Placebo interview, Japan 1997

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞!

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐉𝐮𝐧 𝐌. 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐲𝐨, 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧, 𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 19𝐭𝐡, 1997 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞.

𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠!

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 ❤️

♦️Placebo Interview (Excerpt) 1997♦️

With only one Japanese concert date for this summer, their show betrayed our expectations with a tough performance. After the show, in a very good mood, Brian greeted me with a hug and a shriek!

𝐇𝐞𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨: (laughs) I was quite drunk.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝?

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The gig was just so great... Ah, (to the sofa) excuse me for laying down. My hangover is quite severe and this is our last interview, so I'll take it easy. (laughs)

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐤. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 '𝐤𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐢'.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: What? What does that mean?

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Ah.. Thank you. (laughs) Someone also said 'Eat me!'

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲? (𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐬) 𝐃𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞?

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah, before the band it really bothered me when someone called me cute. And recently I hear that I'm sexy? I think it's a strange thing. If you're in a rock band does it mean you're 'f*ckable'? Well, I understand it very much as a compliment. Perhaps if I were a journalist then maybe no one would say I was cute, but I guess being in a band means there's some other explanation.

Marilyn Manson is also considered sexy because of the band.

Ringo Starr is also considered sexy because of The Beatles.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟: It's unbelievable anyone thinks Noel Gallagher is cool or sexy. (laughs)

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah. He has an unibrow. (laughs)

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 '𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐨-𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬'.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Because there is something very violent about the ideal role models of 'male-ness'. So I turned to a more feminine way of thinking.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜?

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I was 16 when I started playing the guitar. At that time it was meant to be an escape for my increasingly lonely little world. Music was a way to turn that loneliness into something positive.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨'𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Absolutely. It's a way to place these feelings of loneliness into something, but in no way it's 100% all there.

I think a lot of the songs on our first album follow the same story.

𝐘𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: You got it. (laughs) If one is always happy and having fun, with balance in their lives, would they want to express that in some way? If such a person makes music, then it's just going to be happy and fun music. I wonder if that can be called a great work.

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 '𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐐', "𝐈'𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲...". 𝐘𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞'𝐬 '𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐒𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞'.

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Oh no, love, you're not alone!" It's a lovely song. Curiously, I was humming that same song today.

When I was writing the lyrics [for 'IQ'] I think at the time I was very easily hurt by others.

𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲?

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah, maybe I've gotten better.

Copyright credits to the original author of the text.

Interview translation credits: Jun M.

Source: https://bit.ly/2XRgMHd

📸 Photo credits: Placebo backstage Tokyo,Japan June 1997 - Photographer unknown / Edit made by Rita.

Post by Rita