Hard-Fi

5,187,504 plays (343,458 listeners)

indie, indie rock, rock, alternative, british… see all

Staines, Surrey (2003 – present)

Hard-Fi are a English indie rock band formed in Staines, Surrey in 2003. The band’s continual members have been Richard Archer (vocals), Kai Stephens (bass guitar), Ross Phillips (guitar) and Steve Kemp (drums). Staines is a suburban location 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Central London that has significantly influenced their musical style and lyrics.

Hard-Fi achieved chart success with their third single, “Hard to Beat” and then followed by other successful singles such as “Cash Machine” and “Living for the Weekend”, which all reached top 15 in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album Stars of CCTV was released on 4 July 2005, and although receiving critical acclaim (NME called it album of the year and was nominated for the Mercury Prize and two BRIT Awards, Best British Group and Best British Rock Act), it didn’t reach #1 in the UK albums chart until six months later on 22 January 2006. It originally peaked at number 6. The band’s second album, Once Upon a Time in the West, was released on 3 September 2007 and reached number 1 in its first week.

They are generally considered part of the indie rock scene, alongside bands such as Franz Ferdinand and have often been compared to a modern version of The Clash.

1	Suburban Knights	2,600
2	Living for the Weekend	1,689
3	Hard to Beat	1,413
4	Gotta Reason	1,360
5	Better Do Better	1,347
6	Cash Machine	1,344
7	Stars of CCTV	1,139
8	Unnecessary Trouble	1,077
9	Feltham Is Singing Out	1,054
10	Can't Get Along (Without You)	743
11	Tied Up Too Tight	715
12	I Shall Overcome	633
13	Move on Now	595
14	Middle Eastern Holiday	578
15	Watch Me Fall Apart	520

Top Albums

'Once Upon A Time In The West'
Hard-Fi
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Stars Of CCTV
Hard-Fi
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Once Upon A Time In The West
Hard-Fi
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Cash Machine EP
Hard-Fi
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Jayarcea wrote:
5 hours ago

The biggest problem with this band is Richard Archer. On record he sounds alright, but live he's fucking aefull. He absolutely cannot sing. A shame because they a pretty decent sound and their lyric's, whilst not exactly Wordsworth, are pretty good. But Archers voice live is fucking painfull.

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ih8higginst wrote:
Tuesday morning

lamest band ever

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Ninas_creep wrote:
Sunday afternoon

i'm longing to see them live...they should come to vienna or somewhere near slovakia so i can make a trip....both albums are great...the second is not terrible but it's just work more like a unit and the first one has many alone standing singles...ehm, i better go improve my english somewhere:D

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checkdigits wrote:
Sunday morning

"Stars of CCTV" is a superb album for this grossly under-rated group. They did a cover disc for Mixmag (which was mixed by their tour DJ) a while back called "Hometown Hard-fi" which was equally brilliant which such eclectic choices as a jungle version of Billy Brag's New England, Ready to Uff by Uffie and The Fallen by Franz Ferdinand. A great group.

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Timbo93 wrote:
Sunday morning

http://www.last.fm/music/Weekend+Revolutionaries/Trouble+in+Paradise

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supersara2001 wrote:
last month

Absolutely LOVE 'I Close My Eyes', 'Television' and of course, 'Hard to Beat' :)

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he-war wrote:
last month

suburban knights is awesome

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im00n wrote:
last month

(:

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NiceMess wrote:
last month

loves it.

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xxkikamachu wrote:
last month

feltham is singing out (Y)

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theteddypicker wrote:
last month

Amazing band

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Aardvarked wrote:
last month

And their second album is fucking fantastc

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Aardvarked wrote:
last month

I encourage all users to join http://www.last.fm/group/Anti-BNP and try to expose the BNP's intolerance and racism.

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Butterman wrote:
last month

second album is so terrible :-!

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cbo_fm wrote:
last month

Check out CONDUCTED BY OVERKILL

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Robdk wrote:
last month

Soon to be seen playing on the undercard at an Ordinary Boys concert in a leisure centre in Stevenage.

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braylord wrote:
July 2008

I bloody love this band. Ricky Dicky Archer's lyrics speak to me like no other as a youth in the city. I come from London and like going out on the lash but often worry about the impact of Closed Circuit television so you can imagine my empathy with their songs. The song I want played at my funeral is Living For The Weekend cos I bloody love having it large

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tomas_g92 wrote:
July 2008

little angel is amazing.

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jamy_za wrote:
July 2008

First album > all

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xoxsaramarie wrote:
July 2008

suburban knights is amazing.

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