Hard-Fi were an English rock band from Staines-upon-Thames, England, formed in 2003. The band's final lineup consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Steve Kemp (drums and backing vocals). Founding member Ross Phillips (guitar and backing vocals) left the band on 6 May 2013 but returned in 2014 to promote the release of their greatest hits album, Best of 2004 - 2014, and the one-off gig on 13 February 2014. They achieved chart success with their third single, "Hard to Beat" and then followed by other successful singles such as "Living for the Weekend" and "Cash Machine", which all reached the top 15 of the UK Singles Chart.
The band were one of the acts opening for Green Day, alongside Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World on their two-day residency of the Milton Keynes Bowl in June 2005. Simple Plan were initially booked though cancelled only a few weeks before the show, and Hard-Fi were made as a last minute booking and opened on both days. Their debut album's launch party was scheduled to be 7 July 2005 at Cheekees nightclub in Staines, however this was cancelled due to the ill health of Richard's mother, and the London bombings also occurring that day. Her death resulted in the band pulling out of the Glastonbury festival. The launch party was rescheduled for 13 July 2005 and the venue changed to Ladbroke Grove, London. The Stars of CCTV album re-entered the official UK album chart at No. 4 on 1 January 2006. Two places higher than it originally went in on the week of its release, the album climbed from No. 33. Stars of CCTV finally got to No. 1 on 22 January. The band's re-release of "Cash Machine" entered the official Top 40 singles chart at No. 14 on 1 January. The album has reached sales of 1.2 million copies worldwide and sales of over 600,000 in the UK alone. Hard-Fi gained increased prominence in the UK when Stars of CCTV was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. Stars of CCTV scored 74 out of 100 on Metacritic. In February 2006, the band were nominated for two BRIT Awards, Best British Group and Best British Rock Act, alongside international superstars such as Gorillaz, Franz Ferdinand and Oasis. Richard spoke about the nominations, "I don't think we'll win it, especially best group when you've got Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and Gorillaz in there, they're kind of big hitters, but you never know, Burton drew with Man United". "Last week I would have probably said 'nah it's all rubbish', but now I'm nominated it's great but what is good is that there's a real wide spread of stuff there, but there's no Best Dance award and the urban category is more pop than what's quality."

Q: What is CCTV?
A: The Stars of CCTV album re-entered the official UK album chart at No. 4 on 1 January 2006.
What did they do in 2005?
Their debut album's launch party was scheduled to be 7 July 2005 at Cheekees nightclub The band were one of the acts opening for Green Day, alongside Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World on their two-day residency of the Milton Keynes Bowl The band were one of the acts opening for Green Day, alongside Taking Back Sunday and Jimmy Eat World on their two-day residency of the Milton Keynes Bowl Their debut album's launch party was scheduled to be 7 July 2005 Their debut album's launch party was scheduled to be 7 July 2005 at Cheekees nightclub in Staines,
Their debut album's launch party was scheduled to be 7 July 2005 at Cheekees nightclub in Staines,