Hefner

Darren Hayman Live at The Windmill, Brixton - January 26, 2006

Hefner most definitely make my top five list of favorite bands ever. Their first three albums are beyond incredible. My old roommate, James Dugan, turned me on to them in the mid 90s. We played their music endlessly to the good people of Eugene, Oregon on the powerhouse known as 88.1fm KWVA. Breaking God’s Heart – one of the best records ever.

Their series of Hymn songs: Hymn For The Alcohol, Hymn for the Postal Service, Hymn for the Cigarettes (hit play on the video below), Hymn for The Things We Didn’t Do deserve their own repackaging. Brilliant – all of them.

I planned a trip to England solely around seeing two back to back Hefner shows in Camden. Luckily for me, when I was back in London in 2006 Darren Hayman, former Hefner front man, was doing a solo gig at The Windmill in Brixton. I dragged my soon-to-be-wife, Mindy, and by love-him-like-a-brother-cousin-who-is-not-really-a-cousin, David Lewy, to the show. None of us were disappointed. He went back and forth between old Hefner cuts and new solo ones. The Windmill, being a glorious dump of a venue in the best possible way, was the ideal place to see Darren do his thing: Smoke-filled, crammed, hot as hell and a stage just about eight inches of the ground. Thinking about it now, it makes me miss seeing live music, but it’s never really like that anymore.

David and Mindy can't get enough of the magic of Darren Hayman

Their early 7″s and singles included recipes for curries and notes like “Buy More Beach Boys Records.” It meant something at the time. I’d love to go visit family in London and find old Hefner stuff at the shops on Berwick St. Gotta get back there soon!

On the Hefner website www.Hefnet.com, which Darren maintains, you can see check out more Hefner than you could ever possibly want. There are some great videos as well including “Greedy Ugly People” live from the John Peel Tribute Show. John Peel was a great fan of Hefner’s and that’s about as good a stamp of approval as you could ever need or want.