Tickets for Hard-Fi's Hippodrome concert on Thursday sold out in eight minutes. But around 300 fans got to see the band free in the early hours today as they launched their second album, Once Upon A Time In The West, with an in-store gig and a 1am signing session.

Even before today's release, the follow-up to the million-selling Stars Of CCTV has provoked a reaction with its sleeve: a garish yellow design featuring the words " no cover art" in huge letters.

As he saw the CD on the shelves for the first time, frontman Richard Archer was standing by his band's argument about the redundancy of the record sleeve in the iPod age.

"It stands out and says we're not playing the same game as everyone else," he said.

"The furore it's caused has been quite astonishing. Sometimes people don't like being told the truth."

There's undoubtedly a chippiness to Hard-Fi, but on stage their status as suburban underdogs from Staines became an anthemic celebration.

The current single Suburban Knights had even more of an electro-rock swagger when played live, and Archer's wide-eyed, slightly frantic performance underlined the humour in his lyric about an inferior one-way system.

Can't Get Along (Without You) was a pounding Britrock take on Motown that managed to get people jumping around in a record shop basement after midnight.

But it was another new song, the shimmering We Need Love, that proved their terrace-style singalongs can still offer surprises.

Hard-Fi aren't quite fashionable, but they have established the sort of loyal fanbase that gets people hanging around Oxford Street in the early hours.

"We appreciate it," said Archer. "School day tomorrow and all that."

He may be a gangly, clean-cut sort who still sleeps in the bedroom of the house where he grew up in Staines. However, Archer is clearly a big part of the band's appeal, and he performed Cash Machine as passionately as if it were the first time.

The easy-going humour was endearing, too. "He's gone all Eric Clapton, he's got two guitars," said Archer, mocking bandmate Ross Phillips.

They let the audience choose the last song - Living For The Weekend - ensuring a rowdy finale. "It was brilliant, they managed to get the crowd going at midnight," said Celine Gomez, a 27-year-old charity worker from Clapham.

The band then patiently signed albums for hundreds of fans, who were doubtless still singing the songs on the night bus home.