EMMETT KELLY, STEPHEN MALKMUS, MATT SWEENEY & JIM WHITE
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THE HARD QUARTET
The Hard Quartet is a band. But what is a band? A band, perhaps, can be thought of as a body, a corpus, in which physically discrete lifeforms comprise a chimera that shrieks with one voice. In this particular band, which is one of millions in the world today, four players selflessly merge, become musical, and emit rock ‘n’ roll that is familiar but new, warm but icy, melodic but Sphinx-like in its seductive and subtle riddles… essentially, The Hard Quartet has leveled, cultivated, and made lush an entirely new steppe in the ecosystem of guitar-bass-drums-voice agriculture.
With that in mind, 21st century juggernaut EYEDRESS directed the video for The Hard Quartet’s first single ‘Earth Hater’ – watch it below.
The Hard Quartet:
Emmett Kelly, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work in The Cairo Gang and The Double, as well as in the company of artists such as Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Ty Segall, Rob Mazurek, and many more.
Stephen Malkmus, a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist best known for his work with Pavement, the Jicks, Silver Jews, Straw Dogs, and eponymously.
Matt Sweeney, a songwriter, guitarist, producer and vocalist best known for his work with Chavez, Superwolf, his music for Red Dead Redemption 2 and his guitar work in the company of a panoply of artists from Guided by Voices and Cat Power to Johnny Cash and Adele.
Jim White, a drummer and songwriter best known for his work with Dirty Three, Xylouris White, eponymously, and with such stalwarts as PJ Harvey, Smog, and Venom P. Stinger.
Musings from the titans that are The Hard Quartet
“‘Hard’ in this context means kind of real, like survivors, like a diamond that can’t be broken, just honed down. But then it’s sort of funny because there’s a lot of sensitive vibes on the record. It’s not actually so hard.” — S.M.
“We come from such different places and we’ve have such different career histories, but I think that now we’re all in a similar place, which is kind of strange to acknowledge.” — E.K.
“This just seems like a really good band for us all to be in for the foreseeable future. We’ll go until the wheels fall off. I can’t think of three better guys than these three guys. There’s something sweet and solid about the vibe.” — M.S.
THE HARD QUARTET:
https://www.tiktok.com/@thehardquartet
https://www.facebook.com/thehardquartet
