#hard quartet

Stephen Malkmus (bass, guitar, vocals), Chavez’s Matt Sweeney (bass, guitar, vocals), the Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly (bass, guitar, vocals) and Dirty Three’s Jim White (drums, vocals) teamed up to form the Hard Quartet and began jamming together in 2023. And following the release of their eponymous debut album — “cosmically trippy joy” — two weeks ago, last night, they filled Webster Hall with that very same joy.

The Hard Quartet played the album in full and then doubled down on “Action for Military Boys” with its chorus played as a jam and the show’s encore.

(Plus, Sweeney regaled the crowd with a story about seeing the Replacements at Webster Hall when it was still known as the Ritz and asking Bob Stinson outside the venue what it was like being in a band. The guitarist told him that it was cool and that he always had $20 in his pocket — and that answer “ruined” Sweeney’s life.)

Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | thisisnotaphotograph.com

@thesearenotphotographs

I’m not sure if they actually like each other as much as they seem, but I can hope. I have really like the debut, self-titled album from Hard Quartet, the indie-rock super group featuring Stephen Malkmus, Jim White, Matt Sweeney, and Emmett Kelly, dudes who have played in some of our favorite bands of the last 20 years. Their record is slack rock, Big Star-esqe power pop, fuzzy indie rock and…