Placebo Anyway Blog : Brian Molko - Radio Vinyle #11

Brian Molko - Radio Vinyle #11 - Interview by Laura Leishman / 21.06.2012

The interview takes place in Radio France, Brian is having a look at their huge vinyl collection and choosing his favorites… The interviewer is Laura Leishman.

Brian : 2 more minutes pleeease ! I have to stop, or…

Laura Leishman: Yes, It’s time, we have to stop, whatever…

Brian: Oooh what??! Now, check this out! It’s amazing that I found this! I knew that Parliament had this record “Parliament vs the Placebo syndrome”. I can’t’ believe that I’ve found this! I’ve never actually heard it!.

Laura: Oh my God, you got to take that one then!

Brian: The band is going to rehearse without me this afternoon!!

An immersion in the Radio France Vinyl Collection…

Brian: There are so many albums in here, which are so important…

Oooh, what??!! That’s one of my favorite movies! I’m obsessedwith a song in this one: Old Souls.

Laura: Well, we can listen to it. We’re here to do that anyway!

Brian: Yes, it’s a Brian De Palma movie. It’s a bit based on the legend of the Phantom of the Opera, the Faust’s story. It is basically, the rock star who sells his soul to the Devil to be successful.

So my brother, my older brother,taught me how to play vinyl records. Like this… Because he got the turn table before I did. What I particularly like about vinyl is the dimension, that’s a fetish for me.

I think that the way that you’re physically involved in the act of putting the record in the turn table and playing it, itis very important.

Laura: So, let’s listen to it!

Brian: yes. Let’s listening to it!

[Old Souls byJessica Harper is playing… And Brian is smilng! ;-)

Brian: yes yes, it takes me away, really, back to my childhood. When I was a kid, I got one big obsession: psychedelic music.

“The grateful Dead”. Let’s listen to a little song.

[he sings while St Stephen byThe Grateful Dead’s playing].

Laura: How old were you while listening to that?

Brian: About 16. That was when I discovered Marijuana…

Laura: ok!...

Brian: It was the central point of my rebellion! The psychedelia and stuffs like that…

The idea was to find a kind of free-your- mind thinking, creative freedom, live without any rules… To be ahedonisticanarchist! Something like that, yes!

Laura: But it’s something you still have?

Brian: Yes, I have it but, in fact, it caused me a lot of shit in my life!! But we all grow up eventually!

Laura: Maybe it’s the Grateful Dead’s fault!

Brian: They were a European psychedelic movement too. Those bands were the predecessors of Kraftwerk and electronic music. Can is kind of funky psychedelic. They are German. It’s “Krautrock”*. I first listened to it at university, in London. It blew my mind because it was so strange.

A friend of mine got a huge collection of vinyls he had brought with him. And we were in the same dorm.

Let’s see. For Germans, they are almost funky…

[Vitamin C from Can is playing]

I started to discover a whole world of possibilities… The idea of some shades (meaning sounds) which aren’t well together but which are fascinating. And I think that’s what I still try to find in modern music, and I am increasingly disappointed.

We can’t stop with psychedelic music without playing this Parliament’s song.

Laura: a great discovery!

Brian: Yes, great discovery! Because if you enter “PLACEBO” in ITunes, you’ll get, of course our band, but also this “Parliament”album which I’ve always loved!The band I mean because I don’t even know this album! I’ve never listened to it in my whole life.“Parliament vs the Placebo Syndrome.”

Laura: It’s destiny. You’ve just found it by chance among thousands of vinyls.

Brian: Yes, just at the last minute! Let’s see! I hope it’s funky

[Placebo Syndrome byParliament is playing]

Brian: In fact, funk is like a big pillow. When you’re listening to funk music it’s like being in the middle of funky pillows! I really don’t know why! That’s amazing!

So, let’s leave psychedelic and listen to some more modern music. A little bit of “post punk”. On this album, here is Iggy Pop. According to me, it’s a kind of a bridge betweenpsychedelic - Rock- Punk and post punk music, which has really influenced me, and also my band.

Here is a classic song very wild. “Search and Destroy”. OK?

Laura: Alright [already in English]!

Brian: Let’s go!

[Search and Destroy byIggy and the Stooges is playing. They are both singing!]

Brian: Listen to that!

Iggy: … I’m using technologies….

Laura: During the song, you told me “Listen to that” when he says “I’m using technology”. Why is that important to you?

Brian: Because it’s so old! 1973! When you think about how technology rules our lives these days, the vision Iggy had, to be under this shadow at that time. It’s wow!

Laura: How do you feel when you think about the fact you were listening to this music when you were young? You were learning, you were dreaming of being a musician. And now you’re a part of this history. Do you realize that?

Brian: Not really. I can’t compare myself to the legendary rock n roll history! Maybe because modern celebrity culture, to me, is less important than the old one. They had to create such progressive things and work so hard for peopleto listen to them. It’s quite not the same today. Maybe I feel a bit like a victim of my generation.

To me, we’ve been through punk, and then here we are in the U.S., with post punk, new wave music. I’d say it’s when the punk began to be a bit more “old school” [already in English], a bit more experimental. It changed the way we listened to guitars. So “Pere Ubu” a very, very strange band.

[The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu is playing]

Brian: What the Hell?! Laura: Yes exactly! Here is this experimental side you were speaking about.

Brian: But what’s going on here??!!

Laura: What’s happening Brian: The great thing with the vinyls, which started to disappear leaving its place to CDs, is that you can have the cover in your hands while listening. You can watch it, touch it. You can create a whole story with the details of the cover! I feel a bit nostalgic right now!!

Laura: I was going to say you’re a bit nostalgic!

Brian: When I was 16, when I first listened to Sonic Youth, everything changed for me. Because before Sonic Youth guitars used to be rock guitars. And this [about Sonic Youth] was another world, something totally different. Iwould say it’s our biggest influence. Especially in the beginning. OOooh, wow, you cannot have this with an MP3, uh!!!

You can hear here how Sonic Youth has totally changed the guitars. They put them “upside down” [already in English].

[Titanium Exposé by Sonic Youth is playing]

Brian: I think it’s the biggestinfluence for our sound. They’re the band we wanted to be but couldn’t.

For the last song, I’m going to choose a song by Nina Simone because I’ve always said to my family and friends this song is the one I feel most identified with. The chorus… It’s me! Basically! I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood. [already in English, then he translates the sentence in French]. I’d like this song to be played at my funeral.

[Don’t let me be misunderstood by Nina Simone is playing, and Brian’s singing, and smiling… again! :D]

*Krautrock is rock and electronic music that originated in Germany in the late 1960s. The term was popularized in the English-speakingpress. Later, German media started to use it as a term for all German rock bands from the late 1960s and 1970s, while abroad the term specifically referred to more experimental artists who often but not always used synthesizers and other electronic instruments.