h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have you ever seen them live? They rock and the funny thing is Darren sings in tune!

Well I just popped by on the off chance you were a bit of a muso! Would you be interested in writing a band bio? I have heard on the grapevine that a Researcher called Entity is thinking of putting together a group project and frankly I think an article on Hefner or the Strokes would be top notch.

You can find her page over here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U172568



Abi

So thing quickly on Hefner i could probibly do. Yes i've seen them live a number of times, and they are great. Do you know the work of Ant also - the drummers side project?

No! I demand you tell me everything this instant!!!!

Erm... well there's a band called Ant, and it's the drummer out of Hefners side project...

That's it really.

I've got their first single somewhere, i'll go and dig it out. It's a bit daft.

Ant are basically Antony Harding, the drummer from Hefner, assisted by John Morrison (also of Hefner); Suzanne Rhatigan (occasional assistant of Hefner and Johnny Viola Greswell. They released "Where the Happiness Begins" a 3 track single limited to 100 copies on Fabulous Friends records of Sweden a couple of years ago - there's four of them in the band so there should be 95 copies left!

Write for info to:
Larlingsgatan 48
S-553 37 Jonkoping
Sweeden
[email protected]

I don't know if they've done anything else, but i seem to remember expecting another single to appear on a UK label at some point.

I've just realised that i don't know anything about the band (I don't read the music press you see).

Hefner are Darren Hayman, John F Morrison, Antony Harding and Jack Hayter. They have been around since 1996 pulling out records on various indie labels, fining their usual home at Too Pure Records. They are frquently heard on the John Peel show. who is a great champion of theirs, and have made frequent appearences in the festive fifty, and two years ago went with Peel to GRonigen where they were the British representatives in what has become a kind of indie Eurosong festival. Socialists, they supported Ken Livingstones bid to become Mayor of London and recorded the excellent "The Dau that Thatcher Dies". They have recorded with Stuart Murdoch (of Belle and Sebastian) and Gina Birch (of the seminal punk outfit the Raincoats & more recently the Hangovers). They've recently adopted a dubious penchant for analogue synths.

Discography:

The Devotion Chamber E.P. (Sticky Records) 1996 Cassette
May God Protect Your Home / The Sweetness Lies Within / I Stole a Bride /
You've Been Prayed For

A Better Friend (Boogle Wonderland) 1997 7"
A Better Friend / Christian Girls

Lee Remick (Boogle Wonderland Records) 1998 7"
Lee Remick / School Girls Knees

The Hefner Soul E.P. (Too Pure) 1998 10"
Flowers / A Hymn for the Coffee / Broodmare / The Girl from the Coast / More
Christian Girls

Pull Yourself Together (Too Pure) 1998 7" & CD single
Pull Yourself Together / Christ / Smoking Girlfriend / Wicker Girl

Love Will Destroy Us in the End (Too Pure) 1998 7" & CD
Love Will Destroy us in the End / Blind Girl with Halo
Destroyed Cowboy Falls / Goethe's Letter to Vic Chesnutt

The Sweetness Lies Within (Too Pure) 1998 7" & CD
The Sweetness Lies Within / Hello Kitten
Normal Molly / A Hymn for Berlin

Breaking God's Heart (Too Pure) 1998 LP & CD
The Sweetness Lies Within / The Sad Witch / A Hymn for the Postal Service /
Love Will Destroy us in the End / The Librarian / God is on my Side /
Another Better Friend / Love inside the Stud Farm / Tactile / Eloping

London EP (Plastic Cowboy) 1998 Split Single
China Crisis

The Hymn for the Alcohol (Sticky Records) 1999 7"
The Hymn for the Alcohol / My Art College Days are Over

The Hefner Heart E.P. (Acuarela Records) 1999 CD
Mary Lee / The Hymn for the Things We Didn't Do / Karen / The Hymn for
Thomas Courtney Warner / The Heart of Portland Oregon

The Hymn for the Cigarettes (Too Pure) 1999 &2 & CD
The Hymn for the Cigarettes / Grandmother Dies
Lisa and Me / You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone

The Fidelity Wars (Too Pure) 1999 LP & CD
The Hymn for the Cigarettes / May God Protect Your Home / The Hymn for the
Alcohol / I Took Her Love for Granted / Every Little Gesture / The Weight of
the Stars / I Stole a Bride / We Were Meant to Be / Fat Kelly's Teeth /
Don't Flake Out on Me / I Love Only You

I took her love for granted (Too Pure) 1999 7" & CD
I Took Her Love For Granted / A Belly Full of Babies
To Hide A Little Thought

The Revelations (Too Pure) 1999 CD
Nobody Knows (the trouble
I see) / Dragnet for Jesus / He Got Better Things For You' / Turkle
Dove

Oooh that is the basis of a guide entry in itself and now we have an official page too! http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A678639

sorry for butting in like this, but I was told that you like Hefner autist, so thought I'd come and say hi, and now I find out that Abi does too.

oooh... have I got news for both of you. If you need any info (particularly inside info) then just call on me. My brother used to be in the band, as the bass guitarist. Although I haven't seen him since the band took off, Darren was a frequent visitor to my parents house when we all lived there. I still think it's weird when I catch them on the TV.

I've also got a tape lying around the house somewhere that they made before they got their record contract. 'I can smell him on your dress' was my particular favourite. (And my brother for reasons unknown left the communal flat and the band shortly after. Couldn't sing I expect. Actually, I know he couldn't sing. They wouldn't let him have the microphone on when they did gigs. )

I don't know if he still does, but Darren used to do all the artwork for the albums. I think. My memory isn't too good about it, as I wasn't a big fan of their stuff.

Better get my arse in gear then and find something out about the bloody band then!

oh my cool...i have actually found other people that seem to like this band...on the random, too...even more, someone who likes their last album. i honestly thought such people didnt exist....even more, someone who knows them...

ahhhh...bliss...

if only id had the money, and more importantly the permissionfrom my prison, uh, school, to go and see them last year...

oh yeah, and darren does do the artwork on the albums...highly cool

They're really worth seeing. I've seen them a few times (though not since the Electroninic Renaisance) and they were bloody marvelous. Get to see them, even if it means tunneling out.

obviously i would, but i kind of dont want to be expelled. and they arent on any time soon...

Darren also has his own record label Evil World Records. There first release was Ant's 3rd single a 7" - I Hope You'll Always Be There b/w Not Sleeping the Same Way
followed by
baxendale 7" An American Friend b/w U Know the Rules
long good luck 7" She's In Control b/w The Last Dance
Delitia 7" Thinking Dogs for the Stupid / Stop / Busses Replace Trains / Bandage/ Count to 10
The Lollies Channel Heaven b/w Pearls

And Jack Hayter also has a forthcoming album "practical wireless" on another label.