The story of Hazard
In December 2009, Hazard began when four high school students from Luton Town got together through having similar tastes in music and an interest in the local music scene. Hazard then went through a phase of intensive song writing, with some creative direction exploration and a few lineup changes between open mic night performances at the Hat Factory during 2010. Hazard started playing their first official gigs in early 2011 with the lineup of founders Conor Hussey and Josh Murphy alongside drummer Joe Smith who joined in May 2010. After building up their reputation with high energy shows, they started to obtain slots at local festivals, all dayers and started climbing up the bills from opening to main support.
In September 2012 it was the first time Hazard played in London. They would perform alongside bands such as Anti Pasti, Infra Riot, Discharge, Menace and
Peter & The Test Tube Babies in the first "The London Punk Festival" at 229. Despite this being their first appearance in London and their time slot just so happened to clash with Discharge, Hazard managed to pack the room full of people despite being the youngest band on the night.
The Hazard E.P. was released about a month after the London Punk Festival and was highly credited with good press from local reviews and critics. With tracks such as ‘Own Worst Enemy’ and ‘Paint My Heart Black’ it’s not surprising people had said great things about the E.P. like: “It’s so good to see a band going back to the punk roots with an authentic sound and an ear for a true punk anthem”.
At the beginning of 2012, Hazard recorded their first single, titled 'Machine' at Latent Lemon Audio. However, the nature of the recording process and raw sound they were going for allowed them to record their first self titled E.P. as well. The recording took 2 days to complete 6 songs. Prior to the release, a number of local headline shows were played including a sell out show at Esquires in Bedford on May 4th (which was an achievement considering it was held in the small night club stage at the same time The Quireboys were playing on the main stage of the venue).
'Machine' was released in the summer, when Hazard performed at the ‘Love Luton’ Festival, coinciding with the arrival of the Olympic torch passing through Luton to open the London 2012 Olympic games. It just so happened to pass next to the stage on Market Hill as Hazard finished their set.
In 2014, after taking a considerable step back from playing live in the previous year to focus on their collective education and to craft new music, Hazard recorded their first DIY album Nothing Changes with Latent Lemon Audio, had a sell out release show for the debut album, performed for the first time at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool; the worlds biggest independently run punk and alternative festival, played 3 Chords Festival in Cornwall; the top independent punk festival in the South West of England (which they must of liked them as Hazard ended up playing both days of the festival!), performed at Bladefest in Leicester and finishing off the year with a performance the legendary 100 Club
in London; which would later be released as a live CD.
Over the years Hazard managed to perform and support some of the best artists on the scene such as:
The Damned, Sham 69, UK Subs,The Dickies, Ed Tenpole Tudor, TV Smith, GBH, Killing Joke, Stiff Little Fingers,
The Last Resort, Subhumans, The Restarts, Wonk Unit, The Lurkers, The Vibrators, The Smoking Hearts, Roughneck Riot, UK Decay, Vice Squad, Radkey, Dinosaur Pileup, Inner Terrestrials, Infa Riot, The Skints, Menace, Discharge,
Peter & The Test Tube Babies, The Members (with Rat Scabies), Goldblade and many, many more!!