Jennifer Hardy

Jennifer Hardy is a Fremantle based singer-songwriter originally from Derry in the North West of Ireland. A natural traveller, she has spent time living, working and creating music in the United States, UK and Australia as well as her home country. Never staying in one place for too long, Jennifer believes her travelling bug was inherited from her parents who upped sticks and took their young family to live in rural east coast of Canada for a two year stint.

For the time being at least, Jennifer has finally put down roots in Fremantle, Western Australia, drawn in by its colourful past and buzzing underground music scene whilst finding comfort in the connections to her home town in Ireland; Derry also being a port city and one of the last pieces of land Irish convicts and immigrants touched before starting their one way journey to the then unknown land of Australia.

Indeed, nostalgia features in many of Jennifer’s songs - the sense of coming and going, of what used to be and what will be. Her home town also features heavily in the collection, many songs having been inspired by growing up in the middle of a political war. Finding out at a young age that her maternal Grandfather was a victim of ‘Bloody Sunday ‘, one of the biggest atrocities of civil rights in Northern Ireland, has deeply affected her perspective of the world.

Jennifer’s unique Folk-Alt fusion has been inspired my many conflicting veins of music. Her music loving mother and late father; also a musician and songwriter, turned her onto music at a young age with the sounds of Thin Lizzy, The Dubliners, The Pogues, Springsteen and Young streaming from their big silver turn table. Through her late teens she was singing Led Zeppelin covers in a classic rock band, before becoming enthralled by 70s Punk and Ska legends such as The Clash and The Specials.

Jennifer recorded her debut album ‘Blackened Eyes’ in Scotland, with producer Andy Duncan (Miyagi) in late 2011. This follows the ‘Freedom EP’ – also recorded with Duncan in late 2008 – seen Jennifer receive airplay on ‘BBC Radio 6’s Tom Robinsons’ Introducing Show’. The ‘Blackened Eyes’ album is a collection of her favourite songs since she began writing. Having a break from travelling seen Hardy and Duncan record this album in most unorthodox style - a 2 night stop over; Ireland via Australia. Jennifer and Andy practiced for a day on borrowed guitars and spent the next day recording.

Jennifer has played numerous tours throughout the UK, including major music festivals and world famous live venues. 2009 was a busy year for Jennifer and scene her winning a nomination for the Red Stripe Live Music UK Awards. In March 2009 Jennifer toured California and Texas in the USA and played three shows. After getting in touch through Facebook, Texan band Telegraph Canyon (friends of Midlake and The Polyphonic Orchestra) invited Jennifer to share their bill at SXSW for the weekend. A self-funded American tour was organised and Jennifer played gigs in Orange County, San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas. Her U.K. festivals performances include, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Glastonbury and Wickerman.
On arriving in Sydney in 2010 she played The Vanguard supporting Tin Pan Orange and performed at several annual folk festivals throughout NSW. Since arriving in Fremantle in late 2011 and has already had the privilege of playing at many W.A. music venues, including Clancy’s, X Wray, Mojo’s, and the Fly By Night Club.