The Hard Quartet — the new group featuring Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Jim White (Dirty Three) and Emmett Kelly (Ty Segall) — have announced their self-titled debut album, which will be out October 4 via Matador. The band produced it themselves and it was engineered by Daniel Schlett, who also mixed the album with Emmett Kelly.
The idea for the group was proposed by Matt Sweeney, who played on Malkmus’ 2020 album Traditional Techniques, in the early days of the pandemic, and they had written nearly an album’s worth of songs in the first week of working together. “This is not a project—it’s a band,” Malkmus told GQ. “We’re all jazzed.”
The Hard Quartet includes their debut single, “Earth Hater,” and they’ve just shared a second single and video, “Rio’s Song,” which features lead vocals by Sweeney and a video that pays homage to The Rolling Stones’ “Waitin’ on a Friend.” Shot on low-res videotape, the video uses the same East Village stoop the Stones did in the video (also the location for Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti), as well as iconic dive The International Bar. They also recreated some of the weirder shots from the original video.
Say the band: “The “Rio’s Song” video is The Hard Quartet’s homage to street rock in the hot afternoon & clowning around with lifer friends in downtown New York City. Director Jared Sherbert shot it guerrilla style on St Mark’s Place and in The International Bar on July 15 2024. It features local NYC artists, musicians, activists, skaters and icons who are dear to the band.”
Those local NYC artists, musicians, activists, skaters and icons include Bridgette Bulger, JR Reynolds, Jesse Fischler, James Lo, Paddy Mulloy, Sully Cormier, Reynold Jaffe, Efron Danzig, Tyler Jopek, Mark Morgan, Mark Ibold, Jaiko Suzuki, Kev Lawrence, Cassandra Pombrio, Kristina Mazzochi, Aurel Schmidt, Sasha Vine, Mike Bones, Reynold Jaffe, and Eric Rhinestone.
Watch the video, and check out album art and tracklist, below.
The Hard Quartet make their live debut with three shows in October: LA’s The Belasco on 10/10 with Papa M, NYC’s Webster Hall on 10/17 with Weak Signal, and London’s Electric Ballroom on 10/22 with The Tubs. Tickets are on sale now.
The Hard Quartet
1. Chrome Mess
2. Earth Hater
3. Rio’s Song
4. Our Hometown Boy
5. Renegade
6. Heel Highway
7. Killed By Death
8. Hey
9. It Suits You
10. Six Deaf Rats
11. Action For Military Boys
12. Jacked Existence
13. North of the Border
14. Thug Dynasty
15. Gripping the Riptide