Career
As a teenager, Hartman played both guitar and keyboards on a tour of Japan with Richard Hell & the Voidoids. He then went on to form Sammy with Luke Wood (where Hartman co-wrote, sang, and played guitar and keyboards), releasing Debut Album (1994), Kings of the Inland Empire (1995) and Tales of Great Neck Glory (1996). He then went on to form the rock/electro group Laptop in 1997, releasing an European Parliament, End Credits, in 1997, followed by the single "Gimme The Nite" in 1998.
"End Credits" was well received by the British music press (notably NME), and garnered airplay on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 1"s Evening Session.
The song used samples of Hartman"s ex-girlfriend"s answering machine. The Laptop single Nothing to Declare spent one week at #74 in the United Kingdom Singles Chart in June 1999.
Hartman was then signed to a recording contract by Island Records and released two singles ("Nothing to Declare" and "I"m So Happy You Failed", both in 1999), before leaving the label due to mounting pressures for him to release his album. He eventually joined Trust Maine Records and released the albums Opening Credits (2000), The Old Maine versus
The New You (2001), and Don"t Try This At Home (2003).
He is now also a consultant and filmmaker for the musician"s resource Musician.com. A website also mentioned a film adaptation of the album Don"t Try This At Home.
