Hard Fi // The Waterfront - 21.09.11
"Suburban days are indeed upon us once again... and a little something for the weekend never hurt anyone, now did it!" - Steve catches Hard-Fi's return to Norwich...
An Indian summer of an evening on an early Autumn night in Norwich, finds Richard Archer’s Hard-Fi in their regular punchy mood.
‘Cash Machine’, ‘Tied Up Too Tight’, ‘Hard To Beat’ and ‘Good For Nothing’ soon get the place bouncing.
Archers lyrics are full of tales of life on the streets (walking home down the Great Western Road) of West London, with the Town of Staines being the centre of their attraction for most of the time, no cash in the pocket, the daily working grind, waiting for the pay day at the end of the week. Yes, the working man’s life stories are plentiful and the outpouring is a rock / dance fusion, culminating in a real soul wall of sound, that ricochet’s off of the Waterfront’s low ceilings..
The new tracks ‘Stay Alive’, ‘Killer Sounds’ and ‘Fire In The House’ and ‘Good For Nothing’ are already set to become classic Hard-Fi tunes, for they are sounding very strong indeed; this is - I am sure, going to be a very successful return for them.
A cover version of ‘I Fought The Law’, previously recorded by the Bobby Fuller Four and The Clash, is blasted out at 110mph and maintains the rip roaring pace and tone of the entire evening.
Archer, a blend of James Dean Bradfield / Kelly Jones and Mike Skinner is a great front man, a natural leader with a bit of attitude and is, you feel, genuinely delighted to be back playing live once again, as he reconnects with the loyal following straight from the kick off.
Typically as a football fanatic, he fails to resist the opportunity to mention that the Canaries are now in the Premiership and doing okay, as are his beloved Brentford FC currently residing in League two and sort of doing okay (apparently)?
Straight out of West London, with loaded guns and fresh ammo, it is feeling very good tonight to have them back, for Hard-Fi are still producing some ‘Killer Sounds’ so people of Britain, beware.
Suburban days are indeed upon us once again... and a little something for the weekend never hurt anyone, now did it!
“Can you feel it Norwich”, asks Archer? Yes, we most certainly can.
Steve Plunkett
