Product Code Database
Hatcham Social are an England indie pop band. The group first met and formed in New Cross, London in 2006 and have since released a string of singles on indie labels, followed by three studio albums. With the debut album, they made headway in the mainstream media with The Guardian describing them as "irrestistible" and Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) calling them "a wonderful pop group with the world's coolest drummer."
The band is named partially after the Hatcham Liberal club on Queens Road, Peckham, and the Old English word 'Hatcham', meaning 'a clearing in the woods'. The Hatcham Liberal club was well known as 'Hatcham Social' around the time the band formed. The area in which it lies was, in previous times, known as Hatcham.Artrocker Magazine, 1–17 August 2007, page 6 - band interviewArtrocker Magazine, Issue 76, March 2008, pages 26 - 29 - four-page article on the band
Their debut album You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil was released in March 2009 in the United Kingdom, followed by the album About Girls in 2012. The third album Cutting Up the Present Leaks Out the Future was released on Ogenisis in February 2014 and their fourth and most recent album, The Birthday of the World, was released on Crocodile Records in 2015.
Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, produced the band's next single, the double A-side of "Til the Dawn" and "Penelope (Under My Hat)". Both sides of the single were recorded with Burgess, for whom this was his production debut. Again, artwork was provided by Faris Badwan. Artrocker described the single as a "polka-dot-skirt-swirling number with credibility"Artrocker Magazine, 1–17 August 2007, page 26 - single review whilst Dazed & Confused saw it as "carefree and irresistibly catchy."Dazed & Confused, Volume 2, Issue 52, August 2007, page 172 - single review The success of the single prompted BBC 6Music Disc jockey Gideon Coe to invite the band in for their first live radio session on Tuesday 14 August 2007,Radio Times, 11–17 August 2007, page 122 - 6 Music Radio listing whilst the Queens of Noize chose "Penelope (Under My Hat)" as their "trophy track" on their BBC 6 Music show on 4 August 2007. Artrocker magazine also asked the band to perform a live radio session for them, and used one of the live tracks "Snap My Hands" on their cover mounted free CD in December 2007.Artrocker Magazine, Issue 73, December 2007 - Artrocker Unsigned Volume 3 CD
The band's growing friendship with Badwan saw him switching from design to production for Hatcham's next single, "So So Happy Making". The single was released as a joint venture between Loog Records and Waks Records. Artrocker described the single as a "wonderful, life-affirming record"Artrocker Magazine, Issue 75, Feb 2008, page 59 - single review whilst the NME proclaimed "twee-tastic basement recorded pop shouldn't be starting a south London revolution, but it is."NME, 9 February 2008, page 46 - single review Vice described it as "one of the best things we've heard all year",Vice, Volume 6 Number 1, page 124 - photo shoot with band and Time Out magazine chose the self-recorded B-side, "Berlin", as one of their 'Picks of the Week', likening the band to The Pop Group, Josef K and Virgin Prunes.Time Out Magazine, No.1956, 13–19 February, page 113 - 'Tracks, a pick of the weeks's A-Sides, B-Sides, downloads and miscellaneous' The relative success of the single was proven when it reached number 14 in the Official Independent Singles Chart on 9 March 2008.
Growing recognition has seen Hatcham Social headline a show at London's 100 Club in February 2008, and they have played the Camden Crawl, Great Escape and Dot to Dot music festivals in London, Brighton, Bristol and Nottingham, as well as Faraday in Barcelona, London Calling in Amsterdam and Lovebox in London.
Their debut album, entitled You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil was produced by Tim Burgess and Jim Spencer and released in March 2009 through Fierce Panda in the UK and TBD Records in the United States. It was critically acclaimed and received 10/10 in Vice magazine, 8/10 in NME and Album of the Month in Artrocker. It was included in many top 20 albums of the year lists, and the single "Crocodile" was the Single of the Year 2009 in Artrocker.
Second album About Girls was released in April 2012 and recorded with Jim Anderson (Transgressive, Cold Specks), Laurie Latham (Echo and the Bunnymen, Squeeze) and some of the album was produced and mixed entirely by the band at Helcion Mountain in London and Drummers Hill in Wales. It received an equally good reception: Loud and Quiet: "full of nagging hits"; NME: "a stunner"; Steve Lamacq (6 Music/Radio 2) "...pure indie pop brilliance"; BBC America: "one of the top 5 UK bands to see at SXSW"; The Quietus: "loving Hatcham Social’s new direction."
"Like an Animal" was the first taster track to be released off of the second LP and was given away as a free download from the band's Bandcamp page. It was limited to 500 free downloads and then went on to being available to buy. Artrocker said the single was "awesome" and gave it a five star rating.
The third studio album Cutting Up the Present Leaks Out the Future was released in February 2014. Recorded and produced by the band themselves in a 12-day stint in a studio in Wales, they recorded onto reel to reel tape, using a computer only at mixdown stage. Q magazine called the album a "career high" and "a thrilling dark night of the soul", awarding it 4 stars out of 5.
A fourth studio album The Birthday of the World was released in October 2015 via Crocodile Records.
A career-spanning compilation We Are the Weirdos was released in April 2022 on Fierce Panda as a collection of best and lost singles as well as featuring remixes from Tim Burgess and Baxter Dury.
They have also taken an influence from story books and children's literature, most notably through their rendition of the Lewis Carroll poem "Jabberwocky", which they performed live at their 100 Club gig with a performing arts group, SKIPtheatre (they also made a brief appearance in the music video to "So So Happy Making"). The band's love of story books and children's literature (and as a nod to the 1980s) influenced them in choosing to release two cassette tapes of their self-recorded material, Found in the Woods (versions 1 & 2).Flux Magazine, Issue 59, page 22 - interview with bandArtrocker Magazine, 1–17 August 2007, page 6 - interview with bandDazed and Confused, Vol.2, Issue 53, September 2007, page 239 - article on the band The first edition brought together the five tracks on their first two vinyl only singles, and was released on 25 May 2007. The second edition brought together six other previously unreleased self-recorded tracks, and was released on 31 December 2007.
| 2009 | You Dig the Tunnel, I'll Hide the Soil | CD, download | Fierce Panda (UK) TBD Records (US) |
| 2012 | About Girls | CD, download | Fierce Panda |
| 2014 | Cutting Up the Present Leaks Out the Future | CD, download, vinyl | Ogenesis Records |
| 2015 | The Birthday of the World | CD, download, vinyl | Crocodile Records |
| 2022 | We Are the Weirdos | Download, vinyl | Fierce Panda |
| 2007 | Found in the Woods (edition 1) | Cassette | PopGrooves |
| 2007 | Found in the Woods (edition 2) | Cassette | PopGrooves |
| 2008 | Party | mp3 download | PopGrooves |
| 2008 | Crystal World (Japan only) | CD | Vinyl Junkie |
| 2009 | Postcard in Colours (United States and Canada only) | CD | TBD Records |
| 2006 | "Dance As If…" / "Catch Me If You Can (You Can't)" | 7" | WaKS Records |
| 2006 | "How Soon Was Then?" / "Land of Maybe" / "Rhinoceros" (DJ Sinjin Mix) | 7" | PopGrooves |
| 2007 | "Til the Dawn" / "Penelope (Under My Hat)" | 7", download | WaKS Records |
| 2008 | "So So Happy Making" / "Berlin" | 7", CD | Loog Records |
| 2009 | "Murder in the Dark" / "Mimicry" | 7", download | Fierce Panda |
| 2009 | "Crocodile" / "Dissected" | 7", download | Fierce Panda |
| 2009 | "Sidewalk" | 10" (Ltd.100) | Fierce Panda |
| 2011 | "Like an Animal" | Download only (Ltd.500) | Fierce Panda |
| 2012 | "You Look Like a God When You Dance with Me" | Download only | Fierce Panda |
| 2012 | "Lois Lane" | Download only | Fierce Panda |
| 2013 | "More Power to Live" / "Ketamine Queen" | Free download | O Genesis |
| 2014 | "Lion with a Laser Gun" / "Confessions of an English Opium Smoker" | Download only | O Genesis |
| 2021 | "If You Go Down to the Woods Today (Three Cheers For Our Side)" | Download only | Fierce Panda |
|
|
