ARE YOU PROUD OF "MEDS" – IS IT WHAT YOU WANTED TO MAKE?
"Yes, well, I don't know. You never know what you want to make. Songs are embryos – they grow into whatever they want. When you step into the studio you don't know what direction they're going to take. But I'm realy happy with this elemental, urgent record that we've made."
YOU'VE BEEN MAULED MORE THAN YOUR FAIR SHARE OF TIMES. WHY PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE AGAIN?
“Because that stuff doesn't really matter. It
becomes very academic after a while, particularly with us, it really
doesn't matter at all.”
SO
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU READ, AS INEVITABLY YOU WILL IN THE NEXT FEW
WEEKS, 'PLACEBO ARE BACK, WHY THEY DON'T JUST FUCK OFF'?
“I just have a tendency not to read it. I'm more worried about the pictures now and how old I'm looking! It's counter-productive to get offended. And it doesn't really matter. There are always going to be hundreds of thousands of people who hate your guts.”
“I just have a tendency not to read it. I'm more worried about the pictures now and how old I'm looking! It's counter-productive to get offended. And it doesn't really matter. There are always going to be hundreds of thousands of people who hate your guts.”
YOU'VE
ALWAYS GIVEN THE IMPRESSION THAT YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH PEOPLE'S
PRECONCEPTIONS, YOU DELIBERATELY MADE SURE THAT NO ONE QUITE KNEW
WHERE YOU WHERE FROM, WHEATHER YOU WERE STRAIGHT OR GAY WHICH SEEMED
TO MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS.
“Which is really amusing if you think about it. It was a juvenile pursuit, though. Having an interest in that sort of thing is very youthful. It feeds directly into your bravado and that's something I have a great deal less of these days because now all I really want to do is make good records that I'm proud of.”
WOULD YOU PREFER PEOPLE NOT TO KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT YOU AND JUST KNOW YOU THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?
“Which is really amusing if you think about it. It was a juvenile pursuit, though. Having an interest in that sort of thing is very youthful. It feeds directly into your bravado and that's something I have a great deal less of these days because now all I really want to do is make good records that I'm proud of.”
WOULD YOU PREFER PEOPLE NOT TO KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT YOU AND JUST KNOW YOU THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?
“Absolutely, yes. I've become so much more
private. I used to talk about bisexuality and about taking lots of
drugs. If I could go back I would just talk about the music. But I
can't really do much about it because I spent so much time telling
bullshit.”
YOU'VE
OFTEN BEEN CALLED EGOISTICAL, HOW DO YOU REACT TO THAT?
“For me to say that I wasn't egoistical would be a lie. Lead singers want to be the front person for a reason, they want the attention, they're exhibitionists. Writing about yourself in the context of a song is an egoistical thing. But so what if people call me that? People enjoy it. Sure I'm egoistical, sure I'm vain, but so what?“
SOME PEOPLE MAY SEE THOSE AS BAD QUALITIES.
“But I'm not those things all the time. I'm not just vain and egoistical.”
“For me to say that I wasn't egoistical would be a lie. Lead singers want to be the front person for a reason, they want the attention, they're exhibitionists. Writing about yourself in the context of a song is an egoistical thing. But so what if people call me that? People enjoy it. Sure I'm egoistical, sure I'm vain, but so what?“
SOME PEOPLE MAY SEE THOSE AS BAD QUALITIES.
“But I'm not those things all the time. I'm not just vain and egoistical.”
WHAT
ARE YOUR FAULTS?
“Impatience. I'm a bit schizophrenic too, to be honest. I can go from being stupidly confident one minute to having no confidence the next.”
“Impatience. I'm a bit schizophrenic too, to be honest. I can go from being stupidly confident one minute to having no confidence the next.”
DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF?
“As a band? Yes. As a person? I have a great deal less confidence than I did in 1996. As you get older you lose that youthful bravado. You don't think you're immortal any more. You realise that you have to work for it and that you have to continuously prove yourself.”
BUT
YOU'D RATHER BE YOU NOW THAN YOU IN 1996?
“Yes. Absolutely.”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
WHAT
WOULD YOU SAY TO THE BRIAN MOLKO WHO WAS WRITING “NANCY BOY“ IN
1996?
“I wouldn't want to say too much because I might not turn out to be the person I am today. There's no point in worrying about the past too much because it's just there. But if I look back on songs like “Nancy Boy” or even “Commercial for Levi”, they're quite gimmicky, they use shocking language – or language designed to grab your attention.”
“I wouldn't want to say too much because I might not turn out to be the person I am today. There's no point in worrying about the past too much because it's just there. But if I look back on songs like “Nancy Boy” or even “Commercial for Levi”, they're quite gimmicky, they use shocking language – or language designed to grab your attention.”
“He'd probably find it too commercial and probably give me shit for it.”
BUT
THEN YOU'D PROBABLY GIVE HIM SHIT FOR “NANCY BOY“...
“Exactly. I'd say 'Any chance you can write something a little less attention-grabbing, please?' Or 'Why do you have to be so obvious all the time?'.”
“Exactly. I'd say 'Any chance you can write something a little less attention-grabbing, please?' Or 'Why do you have to be so obvious all the time?'.”
WHICH
MEANS YOU ARE HAPPY WITH WHO AND WHERE YOU ARE AT THE MOMENT, DOESN'T
IT?
“Personally? Happier. As a band: very happy. Possibilities seem endless and everything seems limitless at present. It means the absolute world for us to be able to express ourselves and for people to listen. Surely you don't need much mote than that to get by or to feel you have a purpose? If what you brings a strange joy to people then you've already won.”
(Kerrang, 2006)
Photo credits: Scarlet Page
Post by Silke
“Personally? Happier. As a band: very happy. Possibilities seem endless and everything seems limitless at present. It means the absolute world for us to be able to express ourselves and for people to listen. Surely you don't need much mote than that to get by or to feel you have a purpose? If what you brings a strange joy to people then you've already won.”
(Kerrang, 2006)
Photo credits: Scarlet Page
Post by Silke
