𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗛𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗧'𝗦 𝟱𝟬𝗧𝗛 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 + 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 (𝗫𝗦 𝗡𝗼𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟱)

🎈🎉 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝟓𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐓! 🎉🎈

Photo: Credits unknown, edit by Silke

On 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 22𝘯𝘥 1971 Placebo's ex-drummer Steve Hewitt was born in Northwich, Cheshire (UK). Steve was inspired to become a drummer after watching Phil Taylor performing “Ace of Spades” with Motörhead on Top of the Pops as a kid. He convinced his parents to get him a drum kit and then taught himself to play.

Steve joined the band 𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 at the age of 17 after responding to an advert in a newspaper.
In 1991 he met Brian through his then-girlfriend at a Burger King in Lewisham. Later he was invited to drum on some demos for Placebo but he couldn't join them due to commitments to Breed. He replaced Placebo's first drummer Robert Schultzberg in 1996 and was a regular member of the band until 2007.

After his departure Steve founded the band Love Amongst Ruin, did some collaborations and started to work as a producer.

🎬 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗡 – 𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗬
🎵 http://bit.ly/2un9nD6 🎵

Photo credit unknown

♦️ 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 ♦️

𝗛𝗜 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗩𝗘, 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗨𝗣 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗟𝗬?
📢 "I’ve been at my home studio doing loads of production working with a female songwriter called DéDé who’s with the same publisher, I’ve been asked to write and produce for her, as well as working on other peoples stuff."

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠 𝗜𝗦 𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚.
📢 "It’s been amazing, I’m really chuffed it’s been quite overwhelming, especially in America, it’s gone off the hook there. We had a number one in Germany; all the reviews have been superb. It’s been a long time coming, I sort of became the British Dave Grohl for a while working with everybody else (laughs)."

𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠?
📢 "Yeah, you get it done and then other work comes in. I worked with Six By Seven for a year. Time is just flying in and before I knew it three years had passed and I thought “Shit! I better get this out.” Since I left Placebo it’s nice to be versatile and have the freedom to go off and do other things and have a musical career, I really enjoy it. It’s nice to work with different styles of music and different people. It’s quite addictive I suppose."

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 “𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗬“ 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗚 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠?
📢 "We did them both in the same studio at Moles in Bath, obviously doing the first record felt like quite a steep mountain to climb seeing if I could do it on my own. It was obviously a cathartic thing; I had to get a lot of shit off my chest. The second album was different because I was much more confident. I taught myself more lessons and I knew what I was doing, it felt much easier I was more confident, the songs were better as well.
I broke it down so it was just Donald Ross Skinner, Dan Austin and I. I didn’t take a whole band in it was just ourselves, we kept it quite minimal. That way there are fewer people to make decisions, it becomes a quicker process, and enjoyable. Working with Dan was a massive eye-opener because he works really quickly, there’s not much time to hang around which keeps the momentum."

𝗦𝗢 𝗜𝗧 𝗗𝗘𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗡'𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠?
📢 "Not at all, if anything it was the complete opposite, it felt like it was meant to be, it felt easy and it felt right. I love being in the studio anyway, it felt very comfortable there. It’s an enjoyable experience the more we can get in and sculpt an album. I think if you’re in the studio and your struggling, you shouldn’t be in there you should come out and rethink, it all seemed to flow really well."

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗡 𝗔𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠; 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗗𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡𝗘?
📢 "Possibly, I hadn’t really thought about it actually. We did the acoustic version of my debut in a day in a studio in Sussex, it was a nice exercise, but yeah it might be good. Those things come about when you’re doing radio sessions and you start breaking the songs down to acoustics so you can see how they work. It would be nice to do something like that to keep the tradition going, we should look into it. I think a lot of the songs on this album would work that way."

Photo credit: Nadav Kander

“𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚“ 𝗜𝗦 𝗔 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠, 𝗜'𝗠 𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚. 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘.
📢 "It’s more of a modern-day occurrence than ever before, it’s become part of everyone’s life. There is always a war somewhere, unfortunately. When you see discussions or reasons why these wars are happening, it’s always from the politician’s point of view. It’s a difficult job for the people who are on the front line; nobody seems to take their point of view. It seemed logical to me to write a song from a soldier’s point of view asking the politicians ‘What the fuck is going on?’ I find it quite revolting the way soldiers are treated when their service finishes after signing up and fighting for their country, it’s unbelievable."

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗥𝗚𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗔 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗡?
📢 "I had been 25 years behind a drum kit when I was ejected, it was probably time to test myself and try something new, it was a challenge. I thought about writing songs and getting someone else to sing them or co-writing, I didn’t know whether I would find that easy trying to get my view across, I sort of fell into it."

𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗔𝗦 𝗔 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗡?
📢 "Yeah, I get really nervous before I go on stage; the idea of it makes me nervous but once I’m there I can deal with it. I’m just developing parts of my musical character. I never thought in a million years that I would be singing in a band. I’ll just get on with it and try and do the best job I can."

𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚?
📢 "Yes, I co-wrote some of the lyrics with Brian (Molko) in Placebo and I always did backing vocals, I have always had a good pitch and musical ear, but to put that into practice and front a rock band never crossed my mind, and here we are! (Laughs)"

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗬
📢 "Probably going back to the 70s growing up it was always AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin obviously. I’ve got an older brother Nick who is 4 years older and I was always going through his record collection. My family loved music, my dad was a massive Buddy Holly fan. I remember being in the back of the car going on caravan holidays, we would be listening to The Bee Gees, Elton John, ELO and The Beatles, stuff that was around all the time. I probably know the words to every Elton John and Bee Gees songs because of those times (laughs) it was always very much rock, then when I got older I crossed over to The Smiths and The Cure, I am a massive fan of The Cure."

𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛?
📢 "I have been lucky enough to get my wish list; I’ve worked with Robert Smith, Michael Stipe, Frank Black and David Bowie. I would like to work with Tom Waits, I am a massive fan of his, I would love to meet him I think he is an amazing musician. I have toured with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds it would be great to do something with Nick. I think some of the earlier Bad Seeds records are some of the best ever, they could be phenomenal."

Photo credit: Pat Pope

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗔 𝗙𝗘𝗪 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦, 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧?
📢 "Probably when I was in K-Klass back in the day, I was doing programming for them and playing congas live at the Hacienda on New Year’s Eve 1989 going into 1990 and the place was going off! It was probably the last greatest movement in music that dance period when Ecstasy came in, at the same time I was in The Boo Radleys and I was in K-Klass, you couldn’t get 2 polar opposites (laughs). I was in a shoegazing band in Liverpool and in a dance band in Manchester, fucking mental! You could say I was a musical prostitute (laughs) that New Year’s Eve was just off the scale, I haven’t seen anything like that drug-fuelled madness since."

𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗦. 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗢𝗪𝗡 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖?
📢 "Absolutely! I have spent 25 years playing the drums and touring the world if I haven’t learned anything by now there’s something wrong, so it’s nice to work with up and coming artists along with already established artists. It’s nice to put my ideas and influences across. When you gel with someone it’s really satisfying, it feels like your keeping yourself contemporary at the same time. Music moves so quickly these days, there is no life to it at all, it’s so disposable, and you’ve got to keep moving with it. It’s nice to filter through your influences while learning from other artists."

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗡𝗝𝗢𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧?
📢 "The last good rock album was Royal Blood, I thought that sounded amazing, and a recent discovery is a band called LA Girls, I have heard a few tracks from them on 6 Music and they sound amazing, they are out there and quite spacey."

𝗦𝗢 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗡?
📢 "We are going to be touring at the end of November; I have just got the band together with some top-class musicians who are great friends as well. I am really looking forward to taking the album out with a great bunch of lads who can really play. We are going to rehearse for the next few months and go out in November and start touring, we will be doing Europe than London, hopefully over to Ireland and then America in January-February."
(XS Noize, October 2015)

𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙩 𝙤𝙣 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠:
👉 https://www.facebook.com/SteveJHewittOfficial

𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝘼𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩 𝙍𝙪𝙞𝙣:
👉 https://www.facebook.com/loveamongstruin
👉 https://www.instagram.com/loveamongstruinofficial

Post by Silke