Submitted by: philipkovacs

The enigmatic Hardway Brothers consist of Jake Davies, mysterious South Londoner Rico and Sean Johnston. Of these three members Sean Johnston has the only available bio (included below). They cite their influences as House, Balearic, Techno and Acid House. They make and remix records in all of the above genres.

Sean began his DJing career at Hull's notorious Welly Club playing a mixture of early Chicago House, Indie obscurities and Hip-Hop. A move to London in '88 saw him involved in promoting parties at the infamous Clink St Studios, where the young Johnston met the likes of Steve Proctor and Andrew Weatherall. Steve invited him to play at his revered 'Promised Land' night at the Fitness Centre. This lead to a long association and residency at Proctor's nights 'Better Days' and 'Disco Universe' over the next few years. During this time Sean was also a resident at both the rave mecca Club UK and the Leisure Lounge.

By 1993, Sean's tastes were evolving to more underground techno sounds, forming Flash Faction alongside his buddies Rich Johnstone and Jake Davies (later engineer to William Orbit, Bjork and Madonna). They soon became signed to Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise label and surreally, in the space of two weeks, the band were interviewed in the Melody Maker, NME, and The Face. After a DJ gig at the seminal Sabresonic, Sean's DJing (a high octane mixture of Detroit Techno and tracky Chicago numbers) was in high demand and residencies all over London and notably at Sean McCluskey's 'Complex' followed. Aside from London gigs Sean was guesting at clubs across Europe and running his own label Flashcomm.

More recently Sean's tastes have diversified and his current sets take in Disco, Balearic, House and a fair sprinkling of techno. In recent years he has become involved with Trackwerk (the online mix hosting collective) and has proved to be a reliable stand-in for Bill Brewster on Ministry of Sound Radio. He has sat in many times for Bill's long running show 'The Far Side' and proved himself to be an entertaining radio presenter.

Recent DJing includes a memorable session on the roof of the Downtown Standard Hotel in LA, the Tate Gallery St Ives, a raucous party in a Bristol Pub for influential bloggers TAPE, warming up for Weatherall at East Village and a sold out Disco Bloodbath with JG Wilkes of Optimo. Sean has recently secured a residency at James Baillie's new venture Future Flash at soon to open London club Cable which will see him developing his Acid Disco sound.