Hard-Fi / The Automatic / Director

The first of Hard-Fi's support bands for tonight were Director. While most of the world is going crazy for The Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party I can't believe nobodies picked up on this little gem. Looking a bit like a cross between Weezer and Pulp and sounding rather like Franz Ferdinand Director are an instantly likeable guitar driven band from Ireland. The singing is much in the same vein as Tom Smith's Editors whilst the music thrives of funky art house bass lines and cheerful guitar led melodies. Judging by the strength of songs like 'Last Time' and 'She's saying things', Director are definitely a band to look out for in years to come.

The Automatic are a lively four piece who have an electro pop punk style. They reminded me a lot of Kinesis and Serafin. They were entertaining to watch, their keyboard player danced around like he was barefooted on a heap of hot coals. 'Monster' has all the qualities of a great song and while a lot of the other material was sub standard this track stood out as a potential radio favourite.

Tonight's headliners were preceded by a DJ who I thought was well worth a mention. In between remixing some great versions of tracks from Hard-Fi's debut album 'Stars of CCTV' he pulled off a remix of New Order's 'Blue Monday' and The Kinks' 'All Day and all of the night'. Great stuff and it really was unexpected.

The adrenalin packed 'Middle Eastern Holiday' kick started Hard-Fi's set, a fine example of the bands well produced mix of ska, rock and dance. Comparisons with The Clash can be drawn instantly and I noticed more than once that lead singer Richard Archer struck a Strummer pose.

The band kept the tempo lively and the mood upbeat, 'Gotta Reason' starting up a pogo session from the audience that lasted through the entire gig. The fantastic 'Unnecessary Trouble' followed, one of Hard-Fi's more radio friendly tracks, with a bass line that could only have been written for the sole purpose of dancing.

I had never seen such an enthusiastic crowd at The Liquid Rooms. The atmosphere was fantasic for Hard-Fi's third and final Scottish date. The band will be travelling down to Newcastle for the next leg of their UK tour.

Hard-Fi don't have any intention of hiding their influences and traces of The Jam, The Specials and Madness can all be spotted. Hard-Fi's political outlook could easily have fitted into the same bracket as Strummer's entourage, hailing from the grimy suburbs of Staines and singing songs about shit jobs and the state of the community.



The single 'Tied up too tight' took the pace of the evening up a further step and was responsible for one of the biggest sing a longs of the set. The band included a skanked up cover of The White Stripe's 'Seven Nation Army' which had previously appeared on the b-side of 'Tied up too tight'.

'Cash Machine' and 'Hard to beat' all featured before Archer took the stage for a solo performance of 'Move on Now' finishing off the evening with an encore of 'Stars of CCTV' and 'Living for the weekend'.

A good gig, showcasing some spectacular talent from some up and coming bands in the world of indie.

Set List:-
Middle eastern holiday
Gotta reason
Unnecessary trouble
Better do better
Tied up too tight
Feltham is singing out
7 nation army
Cash machine
Hard to beat
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Move on now
Stars of CCTV
Living for the weekend

FUTURE GIGS