Special Office Hours: Brian Hardgroove of Public Enemy
Brian Hardgroove playing bass with Public Enemy
Tuesday, June 2 at 12:00 PM US Eastern Time — a special edition of Visibox Office Hours on Discord, with a guest we’re genuinely excited about.
Brian Hardgroove — bassist, drummer, and longtime music director for Public Enemy — is joining us for an open conversation about touring, gear, staging, and the role of visuals in live performance.
I’ll start with a short interview, and then we open the floor to questions from the community.
How we ended up working together
In January, we got to collaborate with Brian at NAMM 2026. He sat down for a live, on-stage interview, and we used Visibox as a kind of visual sample player running off a Stream Deck XL — triggering archival footage, photos, and clips in real time as the conversation moved. When he mentioned producing Slash’s first solo record, up came the photo. When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction came up, we cued the clip. Reactive, improvisational, conversational.
It worked because Brian leaned into it. He’s spent his entire career thinking about how sound, performance, and audience experience fit together. Talking with him about visuals felt less like a demo and more like a jam.
This Office Hours is a chance for the rest of the Visibox community to be part of that conversation.
What we’ll get into
A few of the threads I want to pull on:
- Touring at scale. What it actually looks like to put a band like Public Enemy on stages around the world.
- Gear and signal chains. What Brian travels with, what he relies on, what he’s learned to leave at home.
- Staging and visuals. How visuals function in a Public Enemy show — and where he sees the medium going for artists who aren’t operating at arena scale.
- Performance as conversation. The mindset shift from “playing the show” to listening to the room.
After that, the floor is yours. Bring questions. This is the kind of access that’s hard to come by, and Brian is generous with his time and stories.
Brian’s new project: Freedom
We also want to make some noise about Brian’s brand new band. He’s teamed up with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC and DJ Johnny Juice of Public Enemy to form Freedom — a powergroup bridging genres and generations, blending hip-hop, rock, and messages of unity.
Their debut single, “I’m On Your Side,” is out now:
Hard-hitting, socially conscious, and rooted in the kind of message you’d expect from these three. Go listen. Then come ready to ask Brian about it on June 2.
How to join
When: Tuesday, June 2, 2026 at 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US) Where: The Visibox Discord — voice channel in the Office Hours section Who: Anyone, anywhere. Visibox users span the globe, so check your local time and RSVP on Discord.
Whether you’re running visuals for a stadium tour or figuring out your first projector setup at home, you’re welcome. Come listen, come ask, come hang out.
See you Tuesday.
Not on the Visibox Discord yet? Join here — it’s where our community swaps setups, asks questions, and shares what they’re making.