Brian Molko: "The word responsibility makes me shiver..."
Aug 22, 2009
Photo : MTV Australia
Brian Molko. Few artists arouse as much intrigue as the Placebo frontman. Even fewer possess such distinctive qualities and emblematic idiosyncrasies. While his strict upbringing – characterised by hostility towards artistic expression – ignited an inner flame of rebellion, Molko’s persona is far more complex, vivid and captivating than most artists of a similarly rebellious history.
As striking as Molko's androgynous outward appearance is, his words (and charismatic mannerisms) still resound more loudly and more persuasively than any other aesthetic. Speaking from his home in East London, Molko is unfailingly polite and engaging but also firm, candid and incredibly articulate. Molko may be a bastion of individual self-expression and an icon to his multitude of fans, but the very notion of being a role model makes him extremely uneasy.
“The word ‘role-model’ and the phrase ‘responsibility’ make me shi-verrr,” Molko asserts, placing much emphasis on the latter word. “Because I mean…I don’t know, I wonder sometimes if people like Irvine Welsh get asked if he’s a role-model. He’s just responding to the world, expressing his singular vision of the world, similarly with somebody like Bret Easton Ellis. Now this may be confusing – me comparing myself to these great writers – and certainly I don’t believe that I am in any way as literarily dexterous as these people, but…what I am doing with my songwriting is I’m creating small fictions based on real events and true emotion. It’s kind of my reality slightly fictionalised. But it’s my reality…and it’s the way that I react to the world.
“It’s very personal, and I’m certainly not forcing anybody to listen to it,” he continues, earnestly. “It’s a choice to absorb my ranting and ravings, you know …my musings on existence. And that’s kind of what it is – it’s a work of art…it’s not a fucking philosophy of life,” he states, before quickly adding: “Of course, there are elements within it which touch on certain things that we, as people, philosophically believe in; tolerance being one of them. But it’s art, you know – it’s not an educational video,” he quips, suddenly bursting into giggles.
When I ask whether his family thinks differently about artistic expression in view of his music career, Molko’s voice turns unexpectedly quiet. “I suppose they do … We’re not a particularly close-knit bunch, so I think … I don’t know how much they understand it, really.”
Whilst Placebo’s earlier records relied heavily on the hedonistic formula of sex, drugs and alcohol, their later records were a wider portrayal of modern society in all of its misery and relationship turmoil. Needless to say, the band has struck a powerful chord with rock fans world-wide; performing in countries as far-ranging as Chile, Cambodia and Brazil, the trio has sold over ten million albums. On their sixth album, 'Battle For The Sun', Placebo have emerged afresh and renewed with the departure of drummer Steve Hewitt and the introduction of Steve Forrest.
Following the 'Meds' tour, Molko asserted that Placebo had become a band only in name. Hewitt's departure was seen as a symptom of that disconnect between the members, both personally and musically. I ask Molko how important that change was for the progression of the band.
“I suppose it was the difference between survival and just giving in to some kind of disastrous inevitability,” he concedes. “I think myself and Stefan (Olsdal – bassist) realised that if we were to continue as we were and kind of coast our way through quite unhappily, that it could have spelt the death knell for the band, and that we would have probably plateaued for a little while and then the inevitability of decline would’ve begun. And we kind of weren’t prepared to accept that. I think myself and Stefan, having started writing songs together in 1994, it felt like we had invested far too much blood, sweat and tears into this band to walk away from it, which I suppose precipitated in a difficult but courageous decision…in order to ensure the survival of myself and Stefan as a creative partnership.
“It’s a strange and unique relationship,” says Molko, when asked about the pair’s bond, “for the both of us. We don’t give it a great deal of thought anymore, because it’s been 15 years, so it’s automatic really. I suppose it’s one of those relationships where not a great deal is said because there is just such a high level of unspoken understanding.”
It was during the 'Meds' tour in 2006 that Molko and Olsdal first met 22-year-old Californian drummer, Steve Forrest. “His previous band Evaline opened for us on an American tour,” he recalls, “and we were just very, very impressed by this 19-year-old’s musical dexterity and his charisma on stage, and the fact that he could have gotten his S.H.I.T. together at such a young age.
As Placebo’s contract with Virgin expired after the release of 'Meds', the band opted on self-funding their sixth album, which was produced by David Bottrill (Tool) at Toronto’s Metalworks Studios and mixed by Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine) in London. Molko established early in the writing process that the new record would be more optimistic and hence, a complete contrast to 'Meds', which had been, emotionally-speaking, the band’s bleakest period.
“It was good writing a record without having Darth Vader in the room,” Molko laughs. “And so, we kind of really felt much more creatively unselfconscious. I suppose two separate camps had developed within the band towards the end of Steve Hewitt’s ten years in Placebo, and that’s never healthy. And so,” he muses, “it was a much more kind of joyous and relaxed atmosphere.”
Prior to the recording of 'Battle For The Sun', the band would enter the studio with nine or ten songs; this time, they went in with over 20. Molko even wrote two of the new songs whilst off-shore in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. “I was living on a river boat in Paris for a little while, a sort of small break from the 'Meds' tour and I’ve always wanted to do that,” Molko relates, gleefully. “It’s a very romantic and kind of Bohemian existence, and I’ve never slept so well in my life, so I recommend that experience for all insomniacs. It’s quite wonderful and I had my guitar and wrote a bunch of songs, two of which ended up on the record, which are 'Happy You’re Gone' and 'Kings Of Medicine'.
Placebo have always appealed to their fans through the deeply personal way in which they address human struggle (in its physical, mental, social and political forms) and its psychological effects, as expressed through Molko’s unique voice. While Molko has described their arresting Goth-inspired image as a way of transporting the audience to an alternative reality in a similar vein to David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, he has also expressed the band’s music as “by outsiders, for outsiders” while stating that a Placebo gig can seem like “a convention of outcasts”. Alongside the darkly melodic and anthemic propensity of their music, it’s no surprise that the band's live shows evoke an extremely emotional response from the audience.
“When there’s a sort of synergy that kind of occurs in the room, that’s when we’re both feeling it, the band and the audience … that requires an audience not to be passive,” says Molko, as he begins his lecture-like deliberation on audience-band synergy. “Any good art, be it an abstract expression of painting, for example, it’s not giving you all the answers; you have to step towards it as the viewer and in order to understand it, the intention and desire has to be there for you to be able to connect with that work of art. And I think it’s exactly the same thing.
“Within a live concert context, the band is obviously taking several steps towards the audience in terms of sound, volume, performance, energy, giving a shit, meaning it, not going through the motions, trying to access some kind of passion, and in order for it to really become magical, you need the same thing from the audience. When that synergy occurs and you find yourself lost in music, a great sense of collective euphoria, albeit temporarily, is created in that state – that’s what you kind of sign up for, really.”
Credits: VH1 Australia
