Richard Archer (born 18 January 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, principal songwriter and main composer of
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band
Hard-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and S ...
. Hard-Fi have produced several top 10 hits and two No. 1 albums. The influence of Archer's hometown of Staines is often evident in his lyrics. He fronted a band called
Contempo from 1997 until 2001.
Early life and education
Archer was born in
Staines-upon-Thames
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to ...
, Surrey. He is a music graduate from
Kingston University
, mottoeng = "Through Learning We Progress"
, established = – gained University Status – Kingston Technical Institute
, type = Public
, endowment = £2.3 m (2015)
, ...
. He grew up in Staines, a suburban location of North West
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
which is a huge influence in the lyrics of the songs he has written with band Hard-Fi. Archer explains, "There's no record shops, there's no decent pubs, there's no venues, there's no decent clothes shops. Look around, it's quite pleasant but if you're a young person living here then you're into a certain type of music – chart house – and a certain fashion, and if you're not into that there is nothing here for you. Here, you can't get home if you're out in central London after eleven. There's no night bus, there's no late train, you have to get a cab if you can find one and that'll charge you eighty quid to get home from central London. A lot of people live like that."
Career
1997–2000: Contempo
Contempo formed in
Staines-upon-Thames
Staines-upon-Thames is a market town in northwest Surrey, England, around west of central London. It is in the Borough of Spelthorne, at the confluence of the River Thames and Colne. Historically part of Middlesex, the town was transferred to ...
during the summer of 1997, originally going by the name "Parachute".
Mick Jones produced demos that were intended to be released as an album in 2000 but whose release was delayed and eventually cancelled. Some of these tracks have been reworked as Hard-Fi songs.
Contempo's first release was a limited 7" vinyl on the Blue Dog label with the tracks "On The Floor" and "Stronger" (the latter also released as a b-side for the
Hard-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and S ...
single
Hard to Beat).
In November 2000 Contempo announced they had left London Records after months of a mutually tense relationship. After these events, Contempo released a six track EP called "This Is Contempo", which featured the
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
song "Ain't Going Out Tonight" on their own label "Nu-Suburban Sounds". Another album, "Contempo – The Demos", was a bootleg CD featuring demos of what would become
Hard-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and S ...
tracks: "
Better Do Better", "
Can't Get Along (Without You)", "
Living for the Weekend", "Move On Now" and "Unnecessary Trouble".
Archer asked his publishers for some money to record new songs that he had written, but they terminated his contract instead.
2003–present: Hard-Fi and Axwell Λ Ingrosso
Archer went back to his home town of Staines, "I moved back to Staines because I ran out of money and it was quite a shock," he says. "There's no record shops, there's no decent pubs, there's no venues, there's no decent clothes shops. Look around, it's quite pleasant but if you're a young person living here then you're into a certain type of music – chart house – and a certain fashion, and if you're not into that there is nothing here for you. Here, you can't get home if you're out in central London after eleven. There's no night bus, there's no late train, you have to get a cab if you can find one and that'll charge you eighty quid to get home from central London. A lot of people live like that."
Archer formed
Hard-Fi
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and S ...
whose line up includes Ross Phillips on lead guitar,
Kai Stephens
Hard-Fi are an English indie rock band, formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. The band's most recent lineup before going on hiatus consisted of Richard Archer (singing, lead vocals and electric guitar, guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar ...
on bass, and
Steve Kemp
Steven F. Kemp (born August 7, 1954) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers.
Profession ...
on drums, who also provided drums for Contempo as their career was coming to an end.
In the wake of Contempo splitting up, Archer claims that music business insiders tried to dissuade the band's manager Warren Clarke (not the actor of the same name) from managing him. "People told him, don't bother with Archer, he's damaged goods, you're wasting your time'."
When talking about how the band met, Archer said:
The band were signed to newly formed independent label,
Necessary Records
Necessary Records is a record label based in the UK, founded by Warren Clarke, a former A&R executive at London Records and Edel, in 2003. Clarke describes that the label was born out of a creative necessity. "It's an outlet for records that s ...
, owned by Clarke. The majority of
Stars of CCTV
''Stars of CCTV'' is the debut studio album by English indie rock band Hard-Fi. It was first released on 4 July 2005 through Necessary Records and Atlantic Records. It received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for the 2005 Mercury ...
was recorded in a variety of unusual acoustic environments – in bedrooms, in pubs, and played back in their producer, Wolsey White's, BMW car. 1000 copies of this record were pressed with only 500 going on public sale, and the initial plan was to sell 1000 each time. However, it quickly sold out, receiving critical acclaim and radio play, proving a lot more successful than the band had imagined. Most of the album was recorded in a disused
mini cab office, which cost them about £300, and is known as the "Cherry Lips" Studio. The band used to try to make their music sound more environmental by putting a microphone in the corridor, which added echo, however, people would walk past whistling or humming; the faint sound of aeroplanes flying overhead can be heard on the record.
Archer desperately tried to generate publicity for the band through the local paper, the Staines Observer, without success. "We sent them a press release and a photo," said Archer. "The press release was all like, the hard-hitting sound of the streets and stuff. And the article came out going, 'Richard Archer, former pupil of Thamesmead School ...' Whatever you say, they seem to be most interested in what school you went to."
The band were licensed to the major record label
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
in December 2004, where they were given the chance to re-record the album, in the
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
among other well known studios. However, the band went back to the mini cab office to maintain their sound.
Hard-Fi finally saw success with their debut album ''
Stars of CCTV
''Stars of CCTV'' is the debut studio album by English indie rock band Hard-Fi. It was first released on 4 July 2005 through Necessary Records and Atlantic Records. It received positive reviews from critics and was nominated for the 2005 Mercury ...
'' reaching No. 1 in the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
and followed up with another No. 1 record ''
Once Upon a Time in the West
''Once Upon a Time in the West'' ( , "Once upon a time (there was) the West") is a 1968 epic Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone, who co-wrote it with Sergio Donati based on a story by Dario Argento, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Leone ...
''. The band went on to be nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2005 and BRIT Awards among others. Archer wrote all the songs on the albums, while the "
Hard to Beat" single featured a track called "Stronger" which he had originally written with Contempo.
In 2010, Archer recorded vocals for a track produced by Swedish DJ
Axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angell ...
, entitled "Think About It" at the time. The track was then re-produced around 2015 by Axwell and his counterpart Swedish DJ & Producer,
Sebastian Ingrosso
Sebastian Carmine Ingrosso (; born 20 April 1983) is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He is also a member of the Swedish House Mafia, together with friends Axwell and Steve Angello.
Career 1999–2007: Career Beginnings
Sebastian Ingrosso ent ...
, as the then-newly formed duo,
Axwell Λ Ingrosso
Axwell & Ingrosso (stylised as Axwell Λ Ingrosso) is a Swedish DJ duo consisting of Swedish House Mafia members Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso. They made their debut performance at the 2014 Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City in Jun ...
. The song was renamed to "
Thinking About You" and released on 27 May 2016, still featuring Archer on vocals.
In 2021, Archer co-produced ''Afters'' by The Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost, an act featuring members of The Bluetones, Engineers and theaudience.
Friendship with Mick Jones
Archer first met
Mick Jones when he was with Contempo. The band were looking for a producer when one of the members of the record company recommended Jones, to which the band agreed.
["Mick Jones & Richard Archer." The Independent on Sunday (London, England) (9 March 2008)][A Scan of "Mick Jones & Richard Archer"](_blank)
from ''The Independent on Sunday'' (London, England) (9 March 2008)
After working on the band's first record for a year, things did not turn out as planned due to problems with the record company.
On 1 March 2008, rumours started appearing that the two would be forming a new band after Archer joined Jones and his new band,
Carbon/Silicon, during a show in London. They revealed that they were thinking about combining the two bands to form a project called "Hard Carbon".
Personal life
In 2006 there was a story generated by the media that Archer was having a relationship with
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...
while she was filming
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
movie Scoop in London. Archer had never said anything of the sort. It did in fact turn out to be a false rumour, which was confirmed when Johansson declared "I've never met him, and until all this started, I'd never even heard of him". One newspaper accused Archer of creating the rumours himself. He says:
"A paper phoned our manager and said: 'We know he’s dating Scarlett Johansson, her people have told us.' We told them it wasn’t true and that I’d never even met her. They ran the story anyway, saying I was secretly dating Scarlett Johansson. A week later they ran another story saying her people were denying it and that: 'Richard Archer, from Hard-Fi, is a fantasist.' and that I'd made the whole thing up for publicity. The wankers. It was quite funny until I ended up looking like a prick."
In the same year, Archer was nominated for "Sexiest Male", alongside
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...
and
Pete Doherty
Peter Doherty (born 12 March 1979) is an English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer, and artist. He is best known for being co-frontman of The Libertines, which he formed with Carl Barât in 1997. His other musical projects are indie b ...
who actually won the award, Archer told Britain's ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'' magazine, "At the NME awards, I was nominated for Sexiest Man but I didn't win it... Crackhead Pete Doherty did."
References
External links
Interview showing speaking style
{{DEFAULTSORT:Archer, Richard
1977 births
Living people
English rock guitarists
English rock keyboardists
English rock singers
English male singer-songwriters
Hard-Fi members
Melodica players
People from Staines-upon-Thames
English male guitarists