WHEN Hard-Fi came on stage to the score from Once Upon a Time In The West, the irony was lost on no-one.

For it was frontman Richard Archer's own unconventional melodica that ultimately set this band apart from anyone else I've seen this year.

The instrument, which sounds like a keyboard, horn and trumpet rolled in to one, was used to great effect on several songs, especially Cash Machine, a track for the financially-challenged everywhere.

Like Charles Bronson himself, the Staines quartet oozed confidence in their own abilities.

They have a sound that's not quite rock, not quite punk and not quite dance music, but its incredibly energetic and fresh.

It's no wonder many people have drawn comparisons with The Clash because of the amalgamation of genres going on here.

Hard-Fi can switch easily from lyrically spiteful songs ("your face makes me want to be sick, it's a physical reaction" in Better Do Better), to anthems like Hard to Beat.

The band's set was just over an hour and was mostly songs from debut album Stars of CCTV with one or two B-Sides thrown in and a brilliant version of White Stripes' Seven Nation Army.

The big test will undoubtedly be taking things up a notch with a second album.

But judging by the way the crowd lapped up their current material, especially Living for the Weekend encore, that shouldn't be a problem.

Andrew Taylor