Hard-Fi

When lad-rock suddenly underwent a major revival in the mid-to-late noughties, it was Hard-Fi who were largely at the forefront of the movement; their debut record, Stars of CCTV, spawned a slew of hit singles, including ‘Living for the Weekend’, ‘Cash Machine’ and ‘Hard to Beat’, and installed them as one of the biggest indie bands in the country, crossing over pretty neatly between the standard, beer-swilling followers of lad-rock and those mainstream indie rock fans who saw something promising in Hard-Fi’s sound. In fact, they even played rooms as big as Manchester’s cavernous G-Mex at one point, although this really proved to be the apex of their career. Their follow-up LP Once Upon a Time in the West, with its try-hard ‘lack’ of cover art, was also lacking something else - a big single - and marked the beginning of the band’s decline as a result. 2011’s Killer Sounds saw them receive mixed reviews and fail to make a serious dent on the charts. They’re set to make comeback tilt soon, though, with a greatest hits compilation marking a decade together as a band and new live shows planned; they’ll need to recapture the raw energy of their early gigs, though, if they’re going to manage it.