Steve Hewitt: I was 'absolutely s****ing my pants' about fronting new band

Former Placebo drummer Steve Hewitt is back in the UK this week with Love Amongst Ruin. The project sees Hewitt step out from the kit and take on frontman duties. Ahead of the band's London show tomorrow night we grabbed some time with him for a few words.

How have things been since you took the plunge and put the band together?

"It's all going fantastically well. The album was very well received, I didn't see any bad reviews. It's taking off slowly and it's building nicely. The live show's going from strength to strength, so we cannot complain."

And how about the transition from drummer to frontman?

"I've come on leaps and bounds from recording vocals on the album to singing live now my voice has gone from strength to strength. Confidence has grown and that makes a huge difference."

Was confidence an issue at the beginning?

"I was absolutely s****ing my pants! Back then I didn't envisage I was going to front a band but now I feel very comfortable with it."

You've got the Borderline show this week, what's on the Love Amongst Ruin radar beyond that?

"I'm currently writing a new album. We're about nine tracks in. We're hoping to start recording that in September. I've demoed most of the drums but we'll see when September comes who's going to play what. I've got to get my oar in and have a go, it'd be silly not to. I still play pretty much every day, just keeping my chops up. It's always exciting to keep learning about drums and techniques and different patterns."

You can catch Love Amongst Ruin at London's Borderline on 7 June.