1. A British indie pop and "urban folk" band fronted by Darren Hayman.
2… Read Full Bio ↴1. A British indie pop and "urban folk" band fronted by Darren Hayman.
2. electronic downtempo artist Lee Jones who released an album called Residue,
3. An experimental side project of Swedish indie, electronic, hip hop artist Lechy
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1. Hefner were a British indie pop and "urban folk" band fronted by Darren Hayman. They were active from about 1996 until 2002; since then they have played together only once, for a tribute to the DJ John Peel, who was a strong supporter of theirs.

Hefner began as a live band in 1995. In 1996 Darren Hayman recorded a tape for Sticky Records (named The Devotion Chamber) on which all instruments were played by Darren himself. His friend from art school, Antony Harding, assisted, providing backing vocals.

The band's first release was in April of 1997 when the 7" single "A Better Friend" was released by Boogle Wonderland. The single featured Antony on drums and John Morrison (from Rhatigan) on bass. Shortly after the release, the record label Too Pure offered a record deal to Darren, who extended the offer to Antony and John.

After a few more singles, Hefner recorded their debut album Breaking God's Heart. A lo fidelity album primarily recorded in one take, Hayman has declared that this album is the one he is least interested in listening to, due to its unrealized potential.

The Fidelity Wars would be their next record (with the recent addition of multi-instrumentalist Jack Hayter playing on some tracks, who would later join the band properly); a darker collection of songs. In the official website of the band Darren has explained that all of the songs gravitate around the concept of breaking up.

Hefner had, at this point, recorded a large number of singles and EPs. Boxing Hefner collected some of those tracks that had not appeared on the previous albums, often as new recordings. The compilation also included some unreleased material. The band stated that this album was released primarily to mark Jack's actual joining.

We Love the City marked a change in direction for the band. In contrast with previous records, which had older songs, all of the compositions on We Love the City were made for this record, which had better production value and more varied instrumentation.

Dead Media, released in 2001, continued the interest that Hefner had shown in exploring new ways. Dead Media is certainly different from previous records in the sense of its electronic weight, an interest that led Darren to eventually create The French.

After the band's final gig at the ICA in London on 10 December 2001 and the release of an EP called The Hefner Brain the following March, the band went on a seemingly permanent hiatus, save for one reformation for the "Keeping It Peel" tribute show, marking the death of one of their biggest supporters, Radio 1 DJ John Peel. In 2005 a t-shirt was released that read "Hefner, Britain’s Largest Small Band (1997-2002)", and in an interview Darren Hayman said "no, no reunion planned".

In 2005, after a legal dispute between Darren Hayman and Too Pure, the rights to all the band's Too Pure recordings have reverted to Darren. As a result, he has released The Best of Hefner 1996-2002 (on Fortune & Glory) and Catfight (Cargo), a 2 CD collection of 43 unreleased songs, both in 2006. The full recording of Hefner's special live Peel Session performance from 23rd August 2000 in the eight piece We Love the City formation (amelia fletcher and a horn section - part of which appeared as a limited bonus disc with some copies of the CD of We Love the City) has been released under the title of Maida Vale in November 2006. All of the band's albums have also been reissued with bonus tracks.

In 2008 Darren and Jack got together and played Hefner songs on a limited number of venues around Europe. This project is not planned to continue further after September 2008 though.

Darren Hayman tours and releases music as a solo artist - sometimes as Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern, but he has been involved in several solo projects: The French, the Stereo Morphonium and Hayman, Watkins, Trout and Lee.
Antony Harding's solo project is known as Ant
Jack Hayter releases solo stuff as well.

www.hefnet.com
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2. The other is Lee Jones who released an album called Residue, a number of 12"s and remixes on Inertia Records.

Residue sold 85,000 albums independently through Inertia Records. Lee Jones, in response, took the project on the road around Europe, playing throughout Holland, Germany, Italy and France. Also appearing on national TV in both Germany and Holland. The album was voted number 3 in the BBC Radio 1 urban albums poll.

Then all went quiet. He worked on Josee's solo album, Lost Souls Dancing, and moved to Berlin.
At this time in order to satisfy demand Inertia released a compilation of his best remixes called "Reworks" featuring his versions of tunes by Lamb, 4 Hero, Omar faruk Takbilek and others and took time off to produce some other artists.

In 2003 Inertia hooked Hefner up with Frazey Ford, lead singer of The Be Good Tanyas, a fantastic rootsy, folky band from Vancouver. The resulting material was magical but due to recording commitments to EMI the project had to be stalled until the Be Good Tanyas album was finally released. As of the end of 2006 the project has been revitalised with the partnership working together again. An album is due at the end of 2007.
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3. Dr. Hefner, the Prince of Holmiapolis

Flowers
Hefner Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

A man takes a maiden to be his bride,
She wore cherry lip balm, he couldn't stop kissing her.
He loved her very much, but how could he be sure she was untouched.
The father of the bride went to the city governors,
He took them many tokens to prove to them her cleanliness,
But even he had to confess there were dark unspoken half-truths in her past.
And if the maiden is not a virgin,
Then they will stone her,

Until she dies.
And if she's laid with forty sailors,
Then they will lash her,
Forty thousand times.
He took her to the flowers beyond the city gates,
He wished he was the first one but he knew he was too late.
So he took her with a rage that Lucifer himself could never match.
Her red blood it fell upon the yellow daffodils,
And when at last he finished, she kept so very, very still.

In fact she kept far too still, in fact she didn't move at all.
(She's floating up to god, and god has open arms)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Hefner's song Flowers may appear to be a love ballad at first, but the deeper meaning behind the song is to address the societal issue of virginity being equated with a woman's worth. The beginning of the song tells the story of a man who takes a maiden as his bride, but he cannot be sure if she has had sexual experiences in the past. This uncertainty about her virginity leads to the father of the bride presenting tokens to prove his daughter's cleanliness to the city governors.

But, the uncertainty doesn't end here. If the maiden is not a virgin, she will be punished with stoning until she dies. If she has laid with multiple men, she will be lashed 40,000 times. This showcases how virginity is seen as the only value women have and how their sexual experiences can lead to severe consequences.

The man, in the end, takes the maiden to flowers beyond the city gates, wishing he was the first one, but knew he was too late. He then takes her with such rage that Lucifer himself could never match, leading to her blood falling on the yellow daffodils. She becomes motionless, and the last lines of the song suggest that she's floating up to God with opened arms.

Overall, the song is an allegory that comments on the slut-shaming prevalent in our society that reduces a woman's worth to her virginity.

Line by Line Meaning

A man takes a maiden to be his bride,
A man decides to marry a woman.

She wore cherry lip balm, he couldn't stop kissing her.
He couldn't resist kissing her because of her cherry lip balm.

He loved her very much, but how could he be sure she was untouched.
He loved her deeply but he was unsure if she was a virgin.

The father of the bride went to the city governors,
The bride's father went to the city leaders.

He took them many tokens to prove to them her cleanliness,
He showed them many gifts to prove that his daughter was pure.

But even he had to confess there were dark unspoken half-truths in her past.
Even the father had to admit that there were some dark secrets in her past.

And if the maiden is not a virgin,
If the bride is not a virgin,

Then they will stone her,
She will be punished by being stoned to death.

Until she dies.
She will be stoned until she breathes her last.

And if she's laid with forty sailors,
If she had sexual relations with forty sailors,

Then they will lash her,
She will be punished with lashes.

Forty thousand times.
She will be lashed forty thousand times.

He took her to the flowers beyond the city gates,
He took her to the flowers that were located outside the city walls.

He wished he was the first one but he knew he was too late.
He wished he was her first sexual partner but he knew it was not true.

So he took her with a rage that Lucifer himself could never match.
He had sex with her in a fit of anger that even the devil could not match.

Her red blood it fell upon the yellow daffodils,
She bled on the yellow daffodils.

And when at last he finished, she kept so very, very still.
After he finished having sex with her, she lay very still.

In fact she kept far too still, in fact she didn't move at all.
Actually her stillness became worrisome as she didn't move at all.