No sweat, Hard-Fi are back and finally enjoying the road but struggling to deal with social media. The Staines quartet have a new single out ahead of their first album in 15 years.
Staines’ finest Hard-Fi are gearing up for their first album in 15 years, but struggling to adapt to a world obsessed with screens.
The band explored the plight of a disaffected generation living under surveillance on classic LP, Stars Of CCTV.
Years later that anxiety has transferred to phones and Hard-Fi’s latest single, They Ain’t Your Friends laments social media’s fakery.
Frontman Richard Archer explains, “The world has changed in how you do things since we last put out an album.
“There’s this feeling of ‘you’ve got to be on the socials, you’ve got to have content’.
“A friend with a band I know had loads of followers, but then no one would turn up to their gigs and you were sort of going, well how much of this is real? What’s real, what isn’t, who’s genuinely got your back and who hasn’t?
“Even more so with AI, do you even know if you’re watching a real person talking to a real person? There’s a bit of feeling lost amongst this whole orgy of numbers and whether it actually means anything.”
Hard-fi have already issued an excellent EP since returning in 2022, but recording a full album, Sweating Someone Else’s Fever felt vital.
“I’ve always loved writing songs and mucking around in a recording studio,” says Rich. “Even though it is a very new world, some things still hold true, and if you want to get people to notice you and say, ‘oh, what are you guys up to?’ You’ve got to have an album.
“People are still buying the whole idea of albums and in doing it, the stuff like doing the artwork, getting a test pressing for the vinyl copy, it’s fun.”
The new album arrives June 19 and it’s a typically eclectic affair.
“There’s a couple of tunes that are a bit more introspective, probably the closest we’ll get to a ballad and electronic stuff, a mix of things,” ponders Rich. “Our first album was a mix of things. It sort of hung together once we recorded it.
“They’re all different styles but we try and do it tongue in cheek and a beat you can throw a few shapes to. So it’s not complete depressing!”
Hard-Fi play headline sets at Stockton Calling, Y Not Festival and Victorious among a busy summer schedule, followed by their own tour in December.
“We had this great time back in the day, but one of the things we didn’t do was just stop and look around and enjoy the ride a bit,” says Rich. “Because we’d always be told, ‘oh, this big, so-and-so is coming, don’t screw up’. As the gigs got bigger you were always sort of on high alert. So now we just go out and enjoy it.”
And things will be a little more sedate backstage too. “We all have families, my kids are 8 and 11,” he reveals. “Steve, the drummer has a 19 month old girl so It’s not like we’re just always around and always ready to go.
“We have to actually plan and families come first. Saying that it’s quite nice going on tour and finally get a bit of peace and quiet, maybe a good night’s kip for two weeks. What happened!?”
A good night’s kip is hard to beat.
They Ain’t Your Friends is out now as are tickets for Hard-Fi’s December shows.
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