Hefner's Antony Harding talks about his legendary former band, John Peel, Barbapappa and his current solo project.

 

It's no wonder that a few years ago Hefner got the honorable title "Britain’s Largest Small Band". Even today, 6 years after their break up, Hefner is still a big name in the music industry as its ex-members have tons of fans and every second artist mentions them as a major influence.

 

A while ago, Alon wrote here about Darren Hayman's last album and it inspired me to check what's going on these days with the other Hefners. While I was wandering onto different sites, I was lucky enough to stumble upon a wonderful singer/songwriter under the name of ANT, who turned out to be none other than Antony Harding, Hefner's drummer. I was even luckier when Antony accepted my interview request and found the time to answer a few questions.

 

Why did you choose an alias and didn't stay with your real name? I mean, I get the connection between ANT and Antony, but still, it's not entirely your full name. I suspect you lose some potential listeners.

 

"It's always hard to get your stuff heard. It's nice when someone stumbles across it. I plan to start making records as Antony Harding one day, maybe when I hit 40. ANT was just what my friends called me and what I went under when I started doing gigs. It's a bit twee for a middle aged father innit! Mind you I'll have to sell all the ANT merchandise first though! Or I'll get into trouble."

 

Oh, I would hardly call you middle aged. So you're a father as well. How many kids? Have they seen you in old Hefner videos?

 

"Well I'm 38 next month so I'm knocking on the middle aged door surely! We have a 2 year old son. He comes over sometimes when I'm looking at stuff on youtube and asks to watch Barbapappa instead. I'm sure he'll enjoy winding me up over certain Hefner videos in the future!"

 

 

Let's talk about the past for a while. Allow me to go back in time to 1997, the day when you got a record deal. Do you remember your thoughts back then?

 

"I just looked through my diary from 1997. It's just full of setlists, gig and rehearsal dates. I remember Too Pure showing up at a show we did at Upstairs At The Garage and them being very pleasantly surprised with how Hefner had suddenly become much tighter- the last time Too Pure saw Hefner it featured another bass player and drummer and it seemed like it was about to self destruct at any moment. Darren took me and John to our local pub in Walthamstow that weekend and asked us both if we fancied being part of the record deal. I remember feelings of excitement. We were actually going to make records and albums and go touring!!! But we all stressed the fact that it had to be a fun experience and that we had to do things the way the 3 of us wanted. I imagined we'd be one of those little scratchy bands that John Peel liked and we'd break up after the first album or something! These days it's easy to forget how many fans we had and how much we achieved. But I'm always meeting people who say... Hefner? I love Hefner!"

 

Do questions like this upset you? Do you find it irritating when you are asked about your past?

 

"No not at all. It's all about the past innit? Nostalgia. Music especially, how it's played its part in the soundtrack of your life. Hefner was the soundtrack to many lives."

 

Still is. Which artists take part in your life soundtrack?

 

"My schooldays: Adam and the Ants, The Jam, Madness. Sixth form: The Smiths, The Cure, The Woodentops, The Damned, The Pogues, Prefab Sprout. Art College: Galaxie 500, Kitchens Of Distinction, The Wedding Present, Fieldmice. Isle Of Wight: David Bowie, Bob Marley, Kate Bush, The Clash. London: Iris DeMent, Tom Waits, Nick Drake, Guided By Voices, Lambchop, Vic Chesnutt, Belle And Sebastian, Tim Buckley, John Martyn, Stina Nordenstam. Sweden: Townes Van Zandt, Sandy Denny, Richard Hawley, Clifford T Ward. That's about the size of it!"

 

 

Oh, right… You moved to Sweden. May I ask why? And what do think of the Swedish music scene?

 

"For love and to escape London for a while. I've now been here happily for 6 years. The alternative Swedish music scene is very healthy at the moment. A big export. Very impressive for such a small population."

 

What did you feel you had to escape from?

 

"Well the band had just finished, so had the money, and I was back working a day job, in the kitchen of a very nice cake shop- free cakes every Friday evening! And my Swedish girlfriend was working in a chocolate shop- free broken chocolate bunnies and broken chocolate eggs at Easter! We had a very small and damp flat, all the money went on rent and bills, it seemed like a good time to move. So we went to Sweden. Life became much easier and calmer. London can really wear you out after a few years."

 

But you are still in touch with Darren, John and Jake, right?

 

"Yes. Darren played piano with me at my last London show. And while I was staying with him he recorded, mixed and performed on a track called 'Time I Was Gone' which is on my next CD. We usually hook up a couple of times a year. Jack was also playing at that show and Darren and Jack are planning some shows together where they'll play Hefner songs to promote the 'Fidelity Wars' reissue. John's a little harder to meet up with but I plan to do another song together with John soon."

 

Back in the day. Hefner.

 

Is there any chance you guys will reunite?

 

"I don't think any of us are interested in reforming. We reunited once for the John Peel tribute a while back. There's talk of reuniting again the day that Thatcher dies but that's a bit tricky to plan towards! I think we're much more into the idea of playing on each other's records. Jack also performed and mixed a track on my next CD. I like the idea that all 4 of us might appear on the same record again but not a Hefner record!"

 

I know, all of you readers are on the verge of breaking into tears, but you should cheer up and find comfort in 'footprints through the snow', ANT's last album. The album is beautifully made out of Antony's voice and guitar with simple tunes that prove sometimes complexity isn't necessary in music. It's pretty amazing when a singer/songwriter really knows how to get the job done. I can count the ones I like on one hand, since most of the time I equate intimate music as boring. There's a secret ingredient that lies within the artist, which makes the difference between a good singer/songwriter and a bad one, an ingredient that can't be captured in words. Ant has certainly got it.

 

 

Do you feel there's a big difference between Hefner and your solo project? Do you feel more exposed being in the spot light?

 

"My work in Hefner was mainly drumming & singing backing vocals (I did do the odd bit of guitar and harmonica in the early days until Jack joined and took over that side of things properly!) so my solo work was always going to be a bit different from Hefner, But I think you can hear my personality in all the stuff I've done. Even the drumming. My solo work definitely exposes me the most, unless you count the 'I Took Her Love For Granted' video."

 

Finally, what would you do if you had 8 hands?

 

"Play in goal for Arsenal. Or be the best one man band ever heard!"

 

Download: ANT - When Yolur Heart Breaks (live)

Download: ANT - Cry Your Little Eyes Out (live)

Download: ANT - Spoil (live)

 

Ever since I picked my favorite 2007 album, some questions about The Good Life have been bothering me. That's why I'm so happy that the amazing Ryan Fox found the time to answer those questions and allowed me to get my peace of mind back.

 

 

You've joined Tim Kasher and The Good Life in 2001. I personally think your presence made the transition of the good life from a side project into an established band. In which point of time do you think it happened if you see a difference at all?

 

"About the time I joined was indeed the transition from solo project to band effort. Tim had recruited some people to tour with him for the first album, but 'Black Out', which we recorded in 2001, was a kind of turning point where it became a band. We still get tagged as a side project sometimes, which usually doesn't bother us. But it can be a bummer to see it in print because it comes off as a disparaging thing, like we're this lesser entity. The Good Life definitely feels like a band in the way we collaborate and work together, but it is different in that we have long stretches when we aren't playing together. But that's kind of nice, too, that the band operates on its own slow schedule and everybody has time to pursue other things, musical or otherwise, in the interim".

 

I'm sure that by slow schedule you mean slow when off tour, because your recent tour was pretty intensive. How was it? Which show was the best?

 

"We hadn't been on tour for a couple years, and it was great to get back out on the road and play for people every night. We played some places I hadn't been before and revisited some favorite spots. There were lots of shows I really liked for various reasons. In Philadelphia we played - for the 4th or 5th time - in the basement social hall of this church that has shows all the time. It was about 100 degrees in the room and probably 115 on stage. My hands slipped off the keyboard it was so humid. After the show, the floor was wet, like a layer of condensed sweat. It was kind of gross but I thought we played well and it felt healthy to sweat out some poison".

 

Sweating in Philadelphia, It's probably because it's always sunny there. How come, in your opinion, so many good and talented musicians came out of Omaha, Nebraska? Do parents there feed their children differently?

 

"I don't know what exactly to attribute it to. Lots of people here have been dedicated to their music for many years, and it's great that the world started to take notice a few years ago. I'm sure there are plenty of other cities with equal talent but perhaps Omaha is different in that there's not a particular sound or style, but it's still a spirit of collaboration. If there were some supermusic diet force-fed to Omaha toddlers, it's been brainwashed out of us".

 

 

Someone should make a movie about this place. Tell us a bit about Tim Kasher's screenplay, which your last album 'Help Wanted Nights' was originally written as its soundtrack.

 

"A guy's car breaks down in a small town and while he's stuck there he gets enmeshed in the lives and loves of the townsfolk. It's mostly set in a bar and involves just a handful of characters. Tim is working to get the movie made and has met with various people who could make it happen, though nothing is set in stone yet. To make an album can be quite the undertaking, but it seems that making a film is another beast entirely, with the costs and amount of people involved".

 

Well, sounds like it's worth the effort. If you could collaborate with one artist, dead or alive, who would it be?

 

"Hmm... Leonard Cohen? Maybe he could've used a different collaborator in the '80s when he put out some of those saxophone and synthesizer inflected - or: infected? - records. Tom Waits would be a fun one. How about John Lennon"?

 

 

What do you think about the way music and internet integrates? How does the internet affect you?

 

"I think it's a positive thing that the internet allows so many people to access so much information, music, etc. I still prefer word of mouth, my friends' recommendations and the random exposure of being somewhere a song is playing and thinking 'yes!' and having to ask who the band is. Sometimes the internet makes me feel flooded in music and like I can't really check anything out but can only stream a few crummy-sounding mp3s. But I've discovered things online that have prompted a trip to the record store: Stars of the Lid's 'And Their Refinement of the Decline', Papercuts' 'Can't Go Back' and Grizzly Bear's 'Yellow House' are a few that I've really gotten into".

 

Speaking of the web, I gotta ask, you know... being from 8hands and all... Are you a member in any online communities or social networks?

 

"The band has a Myspace account but I don't have one myself, though I've had them for a couple temporary bands I've been in. I think I still have a Friendster account that's been long inactive. I should get in there and make sure I'm not unknowingly sending out 'OMG! Macy's gift card' comments to people. The band also has a Virb account".

 

And Finally, What would you do if you had eight hands?

 

"We made a t-shirt last year that has an octopus riding a unicycle with two tentacles and drinking a six-pack with the other six tentacles. I guess if I had eight hands I'd wish for six more arms to put them on".

 

Download: The Good Life - Heart Broke

Download: The Good Life - You Don't Feel Like Home to Me

Download: The Good Life - A New Friend

 

After Hefner broke up, Darren Haymen did a lot of forgetable things. But now he's back - sharp, witty and charming as ever. It’s probably because he is kinda doing Hefner songs again.

 

Let me start off with an off-topic explanation – I know that lately we haven’t been updating the music blog as much as we used to. I’m sorry about that. But let me assure you that soon enough we will be right back on track! What can we say? 8hands is growing, and you can expect a lot of surprises from us in the near future – site wise and app wise. Things will just get better round here! Now, let’s start talking about da man, Darren Hayman.

 

 

Most of you will probably know Darren Hayman from the astonishing work that he did while he was the lead singer of Hefner. If you ever heard anything by Hefner, you probably fell in love with Hayman’s endless geeky charm, his perfect voice, and of course, his way with words. He had this magical ability to deliver purely cynical thoughts, without a trace of anger or bitterness.

 

 

But not everything about Hefner was perfect. They had three brilliant pop-folk-rock studio albums and a ton of b-sides before they have decided, like the rest of the world in those 2001 days, to try their luck with synths and electronics. They brought us ‘Dead Media’ – one hell of a boring album, and probably the cause of the Hefner’s threesome going their separate and unknown ways. The only one I’ve tried to follow was Darren Hayman.

 

At first he went to a project called The French – another electronic outfit, which released a decent album, but didn’t leave any real marker except from that one “Wu-Tang Clan” song (can’t find it to put it here legally for ya, but look for it or buy it. It’s an amzing song). Sadly, it kinda went down the hill from there.

 

 

Hayman started to put out lots of solo releases: eps, 7 inches, even an album – alone, all by himself, recorded at home without a backing band. That’s when I got it! Apparently, Hayman isn’t the bedroom-singer-songwriter we thought he was. When he was alone, the songs didn’t sound right, too much was missing. Around the beginning of 2006, I’d lost hope and stopped trying. I thought to myself, “We will always have Hefner”, and popped ‘The Fidelity Wars’ in the stereo. Only god knows what made me google Hayman’s name a few weeks ago.

 

I found out that by the end of 2007, Hayman released a new album, with a band! The band's name is Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern and the album’s title is just the same. And how is the music? Awesome! Haymen is back to guitars, back to what he does best, back to… doing Hefner!

 

 

I mean… I love electronics, and I appreciate it when musicians try out new stuff. I really do. But when it comes to Hayman, I just want him to deliver those great lyrics over some beautiful catchy and melodically soft rockn’roll, and that is exactly what happens in Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern. So, if you ever had a soft place in your heart for Hefner (and I assume you did, after all, you are not robots!) you will love this new album. Just trust me on this one.

 

This time, Alice opens up her heart and picks her album of the year, "Help Wanted Nights" by The Good Life.

 

When music writers publish their top albums lists every December, I guess they take into consideration issues such as innovation, the amount of influence album may have in the future or size of impact any album had on all music lovers out there.

 

I'm sure that assembling a list of top albums is not exactly an easy task, but somehow, even though there are thousands of album releases each year, and despite the fact that many criterions need to be accounted, still most lists suffer from an unfortunate resemblance to one another.

 

 

I bet most people explain it by wrongly assuming that some albums are "better" than others. The way I see it, music is not an exact science and therefore cannot be measured in terms of best or worst album. But hey, I ain't no party pooper, and the purple octopus ordered me to pick the best album this year, so as always, I obeyed.

 

There were many albums I liked in 2007, but the album of the year has to be the one by The Good Life.

 

 

Help Wanted Nights was released on Saddle Creek Records and it contains 10 beautiful songs that share the same lyric theme as they all talk about short term relationships, the kind that is most likely to end before they really evolve. Most songs are telling a story of an unequal relationship where one side is more interested and more caring than the other.

 

The former Good Life album, 'Album of the Year', was all about breakups and endings, and the current album feels almost like the next episode of the same series. I'd like to think both albums tell the story of the same man, which during 'Album of the Year', had gone through a terrible breakup, and now, on 'Help Wanted Nights', he is trying to find love again. Luckily for us, the guy is going in all wrong directions and there is constantly a sad feeling in the background.

 

The real story behind the album, as I read somewhere, is that it was actually written as a soundtrack for a screenplay Tim Kasher wrote. You see, this guy, the front man of the band, is so great with words that he can manufacture not only the most beautiful lyrics available but screenplays as well. So far there are no real plans for producing this screenplay, but if it will get produced eventually, I'm sure it'll be a great movie.

 

In the meantime, I highly recommend you to go out and buy yourself the album that made my year and let yourself get into a world where emotions are expressed in the best possible way.

 

 

This time, Alon picks his one true album of the year, "It’s A Bit Complicated" by Art Brut.

 

Let’s face it – this year has produced some great musical moments, but it didn’t show us a lot of really unique, one-of-kind, innovative moments. Most of the good albums that came out just took great music and made it better – Animal Collective, Jens Lekman, LCD Soundsystem, Mendoza Line, Devin the Dude, Tullycraft & Justice – Sure, they all had awesome releases, but you’ve got to admit that none of it was much of a surprise. I mean, we all knew that James Murphy is a brilliant man and Animal Collecitve have been getting hotter and wiser by the minute! Where can we find a new music movement? What is the next big genre? Where are all the shocking findings? They are all probably hiding somewhere in 2008.

 

 

But there was one thing that did make me go “wow” and, metaphorically speaking only, take my clothes off, paint myself red and run through the streets yelling out weird animal noises. It was “It’s A Bit Complicated” by Art Brut, a record that just like the ones I mentioned above, is made up of some great music that we have heard before – poppy guitar driven post punk, with a lot of fun making wooo-ahhhh in it. The difference in this album is the lyrics – damn! Eddie Argos, the lead singer, is the poet of the century, and don’t let anyone tell you anything else!

 

 

On Art Brut’s first album, “Bang Bang Rock And Roll”, we were all amazed by Argos’ wittiness, but we were still convinced that he is nothing less then a joke-man, the class clown. On this year’s album, Eddie shows new depth to his soul. He is still funny, can still charm with a short line, and there is no doubt that he is the smartest man behind the mic today.

 

He talks about music, his childhood, his relationships, his friends and popular culture and he does it so well, that he makes all the old fashioned lyricists look nothing less than ridiculous – especially when he gives them all a shout out and sings: “River deep and mountain high / there's some lyrics that'll never apply / 'cause I don't lie awake at night / with thoughts of river depth or mountain height” – In their face Eddie!