Hirsh Gardner
Raised in a small Canadian town, drummer Hirsh Gardner came to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, where he studied for four years. He joined Fat Back with keyboardist Jimmy Waldo in 1973, played with Waldo and guitarists Gary Shea and John Fannon in the bands Berkshire and Target and in 1976 the four became New England.
NEW ENGLAND, WARRIOR
A showcase for KISS manager Bill Aucoin led to attention from numerous record labels and, after a bidding war, they signed with Infinity/MCA; Paul Stanley of KISS produced their debut album. The disc included the Fannon-penned “Don’t Ever Wanna Lose Ya,” which became a national hit and they toured as both a headliners and an opener for KISS, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Journey, Styx and others. New England recorded two more albums, Explorer Suite and Walking Wild (produced by Mike Stone and Todd Rundgren, respectively) before disbanding in 1983. Soon after the split, Gardner received a call from Gene Simmons, KISS’ bass-playing tongued wonder, who connected him with guitarist Vinnie Vincent. Together they formed Warrior and brought in Waldo and Shea.
PRODUCTION PROJECTS, SOLO ALBUMS
The band was short-lived since Vincent soon joined KISS, and Gardner began producing numerous acts in New England. His experience working with Stone, Stanley and Rundgren proved to be invaluable and he was named Producer of the Year in a Boston Phoenix poll in 1997, nominated for a Boston Music Award for Producer of the Year five times (winning in 1998) and has been sought out by numerous record companies to produce metal acts including Mass, Axminster, Shyboy, 8084 and Vice.
In 2002, Gardner recorded his first solo album, Wasteland for Broken Hearts, on GB Music in the US, Marquee Avalon in Japan and MTM in Europe. In 2014, New England reformed and in 2015 they cut their first single in decades, “I Know There’s Something Here” b/w a re-recording of “Conversation,” a song taken from Explorer Suite. In 2017, the band played several shows in Japan and Gardner was working on his second solo outing, My Brain Needs A Holiday.
(by A.J. Wachtel)
