Hard-Fi - Love Music Hate Racism

Scala, London - 15 September

To celebrate the launch of Alan Miles' documentary film about the evolution of the Rock Against Racism campaign, 'Who Shot The Sheriff?', Hard-Fi headlined a one-off awareness gig in London's Scala, which also featured Roll Deep and The Beat. Virtual Festival caught up with Kai from the band as he came off stage.

Virtual Festivals: What brings you here tonight?
Kai: Richard appears in the new Love Music Hate Racism video 'Who Shot The Sheriff?', which tells the history of the Rock Against Racism movement from its roots in the 1970s. It's a cause that we're very happy to be supporting which is why we played the gig tonight. There have been so many great bands that have lent their support, people like The Specials, The Clash, even The Libertines, who have been huge influences on us as a band. And it's a campaign that keeps going. With the rise of the BNP now, it's as important as its ever been and it's a cause close to our hearts. We're from Staines and we still get racist leaflets thrown through our letter box, so the problem is still very much alive.

VF: What can your fans or people who want to support Love Music Hate Racism do to help the campaign?
Kai: I think it's all about awareness and making other people aware that racism is still a huge blight on our society. As the name suggests, the best way of fighting racism is through positive things like music. So people should put on gigs, club nights, just parties and stuff for their mates, in the name of Love Music Hate Racism. If you go to their website there's some ideas there.

VF: How was the gig tonight?
Kai: It was absolutely incredible. We did a version of 'Ghost Town' with Jerry Dammers and Neville Staples from The Specials, who are like gods to us. It was the first time they've been on stage together since the '80s and was definitely a highlight for us as a band.

VF: You've had reviewers hailing you as 'Britain's Next Best Band'. Does that freak you out?
Kai: In some ways yes, but in some ways no. When we started out and people started saying we might have a big future ahead of us, we worked really hard to get everything just right. We were aware of the pressures that might lie ahead so we made sure that everything in our power was sewn up before we were exposed to the public and started releasing records.

VF: Is that why you didn't play a massive amount of festivals this year?
Kai: Possibly yeah. It's been part of our manager's thinking. I don't really know why. It's out of our hands really, but I think we're being saved up for next year. We've got some big tours coming up which are very close to the tail end of the festival season so perhaps it's because of that. But we'll definitely be at lots of big events next year.

VF: What's the best show you've done this summer?
Kai: The one we did recently at the Notting Hill Carnival was a great gig. We were one of very few bands that didn't do Reading and Leeds, so they asked us last minute whether we wanted to do a show. It was by this old tower block in a small square and we were on this makeshift stage with a PA that was close to exploding. They just hammer the sound out through those old things as hard as they can! It really was quite special and totally kicked off because obviously it was free so the place was packed and there were no security. There was a stage invasion at the end of the set and everyone wanted our caps and shoes, flyers and promos. It was mental, but definitely a highlight. That's the only thing we've done really this year, apart from the Secret Garden and a couple of things abroad. We did this festival in Germany which was good. It was called Monsters Of Spex and had Maximo Park and St Etienne on the same bill as us, as well as a few obscure German bands.

VF: You were due to play Glastonbury but were forced to pull out after Richard's mum died. How hard was that?
Kai: It ripped us to bits. We played Wireless the day before which was great and our first real festival experience. We packed out our tent and were really excited to be playing Glastonbury. Richard's mum had been in hospital having a kidney transplant and Richard had been having to find time to see her around all the work we were doing. We got to Glastonbury and deliberately didn't go mad straight away, thinking we'd leave it until after we played. We did this radio show and a thing for NME and I just heard a whisper that Richard's mum had died and turned around and he white as a sheet. So the show didn't happen and we were devastated. I've been to Glastonbury five times and it would have been the highlight of the summer. 

VF: And what now?
Kai: Well we've got the tour coming up and another album to do. We've got loads of tracks ready and we're always writing so we're all very excited about going back into the studio. Expect something different from 'Stars Of CCTV'. The songs on that album basically got there because they fitted well together and they were good songs, but we've got a lot more stuff and some of it sounds very different to what people know. What does it sound like? You'll just have to wait and see!

VF: Were you gutted about not winning the Mercury Music Prize?
Kai: We were at first but we've since found out that we only lost by one vote. So in one sense it's really annoying because we were so close to winning, but on the other at least we know we were up there.

For more information on Love Music Hate Racism click here.
Visit Hard-Fi's official website here.
Their almost Mercury Music Prize winning album 'Stars Of CCTV' is out now.