The King of Chav Rock

Richard Archer is a chav. I've known this since the first time I saw Hard-Fi, the band for which he is the lead singer, back in July at the Mercury Lounge. And I'm American. But hey, every walk of life needs a hero, right?

This didn't keep me from venturing out to see the band again on Tuesday night at the Bowery Ballroom. In the interim since my first look-see, I've had time to listen to their album, Stars of CCTV (so what if it hasn't been released here yet?), and form an opinion of their music, not just their place in British society. In July I knew that I liked "Tied Up Too Tight," but didn't know much else.

My informed opinion wasn't the only change that night - their stage show had changed as well. We were surprised to see a backdrop with the CCTV logo and "HARD-FI In Progress" written across the top. Then when the stage was being set up for their performance, light machines were brought out. (Light machines? For an indie band?!) My friend asked a roadie if there were going to be smoke machines as well (partly tongue in cheek, partly because she doesn't like them.) His answer? "We're not allowed to use them here." Not "no," but "not here" (perhaps.) When the setlists were taped on, we noticed that they had turned it into a crib sheet. Next to "Feltham is Singing Out" (a song about a prison near where the Hard-Fi guys live) was "Rikers Island Prison" - a clear indication of their schpiel for the evening (though he proved unable to read the handwriting and my friend wound up supplying the name for him). There was also a note to remind Richard to mention the signing after the show (he didn't), as well as the the names of the opening bands scribbled at the bottom to thank (he forgot).

To me, this summed up the overall opinion I had formed of them - they're a bit cheesy. In the way that swaggering guys are. They're the guys who walk around as if they're hot shit. In some ways I suppose they are. They've done good. Real good. And their music is a study in contrasts. The good part is melodious, boisterous, and beautifully harmonized. The melodica features heavily in their music, and it's the best renaissance of an instrument in recent history. The prettiness of their harmonies stands starkly against the bad part of it, which is the musical equivalent of a guy in an Italian Stallion shirt, gold chains, hair slicked back with too much gel. The good, including the aforementioned "Tied Up Too Tight," "Feltham Is Singing Out," "Better Do Better," "Stars of CCTV," and "Move on Now," are quite enjoyable. The bad, such as "Cash Machine" which cloaks the story of a guy who gets his girlfriend pregnant by accident and then runs off in a good dance beat, is cringeworthy. It wasn't helped by Archer, at a pause in the song, cooing sexily, "Sorry, baby." Like that makes it better.

I'll admit that through the swaggering and cheese, I was waiting for the songs I like. If I blocked out what he was saying, I could even enjoy dancing to the music. And I did. Not everyone is as particular about their lyrics as I am or finds things cheesy as easily as I do. And Hard-Fi is a band for both kinds of people. Those who love them and those who just like them. You can enjoy them both ways.

Of course, the guy from London I wound up speaking to at the gig in July wouldn't agree with that. His take: "I couldn't like them. He's just such a chav."