We talk with Hard-Fi about their return to the studio, and why Nottingham rocks

Despite the name of their upcoming EP, Don’t Go Making Plans, the Hard-Fi lads have been busy ahead of their return to our stages and our speakers. Ten years since their last release has only fuelled that indie indulgence for the working man’s dance music and a surprise tour last year teased the two-tone poetic plea for more. Hard-Fi will once again take to the Rock City stage near the end of November, armed with a setlist of nostalgic modernity. But was a concrete comeback always the case for the band? 

“There wasn’t that much planning, I'll be honest with you.” Reassurance in the form of spontaneity is perhaps a microcosm of the band’s initial blow-up: Richard Archer is as honest as he is humble.

“Really, it’s going back to lockdown and how everyone was doing livestreams from their kitchen. I'd done a couple myself and enjoyed it—I did the whole of Stars of CCTV acoustically and it got a really nice reaction! A lot of love, and I didn’t know if anyone was going to tune in, so that was a nice feeling."

“From there, it seemed like an obvious case of asking the guys if we should do something," Archer continues. “We did a one-off show, that gig turned into a tour; a year later we’ve got new material and a new run of shows.” 

Archer says that the band has been “privileged to be able to do it all again”. And, now that the reunion has been in full swing on all fronts, from the live performing aspect touring last year to the writing aspect with the upcoming release, they realised they actually quite missed doing it.

“Initially, there was a bit of feeling like, ‘Is everyone really into this?’ but honestly, there was no tension getting back into the studio. No angst of people pulling their weight when actually we’re just in a room like we used to be and having fun. A lot of the songs we’ve played that many times—of course they were a bit ragged round the edges—we know them backwards. Everyone is in a really good place. We’ve got only good feelings.” 

That good feeling translates throughout their ardent fanbase, still enthused by good old-fashioned fuzzy guitars and the anthemic energy that comes with their music. A hiatus brings with it a mix of returning fans and a younger demographic to appeal to, and so the question remains: how do you manage to repurpose the 'Hard-Fi sound' into a new age without rehashing those ‘00s nuggets of noise?

“Quite by accident really,” Archer reckons. “On the EP, there’s a track written 10 years ago intended to be for a fourth Hard-Fi album and then there's some brand new ones...it was a case of, ‘Let’s take this and try and make it new’."  

I ask why the titular lead song Don’t Go Making Plans—a punchy, plosive number in terms of musicality and message—was released as the first single.

“I came up with the groove first and wanted to counteract that happiness with a heavy lyric. That feeling of having a government who didn't give a s*** about making the lives of ordinary people happy and carving stuff up for their mates. There's a line in that song: ‘Too broke to eat/Nowhere to dance’ and it’s my annoyance at how the clubs and music venues of my hometown are all closed down now...all that culture and those small venues have disappeared.”

With nostalgia as the focal point of the conversation, Archer looks back on the band’s initial rise to fame and their frequent passing throughs of Nottingham with a hindsight weary fondness. 

“Nottingham people just want to have a good time. It’s a brilliant city. The drums for Watch Me Fall Apart were recorded in Rock City, actually! There’s no airs and graces about it, Nottingham rocks!" 

“My only hardship with the city is that I was supposed to see Nirvana at the iconic venue and for whatever reason... all of my mates said they weren’t going, and I should’ve just gone by myself, but I was 16 and I didn’t think that was cool. To this day, I regret it.”

Experiencing this second wind nearly 20 years after their debut album has refigured the need to make the most of everything. Archer is adamant that they just want to make good music and have fun.

“I wish we’d enjoyed the band a bit more. The band I was previously in, the label got bought out and the album we’d made never got out there; with Hard-Fi, there was a feeling that you don’t often get two goes at this. Constantly thinking ‘I can’t screw this up’ and ‘I’ve got to get everything right’ - we put a lot of pressure on ourselves.” 

A staple motif of Hard-Fi's sound has always been that they’re not trying to make a radio record or hit—instead they’re “just tracks you can put on and maybe throw a few shapes to”. But you come to realise how embedded Hard-Fi are within our playlists and our live circuits. 

“If we’d stopped and had a bit more time to look around at how amazing it was,”  Archer muses. “It was incredibly exciting. It still is incredibly exciting.”

Hard-Fi will perform at Rock City on 23rd November 2024.