It would probably upset the Hard Quartet – which includes Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, Chavez/Superwolves’ Matt Sweeney, the Dirty Three’s Jim White and former Bonnie Prince Billy/Ty Segall member Emmett Kelly – to be called an indie supergroup, but as the above words show, it’s apt.
The group has announced that their eponymous debut album will be released on October 4th via Matador Records, and did so in superb fashion with a video for “Rio’s Song” that almost perfectly replicates the Rolling Stones’ iconic 1981 clip for “Waiting on a Friend,” right down to the same building and bar on St. Marks Place in New York’s East Village. The clip was directed by Jared Sherbert.
“The video for ‘Rio’s Song’ is Hard Quartet’s tribute to street rock on hot afternoons and messing around with friends in downtown New York City,” the group said in a joint statement. “Director Jared Sherbert shot it guerrilla-style at St. Mark’s Place and the International Bar on July 15, 2024, and features local artists, musicians, activists, skaters and NYC icons dear to the band’s heart.”
The origin of the “leaderless” group was detailed in a recent profile in GQ. “Soon the whole group is reflecting and laughing, offering a glimpse into the casual process that shapes their proudly leaderless new collaboration: an idea Sweeney first proposed to Malkmus over the phone in the early days of the pandemic. After working together in various iterations and running into each other frequently on the road, the idea of making music together – by no one’s rules but their own, detached from industry trends or standards – was a no-brainer. Sweeney looks back with awe on the Hard Quartet’s first week of work together, during which they quickly amassed nearly an album’s worth of songs and carved out an identity distinct from all their previous projects. (“This isn’t a project – it’s a band,” Malkmus says firmly. Sweeney responds with a triumphant, throaty “Yeeeah!”)”
The band, which is planning an extensive tour next year, will play its first concerts in October:
October 10 – Los Angeles @ The Belasco
October 17 – New York @ Webster Hall
October 22nd – London @ Electric Ballroom
TRACK LIST
1. Chrome chaos
2. Earth Hater
3. Rio’s song
4. Our boy from the hometown
5. Renegade
6. Heel Highway
7. Killed by Death
8. Hello
9. It suits you
10. Six deaf rats
11. Action for military boys
12. Jacked-up existence
13. North of the border
14. Thug Dynasty
15. Controlling the surf current
