Hefner were a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band formed in east London in 1995. They were active from about 1996 until 2002; since then they have played together only once, for a tribute to the DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

, who was a strong supporter of theirs.

History

Hefner's roots stretch back to 1992, when

Darren Hayman Darren Hayman (born 1 December 1970) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the writer, lead singer, and guitarist in Hefner. Since Hefner disbanded in 2002, Hayman has embarked on a prolific solo career releasing ...

and Antony Harding met at art school in

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. The band started playing live in 1995 and, after several line up changes, became a solo project of

. In 1996 he recorded a tape for Sticky Records (named '' The Devotion Chamber'') on which all instruments were played by Hayman himself. His friend from art school, Antony Harding, assisted, providing backing vocals. The band's first release was in April 1997 when the 7-inch single "A Better Friend" was released by Boogle Wonderland. The single featured Harding on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and John Morrison (from Rhatigan) on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. Shortly after the release, the record label

Too Pure Too Pure Records was a London-based independent record label formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox. The label gained prominence after the release of PJ Harvey's debut studio album ''Dry (album), Dry'' in 1992, and subsequently found f ...

offered a record deal to Darren, who extended the offer to Antony and John. After a few more singles, Hefner recorded their debut album '' Breaking God's Heart'', which was released in 1998. A lo fidelity album primarily recorded in one take, Hayman has declared that this album is the one he is least interested in listening to, due to its unrealized potential. '' The Fidelity Wars'' would be their next record (with the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Jack Hayter); a darker collection of songs. In the official website of the band Hayman has explained that all of the songs gravitate towards the concept of breaking up. Hefner had, at this point, recorded a large number of singles and

EPs An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

. '' Boxing Hefner'' collected some of those tracks that had not appeared on the previous albums, often as new recordings. The compilation also included some unreleased material. '' We Love the City'' marked a change in direction for the band. In contrast with previous records, which had older songs, all of the compositions on ''We Love the City'' were made for this record, which had better production value and more varied instrumentation. '' Dead Media'', released in 2001, continues the interest that Hefner had shown in exploring new ways. '' Dead Media'' is certainly different from previous records in the sense of its electronic weight, an interest that led Darren to eventually create The French. After the band's final gig at the ICA in London on 10 December 2001 and the release of an EP called '' The Hefner Brain'' the following March, the band went on a seemingly permanent hiatus, save for one reformation for the "Keeping It Peel" tribute show, marking the death of one of their biggest supporters, Radio 1 DJ

. In 2005 a T-shirt was released that read "Hefner, Britain’s Largest Small Band (1997–2002)", and in an interview Darren Hayman said "no, no reunion planned". Their song I Love Only You was featured on the 2015 Craig Cash sitcom After Hours.

Post-Hefner

In 2005, following a legal dispute between

and Too Pure, the rights to all of the band's Too Pure recordings were reverted to Hayman. As a result, the band has released a best-of album, a 2 CD collection of 43 unreleased songs called '' Catfight'' and a live album, recorded at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

Studios. All of the band's studio albums have been reissued as 2-CD sets with bonus tracks. Planned for the future is a compilation of BBC session tracks. The band recorded ten sessions for

BBC Radio One BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hi ...

programme, as well as a number of live performances, and eleven of their tracks made it into the Festive 50.

and Jack Hayter played Hefner songs at a number of dates in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in June 2008. Despite this, Hayman has said that Hefner will not reform unless it's with the original line up. He has consistently aired his disdain for bands that reform.

Band members

(

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, keyboards) * Antony Harding (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s, backing vocals) *John Morrison (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

) * Jack Hayter (

, pedal steel guitar, keyboards,

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

, vocals)

Spin offs and solo projects

* The French *Hayman, Watkins, Trout & Lee *The Stereo Morphonium * Jack Hayter *ANT solo project of Antony Harding *Lonely Boy, featuring Antony Harding singing the poetry of Norwegian poet Eivind Kirkeby * Rhatigan * Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern *Papernut Cambridge, featuring Darren Hayman and Jack Hayter

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Breaking God's Heart'' -

- 1998 * '' The Fidelity Wars'' - Too Pure - 1999 (#165) * '' We Love the City'' - Too Pure - 2000 (#92) * '' Dead Media'' - Too Pure - 2001 (#178)

Compilations and live albums

* ''Boxing Hefner'' - Too Pure - 2000 (#144) * ''Kick, Snare, Hats, Ride'' - self-released - 2002 * ''The Best of Hefner'' - Fortune and Glory Records - 2006 * ''Catfight'' - self-released - 2006 * ''Maida Vale'' - Belka - 2006

EPs

* ''The Devotion Chamber'' - Sticky Records - 1996 * ''The Hefner Soul'' - Too Pure - 1998 * ''The Hefner Heart'' - Acuarela Discos - 1999 * ''Orphan Songs'' - Everlasting Records - 1999 * ''Revelations'' - Too Pure - 1999 * ''The Hefner Brain'' - Too Pure - 2002 (#21 §) § - Budget Album Chart

Singles

* "A Better Friend" - Boogle Wonderland - 1997 (7-inch only) * "

Lee Remick Lee Ann Remick (; December 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991) was an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film ''Days of Wine and Roses (film), Days of Wine and Roses'' (1962) and was nominated fo ...

" - Boogle Wonderland - 1998 (7-inch only) * " Pull Yourself Together" - Too Pure - 1998 * " Love Will Destroy Us in the End" - Too Pure - 1998 * " The Sweetness Lies Within" - Too Pure - 1998 (#171) * " The Hymn for the Alcohol" - Sticky Records - 1999 (7-inch only) * " The Hymn for the Cigarettes" - Too Pure - 1999 (#87) * " I Took Her Love for Granted" - Too Pure - 1999 (#136) * "Christian Girls" - Too Pure - 2000 (#76) * " Good Fruit" - Too Pure - 2000 ( UK No. 50) * " The Greedy Ugly People" - Too Pure - 2000 (UK No. 64) * "Half a Life" - Too Pure - 2001 (split 7-inch with

Murry the Hump Murry the Hump were a Welsh indie rock and "urban folk" band. They were active from 1999 until 2001. Since then they have continued to release music under the name The Keys (or simply Keys). History The band was formed in Aberystwyth in the ...

) (#152) * " Alan Bean" - Too Pure - 2001 (UK No. 58) * " Trouble Kid" - Too Pure - 2001