We caught up with Hard-Fi’s drummer, Steve Kemp to shoot the breeze and discuss Wembley, his second album, and the question he’d most like to be asked…

Hard-fi’s sound is difficult to place, how would you describe it?

We’re not a band who copy the Libertines basically, we don’t sound like anyone else. I’d say we have a lot of different influences that emerge on different songs, we’re quite chamelonlike in that way. I guess we sound like Hard-Fi, really.

How d’you think that sound has changed between albums?

I think the first album was quite sonically harsh, quite aggressive. With this second album there’s a bit more depth, I think we’ve matured a little bit. We took the same perspective as the first album - using what was around us, the same universal sort of emotions - everyone loses a loved one, everyone splits up with their partner. This second album’s a little bit more personal in that way.

Hard-Fi are a band proud of their Staines roots, and the band’s albums clearly draw on a core of real experiences, how d’you make sure the life of a chart topping, mercury prize nominated rockstar doesn’t interfere with that?

When we wrote the first album, it was all about things that pissed us off and made us laugh, but when you’re a Mercury Music Prize nominated rockstar you spend most of your time on tour. We spent eighteen months away and we found that there are towns like Staines all over the world, all the issues we brought up in the first album are universal, so we took some really positive stuff out of the experience.

And because we’d been touring for so long, we had no time to move out. So when we came home, we just chilled out, went out in Staines and everything was the same. No-one rolled out the red carpet when we went into the pub, we’re not saying ‘we’re rock stars, it’s a really hard life to deal with’ or anything like that.

Tells us about the making of your second album

It was produced by Rich (Archer – Hard-Fi’s lead singer) but we made it in pretty much the same way as the first one, but with better equipment, we didn’t want to give up the control.

I read somewhere that Rich believed in a natural environment, and you ended up recording Stars of CCTV in a disused taxi rank?

That’s right! And we drove around in an old BMW listening to the tracks, we just did everything ourselves. And we carried that on in this album too. In our new studio we have lots of equipment, some of it works (and is brilliant) and some of it’s rubbish, so we experiment.

We fit things together however we want, we don’t really know what sounds best, we just work until we get it right, and that shows on the album I think.

When you find yourself in a really posh studio you’re not that motivated, you think ‘I’ve arrived’ and end up doing no work. It’s not until you realise how much money you’re spending that you panic and get something done, and fit it together in a very standard way, which is maybe why some of the music in the charts at the moment sounds a bit the same.

Designer Pete Saville described the cover art for ‘Once Upon a Time In The West’ as a ‘White Album for the digital culture’ how do you feel about the controversial design? Could you tell us about the ideas behind it?

Well, it was basically frustration, the frustration of pouring everything into an album, and then the record company coming in and slapping a black and white picture of us on the cover, for the benefit of high-street sellers.

I got a book recently all about the 100 best album covers, and you remember the days when everyone bought a 12" and the cover was a part of the product, back when it meant something. I mean, what’s the point in a black and white picture of us? What does it say about us? We wanted to be creative, and we actually spent quite a long time deciding on that design.

Who were your influences growing up?

I got into music because of my dad. He was young enough to remember the punk days, so he listened to a lot of that, and sixties soul. He was a drummer too. My mum was into reggae, and there was a lot of house, a lot of dance music around when I was growing up too. So I think music never washed over me, it wasn’t a hobby like it was for everyone else, I guess I’m just influenced by everything that’s good.

Your last tour sold out in fifteen minutes, and with five Brixton academy dates, and you’re playing Wembley this Christmas, what’s next?

I think the reason we played five Brixton dates, is because people want to go and see live music in a kind of intimate setting, well, as intimate as a five thousand capacity venue can be. When we were between albums, we wanted to play some tiny, tiny venues like the pub gigs we used to play when we got started, to showcase the new material to the real hardcore fans, we played the Joiners actually, it was amazing. Compared to that, Wembley is like a big barn. So we’re gonna make it a really special experience, hopefully it’ll feel really intimate.

So what makes a great Hard-Fi gig?

We don’t like it when bands just come out on stage, play and are only thinking about the money. We’ll dress these places up, hopefully have a lot of stage production, just make it a great, really intimate show really, a performance.

And what’s the one question you’d love to be asked?

‘What does it feel like to have ten number one albums?’ That’s what I want someone to ask me in ten years.

Once Upon A Time In The West is out now and single Can’t Get Along (Without You) is in stores on 12th Novemeber. amd they are back touring in the UK in December.

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