Time
for another INTERVIEW with our favourite singer!
In this one from 2017 Brian talks about his special show pants, reveals in which time period he would like to live if he could choose one and confesses why he used to pee on his fingers before Meets & Greets. The last question is about lying in interviews. ;-)
In this one from 2017 Brian talks about his special show pants, reveals in which time period he would like to live if he could choose one and confesses why he used to pee on his fingers before Meets & Greets. The last question is about lying in interviews. ;-)
IS THERE ANYONE, APART FROM YOUR PARTNER, THAT YOU’RE COMFORTABLE BEING COMPLETELY NAKED AROUND?
Brian Molko: “My father used to walk around the house naked when I was a kid, and I didn't need to see that first thing in the morning! So yeah – I don't do that around my son. I suppose the only other person who really sees me in a state of undress is my make-up and wardrobe assistant. But we've been working together for six years now, so she doesn't really bat an eyelid. I change my pants – I put on new pants when I go on-stage. Clean pants!“
DO YOU HAVE “ SPECIAL“ PANTS?
“Yeah! I have show pants. I used to have a pair of lacy women's underwear, which used to be my lucky pair of panties. I used to wear them on-stage when I felt like I needed a little bit of extra mojo.“
DID IT WORK?
“Yeah, psychologically it helps! You're sat there wearing an elegantly cut suit and underneath it you're wearing women's underwear. You're playing guitar and singing in front of five to ten-thousand people, and they don't know it!“
REDRESSING THE POWER A LITTLE BIT.
“We used to do quite a lot of meet-and-greets for competition winners, until I got molested by one of the competition winners, then we had to stop. Since then, I do them very rarely. But what I used to do before the meet-and-greets, is I would go to the bathroom and purposefully pee on my index finger and then not wash my hands. All the competition winners and Placebo fans that I met that day would walk away with a bit of my pee on their hand. And they never knew it! They're all walkin' away with a bit of Molko DNA… I don't do that any more…“
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SAID “NO“ TO SOMETHING RELATING TO YOUR CAREER?
“Yesterday. Unfortunately, I can't say what it was but it was a very significant business choice – one that could have been incredibly profitable, but myself and Stefan [Olsdal, Placebo bassist] said no.“
IS THAT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS OFTEN, THEN?
“Yes, very much so. Otherwise we'd end up on boxes of fake Nespresso capsules like my dear old friend Robbie Williams. I think a band is defined more by what they say "no" to than what they say "yes" to – and to a degree, an individual human being as well. The easy thing to do is to say yes, especially if there's a great deal of money involved. I turned down The X Factor in France. I'm bi-lingual, I speak French, but there isn't enough money in the world that would get me to do one of those karaoke competitions.“
WAS THAT TO BE A JUDGE?
“Yeah – they offered me a million euros. But based on the fact that I think these karaoke competitions are a majority shareholder in the ruination of pop music as an art form, there isn't enough money in the world to make me want to do that. So yeah – I'm the guy who turned down a million euros. We're driven by doing what we think is the right think artistically, rather than financially or in a careerist way.“
IS THAT DIFFICULT?“I don't know. You just know that you wouldn't be able to able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning. Being able to look at yourself in the mirror in the morning – you can't put a price on that.“
IF YOU COULD LIVE IN ANY TIME PERIOD, WHICH ONE WOULD YOU PICK?
“Oh, that's easy! I would be about 22 in 1967. I'd live in San Francisco and I'd live the hippy dream. I always used to think that I was a punk at heart, but that was the drugs. When I gave up the drugs, I got shitloads less angry and started studying Buddhism and meditating. I just turned into an absolute hippy! That's probably my true nature – I think the drugs were making me angry. So yeah, I would live the hippy dream. I'd try to make my way into the front door of the Grateful Dead house in San Francisco.“
WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU WERE IN YOUR SEXUAL PRIME?
“Ooh! My sexual prime has to be with whoever I'm with. I'm in a relationship now and I have been for over two years, so I'd say now! I'm also genuinely very, very, very much in love, which Is really important. In the old days, when we used to indulge in the whole groupie thing, nine times out of ten you'd discover that for them it was all about the thrill of the chase. Once they got you into bed, they just turned into a plank. It's very much dependent, for me, on the emotional connection and on love.“
WEEING IN THE SHOWER – YES OR NO?
“Of course! I don't understand people who think it's disgusting. They're washing their ass while they're in there… What's the big deal?“
AND TO ROUND UP – HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIE IN INTERVIEWS?
“Actually, this has been one of the most honest interviews I've done – I haven't told a single lie! When I lie in interviews, it's usually through omission, rather than bare-faced invention… or wording something to make it sound more glamorous than it actually is. But I've been completely honest in this one.“
(VICE, 23rd October 2017)
Post by Silke
