EXCLUSIVE: ‘They Only Covered The Negative’: Harts Addresses Retirement Rumours

Aussie virtuoso Harts has clarified retirement rumours that began circulating after his infamous Bluesfest set back in April.

The singer-songwriter smashed his guitar on stage in frustration, before issuing a statement online that cited 10 years worth of rejection, failures, and unachieved goals as the trigger, all while news outlets were reported it might have been his final show.

Speaking with The Music, the man behind the moniker, Darren Hart, said he never had any intention of retiring from music.

"I said, 'There's still two albums to come,' but nobody covered that," Hart said of his onstage Bluesfest comments.

"They only covered the negative, which was a shame."

Hart clarified he's only ever considered hanging up his moniker.

"Now, as I'm opening up my musical palette in a way I wanna start collaborating with other artists," he said.

"I also wanna start releasing music without me as the vocalist on it. So that leads to the whole discussion of, well, if I'm not the vocalist - or the featured artist on it - is it still a Harts project?... I dunno yet, I'm still working that out."

Read more:

• Harts Signs Worldwide Publishing Deal
• Harts Addresses Smashing 'Beloved' Guitar At Bluesfest & Hints At Retirement
• Why Harts' Famous Meet-up With Prince Was A 'Blessing & A Curse'

Hart has previously collaborated with Joey Bada$$, playing guitar in the rapper/producer/actor's band to perform his single, Temptation, and a Prince 'cover', When Thugs Cry, for triple j's Like A Version.

"I've been talking to artists like Joey Bada$$ about doing some old-school, funk-induced hip hop and stuff like that…and I wanna get into that." 

Hart also said Harts is too often categorised solely as "a rock'n'roll guitar project", which, he stressed, "it was never s'posed the be".

"To break out of that I think I need to move out of the name Harts and do something else," he said.

"And maybe come back to it. But, for now, actually, I'm excited to move past it."

Earlier this week, Harts announced an exclusive worldwide publishing deal with Embassy Music Publishing and a headline Melbourne gig for next month.

Check out theGuide for all the details.