If the photo is looking more familiar than the name, that may be because Hadda Be is the new musical moniker of the band formerly known as Foundlings. With a new bass-player, debut album on the way and US trademark dispute looming, the band made the decision to switch to Hadda Be, lifted from the Allen Ginsberg poem, Hadda Be Playing on the Radio. Formed back in 2018, the band have been something of a fixture on these pages since then, impressing with a series of singles and a well-received debut EP. Signed to the ever-reliable Last Night From Glasgow label, the band are gearing up to the April release of their debut album, Another Life, and today are sharing the video for the record’s title track.

Recorded at Brighton Road Studios over just five days last summer, Another Life was an album created with a desire to capture all of the energy and intensity that make Foundlings such an exciting live band. The immediacy channelled through a recording approach that saw the band largely laying everything down live in just a few takes, with minimal overdubs added afterwards. Listening to the title track, that sense of urgency and energy is immediately clear, it is a track that eschews some of their dreamier tendencies in favour of cutting straight to the point, with clattering guitars, visceral drum hits and yelp along vocals, perfectly suited to sweaty venue sing-alongs, and who isn’t missing those right now?

Lyrically, the track seems to deal with ideas of reputation and reality, asking questions of how the world perceives us and the people we are inside, as vocalist Amber sings, “I won’t fight, I’ll retire, I try to act so tough but I’m full of fright”. The track seems to hit a peak towards its close as an instrumental break slides effortlessly into a twin-voiced howl, “it covered me in worry, now that’s all I ever know, I bring trouble, someone called me out”, it’s reminiscent of 100 Broken Windows-era Idlewild in its fusion of punk energy and melodic understanding. This isn’t just a new name, this is a new intensity; the sound of a band hitting new heights and ready for whatever opportunities are surely bound to come their way.

Read the band’s thoughts on the video and then check it out below:

The coming together of the Another Life video has a similar story to that of the album: in that the recording of it was delayed twice due to the coronavirus restrictions. That being said, we never did manage to meet up to shoot the video. What you see is the result of us filming ourselves with green screens at home, using our phone cameras. We’ve made a few videos in the past, so we had a kind of vague idea as to what shots might work, though I don’t think any of us will be in line for a BAFTA anytime soon. 

The real genius behind the scenes is Chris Tomsett (AKA Innerstrings), who put it all together. We’ve admired his visuals and the music videos he’s made for a while now. He’s worked with people like Andy Bell, Whyte Horses and our pals Jetstream Pony – all of whom we admire a great deal. Matthew (guitarist) caught his work at the Lewes Psych Festival a little while ago too. We thought the vibrancy and the dynamism of the art he creates would work well with Another Life; it seemed like it would marry well with the energy and buoyancy of the track, and we certainly think it does.  

Recording our “to camera” takes at home was its own little mission: getting into the right headspace in the actual space you eat your dinner in wasn’t a challenge we’d anticipated having for this video. There are probably a few neighbours we owe a debt of gratitude to though; turning up the volume was invariably the answer.

Hadda Be on the making of the Another Life Video

Another Life is out April 30th via Last Night From Glasgow. Click HERE for more information on Hadda Be.