Hard-Fi return with first new single in a decade ‘Don’t Go Making Plans’
Hard-Fi have returned with ‘Don’t Go Making Plans’ – their first new single in a decade. Check it out below, as well as details of their upcoming EP and UK tour.
Announced today (May 20), the new track marks the first from the band in 10 years and comes as the taster of their forthcoming EP of the same name.
With the track, Richard Archer and co. bring the summer feeling, delivering a fast-paced, groovy and soul-infused anthem. “All my money keeps walking out the door/ No, I don’t know, what do they want it all for?” the frontman questions in the opening lyrics, keeping a politically motivated theme at the core.
“There’s a heavy feeling hanging about the place/ feels like I’m down down down, on my face, and a boot in my back,” he continues, before launching into the pop-infused chorus.
According to the band, the song’s themes were initially inspired by the UK Government’s attempts to criminalise many aspects of popular protest through the 2022 Public Order Act, and is meant to provoke thought in the listeners.
“Don’t Go Making Plans is sort of a protest song about protest, but I wanted to encapsulate that message into something that was still a pop song,” Archer explained.
“A track that you can still dance to in a club or play on the radio, because a song like that you can make a real connection to and circumnavigates the pointless restrictions being put in our way. Governments passing laws to stop protests that ’cause more than minor disruption feels like something out of a dystopian film,” he added.
“The whole point of protest is disruption. You’re trying to interrupt the inevitable flow of things, to encourage the people running the country to think again, especially when you have a government that doesn’t seem to be bothered by what people actually need.”
Check out the track in full above.
The song is taken from Hard Fi’s upcoming EP of the same name, which is set to arrive on November 1 and will mark their first original material in a decade.
The EP will be shared in digital formats, as well as a limited edition transparent red vinyl, which you can pre-order here.
To celebrate the announcement of the new material, Hard-Fi have also revealed news of a new UK tour, set to kick off later this year.
The dates will comprise 10 shows across the country, and kick off with an opening night at the White Rock venue in Hastings on November 16.
It continues on November 19 with a slot at the Guildhall in Portsmouth, before following on with stops in Cardiff, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and more. It wraps up with a final date at the Roundhouse in London on November 30.
Tickets go on sale this Friday (May 24) at 10am BST. Visit here to buy tickets and find a full list of tour dates below.
Hard Fi’s 2024 UK tour dates are:
NOVEMBER:
16 –Hastings, White Rock
19 – Portsmouth, Guildhall
21 –Cardiff, Tramshed
22 – Wolverhampton, Wulfrun
23 –Nottingham, Rock City
25 – Glasgow, Garage
26 – Sheffield, The Leadmill
27 – Manchester, Ritz
29 – Leeds, Stylus
30 – London, Roundhouse
The new announcements from Hard-Fi come just days after the band made headlines for teasing a mysterious date, months after wrapping up their first reunion tour in over a decade.
The Staines indie-rock band announced a series of sporadic reunion shows in 2022, where their tour celebrating 15 years of ‘Stars of CCTV’ sold out in just 10 minutes. They would later announce their first full UK tour in 11 years in May last year, going on to play London, Liverpool, Sheffield and more in October.
Last year, the band teased they were writing new material when they spoke to NME.
Archer said new Hard-Fi material was “all over the place” at the time, adding: “There’s some ideas I’ve had sat for a while now that I keep thinking I’m gonna do something with, and then other new stuff. It’s still early doors, but we’re just trying to try to work out what it is that Hard-Fi wants to say now.
“‘Stars of CCTV’ seems more relevant now than it did back in 2005, almost. A lot of the subjects are more prescient now perhaps, so, it’s just trying to figure out what is it we want to say, and sonically what do we want to be doing? We’re trying lots of different things out to see what resonates.”
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
