At the age of twenty-three it's fairly normal to be playing in one of the largest bands of the past decade. OK, maybe not, but that is the remarkable case of Californian drummer Steve Forrest.
After sinking five years of his life into US alt-rock band Evaline, Forrest was discharged from his duties and underwent a year of soul searching at the ripe age of twenty-one. Turns out the Evaline drummer was noticed while the band were supporting Placebo on one of their tours, and when long-time Placebo drummer Steven Hewitt decided to vacate the band in October 2007, singer Brian Molko requested Forrest's services and the rest, as they say, is history.
We catch up with Steve to discuss the surreality of the situation, the chaotic touring schedule, adapting to a winning formula, and bringing something fresh and galvanisng to the camp.
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I guess by now you've adjusted to the non-stop tour life pretty well?
Yeah, I actually just got sick for the first time, I've been pretty well and everyone else has had this bug, so I figure I'm the last one to get it. The day-in-day-out routine eventually takes its toll on you.
Too many after parties, perhaps?
(laughs) Perhaps!
The last two years must have been a fairly surreal period for you?
Yeah, it's been pretty wild man, a lot of things have happened...I've changed not only as a person but as a musician too. So many things have come into my life - some of it's been forced upon me, some of it hasn't - but it's been a really lovely transition. These have been the best years of my life so far.
Was it hard coming to a band who have such a history and such a story behind them, to walking in, sitting behind the drums, and thinking 'let's play'?
That part wasn't so bad I suppose; it was everything else that was the hard part. Playing was one thing that I really couldn't afford to think too much about. If I dwelled too much on the drumming it would ultimately affect how I played. I tried to keep it as simple and down to earth as possible and just think to myself, 'these are fellow musicians who I like and respect a lot'.
I heard a funny quote from you recently in which you surmised your first audible encounter of Placebo with the quote 'this chick's got a really good voice'.
(laughs) Yeah man! I thought he was a girl!
Were they a fairly unknown band in America, aside from the odd soundtrack song?
Yeah man, exactly. I heard that song that was on
Cruel Intentions ['Every You, Every Me'] and that was about it
So you grew into a fan?
Yeah absolutely. I heard them for the first time in 2006. I opened for them with my old band and it was a totally different show, it was something completely different. It was a lot bigger, they had a really explosive vibe. I went out after that and bought
Meds and
Sleeping with Ghosts and became a really big fan. I certainly didn't think that a year later I would be drumming with them.
Or taking their interviews.
(laughs) No way.
At this time you were playing with Evaline, who kicked you out after signing a deal with a major. Without knowing what the future entailed, that must have been a reasonably tough thing to face?
Yeah, it was pretty hard mate. We spent five years together, starting as teenagers. As we grew up together the band grew also and we started to accomplish a lot of things. It was hard - ridiculously hard. I think the year [afterwards] that I spent rebuilding myself laid the foundations for the character which was necessary to drum in Placebo. Had I have been asked to join Placebo straight after that all happened I don't think I would have been able to handle it.
I understand Brian and Stefan (Olsdal, bassist) were already quite fond of you as a drummer?
Yeah, it was only three shows that we (Evaline) opened for Placebo, but as soon as I got in touch with him [after hearing about the empty drum seat] he called me straight back and said 'yeah man, we remember you - you're the only drummer we've ever paid attention to'. I had no idea cause they never said anything. But it was really cool that they were fully aware of how I played and they were really excited.
Placebo - 'The Never-Ending Why'
Your debut experience as the Placebo drummer was in Cambodia. Tell me about that night.
That was a pretty incredible night. The whole week was such a powerful, powerful experience and then to end it on that night was insane. It had been almost three years since I'd been on stage as a drummer and we were going on and playing these new versions of their old songs. As soon as I started playing it felt so good it was like, fucking hell, I'm back!
I imagine any ill-feelings towards losing your place in Evaline were erased at that moment?
Absolutely, all the feelings were justified at that point, all the shit that happened made sense.
You also joined at quite a pivotal time; two years on from Meds, with discussions of the sixth studio album in the works. I imagine this would have been daunting time to join Brian and Stef who had been making successful records for 15 years. Were you apprehensive during the recording process?
A little bit at first, but then as we started working more and more on the songs and building up all the ideas I started getting more and more loose. I threw everything out on the table so they knew what they were getting. When things got weird I was like, 'ok, let's move on'. The writing process was a really adaptive and atmospheric one. A lot of people say the album is a lot happier. It's not happier, it's just written in better conditions.
Well Brian describes it as 'far more accessible than some previous work', especially Meds - using words like 'hope' and 'colour', rather than happiness. Was the reason and impetus behind this explained to you before joining the recording process?
Umm, not really, no. That was the great thing about writing the record. They didn't really have a lot done, bar a few songs written acoustically, so they didn't walk in and say 'ok, this is how the record is going to sound'. We wrote the songs and if they sounded good we kept them in the keep pile and if they didn't we either put them to one side or just ditched the idea completely.
We had no idea where these ideas came from. No idea if we were ever going to like them. Sure, it was a lot different than anything they had done, but I think that was exciting to both Brian and Stefan after so many years of having a similar vibe.
An outsiders impression might be that the addition of yourself potentially sparked that catalyst in their writing. Do you feel this was the case?
Yeah, I was actually hoping for that, it was certainly part of my motivation. I wanted to make sure that any drum-beat that came into my head was nothing like what Steve Hewitt did - not because I don't respect him, I think he's amazing - it was because I wanted to make sure that they made a change for a reason and I wanted to really emphasise that by adding a whole new flavour of percussion. They were really open and excited to that idea and really welcomed it.
Placebo - 'Ashtray Heart'
So I imagine it's been pretty non-stop since you joined?
For the most part yeah. It took four months to write the album and two months to record it. Since then we did promotional things rather than gigs, then in May we went out on the road and we've been there since. Coming into festival season we had three weeks off.
Looks like you're not going to get a break until after the Soundwave festival's, down here in February. Is this your first time in Australia?
Yeah man, I can't wait. I have sooo many Aussie friends. Expatriate are friends of ours, they opened for us over here, so hopefully they're gonna come along.
(Insert horrible Australian accent) 'I'm gonna go surfing and have a barbie on the beach'.
Nick Holt
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PLACEBO - AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2010
Feb 20 - Brisbane Soundwave Festival, QLD
Feb 21 - Sydney Soundwave Festival, NSW
Feb 22 - Melbourne Festival Hall, VIC
Feb 24 - The Sydney Enmore Theatre, NSW
Feb 26 - Melbourne Soundwave Festival, VIC
Feb 27 - Adelaide Soundwave Festival, SA
Mar 1 - Perth Soundwave Festival, WA