From Dolly Parton to The Bangles to Bachman Turner Overdrive, the drudgery, camaraderie and absurdity of office work has inspired many a songwriter over the years, and today we can add South London four-piece Hadda Be to that list as they release their new single ‘New to the Office’.
Joyzine has history with Hadda Be, stretching back to the lockdown where under a previous name they performed at one of the collaborative online Balcony Festival shows that we arranged with a group of likeminded blogs and promoters, and more recently when they wowed the crowds in New York on our stage at The New Colossus Festival, so it’s little surprise to find ‘New to the Office’ bounding along on a rubbery bassline, its deadpan vocal contrasting with the jagged blangs of guitar to delightful effect. It’s the musical equivalent of those times when the office is empty and you get to wheel around on the office chairs spinning and giggling like a giddy toddler (or is that just me?). Then you listen closer and suddenly the striplights go out and the building’s emptiness becomes suddenly apparent.
To mark the single’s release we asked the four members of the band to each nominate their favourite office-themed tracks.
‘New to the Office’ was the last song we recorded during our first stint with Stereolab’s Andy Ramsey in his south London studio. It’d been an intense few days, over a chillingly cold February weekend, and we were ready to let loose on this one. I think you can hear that in the performances. The track itself is inspired by those vivid, surreal anxiety dreams you might get on a Sunday night, ahead of the working week.
Though we’ve been playing live a lot, including trips around Europe and to the US for NYC’s New Colossus Festival (where we played the Joyzine stage), it’s been a while since we’ve released new music. As ‘New to the Office’ demonstrates, we’ve evolved massively as a band these last few years. There’s loads more to share soon, but we were keen to show people what we’ve been cooking – it’s definitely our best stuff yet.
We’ve chosen three songs each on the theme of ’the office‘ and work in general. Thanks to Paul & Joyzine for asking us to do it. We hope the trauma we suffered in reliving certain occupations has been worth it.
Listen to the full playlist here or scroll down for the individual tracks.
Jago:
Elvis Costello – Welcome to the Working Week
The sneering, juvenile energy of Elvis Costello’s early stuff is a far cry from his piano-bothering mature period. This tune, the first track of his first album, gets straight into the anger and jealousy which fuelled him through the late seventies. Costello had yet to get The Attractions together but the session crew (bizarrely, drawn from Huey Lewis’ proto-News band Clover) did a pretty tight job.
Belle & Sebastian – Step into my Office, Baby
Belle & Sebastian’s romp through the sleazy side of office politics is drenched with retro chamber-pop strings and gorgeous vocal harmonies. Even better is the Noddy Holder haircut on the lad in the music video, surely a major factor in his inadvertently sleeping his way to the top.
The Rakes – 22 Grand Job
Ironically, office life didn’t appeal to drummer Lasse Petersen when seeking a post-Rakes career: he became a chef instead and is now my dear old boss at my day job. Sentimental value aside, I love that unapologetic drum roll and Alan Donohoe’s indie-Mike-Skinner delivery.
Olly:
The Clash – Clampdown
Clampdown acts as a kind of wiser, older cousin to Career Opportunities, which would’ve made the more obvious choice for this list. Strummer’s at the height of his powers here lyrically, lamenting the loss of youthful idealism to dreary careerism and oppressive exterior forces: “Let fury have the hour, anger can be the power. D’you know that you can use it?” – “It’s the best years of your life they want to steal.” The Clash sound as vital as ever, these days, and this is one of their tunes I often return to.
The Chats – Smoko
They’re on smoko, so leave them alone. I don’t smoke anymore, but when I did, a smoke break offered brief respite from the various daft jobs I’ve had over the years, so I can understand why the characters in this song don’t want to be disturbed. The sound of this record is spot on: raw, messy, live. The vividness of “the bloke perched atop of his milk top throne” catches you off guard – it’s a deceptively simple song that, like the best punk, offers cutting, astute social commentary.
Giorgio Moroder – Machines
In 1984, Giorgio Mordoder, joined by the glitterati of the time (Bonnie Tyler, Adam Ant, Freddie Mercury) produced and soundtracked a re-release of Fritz Lang’s seminal, and some say Marxist, 1920s masterpiece Metropolis. Lang’s film was the first time I’d seen the alienation of labour depicted in a surreal, artistic way, and scenes from that film will always stick with me. The tune itself? Bit of a bop, innit.
Amber
Paul McCartney – Temporary Secretary
One of my favourite Macca tunes. Up there with the Frog Song. I love the repetitive, robotic synth line. To me it sums up the theme of dehumanization in the workplace, reflecting how employees are often seen as tools to meet the needs of a service rather than valued, skilled individuals. McCartney was ahead of his time here, subtly nodding to the idea that machines or systems could replace humans which everyone is currently questioning with AI.
Radiohead – No Surprises
Obvs a classic, and probably a bit of a downer for the office, but I’ve always loved the line, “A job that slowly kills you.” These days, you have to really carve out time to make sure you can continue to be creative, especially in London, and not just get swept up in the wake up, go to work, come home, dinner, then bed routine. I think a lot of people lose the artistic parts of themselves, sadly, as modern living doesn’t always allow the time for it and people get burnt out in their day jobs. That really depresses me. Making time to play and be creative is so important – I’d 100% go mad without that outlet.
Talking Heads – Found a Job
When we started the band, I was a student nurse and was sometimes put on ‘linen duty.’ Highly boring. Basically being shunned to a cupboard for a few hours to fold sheets, learning about linen instead of nursing. However, what I did like about it was I could put my headphones in, listen to tunes and zone out for a bit. It reminds me of this song and the couple in it who decide to create their own TV show to escape the monotony of their lives. Just the type of thing that might pop into your head when folding sheets in a cupboard…
Dan:
Lou Reed – Don’t Talk to Me About Work
One of the hidden gems from Lou Reed’s often overlooked 80’s catalog, this song captures Reed’s dry wit while reflecting on the anxieties of an office sales job. When you hate your job, the last thing you want to do when you get home is talk about it. “Please don’t talk to me about work, I’m up to my eyeballs in dirt, with work, with work!”
Hot Snakes – Paperwork
“My paperwoooork!!” – probably the best post hardcore/punk song ever written about paperwork. One of my first jobs was as a warehouse assistant at a document storage company, surrounded by thousands of boxes filled with paperwork. It was pure hell.
The Jam – Smithers-Jones
A nightmare scenario: getting fired without warning. This song opens describing the hum drum daily London commute of a conscientious office worker named Smithers-Jones. Things take a dramatic turn when he’s called into the bosses office, expecting a promotion, Smithers-Jones gets fired. The song bitterly ends with the final line, “The only one smiling is the sun tanned boss, work and work and work till you die cause there plenty more fish in the sea to fry”
‘New to The Office’ is out now on Last Night from Glasgow (UK + Europe) and Badda Bing Records (US) – get it as a digital download from Bandcamp
Hadda Be: Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Introduction by Paul Maps
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