Hard Fi is one of the hottest UK bands right now. Their album Hard Fi is a best selling album over there right now and they are poised to do the same in American with their single and video of Cash Machine. The band is made up of Richard Archer, Ross Philips, Kai Stephens and Steve Kemp. I got a chance to talk with their frontman Richard Archer.
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Daniel Robert Epstein: Whats going on today?
Richard Archer: Were currently on the bus driving through the New Mexico desert on our way to Tempe, Arizona.
DRE: How do you like touring in the US?
RA: Its cool. Its like driving through a big movie set and everyone seems to be up for it. Obviously the girls are beautiful. You just cant complain. But we just stopped at a Flying J truck stop and the food is questionable.
DRE: So the Cash Machine video, is that X-rated for real?
RA: Theres a couple girls dancing around with their tits out. If thats X-rated then it is. But its nothing you wouldnt see on at 9 pm on the telly. Theres no hardcore action going on but I dont know why they defined it as X-rated. Theres actually three videos for Cash Machine. Theres the first video we ever made for like 200 pounds or $300. We jumped over the fence at the Heathrow Airport and set all our gear up underneath the flight path where the planes come in to land. Thinking about it now its fucking stupid. We couldve got a bullet in the head from a SWAT team. But we got away with it. When we re-released the single in the UK, we made an expensive video. It was a bit like Zoolander. Then we went and made another one for mobile phones.
DRE: So none of you guys are doing any of the old in/out, in/out on the video?
RA: [laughs] No, not yet. You never know. Plenty of time for all that.
DRE: The albums doing insanely well in the UK. Did that surprise you guys?
RA: Yes and no. At the moment its number one but only for another couple of days. The Arctic Monkeys debut has come out and its doing really well. We always believed in our music. We always thought it would stand up against anything else out there. But theres so many obstacles with your band actually getting somewhere. If a year ago you had said to me that we would have had a number one album, Mercury-nominated, Brit-nominated, top ten single, sold out tour, tour in the States, playing with on stage with The Specials, we wouldve just thought it was a million, million miles away. I would've thought you were probably drunk. The toughest problem is getting the right people to hear the album. You have to get through all the people who basically dont want you to do well. You dont have the right haircut. You dont have the right look. You have to get through all those sorts of people before you get to the men and women, on the street who are just like you and me who have experienced the same things that we sing about.
DRE: Im from the suburbs like you guys and your press materials say youre a product of your environment but I dont know if that made me appreciate the music more.
RA: That just means that in many ways where we were from may influence the sound of the record. It influenced the fact that we ever made the record in the first place. You cant have a night out in London without staying there all night and then leaving your job because you turned up late and pissed. Youre cut off from a lot of the music scene. We would play any kind of music just to play in certain places. We would play Blondie next to Run DMC next to Massive Attack next to Beyonces Crazy in Love next to reggae next to soul next to punk. That ended up being the sound of the album. Secondly in the suburbs, because theres nothing to do, you got do something and making music was the only thing I knew. In many ways it was the crushing boredom of living that gives you the drive to get down to the studio.
DRE: Earlier today I talked to a much less popular band than you guys. They were saying that even though the producer that they worked with was really amazing and got the best stuff out of them but if you dont hate your producer by the time youre done working with him, then he didnt do his job. How was it working with Wolsey White?
RA: We were actually mates beforehand. We never set out going Weve got to make this record. Its got to be a number one album. We were just messing about having fun. Its still like that. Before this album we made a mini album, which we put out ourselves. Woolsey did that for love. Wed have production meetings down at the pub. Thats always conducive to a good time. When it all kind of got serious, we kept that feeling going on. Me and him sit down now over a beer and just burst out laughing because we cant believe that this record that we made, that we mixed driving round in his tiny little car is now number one in the charts. We just fall about laughing. Its just ridiculous.
DRE: When I popped Stars of CCTV into Google, besides references to your album, I found this The Austrian government passed a law last year allowing police to install closed circuit surveillance cameras in public spaces without a court order. Had you heard about that at all?
RA: I havent, no. But CCTV is everywhere in the UK. We thought it was the same round the rest of the world but not in the States. Its spreading, especially since more and more laws are being passed. Its a cheap means of keeping an eye on things. My only problem with it is that its always too late. You always see things after theyve happened. You never get to the root of the problem and preempt it. Its always like Oh, its happened now, but we can go and try and catch the people whove done it or work out what happened. Its always a sticking plaster rather than a solution.
DRE: What made you guys decide to call the album that?
RA: Because it worked on a couple of levels. Why is it that when you walk through London youre on camera 800 times? Why do we have to have this level of surveillance? It is a little Big Brotherish. At the same time in the UK theres a massive celebrity culture where ordinary people would like to be a celebrity for no reason other than being a celebrity. We have this TV show Big Brother and it seems that people are humiliated just to be a lab rat on telly. I find that sickening. When you walk down the street, youre a star of CCTV.
DRE: Whats it mean to you guys if you make it in the US?
RA: Its a dream of every UK band to do well in America. Right now, were driving through the New Mexico desert just looking out at the landscape. We were in Detroit the other day and we went to the Motown museum. We sat in a studio where all this amazing music has been made. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes among many others that sat in that room making this really cool music. A lot of British bands dont make it. Were prepared that we might not make it, but were going to try. We arent scared of trying. We arent scared of fighting. Were going to give it our best shot.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Stars of CCTV
Daniel Robert Epstein: Whats going on today?
Richard Archer: Were currently on the bus driving through the New Mexico desert on our way to Tempe, Arizona.
DRE: How do you like touring in the US?
RA: Its cool. Its like driving through a big movie set and everyone seems to be up for it. Obviously the girls are beautiful. You just cant complain. But we just stopped at a Flying J truck stop and the food is questionable.
DRE: So the Cash Machine video, is that X-rated for real?
RA: Theres a couple girls dancing around with their tits out. If thats X-rated then it is. But its nothing you wouldnt see on at 9 pm on the telly. Theres no hardcore action going on but I dont know why they defined it as X-rated. Theres actually three videos for Cash Machine. Theres the first video we ever made for like 200 pounds or $300. We jumped over the fence at the Heathrow Airport and set all our gear up underneath the flight path where the planes come in to land. Thinking about it now its fucking stupid. We couldve got a bullet in the head from a SWAT team. But we got away with it. When we re-released the single in the UK, we made an expensive video. It was a bit like Zoolander. Then we went and made another one for mobile phones.
DRE: So none of you guys are doing any of the old in/out, in/out on the video?
RA: [laughs] No, not yet. You never know. Plenty of time for all that.
DRE: The albums doing insanely well in the UK. Did that surprise you guys?
RA: Yes and no. At the moment its number one but only for another couple of days. The Arctic Monkeys debut has come out and its doing really well. We always believed in our music. We always thought it would stand up against anything else out there. But theres so many obstacles with your band actually getting somewhere. If a year ago you had said to me that we would have had a number one album, Mercury-nominated, Brit-nominated, top ten single, sold out tour, tour in the States, playing with on stage with The Specials, we wouldve just thought it was a million, million miles away. I would've thought you were probably drunk. The toughest problem is getting the right people to hear the album. You have to get through all the people who basically dont want you to do well. You dont have the right haircut. You dont have the right look. You have to get through all those sorts of people before you get to the men and women, on the street who are just like you and me who have experienced the same things that we sing about.
DRE: Im from the suburbs like you guys and your press materials say youre a product of your environment but I dont know if that made me appreciate the music more.
RA: That just means that in many ways where we were from may influence the sound of the record. It influenced the fact that we ever made the record in the first place. You cant have a night out in London without staying there all night and then leaving your job because you turned up late and pissed. Youre cut off from a lot of the music scene. We would play any kind of music just to play in certain places. We would play Blondie next to Run DMC next to Massive Attack next to Beyonces Crazy in Love next to reggae next to soul next to punk. That ended up being the sound of the album. Secondly in the suburbs, because theres nothing to do, you got do something and making music was the only thing I knew. In many ways it was the crushing boredom of living that gives you the drive to get down to the studio.
DRE: Earlier today I talked to a much less popular band than you guys. They were saying that even though the producer that they worked with was really amazing and got the best stuff out of them but if you dont hate your producer by the time youre done working with him, then he didnt do his job. How was it working with Wolsey White?
RA: We were actually mates beforehand. We never set out going Weve got to make this record. Its got to be a number one album. We were just messing about having fun. Its still like that. Before this album we made a mini album, which we put out ourselves. Woolsey did that for love. Wed have production meetings down at the pub. Thats always conducive to a good time. When it all kind of got serious, we kept that feeling going on. Me and him sit down now over a beer and just burst out laughing because we cant believe that this record that we made, that we mixed driving round in his tiny little car is now number one in the charts. We just fall about laughing. Its just ridiculous.
DRE: When I popped Stars of CCTV into Google, besides references to your album, I found this The Austrian government passed a law last year allowing police to install closed circuit surveillance cameras in public spaces without a court order. Had you heard about that at all?
RA: I havent, no. But CCTV is everywhere in the UK. We thought it was the same round the rest of the world but not in the States. Its spreading, especially since more and more laws are being passed. Its a cheap means of keeping an eye on things. My only problem with it is that its always too late. You always see things after theyve happened. You never get to the root of the problem and preempt it. Its always like Oh, its happened now, but we can go and try and catch the people whove done it or work out what happened. Its always a sticking plaster rather than a solution.
DRE: What made you guys decide to call the album that?
RA: Because it worked on a couple of levels. Why is it that when you walk through London youre on camera 800 times? Why do we have to have this level of surveillance? It is a little Big Brotherish. At the same time in the UK theres a massive celebrity culture where ordinary people would like to be a celebrity for no reason other than being a celebrity. We have this TV show Big Brother and it seems that people are humiliated just to be a lab rat on telly. I find that sickening. When you walk down the street, youre a star of CCTV.
DRE: Whats it mean to you guys if you make it in the US?
RA: Its a dream of every UK band to do well in America. Right now, were driving through the New Mexico desert just looking out at the landscape. We were in Detroit the other day and we went to the Motown museum. We sat in a studio where all this amazing music has been made. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes among many others that sat in that room making this really cool music. A lot of British bands dont make it. Were prepared that we might not make it, but were going to try. We arent scared of trying. We arent scared of fighting. Were going to give it our best shot.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
Thanks for the interview!
ross is the nicest,kai is cool, my best friend used to work with his mum (kai's) hee hee funny how they've become s big.
good on them