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Hard-Fi - Stars Of CCTV
Hard-Fi’s tale starts off two years ago with front man Richard Archer stuck in the satellite town of Staines, his hometown, but one that he felt completely disenfranchised from. He felt trapped, surrounded by the booming growth of ‘Chav’ youths in the city and violence on a Friday night at throwing out time in and outside the vast array of bland chain pubs and bars the make up the town’s nightlife.
Rather than following the masses in the town and releasing his resentment on someone’s face with a fist or a head butt, he started to channel it into writing songs. A recruitment drive quickly followed as he took on board his old friend Steve Kemp on drums, Ross Phillips the guitarist proved a particularly useful addition, his job in the local hi-fi store giving Archer the chance to listen to his early demo’s on the best sound system. The final piece of the jigsaw was Kai Stephens who didn’t take long to convince that he should quit his job at Rent-O-Kill to pursue the musical dream.
So everything in place the band began to write and record at Cherry Lips studio, a former 24 hour cab office on a bleak industrial estate. It cost them £300 worth of rent and a second hand computer. The end result was a DIY record that was about to blow there lives and career wide open. The 500 copies of the then mini album Stars of CCTV sold out within weeks on forward thinking label Necessary Records, it saw legends like Rick Rubin the US super producer proclaiming it “a landmark record�. That was October 2004.
Nine months later and things have got even better for them, three acclaimed singles on The Beat Surrender website and the world is their musical oyster on the eve of the release of the re-recorded Stars of CCTV album, this time an eleven tracker. Ok I’m joking about the part we’ve played in their success, but as things stand the world really is their musical oyster, they are being built up as the next great British band and have already had two top twenty singles out of the three releases so far. The final hurdle to overcome is for them to release an album thats appeal crosses genres and put them firmly on the map.
Stars of CCTV should be that album. It’s rich in promise and on the whole delivers exactly what you would want from a debut, it’s also because of where it’s come from got enough lyrically for the 15-35 year olds up and down the country to readily associate with the songs. Just like Mike Skinner did last year with his A Grand Don’t Come For Free album, Archer has an urban poeticism about his lyrics with a real attention to detail, it’s the small things that he mentions that you find yourself nodding, or smiling along to.
Musically the band is clearly influenced by the second wave of ska from people like The Beat and The Specials, but they have more in their locker than that. The album, is progressive and of the time, unlike a band like the Ordinary Boys who unashamedly wish they were on stage supporting The Jam in 1979, you can tell that Hard-Fi have lived through the dance music era.
- Hard-Fi
- Stars Of CCTV (2005)
- Category: Album
- Label: Necessary Records
- Reviewed by: Kev
- Published on: 10 Jul 2005
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesThat isn’t to say that this is dance music as you know it, but tracks like the fantastic Tied Up Too Tight and Hard To Beat have a dance-floor sass about them, yes it’s ska influenced indie rock, but just as tracks like Girls and Boys, Common People and any number of New Order songs will appeal to clubbers, so will those two tracks.
The band also have more poignant moments within their armoury as well, Middle Eastern Holiday is about friends who are serving in Iraq at the moment, while Move On Now is a beautifully sullen ballad, very simple with just Richards vocals, keyboards and a cornet courtesy of Zoe Bailey. Lyrically as well it’s not all tales of being cash strapped (Cash Machine), or tales from the Saturday night meat-market, nightclub (Living For The Weekend), Better Do Better is a spleen venting dub anthem about an ex who wants one more chance “Do you think I’m gonna take you back, you’re gonna have to do better than that� he spits. Likewise Feltham is Singing Out is littered with similar venom and sorrow as the wasted years of local lads who’ve ended up in the young offenders institute are lamented.
Britain has produced great bands that can really pinpoint what’s happening in the country at that particular time and just as Terry Hall did with Ghost Town, Mike Skinner did last year, Pulp did in the early nineties, The Jam and The Clash did in the late 70’s, Hard-Fi have documented on record what its like growing up as a young man in 2005. They’ve done it with a great deal of style and confidence though as well, a confidence I’ve seen them take into live performances when they supported the Kaiser Chiefs in April, without doubt the most exciting band in Britain at the moment and a band that look like they can do and be what they want to in the future. I for one want to see them complete the rags to riches story and push on over the next few years and become a great band, something that can only be achieved over time.
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