Like a four-man tank armed with determination, Hard-Fi are bushy-tailed
about what the future has in store for them. “We haven’t got any shame
in saying we’ve got ambition,” say singer Richard Archer. They hope
that in 10 years time they will be ‘driving our gold-plated monogrammed
hovercrafts around.’
Their home town, the deeply urbanised, far west of London – Staines –
has been their love affair when making their debut album Stars of CCTV,
named after the incessant filming we have to put up with on a daily
basis. It is dripping with typically young boredom and frustration.
Like outsiders in society, London not being the most accessible, they
‘had to make their own entertainment’. And it’s probably this isolation
that has made them a band without pretences. “The one thing that set us
apart is that we appeal to the man in the street”. They attack
the ‘small-town mentality’ they’ve had to grow up with in their
punishingly honest lyrics.
“Some band slagged us off…saying ‘they are so boring, all they talk
about is falling in love, having no money, getting your heart broken,
taking a job, wanting to get out of the shit town you’re in, wanting to
go somewhere else, wanting to escape.’ All the things that happen to
everyone at more than one time in their life, all the things that
people can relate to, and you’re like, what the fuck are you talking
about?!”
Citing a kaleidoscope of influences from pop to hip-hop, Hard-Fi have
never been affected by any London scensters living in their ‘cultural
desert’. They wear their heartfelt inspirations on their sleeves; The
Clash and The Specials, but there’s also a surprising array of musical
genres that have stirred and affected them over the years; soul music
from the likes of Sam Cook to Gloria Jones, through reggae forefather
Lee Perry to early house music like Joe Smooth.
Although, trying to scout and recruit members of the band through
adverts in national press, it was an unforeseen phenomena that all the
members were found in Staines. “It was a gang-mentality almost…which I
was really pleased about. It supports a kind of camaraderie,” says
Richard.
“When money is thin on the ground you have to come up with ideas.” For
their first video, the band turned to recidivous temptations and broke
into a Heathrow airport runway to recreate a U2-esque backdrop.
“Heathrow is literally on our doorstep…we got up early, drove down
there (whistling) had a look round, jumped over the fence, we’re
thinking, the best thing we’ll get moved on, arrested, worst
shot…people must have just gone, they must have permission, otherwise,
what the fuck are they doing there?”
Originally recording their album, in what has got to be record
low-budget conditions, Hard-Fi were a band that wanted to get maximum
noise from minimum kit and money. They continue to nurture that
conceptual kinship with their roots. “In the seventies, the punk
rockers had their guitar, and the eighties it was probably the record
deck or the sampler, and now it’s the PC, you can get a cheap PC…and
record your album…you don’t need a major record label to get your music
out there anymore.”
New single ‘Hard to Beat’ is released on the 20th June. The new album ‘Stars of CCTV’ is released on 4th July.
Jenny Pashkova