Contempo (band)

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Contempo
Origin	Staines, Surrey, England
Genre(s)	Indie Rock Alternative rock
Years active	1997 — 2001
Label(s)	London Records
Website	Contempo at MySpace
Members
Richard Archer Steve Archer Steve Friend Dave Teape Steve Kemp
Former members
Steve Cutts

Contempo are an English indie rock band who formed in Staines during the summer of 1997, originally going by the name "Parachute". It is the original band of Richard Archer, singer from Hard-Fi. Mick Jones produced demos that were intended to be released on an album which was initially had a release date planned for the end of March 2000, which was eventually delayed until September/October 2000, however the release was cancelled. Some tracks have been reworked as Hard-Fi songs.^[1]

[edit] History

Contempo's first release was a limited 7" vinyl on the Blue Dog label which had the tracks "On The Floor" and "Stronger" (the latter was released as a b-side for the Hard-Fi single, Hard to Beat).^[2]

In November 2000 Contempo announced they had left London Records after months of having a mutual tense relationship. After these events, Contempo released a six track EP called "This Is Contempo", which featured the ska song "Ain't Going Out Tonight" on their own label "Nu-Suburban Sounds". Another record was "Contempo - The Demos", this however was a CDr released by fans which featured demos of what would be Hard-Fi tracks: "Better Do Better, Can't Get Along (Without You), Living for the Weekend (then named "Living 4 the Weekend"), Move On Now and Unnecessary Trouble.

In the wake of Contempo splitting up, Archer claims that music business insiders tried to dissuade the band's manager Warren Clarke (not the actor of the same name) from managing him. "People told him, don't bother with Archer, he's damaged goods, you're wasting your time'."^[3]^[4]

Archer asked his publishers for some money to record the some new songs that he had written, they terminated his contract instead. He eventually formed Hard-Fi whose line up includes Ross Phillips on lead guitar, Kai Stephens on bass, and Steve Kemp on drums, who also provided drums for Contempo as their career was coming to an end.