March 31, 2006
Hard Fi @ Black Cat
Last night DCist ventured to one of our usual haunts to catch the Staines, England four piece, Hard Fi in their first visit to the city. The band's been gaining cred in the UK since the release of Stars of CCTV in 2005; cred that includes a Mercury Music Prize. Their smart, catchy Brit pop, flavored with the hardships of growing up in a "cultural wasteland," has worked its way into heavy iPod rotation on this side of the Atlantic as well. Though the sound was worlds better than the last time I hit the Cat, last night's show didn't live up to the expectations this band's recordings had given me.
Last night, there simply wasn't enough band there to make these guys shine. While front man Richard John Archer is in it to win it, the instrumentals never kicked up enough to provide that surge of energy you expect in a live show. The rest of the band could take a page out of Archer's book and pump up the charisma a bit. The only songs that felt full were the ones that included a back track; which lead me to the conclusion that the band needs to travel with a keyboardist. They need it bad. When the only instrumental standout at your show is a melodica, something needs to be adjusted. Their sound was too sparse to carry most of their songs, and ironically, too full to carry their cover of "Seven Nation Army." As they warmed up to the crowd, and the crowd warmed up to them, the show got some legs to stand on; but all things considered, Hard Fi played an incredibly brief set that left me largely underwhelmed. Call me crazy, but I would have liked to have heard at least 12 songs for my $12 ticket.
The show wasn't a total wash; the crowd was pretty into it, and it wasn't bad. It just wasn't what I expected after almost a year's worth of hype. Perhaps if they shake off the dust a little throughout this U.S. tour, they'll have developed some chops for their next visit to the States. I still recommend picking up their album, or the Cash Machine EP; this band's definitely got something going for it. Unfortunately, their live show last night didn't.
Photo by flickr user timoni
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Compared to The Go! Team, I enjoyed this show a lot more. First off, the sound was light years better than the former show: vocals were clear, instruments crisp and well-mixed. The singers also seemed like they could hear what they were singing, so intonation was very good throughout - important when the band's sound relies on harmonies.
So while I still think that the sound system at the Cat is far from ideal - still could use a treatment from a good sound engineer as far as speaker placement is concerned - Hard-Fi made the best of it and put on a good show for the people who showed up.
Yeah, it was a brief show - they could learn a cover or two to beef up their song list a tad. It's the risk of seeing a band with only one album to its name, but the "bang-for-your-buck" value is lost a bit. However, I didn't feel that the band lacked for energy: they're a well-honed, cohesive unit on stage, and their sound was nice and tight throughout. While I agree that they could use a keyboard player, rather than a click track, they didn't lose much in the translation.
I'd see them again, once they release another album or two.
I'm sorry - was this review a few days late for Arctic Monkeys? Or was it for Hard-Fi? Usually it's unfair to compare two bands' shows, but this one is pretty straight-forward. The tale of the tape - 2 massively hyped, young Clash-inspired rock bands from the London suburbs with #1 debut UK albums, both playing in DC for the first time each within 4 days of each other.
Having seen Arctic Monkeys on SNL a few weeks back, I thought they seemed a bit stiff. No movement, no emotion, no energy. Thought it an off night. Apparently they're always like that. We were lucky to see the bass player take more than two steps around the stage all night at 9:30. Secondly, who plays their hit song second in the playlist? Usually that's reserved for the end of the set or the encore even - which they just left out all together. Again - who does that?
While I whole-heartedly agree that Hard-Fi could have definitely used a keyboard player instead of the background track, they were head-and-shoulders above Arctic Monkeys when it came to their performance. Hard-Fi's singer, drummer, bassist, and guitar player individually encouraged the crowd to get into it with clapping and screaming. While these are tried and true rock 'n roll techniques, they certainly seemed to get the crowd into it.
The sound quality of the AM was better for sure, but then I think you're getting into 9:30's set-up vs. the Black Cat's. But if i just want to listen to great music, i'll just put on the Arctic Monkeys CD.
I'm sorry - was this review a few days late for Arctic Monkeys? Or was it for Hard-Fi? Usually it's unfair to compare two bands' shows, but this one is pretty straight-forward. The tale of the tape - 2 massively hyped, young Clash-inspired rock bands from the London suburbs with #1 debut UK albums, both playing in DC for the first time each within 4 days of each other.
Having seen Arctic Monkeys on SNL a few weeks back, I thought they seemed a bit stiff. No movement, no emotion, no energy. Thought it an off night. Apparently they're always like that. We were lucky to see the bass player take more than two steps around the stage all night at 9:30. Secondly, who plays their hit song second in the playlist? Usually that's reserved for the end of the set or the encore even - which they just left out all together. Again - who does that?
While I whole-heartedly agree that Hard-Fi could have definitely used a keyboard player instead of the background track, they were head-and-shoulders above Arctic Monkeys when it came to their performance. Hard-Fi's singer, drummer, bassist, and guitar player individually encouraged the crowd to get into it with clapping and screaming. While these are tried and true rock 'n roll techniques, they certainly seemed to get the crowd into it.
The sound quality of the AM was better for sure, but then I think you're getting into 9:30's set-up vs. the Black Cat's. But if i just want to listen to great music, i'll just put on the Arctic Monkeys CD.
I agree with the review. The band is quite talented, but they've been touring their, um, arses, off and Richard Archer's voice is shot to shizzle. This band needs SLEEP more than anything. Archer wore his heart on his sleeve, and he was a great frontman. But according to Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard-fi, they were missing their bassist for failure to obtain a visa for shenanigans. Perhaps lacking a critical member of the group had something to do with it. I thought the Monkeys were musically much better. Their frontman isn't Archer, and I think these are two bands whose only similarity is thier nationality. I think the Arctic Monkeys are more like the Strokes than Hard-Fi. So it's really hard to compare. But, the Arctic Monkeys sounded more like the original recording (and performed all instrumentation live). Hard-Fi sounded overtoured, and some of the sonic hooks were just sampled. I agree with Amanda in that having some lad on stage pressing a button on a keyboard to start the sample would be way cooler than having these just added to the main feed from the soundboard.
I totally agree with Marshall. Hard-Fi were much better than the monkeys (and, yeah, the AM's set list was a mess! i was glad they opted not to do an encore - but then again, they didn't really have much unplayed material and no new tunes). It wasn't a bad show, but it wasn't great either.
I was looking forward to Hard-Fi. I like the album a lot and was a little disppointed when they first came on. He didn't sound right. Maybe he does need some sleep and they could surely use a keyboardist. But the show was fun and the energy was there. His stage 'act' was a bit humorous and over-the-top, but fun all the same.
The thing i can't understand is how the AM's have a sold-out show at the 930, Hard-Fi doesn't even sell-out the Blackcat, and The Editors (which i enjoyed more than either band) opened for Stellastarr? I guess it's all marketing...
Wow, the Black Cat is one of your usual haunts. You must be super cool. Allow me to point you in the direction of this: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46691.
Whatever your point is, Tommy, you can a) know that you don't have to be a scenester to go to the Cat, and b) realize it's a top venue for bands, local and national. Where else would you expect a *music writer* to spend most of her time?
are you aware that the keyboardist was actually filling in on another instrument? because one member could not make it to the states?
are you aware that the keyboardist was actually filling in on another instrument? because one member could not make it to the states?
If the band was off last night, it certainly didn't have anything to do with Kai's absence; apparently ya'll didn't notice Nick Fyffe and that famous left eye of his are filling in for Kai in the States...
I think Hard-Fi were OK, nothing more. The singer's voice was shot to pieces, that was disappointing. I thought the band was fine, tight enough. Factual note to Marshall, Arctic Monkeys are from Sheffield, they would most definitely object to South Yorkshire being described as a London suburb (it's >150 miles north). Standout moment of Hard-Fi concert - the guy who shouted in a US accent 'Staines is Awesome!' Growing up nearby, I'm afraid that I can't concur.