Steve Hewitt Interview.
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
If controversial shock rocker Marilyn Manson and his group,
ever need a British counterpart, one could possibly be found in the hard rock trio Placebo.
Placebo is Brian Molko (vocals, guitar) Stefan Olsdal (bass, keyboards) and Steve Hewitt (drums, percussion). Fronted by Molko, who projects an image of androgyny, Placebo has repeatedly taunted the British media. Mainly by Molko's habit of making outrageous statements, in regards to his self described flamboyant, hedonistic lifestyle, during interviews with the media.
Due to their controversial nature, Placebo has fashioned themselves into some of the more interesting characters to emerge in the British rock scene.
With music that contains explicit song lyrics about sex, illicit drugs, violence and plenty of dirty jokes, Placebo has unwittingly become a lightning rod for the British newspapers and tabloids.
In the following interview, thirty-year-old Steve Hewitt, of Manchester, England, who has anchored the beat within the group, throughout most of Placebo's recording and performing career, has experienced his share of, "friction".
(Q)- There's the myth of who you guys are and then the reality. Can your audience get to know who the men behind the myth are through the music on your latest album, "Black Market Music"?
Steve Hewitt- Absolutely. I think that press-wise, we were almost hijacked by. Almost jumped on by, various press, especially in the UK press, they were trying almost to keep the band away from
their own music. And trying to keep the focus on the stunts that the band has supposedly pulled off.
(Q)- I wouldn't doubt it one bit.
Steve Hewitt- That's the reason for the UK press. They were doing their job and their main thing is to try and get some kind of weird angle going, just because aside from what we're dong as a band, they're trying to makeup something of their own. We spent many years fighting that. They're (the UK press) are trying to push the music out of the forefront. And most of the press we've had over the last four years, especially in the UK, you can read a lot of it and it won't even fucking mention one track. It's just about how many drugs you're taking, who you're fucking, what you look like and the state you're in. which is really depressing.
(Q)- Especially if you're putting time and effort into your music.
Yes, they obviously try and push.
Steve Hewitt- Every other week, in the UK, it's almost guaranteed that the press are going to push it against you and they're trying to tell everybody else, that everybody in this band is a bunch of fucking assholes and behaving like we're rock and roll stars. Which is totally wrong. Not one mention of the music. And, it was a bad experience for the last record. When we were touring with the last record, the situation became so bad that we just went ,'Fuck this.' We regrouped and refocused and said to ourselves, the most important thing with this band is the music.'
(Q)- So you almost had to "hide away" from the world at large and go back to basics and reformulate the basic theory behind Placebo, which you're saying was," Music first, image, whatever?' That stance, or attitude in you will call it that, in turn creating the environment which in turn resulted in the music on your latest disc, "Black Market Music".
Steve Hewitt- You've hit the nail right on the head. That basically was the focus. The way we had to think, just to translate this thing in the UK. Now it doesn't matter anywhere else I the world, because the quality of journalist is just fantastic. People know their shit and people prepare to your music and people outside of the UK, appreciate culture and art. Anywhere else in the world, except in the UK. In the UK, it's a generation of morons really.
The biggest selling paper in the UK, is something called "The Sun", which is absolute drivel. So for the band, we grew very, very tiered of trying to push against this "hacking". It actually drove us to go into the studio and make this record and put this record out, stick our middle finger out and go, "Fuck you! This is what this band is about." Also we had to do that to make sure that we're progressing an we're into the spontaneous and experimenting. And, you what? We put this album out in the UK and they still did exactly the same thing.
(Q)- So what is Placebo about? What has come out in the mix of the music on "Black Market Music" that represents where the band is as recording, "artists'? What is different in terms of the music, this time out?
Steve Hewitt- The theme of this band is "freedom" and "being yourself". And, "finding your own identity and being confident and able to sustain that confidence within your own life." There's so many aspects of this band that go across the board, right down to the sexuality. We're for freedom of speech. The band is completely against prejudice, racism and we're for people being able to choose their own sexuality, without getting any kind of trouble for it.
(Q)- Placebo wants to take what is perceived by some as a "radical" vision to a global audience. Yet, there's a price that comes with that. But hey there's friction whenever anyone takes that stance. It comes with a price. Hello?
Steve Hewitt- Well, this band is global. Placebo are getting huge everywhere in the world, except in America (USA). And it's definitely not this, "Brit, America" thing, because the members of this band aren't all British for one.
(Q)- There is an American, an Englishman and a Swede.
Steve Hewitt - We're "post-British" anyway. (Referring to the Brit Pop movement of the Nineties.) Just because it (their music) is so bizarre.
(Q)- No one in the UK, is going to wrap you guys in the Union Jack.
Steve Hewitt- No way. No way. It's anything but that. It's a UK mentality as far as this goes and in some ways I think it's the same way with the American (USA) mentality when it comes right down to it. Some of the fans ask, 'Where are the 'rock stars'? We want the 'rock stars'. And the business says, 'The rock stars are here.' And as soon as they get to a certain point they both say, We don't want 'rock stars' (he laughs). You know? But the best place for his band to thrive is in live performance, with our live shows. That's where we excel I think. We're a tight-assed band and there is performance going on whenever we're in concert. I believe that people are right now desperate for that. They're hungry for that. There's not enough people doing it currently. We've achieved great success through our live shows. That is the main reason why people come out and see us and why we've done really well and we selling shit loads of records. Because people love this band live. Because there is that,' boom', we're going to hit you over you're head
with, you know, a crowbar. We have always been about a journeyman's experience in that theirs is the experimental stage, then there's the
apprenticeship and in time if it all works out, the masters delivery of the "live', in concert performance.
Steve Hewitt- the way we work it though is that we bring all of those experiences we've gone through, good and bad, into the songwriting process and you don't edit anything out. You put it all in there. You have to. In order to express the whole thing you've gone through. Then we make the record, the best record that we possibly can, we put our heart and soul into it. And, then you put the record out. You do your interviews, you do your press, you tour and when you go out there and perform, you make it (live Placebo show) bigger then anything that you could ever do in the studio. Then you take it out there and you do it (the material) ten times bigger then anything.
But, there is still the passion of the belief that, everything you've ever learned up through the years, I've been doing this for fifteen years already, playing, I've experienced this. Performance is something that needs to be trapped in the heart. And now I feel that this band is at a place where we could just hit the gas (pedal on an automobile) and bang, we could take off and go. Really. It's an understanding that we have together (the members of the band), we believe this. We really believe that this could happen. One hundred per cent. It's so fucking passionate that otherwise, it wouldn't even exist.
(Q)- But there has been so much controversy surrounding the band due to the "attitude' the band has.
Steve Hewitt- We've been through a lot, but we work had and we play hard . We only party when we feel like we've gone out and done the job to the best of our abilities. You know. There's no way that we're going to go out on-stage and let ourselves down and people down. We're just not about that.
End.
Steve Hewitt Interview.
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
If controversial shock rocker Marilyn Manson and his group, ever need a British counterpart, one could possibly be found in the hard rock trio Placebo.
Placebo is Brian Molko (vocals, guitar) Stefan Olsdal (bass, keyboards) and Steve Hewitt (drums, percussion). Fronted by Molko, who projects an image of androgyny, Placebo has repeatedly taunted the British media. Mainly by Molko's habit of making outrageous statements, in regards to his self described flamboyant, hedonistic lifestyle, during interviews with the media. Due to their controversial nature, Placebo has fashioned themselves into some of the more interesting characters to emerge in the British rock scene. With music that contains explicit song lyrics about sex, illicit drugs, violence and plenty of dirty jokes, Placebo has unwittingly become a lightning rod for the British newspapers and tabloids.
In the following interview, thirty-year-old Steve Hewitt, of Manchester, England, who has anchored the beat within the group, throughout most of Placebo's recording and performing career, has experienced his share of, "friction".
(Q)- There's the myth of who you guys are and then the reality. Can your audience get to know who the men behind the myth are through the music on your latest album, "Black Market Music"?
Steve Hewitt- Absolutely. I think that press-wise, we were almost hijacked by. Almost jumped on by, various press, especially in the UK press, they were trying almost to keep the band away from their own music. And trying to keep the focus on the stunts that the band has supposedly pulled off.
(Q)- I wouldn't doubt it one bit.
Steve Hewitt- That's the reason for the UK press. They were doing their job and their main thing is to try and get some kind of weird angle going, just because aside from what we're dong as a band, they're trying to makeup something of their own. We spent many years fighting that. They're (the UK press) are trying to push the music out of the forefront. And most of the press we've had over the last four years, especially in the UK, you can read a lot of it and it won't even fucking mention one track. It's just about how many drugs you're taking, who you're fucking, what you look like and the state you're in. which is really depressing.
(Q)- Especially if you're putting time and effort into your music. Yes, they obviously try and push.
Steve Hewitt- Every other week, in the UK, it's almost guaranteed that the press are going to push it against you and they're trying to tell everybody else, that everybody in this band is a bunch of fucking assholes and behaving like we're rock and roll stars. Which is totally wrong. Not one mention of the music. And, it was a bad experience for the last record. When we were touring with the last record, the situation became so bad that we just went ,'Fuck this.' We regrouped and refocused and said to ourselves, the most important thing with this band is the music.'
(Q)- So you almost had to "hide away" from the world at large and go back to basics and reformulate the basic theory behind Placebo, which you're saying was," Music first, image, whatever?' That stance, or attitude in you will call it that, in turn creating the environment which in turn resulted in the music on your latest disc, "Black Market Music".
Steve Hewitt- You've hit the nail right on the head. That basically was the focus. The way we had to think, just to translate this thing in the UK. Now it doesn't matter anywhere else I the world, because the quality of journalist is just fantastic. People know their shit and people prepare to your music and people outside of the UK, appreciate culture and art. Anywhere else in the world, except in the UK. In the UK, it's a generation of morons really. The biggest selling paper in the UK, is something called "The Sun", which is absolute drivel. So for the band, we grew very, very tiered of trying to push against this "hacking". It actually drove us to go into the studio and make this record and put this record out, stick our middle finger out and go, "Fuck you! This is what this band is about." Also we had to do that to make sure that we're progressing an we're into the spontaneous and experimenting. And, you what? We put this album out in the UK and they still did exactly the same thing.
(Q)- So what is Placebo about? What has come out in the mix of the music on "Black Market Music" that represents where the band is as recording, "artists'? What is different in terms of the music, this time out?
Steve Hewitt- The theme of this band is "freedom" and "being yourself". And, "finding your own identity and being confident and able to sustain that confidence within your own life." There's so many aspects of this band that go across the board, right down to the sexuality. We're for freedom of speech. The band is completely against prejudice, racism and we're for people being able to choose their own sexuality, without getting any kind of trouble for it.
(Q)- Placebo wants to take what is perceived by some as a "radical" vision to a global audience. Yet, there's a price that comes with that. But hey there's friction whenever anyone takes that stance. It comes with a price. Hello?
Steve Hewitt- Well, this band is global. Placebo are getting huge everywhere in the world, except in America (USA). And it's definitely not this, "Brit, America" thing, because the members of this band aren't all British for one.
(Q)- There is an American, an Englishman and a Swede.
Steve Hewitt - We're "post-British" anyway. (Referring to the Brit Pop movement of the Nineties.) Just because it (their music) is so bizarre.
(Q)- No one in the UK, is going to wrap you guys in the Union Jack.
Steve Hewitt- No way. No way. It's anything but that. It's a UK mentality as far as this goes and in some ways I think it's the same way with the American (USA) mentality when it comes right down to it. Some of the fans ask, 'Where are the 'rock stars'? We want the 'rock stars'. And the business says, 'The rock stars are here.' And as soon as they get to a certain point they both say, We don't want 'rock stars' (he laughs). You know? But the best place for his band to thrive is in live performance, with our live shows. That's where we excel I think. We're a tight-assed band and there is performance going on whenever we're in concert. I believe that people are right now desperate for that. They're hungry for that. There's not enough people doing it currently. We've achieved great success through our live shows. That is the main reason why people come out and see us and why we've done really well and we selling shit loads of records. Because people love this band live. Because there is that,' boom', we're going to hit you over you're head with, you know, a crowbar. We have always been about a journeyman's experience in that theirs is the experimental stage, then there's the apprenticeship and in time if it all works out, the masters delivery of the "live', in concert performance.
Steve Hewitt- the way we work it though is that we bring all of those experiences we've gone through, good and bad, into the songwriting process and you don't edit anything out. You put it all in there. You have to. In order to express the whole thing you've gone through. Then we make the record, the best record that we possibly can, we put our heart and soul into it. And, then you put the record out. You do your interviews, you do your press, you tour and when you go out there and perform, you make it (live Placebo show) bigger then anything that you could ever do in the studio. Then you take it out there and you do it (the material) ten times bigger then anything. But, there is still the passion of the belief that, everything you've ever learned up through the years, I've been doing this for fifteen years already, playing, I've experienced this. Performance is something that needs to be trapped in the heart. And now I feel that this band is at a place where we could just hit the gas (pedal on an automobile) and bang, we could take off and go. Really. It's an understanding that we have together (the members of the band), we believe this. We really believe that this could happen. One hundred per cent. It's so fucking passionate that otherwise, it wouldn't even exist.
(Q)- But there has been so much controversy surrounding the band due to the "attitude' the band has.
Steve Hewitt- We've been through a lot, but we work had and we play hard . We only party when we feel like we've gone out and done the job to the best of our abilities. You know. There's no way that we're going to go out on-stage and let ourselves down and people down. We're just not about that.
End.
