Cheat Sheet: Hard-Fi

Cheat Sheet: Hard-Fi

Punky and pop Brit band Hard-Fi breaks out: Aidin Vaziri | Hard-Fi is a British band that combines the punky-reggae swagger of the Clash with the pop sensibility of Duran Duran and hails from Ali G's neighborhood, Staines. So basically a dance rock band, then? "No, that's crap," says singer Richard Archer. "We just take the spirit of something, like we might take a house or reggae approach but not necessarily the beat, and use it in our sound." The group's debut single, "Cash Machine," is a good example, combining rock guitars with a woozy dancehall groove and lyrics about a trip to the ATM. They like it slow. Hard-Fi's first album, "Stars of CCTV," was released in the United Kingdom in July and just hit the No. 1 spot last week. How did they celebrate their chart triumph? By setting out to conquer America from the ground up. Rather than ordering up champagne and helicopters back home, they're hard at work playing tiny clubs and shaking hands at radio stations. "The bus is a little fuzzy today," Archer says. "Our guitarist just walked in looking like death warmed over." Archer's secret plan for world domination in 2006. "I need to hook up with some Hollywood actress," he says. The British press recently broke the story that he had been palling around with Scarlett Johansson over the holidays and that there were pictures to prove it. Archer finds this hilarious. "Did she come to Staines? Maybe I missed it, but the only time I've ever seen her is on the telly."Still, it's a good rumor. "Well, I didn't deny it."