Hardee (The Seeds)

Name: Mohammad Shuhardi Mat Salleh
Born: 8th May, 1978 (Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei)

Profile: He is a Bruneian musician, composer, a talented guitarist and the co-author of 'Master Class Fingers - Guitar Finger Workouts' book. He is a self taught guitarist, notably known for his acoustic guitar works in the famous duo-group "The Seeds". A person who appreciates all genres of music from classical songs, folk songs, Jazz and his love in arts. He is also a fan of collecting action-figures and love animals (mainly reptiles).

History: His love in music aroused after the influence of his cousins, which made his interest bloom in guitar but he did not take it seriously due to lack of instruments and guidance. At the age of 14, his grandfather bought him a used Vision electric guitar with a Marshall amplifier; it was his first electric guitar. He got bored with the electric guitar and stop playing for 12 months. After that period of time, he bought his first acoustic guitar (an Aria Pro) with his own earnings.

In 1996, after watching live stage performance in high school, he was determined to take guitar seriously, and learned the art of finger style, slapping, tapping and percussion just at the age of 18. In 2004, he met a fellow Filipino musician named Ronee Miclat aka Rosli (he was a former music teacher at Yamaha Music School in Philippines), Ronee was responsible in guiding Hardee's path in his music career.

While under Ronee's music guidance, Hardee was given an assignment to form his own band and ended meeting with a local songwriter Eswandee Salim, who later told him, that vocalist Dillah Othman was vacant and also looking to form a new band. At that time, there was an upcoming songwriting contest for '2006 Father's Day'. With chemistry for the both of them (Hardee and Dillah) they formed "Dil & Hardee" and entered the contest with the song 'Mahkota Hati', composed by Eswandee.

In 2006, they changed their name to "The Seeds" and released their EP album 'Rahsia Hati' which made them famous in the local music scene and East Malaysia. Another song from the album 'Kau Tetap Milikku' was fully arranged by Hardee. With these songs, "The Seeds" had received various of awards including 'Best Duo-group' and 'Song of the Year 2007'. In 2007, "The Seeds" was officially an ambassador for 'Brunei Darussalam National Association of the Blind (BDNAB)' and 'Kau Tetap Milikku' was the #1 song for Kristal FM 'Top 300 songs'.

In 2008, "The Seeds" decided to experiment with new sounds and new environment for the upcoming album, with the help of a new composer named I-Sam (who composed 'Cerita Aku dan Dia'), the single 'Cerita Aku dan Dia' burst to the charts at #1 for 11 weeks. In this album Hardee have started to composed a few songs. This album sold couple of thousand copies with high demands from local music stores and won them 'Best Duo-group' for the second time and was nominated for 'Best song of the Year 2008'.

Early in 2009, "The Seeds" went on hiatus, after Hardee went on to experiment more sounds and seeking a way to express himself with his own music, he managed to collaborate with a young and talented Chinese singer named Peipei, and formed a side-project band named "Hardee & Peipei" which released an English song 'Perfect' and a Malay song 'Cinta Kita' and went for a tour. Due to this commitments, Hardee was unable to attend any interviews and performances with vocalist Dillah for "The Seeds". In between those time, Hardee was also in the process of publishing his first guitar book entitle 'Master Class Fingers - Guitar Finger Workouts' with the help of his fellow friend Jun Cesar, the book took half a year to finish and was sold thousands of copies.

Recently, Hardee is compiling new materials and composing some new songs for their upcoming "The Seeds" new album, and he is looking forward to publish a new book - this upcoming book will focus mainly in guitar techniques and compilations of songs from local folk songs to international songs. He also hopes that one day, he could bring local music scene to an international success.

Influences: Brian McKnight, Tuck Andress, Metallica, MYMP, Bryan Adams, Tommy Emmanuel and Jason Mraz

Axology: Crafter CT125/n acoustic guitar, Ovation guitars (model Idea and 1778tx elite), Takamine egs-430sc, Taylor 314ce and Yamaha ntx700 acoustic guitar

Signature song(s): Biarlah Tetap Rahsia - The Seeds (Rahsia Hati, 2008) and Perfect - Hardee & Peipei (2009)

Link(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnJqfnWwGf4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQxkl1Cx05o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycEGoo9aHKE