i like to use hashes method in DBIx::Simple. however it is very inefficient and i am wondering why you don't use bind_columns as mentioned in DBI bind_columns personally i do it in the following way which eqivalent to fetchall_hashref. not sure how much efficient it is though.

my (%row, @rows);
$sth->bind_columns( \( @row{ @{$sth->{NAME_lc} } } )); 
while( $sth->fetch ) { 
  push @rows, { %row }; 
}