Hard-Fi's Steve Kemp

By Jenna Bensoussan

Aside from being the drummer from the fantastic band Hard-Fi, Steve Kemp is a really interesting fellow to have a chat with while he is climbing into his bunk on the road somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, video camera in hand.

During this interview, I found that every time I started a sentence, he finished it.

When I get on stage the first thing I do is... make sure my stool is in the right place because I am a clumsy git when it comes to sittin' down on the drums. Then I make sure the band is ready and then I start counting ONE... TWO... THREE... FOUR... and we are ready to rock!

What I like best about touring in the US is... going to places that we've never been to before, driving across a vast country in a bus, and meeting all different kinds of ladies.

The strangest fan encounter I have ever had was when... we were in Japan recently and a lot of little school girls just came up and just started screaming. It freaked me out because they looked like little perfect dolls in their school uniforms and they came to us and just started jumping up and down when they saw us. It was incredible. We'd never been to Japan before so it was actually really freaky.

If I could rock out on stage with any band it would be... the Specials just for the sheer energy and crazy enjoyment of it because they had about 15 people up on stage going completely nuts and it looked like the most fun gig to do in the world. I'd love that.

After a long tour I really need to... sleep... sleep... sleeeeeppppp - that's it, that's all I wanna do after a long tour because touring is tiring. And especially after tourin' in America all I wanna do is sleep and eat a lot of green vegetables. Once you get in the middle of America vegetables cease to exist.

On our tour bus you will always find... laptops. Everyone's got a laptop and they're all playing with music programs all day. I think we are obsessed with them. Everyone's got their skulls in a laptop. You will always find laptops strewn everywhere.

On my iPOD there is... pretty much everything on there. I've got gigs and gigs worth of music on there. The last thing I listened to on my iPOD was, and because we are driving through the desert and it's all a bit romantic, I listened to Johnny Cash.

If I weren't a musician I would... probably be on welfare dreaming I was a musician, not being able to do anything else because I am just rubbish at anything else.

Once our album was recorded I first thought... God I wonder if anyone is gonna like this.

When I found out we were nominated for the Brit Award I... had mixed feelings. It was great to be nominated in the Brit Awards for best group... the best group thing was amazing because we thought maybe "best newcomer" but we bypassed that and had gone straight to best group with Franz Ferdinand, the Gorillaz, Cold Play and the Kaiser Chiefs; which are all really good bands. Initially I thought, "Yes! that's brilliant." My second thought was, "We are definitely not going to win."

My fans always make me feel... good. Our fans are the best fans in the world. They come down to the shows, they are so into the music, they love every second of it and they make me feel fantastic. That's what the band's there for. You've got to respect your fans, you've got to put on the best show possible every time you're on stage, and that's what we try to do. The fans make me feel like a million dollars!

My favorite show was when... we played a show at the Astoria in London. It was the end of last year and it was the last show of the year. It was amazing. It just felt so good to be on stage. It felt like we'd come so far and it was the last gig... it was almost emotional. At the end, it was Christmas as well, we had all this confetti fire out from the stage and stuff. It was wild and we had a massive party afterwards. It was a great experience.

My definition of success is... that you can always have more. We had a number one record in England, and I'd be lying to you if I said we don't want a number one record in America too. We'd like to be number one everywhere, we are an ambitious band - that would be successful.

The one thing I must do in my lifetime... is run a marathon - a crazy marathon that goes on in the desert, a Sahara desert one. I would love to do that.

My worst habit... is I swear quite a lot. I'm a terrible, terrible kind of potty mouth.

The one food I never want to eat again is... this thing I had in Japan. It was seaweed in a load of raw egg whites. And it had like weird horseradish in there. I tried to eat it cause you know... when in Rome and all that lot... but I can't even describe how much I detested it and I never ever ever want to eat funny seaweed in raw egg whites again. It was horrible.

My favourite country that I have traveled to is... places in the US like Texas because it is so far removed from what we are used to. It's such a different culture and it's a way of life. That for now is my favourite place, although I haven't been to Miami yet so...

A woman can't say no to me when... I tell her I'm in Hard-Fi. *laughs* NO - that's such a horrible, horrible joke I don't mean it. Actually, women can always say no to me whenever they like... and do.

At a party I can't wait to... find the free booze and drink it.

The last movie I saw at the cinema was... King Kong - and that didn't make me cry at all. In fact, my sister bet me. She said, "You're gonna cry when you watch this film." And I was like, "Yea we'll see." I so didn't. When he fell off the building in the end I was like, yea whatever. I want to go see Brokeback Mountain. [BBM discussion here]

When I look in the mirror I see... a man who is tired and needs to go to sleep and get off the rings from under his eyes - and stop staying up all night. Trying to sleep on a tour bus... It's hard to get an actual good night's sleep in.

My father always taught me to... be polite to people I didn't know. I think I might have carried that on, or at least partially. Yea, always be nice to people you don't know unless they are not being nice to you.

My mother always taught me to... look both ways before crossing the road. I still do that to this day... although not so much in America as everything is backwards from London, but I give it a go. I always get confused when I go back to London after a trip to America. When I go back I'm like almost getting run over... I still think I am in America.

I feel most uncomfortable when... I get embarrassed. I don't take embarrassment very well. I feel most comfortable when I've got a day off. I'll be sat down with absolutely nothing to do and I'll watch S*it TV all day.

In my closet you will find... a whole host of skeletons that you don't even need to go near. And maybe a few shirts.

And on that note, we closed that closet door, said our goodbyes, and Steve snuggled comfortably (or uncomfortably) into his bunk to take a rest.