationship with his local queer community. He's also watched his crowd change so now a lot more straight faces appear on the dance floor. Either way, he's happy as long as they're there for the right reasons.

"I still have a huge gay following, but also a strong straight following, and I love that. That's the best type of vibe. You want to be someplace where it's just people who appreciate music. I don't necessarily want to be in a room that's all men, although I like that. I get a lot of girls out these days -- I'm a gay man, but if I were straight, I'd be real happy. I'd be getting into a lot of trouble, but I'd be real happy," he laughs.

Harness has been a major force in San Francisco's house scene for the past 10 years, DJing in clubs regularly as well as bringing his sound to the airwaves through a well-loved but now defunct radio show called Yo Mama's House, which had a successful five-year run.

Dance music in general has had a hard time fitting into radio, especially in the U.S. Harness feels his sound could be integrated into a hiphop and R&B format -- it has similar roots -- but acknowledges that house music is a bit of a tough sell to black audiences these days.

"Back when house was first coming out of New York and Chicago, it wasn't hitting everywhere else the same way. The way it was pushed and marketed then on the West Coast, we didn't think of it as house music, we just thought they were R&B records. But today a lot of the black kids here don't realize that house music is part of their culture. It's kind of sad, really."

Harness is currently touring to promote his new mix CD, Loveslapped Vol. 2, a fun, groovy mix of deep and jazzy house featuring some of the biggest names in the genre, as well as a couple remixes and productions of his own. He can barely contain his excitement over bringing his sound to new dance floors and is especially thrilled to be making his first appearance in Toronto.

"I'm so nervous. I've played numerous times in Vancouver and I've played Montreal, but I've always wanted to play Toronto because I've been told that Toronto loves its house music. I just wish I were going there in the summer."
(Benjamin Boles - NOW Magazine Online - 2002)

After Dark - Viva The Grit
Anyone seen a god on the dance floor lately? If you have, chances are you're either dead and working it with the legendary Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan up in disco heaven, or you've been spending a lot of time in tiny local sweatboxes, avoiding the trance and progressive house weekend masses. That said, a very fierce, cutely dressed god gets his groove on Tuesday nights in the Mission at a club called Taboo, where the mostly black, gay crowd knows how to party like it's 2001 - mainly because it is.

Tuesday night at Taboo may be too packed and steamy for your typical Marina set, but who really cares? Taboo promoter and DJ David Harness plays the deepest, sweetest garage, made for people who like to sing in the shower and shake their hips to a bpm that doesn't rely on an ounce of crystal meth for inspiration. Here the devoted dancers know the music well, have a background in disco, and thus understand where dance music - and therefore clubbing - comes from. And as ultimate proof that this crowd is filled with love, David can turn off the sound in the middle of his set and leave the crowd belting out lyrics ecstatically. I'll bet you a dime bag that this sense of euphoria is not pharmaceutically induced. Taboo is all about the simple, clean purity of getting dirty among strangers to gritty, real music, not ephemeral, funkless tracks.

For these reasons, I think Taboo is the Bay Area's best house club. Not because it's the biggest club, the most exclusive, the most profitable, or the best dressed. Here it comes down to that elusive, annoying little phrase of which clubbers never seem to tire: the vibe. Ugh. As much as I'd like to avoid clichés, there's just no other way to describe it.

But substitute the music at David's night with any other quality sound, and you have another top-notch club - as long as you keep that musically informed level of underground sophistication. And if you keep the Taboo price ($3), it's even better. Times are rough, and although some of us may have $20 to spend just to watch suburban strippers in cowboy hats get off to boring Muzak, there's really no reason to do it. If that's the scene you want, you're much better off going to the Mitchell Brothers' O'Farrell Theater for an extra 10 bones.
(Amanda Nowinski - San Francisco Bay Guardian - 2001)