The Hard Quartet might be a new supergroup with a stellar self-titled debut album, but its members have been good friends for over 30 years.
Comprised of Pavement's Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney from Superwolves and Chavez, Dirty Three's Jim White, and the Cairo Gang's Emmett Kelly, the geographically separated musicians are bonded by decades of mutual respect and shared experiences.
"I would say just down on the Lower East Side of New York in the early '90s," Malkmus says when asked how he first came to know Sweeney. "As a suburban kid who moved there [from California], I'd been around the block a bit, but I was sort of wet behind the ears and just started hanging out and going to bars and causing a ruckus. Matt was around, and a noticeable and prominent member of the scene, I guess you would call it."
He adds, "He was friends with David [Berman], too," referring to his late friend and Silver Jews bandmate, "and he actually liked us. I mean, we were outsiders, and then also when Pavement got successful, there could be some jealousy or acrimony or something, but there was not any of that. These California boys come to Matador and everyone's like, 'Oh, who the fuck are these guys?' But Matt was cool, and cool to David, too. Because David could ruffle some feathers, and it was like, 'We're in this together.'"
Originally from New Jersey, Sweeney was in great rock bands of his own like Skunk, Chavez and Zwan, and has also collaborated closely with Iggy Pop and in the duo Superwolves with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, not to mention playing guitar on songs by the likes of Johnny Cash, Robert Pollard, Cat Power, Run the Jewels, Six Organs of Admittance and many more.
As his endearing Guitar Moves series suggests, he's an ardent booster of musicians, and something of a social convenor who brings people together, even if they live far apart — such as in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, as the members of the Hard Quartet do.
"I met Jim at a club in Boston, but it was because I'd seen him the night before in a club in New York," Sweeney recalls, "and I think the first time I ever hung out with Emmett was maybe in Brooklyn or something. So this is a band that all met on the mean streets, the savage streets of NYC."
Malkmus concurs:"Mean streets, or, like, mean dressing rooms. Jim, you know, I met him on the very first tour or second tour of Australia that I did. The agent recommended Dirty Three and we listened to it, and we were like, 'Let's do this.'"
White is an in-demand drummer who, beyond Australia's Dirty Three and Xylouris White, has closely collaborated with Bill Callahan, Cat Power, Marisa Anderson, Nick Cave and Guy Picciotto, among many others. He released his first solo album, All Hits: Memories, this year, but is not known as a vocalist per se. And yet, in the fun and collaborative spirit of the Hard Quartet, there's White, apparently singing a bit on the humourous new song "Action for Military Boys."
"He's in there," Malkmus confirms. "He's one of the troops. You know, Australia gets dragged into wars. Occasionally the backup is idiotic plans by the Americans and the Brits. So he's there, and he sings in the backing chorus, too."
After collaborating on Malkmus's 2020 solo album Traditional Techniques, Sweeney saw some potential in improvising more together and successfully pitched him the idea of writing new songs with White and Kelly. Whether or not they've articulated what they want to accomplish, the four musicians have quickly conjured an exciting, free and compelling racket. And, in a true display of democracy, the trio of iconic hotshot guitarists each take a turn playing bass.
The Hard Quartet sound like a unit living in the moment, and, after decades of experiences playing with others, are clearly excited to be in a new band together. At times, the new record possesses the laidback yet earnest tension of The Basement Tapes by Bob Dylan and the Band; at others, it recalls aspects of Neil Young's hazy, early-morning "Ditch Trilogy" of early 1970s albums, which sound wild, loose, dark, good-natured, timeless and utterly essential.
Indeed, something about this gathering seems to be opening each member up to new creative possibilities.
"Emmett Kelly is such a big part of this record," Sweeney explains. "A lot of stuff that we're talking about has happened because of Emmett being there, as far how the songs developed. I was really surprised, Steve, to find out that Emmett had been coming off of a many-years-long non-songwriting thing. Because the Cairo Gang is clearly evidence that this guy can do anything and has plenty to say, and, like, songwriting's easy, you know what I mean? And he said that he hadn't written anything for years and years and years and years. So, as far as like having a song to present, he wasn't feeling like he could or whatever."
"Oh wow," Malkmus says, surprised.
" I didn't know that any of that was going on," Sweeney continues. "And because his contributions are insanely strong, how he was working was very interesting to me, especially now finding out that he had just abandoned the idea of writing songs or whatever it was. The dude is so goddamn good at writing these tight '60s songs that sound original and that aren't retro, and just sound like they've always been there. So, it's just to say, there was this ridiculously good songwriter who had been sort of chilling."
Fortunately, it sounds like the Hard Quartet will be a going concern and, having recently moved out of his longtime residence in Portland, OR, Malkmus is already gearing up to write new songs for the band.
"I'm ready — I've got a couple," he says. "It's kind of cool to just say, 'Oh, this would be good for this.' I have a lot of time here in Chicago, and there's a lot of indoor time, and there's a lot of guitar time."
Sweeney loves to hear it.
"Write us some jams, Steve! Give us some jams!"
Listen to this full conversation with the Hard Quartet on the Kreative Kontrol podcast: