Monday, September 28, 2020

Brian Molko's "Last Times"


THE LAST TIME I SAID “DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?”
"I can safely say that I have never said that. I have said, I'm so-and-so from Placebo, will you let me in, please? And that's worked. But when it hasn't worked, I've never uttered the dreaded phrase. I'd much rather walk away."


THE LAST TIME I WENT ON A BLIND DATE
"Maybe three years ago. I went on a blind date with a lady who worked for a madam who runs an exclusive escort service for extremely rich businessmen. It was an absolute disaster. One of the girls that her company hired had agreed to do a job and was now causing a fuss and saying she didn't want to do the job, so [my date's] cellphone was ringing every seven minutes, and she had to deal with that situation. We never really managed to have a conversation that lasted longer than seven minutes at a time. "


THE LAST TIME I DELETED MY BROWSING HISTORY
"Yesterday. For what reason? I'm not going to say. [Laughs]"


THE LAST TIME I COOKED FOR SOMEONE
"Probably about two weeks ago. I've been doing a juice cleanse recently, so my diet's been liquid for the past week. Otherwise I'd be in the kitchen more often."

THE LAST TIME I TRASHED A HOTEL ROOM
"Probably in the Nineties. The most spectacular was in 1998, I almost got arrested for that one. It was in Monte Carlo. I broke the TV, I broke a lamp. I was pissed off because they wouldn't let our crew in the bar of this hotel because they were too scruffily dressed. And I looked across the bar and saw Julian Lennon there drinking with his mates and he was dressed exactly the same way as the crew, so I made a bit of a stink about it. And I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned around and the boss of the bar was toking on a massive cigar, and he said, 'You want to spend the night in the bar, or do you want to spend the night in jail?' And that was like pouring petrol on fire [laughs]. So I went upstairs and trashed my room. And then the next day I talked myself out of going to jail!"

THE LAST BOOK I READ
“The Girls“. It's set in the late Sixties, and is very loosely based around the Charles Manson family murders. I don't know why but the whole Manson family story has always intrigued me."

THE LAST SONG I HEARD AND THOUGHT, I WISH I WROTE THAT
"There's a song by a band called Minor Victories, they're opening for us on our UK tour. It's Stuart from Mogwai and Rachel from Slowdive, and they have a song called 'For You Always', which is xylophone, drums and strings-driven. I think it's amazing."


THE LAST TIME I WAS WATCHING TV AND HEARD ONE OF MY SONGS
"I'm not too sure if that's ever happened. But what's irritating for me is when you go [to a club] and people see you and they automatically put your song on. As if a) you want to hear it, and b) it's not embarrassing. [Laughs] What are you supposed to do? Get up and take a bow? It makes me feel unnecessarily under the spotlight. It's like, do you guys really think I listen to my own music?"


THE LAST TIME I BROKE SOMEONE'S HEART
"Maybe two years ago, but she fucking broke mine too. It wasn't purposeful, we just were not right for each other at all. And both of us were far too stubborn."


THE LAST TIME I THOUGHT ABOUT DEATH
"Yesterday, probably. I think it passed through my mind. If one spends too much time thinking about this inevitability, though, it takes you very much out of the moment, and I'm very much one for trying to live in the day and live in the moment and be aware of the moment. So I'm aware of my finite time on this earth, but through mindfulness and the power of now I kind of try to stay within the day."

THE LAST TV SERIES I WATCHED
"I've been getting back into The Sopranos
recently, watching the box set. My girlfriend said she'd tried to watch it a couple of years ago, but wasn't really following the way they talk. I've been watching it with her, and pausing to explain what's going on."

THE LAST TIME I EXERCISED
"Today, I guess. Stationary bike. I'd usually just ride my bike but it snowed today for the first time."

(Rolling Stone Australia, November 2016)

Photo credit unknown
Post by Silke

Friday, September 25, 2020

๐๐‹๐€๐‚๐„๐๐Ž ๐Ž๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐’๐Ž๐”๐๐ƒ๐“๐‘๐€๐‚๐Š: ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฌ

๐‘ฏ๐’Š ๐’…๐’†๐’‚๐’“ ๐’”๐’๐’–๐’๐’Ž๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’”!
Besides a long list of movies, there are some short films where we can hear Placebo music. The story behind one of them really impressed me a lot.


๐‡๐Ž๐‹๐‹๐Ž๐– ๐‡๐„๐‹๐‹ ๐๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ‘: ๐–๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ•) - ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ 
๐–๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฉ is a short horror mystery film directed by Tina Doyle, an actress and director from Scotland.

๐‘ท๐’๐’๐’•
A young girl searches for her dog in a dilapidated estate.

๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐–๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ˆ'๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  (๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ, ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ‘)
https://bit.ly/3fEFMa1


๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‘๐„๐Œ๐€๐ˆ๐๐ˆ๐๐† (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’) - ๐‘๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐”๐ฉ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ
๐“๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  is a British short thriller film directed by Max Bezant starring Max Bezant, Charlotte Cosgrove, Jim Lattimore.

๐‘ท๐’๐’๐’•
When the world's population is destroyed by an evil corporation, only one college student can discover what happened, and if anyone else remains.

๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐‘๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐”๐ฉ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ (๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐ฎ๐๐ข๐จ)
https://bit.ly/3fHgGHA

Photo credit: Mick Hutson
๐Œ๐˜ ๐’๐–๐„๐„๐“ ๐๐‘๐ˆ๐๐‚๐„ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) – ๐‡๐Š ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ
My Sweet Prince is a short film written and directed by Jason Bradbury [a huge Placebo fan] starring Yoni Roodner, Jacob Avery, Rio Thake.
It was one of 11 films commissioned by BBC Arts and the BFI for the Born Digital Scheme to mark the 30๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘จ๐’๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’‚๐’“๐’š ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ฐ๐’๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’๐’†๐’•. Young filmmakers were challenged to reflect on the experience of living in a digital environment.
Announced on @๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ˆ๐†, My Sweet Prince was available in the UK only. Worldwide premiere, postponed due to the Covid pandemic, is still awaited.
๐‰๐š๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐š๐๐›๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฒ: “As a teenager on the Isle of Wight figuring out my sexuality, Placebo were a huge inspiration to me. Seeing Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal’s unapologetic approach to sexuality was beyond inspiring, especially in time that positive LGBTQ+ role models were pretty much non existent. They form a big part of my short film My Sweet Prince and they kindly made it possible for me to use some of their music in the film. Teen dreams do come true, it would seem!”

๐‘ท๐’๐’๐’•
Alcopops, VHS tapes, cigarettes, boys, MSN Messenger, Placebo - this is 2003. Set on the Isle of Wight, fragments of the director's own teenage video diaries collide with the fictional story of 15-year-old Tommy in this short film about a boy's search for connection in the advent of the internet age. Infatuated with his best friend's boyfriend and unable to truly reveal himself to anyone, Tommy feels an overwhelming sense of isolation on the small chalk island he calls home. Desperate to be seen, he logs on to family computer, clicks connect and opens MSN.

๐Œ๐ฒ ๐’๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž – ๐Ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ
https://bit.ly/2ABW70I

๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐‡๐Š ๐…๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ
https://bit.ly/3gqsuOX

Photo credit: Joseph Llanes
๐‘๐„๐๐ƒ๐„๐™๐•๐Ž๐”๐’ (๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—) - ๐‘๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐”๐ฉ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ
๐‘๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ณ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ is a short film directed by Seth Kozak and Damian Veilleux starring Katarina Morhacova, Chris Kerson, Mike Sutton.
Rendezvous is an American suspense-thriller, written, directed, and produced by Seth Kozak. The film follows the journey of Catalina Wright as she encounters fatal arrangements made by her politician husband.

๐‘ท๐’๐’๐’•
A Congressman's daring scheme to have his younger wife murdered is nearly foiled after she makes sudden plans to visit her mother in Maine. When icy road conditions limit her travel, she takes refuge in an historic inn. Now, the instinct that pushed her toward safety may have betrayed her, as she suspects the inn's only other resident is a man hired to kill her.

๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐‘๐ฎ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  ๐”๐ฉ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐‡๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ (๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐š๐ญ ๐‘๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ”)
https://bit.ly/3inCLwh

What’s your impression of these short films, dear soulmates?
Have you already watched any of the movies you’ve got to know from my previous posts?

Photo credit pic 1: Olaf Heine; screenshots and poster of the films / edit by Olga

Post by Olga

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Interview with Brian and Stefan for French magazine Tรชtu, 2013


Now I want to share an interview that Brian and Stefan did with Frech magazine Tรชtu in July 2013 while their band mate Steve Forrest was sleeping off a crazy Parisian night. ;-)


IF YOUR CAREES WAS A LONG STRIPTEASE, WITH THIS NEW ALBUM, PLACEBO WOULD FINISH WITH A HAND AT THE FRONT AND ONE AT THE BACK?
Brian: (laughing) Our previous album, “Battle for the sun“ was a stadium album. It followed Meds, which was a very claustrophobic one and say…very narcoleptic (smiles). We always react to the mood of the previous one.
When we started working on LLL, one theme came up very quickly, the oldest theme in music: love. Not very close to Placebo, isn’t it? We had two possibilities: either we went against the surge or we fully embraced it and didn’t hide our own vulnerability.

Stef: Even the title came up rapidly. When we were done with an album, we would say: ‘oh shit, what name are we going to give to that one?’ (laughters)


LOUD LIKE LOVE“, THE OPENING TRACK, IS A VERY POSITIVE LOVING HYMN BUT THE ALBUM ENDS IN SOBS AND ALCOHOL WITH THE BEAUTIFUL SONG “BOSCO“. DOES IT REFLECT YOUR LIVES?
Brian: I think these two songs underline how much we reject what we did in the past….

NO MORE ROCK 'N' ROLL WAY OF LIFE?
Brian: You know, I’m a father now. My son is 7. It changes your views on life. It’s something that prevents you from behaving like a dickhead rock star. When you grow up in the public eye, you can very easily shut yourself up in a bubble and lose yourself. There was a time when I got lost, very often….



IN “TOO MANY FRIENDS“ YOU SING: “MY COMPUTER THINKS I'M GAY“. WHAT DO YOU HIDE ON YOUR COMPUTER TO SUGGEST SUCH A THING?

Brian: One day my computer sent me targeted ads as if I were gay. I wondered : ‘what have I done? What kind of porno have I watched so my computer thinks I’m gay (laughs)’. In the meantime, I had friends who decided not to take any more new friends on social networks because they already had ‘too many friends’. How can you have too many friends?
It made me consider our relationship to modernity. Aren’t we losing the ability to communicate in real life? For instance, we know many guys who use Grindr. It’s weird because they can’t focus on you longer than 5 mn without checking their app!

THAT SONG IS YOUR COMING OUT ABOUT BEING HETEROSEXUAL?
Brian: (smiles) I don’t know if I’m really straight. I’m not a much more different man than the one I used to be. I haven’t been in a relationship for a long time, either with a man or a woman. So if I had to come out, that’d be as an abstinent!

DO YOU MIND IF WE SAY THAT PLACEBO IS A QUEER BAND?
Brian: That’s fine with me! I’d rather that than be a macho band!

Stefan: If we have to be tagged, then yes. That’s a part of us. In the past, we’ve always been honest about our lifestyles and sexual orientations but we don’t get into a recording studio thinking ‘we’re a queer band so let’s play music for fags!



STEFAN, YOU'VE MADE YOUR COMING OUT AT THE VERY START OF YOUR CAREER. WAS IT DEEPLY NEEDED?
Stefan: I thought it was a good thing to do. Nowadays, more artists acknowledge their homosexuality but at that time there were few homosexuals in music. I soon reckoned that if I could reveal who I was, then I’d have played my part in setting more tolerance. I’ve received a lot of mails from young gays who wanted to thank me. However, despite being successful, I’ve also suffered from a fair amount of intolerance…

PLACEBO IS VERY POPULAR IN RUSSIA. DO YOU ALTER YOUR BEHAVIOUR WHEN YOU PLAY IN NOT SO TOLERANT COUNTRIES?
Brian: No way! Though playing in Russia can be troublesome… But we’ve never been told: ‘you’re not allowed to play such and such songs”

Stefan: It’s a bit more risky when we perform in Indonesia or Muslim countries. Sometimes we’re warned about using some words; we’re told to avoid provocative clothes and any sexual intercourse on stage!” (laughters)

IT TURNS OUT THAT PLACEBO HAS MANAGED TO AVOID THE NORMALLY TRAP?
Brian: I think so! I just could have shown better taste and more sense when I chose my dresses! (laughs). I feel at ease with all this and I think we were right. Even more so nowadays with all those assholes who are demonstrating against gay wedding.

Stefan: Exactly! The debate gets very close to the bone. It’s amazing to see that our society which pretends to be civilised and liberal, finally wallows in intolerance. It’s just blowing hot air!
(Tรชtu, July-August 2013)

Photo credits:  Franck Juery,  Radio XFM London, Tom Barnes
Post by Silke

Saturday, September 19, 2020

๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™š๐™›๐™–๐™ฃ'๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™จ๐™๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™Ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™š

My last posts have been around ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ & ๐’‡๐’‚๐’”๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ - I hope I am not boring you with this topic - but I thought it was ๐‘ฝ๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐’€ important to dedicate a post especially to the fashion style of our dearest ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ถ๐’๐’”๐’…๐’‚๐’. Because, though he is shy and quiet, he has played a lot with his look and I think he has even been more daring with his wardrobe than his bandmate ๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’, and at the same time, preserving an elegant touch.



As a first example, there is the striped shirt in bright colors that ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ wore in a photoshoot that ๐‘บ๐’„๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’†๐’• ๐‘ท๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’† made and the "๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’–๐’”๐’† ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’†" video:

๐ŸŽ™️๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: [...] I’m wearing a polyethylene suit. And Stefan’s wearing a shirt which Noel Gallagher also owned at the time.

๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง: I look better in it though.
▪️๐™ฟ๐š•๐šŠ๐šŒ๐šŽ๐š‹๐š˜, ๐™พ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ ๐™ผ๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ ๐š†๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐™ต๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐š—๐š
(๐™ณ๐š…๐™ณ),2004.

๐Ÿ“ผ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž (๐Ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐•๐ข๐๐ž๐จ)
https://youtu.be/v6XhoHTDFSM

Like ๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’, ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ also wore dresses occasionally to go on stage. One of his iconic looks, no doubt, is the magnific red dress that he wore during some concerts of the "๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’• ๐’€๐’๐’– ๐‘ฐ'๐’Ž ๐‘ต๐’๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ป๐’๐’–๐’“" and that now belongs to a fan from somewhere in the world, since this red dress was among the items of the "๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ ๐‘น๐’‚๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐‘จ๐’–๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’" that the band made in 2017 as part of its 20๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’Š๐’—๐’†๐’“๐’”๐’‚๐’“๐’š celebrations. Below you can watch one of those gigs in which ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ wore this dress. He looks gorgeous in it!! ❤️

๐Ÿ“ผ ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐‹๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐€๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐ฌ ๐„๐ฎ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ค๐ž́๐ž๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐ž ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ 1999
https://youtu.be/7RsSmGHgShA

๐ŸŽ™️"I think I take care of my aspect of clothing. I often look for beautiful clothes regardless of their origin. But it is important that you belong to a designer or a collection from Chez H&M. We have met many designers with whom we have become friends."
▪️๐š‚๐š๐šŽ๐š๐šŠ๐š— ๐™พ๐š•๐šœ๐š๐šŠ๐š•, ๐š…๐š’๐š›๐š๐š’๐š—๐™ผ๐šŽ๐š๐šŠ.๐š๐š›, 2003.

For several years now, it has been common to see him very elegant wearing suits in classic colors such as black and white. In 2009, during the "๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’•๐’•๐’๐’† ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘บ๐’–๐’ ๐‘ป๐’๐’–๐’“", we were able to see him on stage in a glamorous purple-satin-pinstripe suit and other times in a metalic silver suit. If you want to remember how he looked, here are a couple of videos: ๐Ÿ˜‰

๐Ÿ“ผ ๐€๐ฌ๐ก๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ฒ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ - ๐‘๐จ๐œ๐ค ๐–๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ญ๐ž๐ซ 2009
https://youtu.be/NhBecP9qVr4

๐Ÿ“ผ ๐๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž ๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐’๐ฎ๐ง - ๐‹๐จ๐ง๐๐จ๐ง 2010
https://youtu.be/Jxk-ZOIZdOs

Photo credit: Pop Farm

Another spectacular outfit by ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ is the black butterfly print suit by ๐‘จ๐’๐’†๐’™๐’‚๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“ ๐‘ด๐’„๐‘ธ๐’–๐’†๐’†๐’, that he wore during "๐‘จ ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’† ๐‘ญ๐’๐’“ ๐‘ผ๐’” ๐‘ป๐’ ๐‘ซ๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž ๐‘ป๐’๐’–๐’“". I remember seeing this suit in a magazine, then I saw ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡ with it and I thought, "Yes, it's perfect for him !!". He looked really BEAUTIFUL❤️

๐Ÿ“ผ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐Œ๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐  - ๐๐š'๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ž ๐…๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ 2017
https://youtu.be/P1FY60z_Bw4

๐ŸŽ™️๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ’๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐๐ž๐ž๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ฒ๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ?

๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง:Yeah its funny, the first time we’ve come to Singapore and they told us we should dress appropriately and although it wasn’t so strict. The funny thing is, Everyone expected Brian to wear the dress and I came in this androgynous priest outfit by Alexander McQueen.

We are in a line of work where we can wear whatever we want and there’s a clothing freedom. In the beginning, we were very excited about the fact that the women’s section in the clothes store just had so much more than the men’s but for me personally, it’s about comfort and each outfit has to be functional. It’s mostly high street stuff really, some designer jackets perhaps and the odd shirts and scarves or something. It’s about mixing and matching. It’s also about finding your own style and with me it tends to be more high street than high fashion.
▪️๐š‚๐š๐šŽ๐š๐šŠ๐š— ๐™พ๐š•๐šœ๐š๐šŠ๐š•, ๐™ท๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š›, ๐š‚๐šŽ๐š™๐š๐šŽ๐š–๐š‹๐šŽ๐š› 2013.

Photo credit: Julian Broad

Up to here we finish with the topic of clothes because hair is important too and ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ has tried out many styles, always looking great. His usual haircut is very short or a mohawk. He also has been blonde. In 2009, he wore a long fringe that fell diagonally across his face. And, in recent years, he has wearing a "๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‡๐’‚๐’…๐’†" haircut, styling the top with a little bun, a ponytail or he simply has left naturally his curly hair.

Contrary to what ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ stated in the "๐‘บ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’‘๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ฎ๐’‰๐’๐’”๐’•๐’” - ๐‘ป๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐‘ซ๐’๐’„๐’–๐’Ž๐’†๐’๐’•๐’‚๐’“๐’š" (2003), that he hated mustaches, only in 1999 he had used a very thin mustache and in 2006 he grew another. Since 2012 he has grown a thick beard that was only shaved off to participate in the ๐‘ด๐’๐’—๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ campaign, where he grew a mustache throughout the month of November for the purpose of raising funds and raising awareness of men's health in 2014 and 2015. Currently he still keeping his beard.

And if you thought ๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’ was the only one wearing makeup, well, no! ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ also lines his eyes and has occasionally painted his nails, in gold or black color. I had never wanted before to paint my nails black until I saw ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡ at "๐‘บ๐’๐’–๐’๐’Ž๐’‚๐’•๐’†๐’” ๐‘ต๐’†๐’—๐’†๐’“ ๐‘ซ๐’Š๐’†"(DVD). ๐Ÿ–ค

Finally let's talk about accessories, ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡ has used all kinds. From the most discreet: a ring on his hand, the earrings of his right ear, some bracelets, aviator style glasses; to the most daring: a ring on his nose, oversized glasses, cowboy hat, or that belt of chains with locks and keys so cool that he used in the "๐‘ป๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐‘ท๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†" video, and which was also included in the "๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ ๐‘น๐’‚๐’“๐’Š๐’•๐’Š๐’†๐’” ๐‘จ๐’–๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’". A very special accessory was "๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘น๐’‚๐’Š๐’๐’ƒ๐’๐’˜ ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’—๐’†", which ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ designed together with ๐‘ฎ๐’Š๐’›๐’†๐’๐’๐’† ๐‘น๐’†๐’๐’†๐’† in 2018. Inspired by ๐‘ฎ๐’Š๐’๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“๐’• ๐‘ฉ๐’‚๐’Œ๐’†๐’“'s rainbow flag and for celebrate the July’s ๐‘ท๐’“๐’Š๐’…๐’† ๐‘ท๐’‚๐’“๐’‚๐’…๐’† in London, these gloves represent ๐’‚๐’„๐’„๐’†๐’‘๐’•๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’–๐’๐’Š๐’•๐’š. They were put up for sale on March of that year and the proceeds went to the ๐‘ท๐’†๐’•๐’†๐’“ ๐‘ป๐’‚๐’•๐’„๐’‰๐’†๐’๐’ ๐‘ญ๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ and the ๐‘ณ๐‘ฎ๐‘ฉ๐‘ป ๐‘ญ๐’๐’–๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’.

Photo credit unknown

๐ŸŽ™️๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐š๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฅ๐ž, ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐š๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ?

๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง: It has gradually become more black and functional with too many overpriced designer shirts thrown in. I am very tall and skinny so sometimes only the catwalk sizes fit me.
▪️๐š‚๐š๐šŽ๐š๐šŠ๐š— ๐™พ๐š•๐šœ๐š๐šŠ๐š•, ๐™ฑ๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š”๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐šŽ, 2015.

๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ has the bearing of a model, he is perfect. I don't know why we have never seen him on a catwalk, maybe they have asked him but he is just not interested. Anyway, the stage is his great catwalk and there, we can admire his beauty and his talent at the same time, which is even better.๐ŸŒŸ

๐Ÿ“ธ Photo Credits Picture 1: ๐ต๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘  - Scarlet Page, Snapshot-Photography/UllsteinBild, Rock Werchter, Maud Maillard, Pop Farm, rest of the pics unknown. ๐ถ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘  - Javier Alonso & Marina Sanz, Brill/Ullstein Bild, Franck Juery, Placebo FB, Kevin Westenberg, Karen Mason Blair, Joseph Llanes, Jason Tanaka Blaney, Stefan Olsdal IG, Dave Tonge, Sergione Infuso/Corbis, Screenshots. Edit made by me.

Thursday, September 17, 2020

๐๐‹๐€๐‚๐„๐๐Ž ๐ˆ๐ ๐•๐„๐‹๐•๐„๐“ ๐†๐Ž๐‹๐ƒ๐Œ๐ˆ๐๐„

After discussing a lot of movies featuring Placebo songs on the soundtrack, today we will talk about a film where Brian Molko and his bandmates also appear as actors. So, this part of ‘Placebo & films’ series is dedicated to iconic, ‘lipstick-kissed’ ๐•๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž.

Photo credits: Official poster, screenshots of the film / edit by Olga


Acting was Brian’s first artistic passion which he consequently followed by studying at Goldsmith and getting a degree in drama.
๐‘พ๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’˜๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’…๐’ ๐’Š๐’‡ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’˜๐’†๐’“๐’†๐’'๐’• ๐’‚ ๐’“๐’๐’„๐’Œ ๐’”๐’•๐’‚๐’“?
๐Ÿ“ข"I think I would have probably tried my hand at acting, because it was my first love."
(๐พ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘” "๐‘ˆ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘˜๐‘œ", ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘ก'00)

๐•๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž (1998) is a musical drama film written and directed by Todd Haynes, co-produced by Michael Stipe (REM), starring Ewan McGregor, Jonathn Rhys Meyers, Christian Bale. The film won the award for the Best Artistic Contribution at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. and a BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design.
You may read more about the costume design for the film in this article:
๐Ÿ‘‰https://bit.ly/3fHkfOF

Scene from Velvet Goldmine


Set in Britain during the early 1970s, the movie is an exploration of the glam rock era. Taking its name from the ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’… ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’†’๐’” ๐’”๐’๐’๐’ˆ of the same name, Velvet Goldmine tells the story of a fictional glam rock star Brian Slade, sexually fluid and androgynous person, who was patterned after David Bowie, Jobriath and, to a lesser extent, Marc Bolan [original writer of 20th Century Boy].
๐Ÿ“ข๐“๐จ๐๐ ๐‡๐š๐ฒ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ explained he had ‘a very modest goal’ for his experimental film: “I want to turn every gay person straight, and every straight person gay.” (๐ท๐‘Ž๐‘ง๐‘’๐‘‘, ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘ก๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 2018)

David Bowie initially disapproved of the film and its many similarities with his life story, and threatened to sue. So, the script had to be rewritten to create more distance between the character and the real man. Obviously, Bowie vetoed the proposal that his songs appear in the film.

All three then members of Placebo got the roles in the film: ๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐Œ๐จ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ and ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž ๐‡๐ž๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ were playing members of the Flaming Creatures (Malcolm and Billy respectively) and ๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง ๐Ž๐ฅ๐ฌ๐๐š๐ฅ was playing Polly Small's bassist. Another member of the Flaming Creatures, Pearl, was played by ๐—๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ซ (Paul Wilkinson), former lead singer of the band DexDexTer and, later, in 2003-2005, a keyboard player for Placebo on tour.
For the soundtrack, Placebo created “one of the best and most glittery musical performances in the film – the fictional band The Flaming Creatures’ biting, almost gothic rendition of T. Rex’s ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ญ๐ก ๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฒ.” (๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‡๐‘’๐‘š๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘ , ๐ด๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘™ 2007)
Brian also sang a small part of the song ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ž๐ž๐ญ, performed by another fictional band, The Venus In Furs.
๐Ÿ“๐‘ท๐’๐’๐’•
In 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart is writing an article about the career, withdrawal from public life and death hoax of 1970s glam superstar Brian Slade by interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer's career. Recalling their thoughts, each person contributes to revealing a particular segment in Slade's personal and professional life.
Part of the story involves Stuart's family's reaction to his homosexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time.

Scene from Velvet Goldmine

✨๐‘ฎ๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’„๐’Š๐’๐’†๐’Ž๐’‚ ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’” ๐’‚๐’–๐’•๐’–๐’Ž๐’ ๐’•๐’ ๐’•๐’‚๐’Œ๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐‘ป๐’๐’…๐’… ๐‘ฏ๐’‚๐’š๐’๐’†๐’”' ๐’‰๐’š๐’‘๐’†๐’“-๐’‰๐’š๐’‘๐’†๐’… ๐’ˆ๐’๐’‚๐’Ž ๐’“๐’๐’„๐’Œ ๐’‡๐’๐’Š๐’„๐’Œ ๐‘ฝ๐’†๐’๐’—๐’†๐’• ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’…๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’† ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’”๐’†๐’† ๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’Š๐’†-๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’๐’…-๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’๐’†๐’…-๐’ƒ๐’Š๐’•-๐’‚๐’„๐’•๐’๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ ๐’…๐’๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’†๐’™๐’‚๐’„๐’•๐’๐’š ๐’˜๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’š๐’๐’–'๐’… ๐’†๐’™๐’‘๐’†๐’„๐’•. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’”๐’‚๐’”๐’‰๐’‚๐’š ๐’‚๐’“๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’Š๐’ ๐’Š๐’Ž๐’‘๐’“๐’‚๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’ ๐’‡๐’๐’๐’•๐’˜๐’†๐’‚๐’“ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’†๐’“๐’๐’–๐’” ๐’๐’‚๐’š๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐’๐’‡ '๐’”๐’๐’‚๐’‘'. ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’†๐’š ๐’„๐’“๐’‚๐’๐’Œ ๐’•๐’‰๐’“๐’๐’–๐’ˆ๐’‰ ๐‘ด๐’‚๐’“๐’„ ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’๐’‚๐’'๐’” 20๐’•๐’‰ ๐‘ช๐’†๐’๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’š ๐‘ฉ๐’๐’š ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’‚ ๐’”๐’Œ๐’Š๐’‘, ๐’‚ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’Œ ๐’‚๐’๐’…, ๐’’๐’–๐’Š๐’•๐’† ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’†๐’๐’š ๐’‚ ๐’…๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’Œ. ๐‘ฉ๐’“๐’Š๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’ ๐’…๐’‚๐’๐’„๐’†๐’”, ๐’‰๐’† ๐’Š๐’๐’‡๐’๐’“๐’Ž๐’” ๐’–๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’๐’†๐’†๐’‡๐’–๐’๐’๐’š, ๐’Š๐’ ๐’‚ ๐’„๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’…๐’š '70๐’” ๐’”๐’•๐’š๐’๐’†, ‘๐’”๐’‰๐’‚๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’‚๐’”๐’” ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’Œ๐’Š๐’„๐’Œ๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’Ž๐’š ๐’๐’†๐’ˆ๐’” ๐’Š๐’ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’‚๐’Š๐’“ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’๐’‡๐’•๐’†๐’ ๐’‚๐’” ๐’‘๐’๐’”๐’”๐’Š๐’ƒ๐’๐’†.' ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐’‡๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’Š๐’„๐’Š๐’๐’–๐’” ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐’‡๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’ ๐’‚๐’๐’… ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ ๐’…๐’“๐’–๐’Ž๐’Ž๐’†๐’“ ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’—๐’† ๐‘ฏ๐’†๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’• ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐’„๐’‚๐’๐’๐’†๐’… ๐‘ป๐’‰๐’† ๐‘ญ๐’๐’‚๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐‘ช๐’“๐’†๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’†๐’”; '๐’๐’‚๐’Ž๐’†๐’… ๐’‚๐’‡๐’•๐’†๐’“,' ๐‘ด๐’๐’๐’Œ๐’ ๐’”๐’‚๐’š๐’”, '๐’‚ 1920'๐’” ๐’ˆ๐’‚๐’š ๐’‘๐’๐’“๐’ ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’Ž.'
'๐‘ด๐’Ž๐’Ž,' ๐’‘๐’๐’๐’…๐’†๐’“๐’” ๐‘ท๐’๐’‚๐’„๐’†๐’ƒ๐’ ๐’ƒ๐’‚๐’”๐’”๐’Š๐’”๐’• ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‡๐’‚๐’ ๐‘ถ๐’๐’”๐’…๐’‚๐’, ๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’”๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’‚ ๐’Œ๐’๐’๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’†๐’š๐’†๐’ƒ๐’“๐’๐’˜ ๐’‚๐’๐’๐’๐’ˆ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’•๐’‰ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’“๐’†๐’”๐’• ๐’๐’‡ ๐’•๐’‰๐’† ๐’ˆ๐’๐’๐’ƒ๐’†. '๐‘ฐ๐’• ๐’‡๐’Š๐’ˆ๐’–๐’“๐’†๐’”.'
(๐บ๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘ง๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ "๐‘†๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘ ", ๐‘‚๐‘๐‘ก'98)

๐ŸŽฅ๐•๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž – ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ
๐Ÿ‘‰https://bit.ly/2COej7Y
๐ŸŽฌ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ ๐ข๐ง ๐•๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž
๐Ÿ‘‰https://bit.ly/2OUNcep
๐ŸŽถ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ - ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ๐ญ๐ก ๐‚๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ฒ
๐Ÿ‘‰https://bit.ly/3hkM8we
๐ŸŽฌ๐๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž๐›๐จ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐•๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ญ ๐†๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ž๐ซ๐ž, ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ—๐Ÿ–
๐Ÿ‘‰https://bit.ly/2CMUpKx

No doubt, it was an interesting experience for Placebo mixed, at the same time, with some contradictions. The fact that David Bowie disliked the script made the movie a bit complicated topic to discuss with him, but, noteworthy, it never really became a bigger problem for their friendship with Brian. And more, David performed 20th Century Boy together with Placebo at the Brit award ceremony in 1999.

We can also follow Brian’s opinion on this experience changing over time. First, he was excited about trying himself as an actor in a big project and getting a chance to work with one of his favorite directors. He really enjoyed acting and was quite ready for another proposal. Although, later, the idea started to look not so attractive as they didn’t want Placebo to become kind of a ‘band on a rent’ for movies.

I gathered some quotes and excerpts of the articles and interviews from different years, so you can make your own conclusions.

Making of Velvet Goldmine

๐Ÿ“ข"It's a subject we don't bring up with David because he's doing his own Ziggy Stardust movie, but he's not holding it against us," Molko explains. "We became the Flaming Creatures, a trashy group obviously inspired by The New York Dolls. We did a cover of T-Rex's `20th-Century Boy'; we wanted to drag it up to the Nineties. It's a real high point of the film, full of colour, it really grabs you. This could be the end of my movie career, but I would like to do more."
(๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘˜๐‘œ, ๐ผ๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก, ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก 21, 1998)

๐‘พ๐’‰๐’š ๐’…๐’ ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’Œ ๐‘ฝ๐’†๐’๐’—๐’†๐’• ๐‘ฎ๐’๐’๐’…๐’Ž๐’Š๐’๐’† ๐’˜๐’‚๐’” ๐’”๐’–๐’„๐’‰ ๐’‚ ๐’๐’๐’• ๐’๐’‡ ๐’”๐’†๐’๐’‡-๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’–๐’๐’ˆ๐’†๐’๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’๐’๐’„๐’Œ๐’”?
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: Because you obviously didn’t understand it. It’s a great love story, it’s a feast of colour and music.
๐Ÿ“ข๐’๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐š๐ง: And it has the most beautiful scene of two men kissing, ever.
(๐‘๐‘€๐ธ "๐‘€๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐ด๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜", ๐ท๐‘’๐‘'98)

๐๐˜๐‘๐Ž๐‚๐Š: Brian, you played a part in the movie Velvet Goldmine and I heard that you have a drama background...
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐‘๐ˆ๐€๐: I like acting. I really do and I wish I could do it more often – at least I’m more qualified than Courtney – but still, I don’t think I will have all that much time for it, you know, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind. I need to do something creative, that was always my motivation. At the moment it’s music, and the band has become my life, but there is always a possibility that I might go back to acting. After all, I graduated from drama school, Goldsmiths College.
(๐‘๐‘Œ ๐‘…๐‘œ๐‘๐‘˜ "๐ผ๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘ƒ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘œ", ๐ฝ๐‘Ž๐‘›'99)

๐Ÿ“ข"It had its problems, including budget, but I think it's a beautiful film. It's a fantasy. People shouldn't expect it to be a docu-drama on glam rock because it's a love story. But it's the bane of our experience, we have to defend it in every interview. If I hear the 'Are you a glam band?' question one more time I'm going to explode."
(๐ป๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘€๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘, "๐‘‚๐‘ข๐‘ก๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’ ๐‘‡โ„Ž๐‘’ ๐ฟ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’", ๐ด๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘™ 29, 1999)

Promo for Velvet Goldmine

๐Ÿ“ข"… Take for instance, a recent backstage incident at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre … As the discussion moved on to movies, Todd Hayne's Velvet Goldmine was mentioned, which instantly brought one young hotshot out of his aloof shell. "That picture sucked!" he boldly declared. "Every last frame of it ... I hated it so much, I walked out on it near the end!" Molko's eyes brightened, like a cat when it's just scented a mouse in the house. "Oh yeah?" he asked, moving to face his opponent. "Is that how you truly feel about it?"
The loudmouth didn't even see it coming. "Hell yes!" he shot back. "Velvet Goldmine was a complete waste of time for everyone involved." "Really?" grinned the Placeban with barely contained delight. "Well, guess what! I was in that film, you fucking idiot! The director is a friend of mine, I worked really hard on all my scenes, and we all love how the movie turned out. Soooo ·" and Molko raised his right hand, middle finger extended, until it was directly in front of the poor pretender's nose. "FUCK YOU!" A guillotine beheading couldn't have been more effective. The kid could only stammer, turn red and bleatingly admit that he hadnรขt really seen the flick - he was only parroting some reviews he'd read. Too late - Molko had already turned his back."
(๐‘ƒ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘ ๐‘’ "๐บ๐‘’๐‘ก ๐‘‚๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘Œ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐ถ๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ค๐‘ ", ๐ด๐‘๐‘Ÿ'00)

๐ƒ๐๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ: You didn't keep it a secret that you worked on the movie The Velvet Goldmine. How do you feel about having worked on that movie?
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: I'm content with it. The rest of the band has another opinion about it though. I think the film really suffered from the budget being cut down with 50%. It was a bit too long and some of the rolls didn't have the right actors for it. But it's the only film I've been in and I'm proud of it.
๐ƒ๐๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐ฑ: Any further movie ambitions?
๐Ÿ“ข๐๐ซ๐ข๐š๐ง: To be honest, no. I've been offered some parts but as the years go by I become less interested in one. We have been offered the part of Judas Priest in the movie Rock Star with Jennifer Anniston and Mark Wahlberg. But I've learned that I don't want to end like some band in a movie. And other than some Vampire parts I haven't been offered anything I like. And the more I think about it the more I find that it's dangerous for someone that makes music to become and actor. It just has to be something good.
(๐ท๐‘๐ด๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ฅ "๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘˜๐‘œ", ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ'03)

๐’€๐’๐’– ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’† ๐’‚ ๐’…๐’†๐’ˆ๐’“๐’†๐’† ๐’Š๐’ ๐’…๐’“๐’‚๐’Ž๐’‚, ๐’Š๐’” ๐’‚ ๐’‡๐’Š๐’๐’Ž ๐’„๐’‚๐’“๐’†๐’†๐’“ ๐’”๐’๐’Ž๐’†๐’•๐’‰๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’š๐’๐’–'๐’… ๐’๐’Š๐’Œ๐’† ๐’•๐’ ๐’‘๐’–๐’“๐’”๐’–๐’†?
๐Ÿ“ขNo, again, I don't have the same concerns as these hip-hop guys like Ludacris who need to have a parallel film career along with their music career. I don't have time, being in this band takes up all of my time and I'm ludicrously out of practice.
(๐‘‚๐พ! ๐‘€๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘ง๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’ ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘Ž "๐ต๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘€๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘˜๐‘œ", ๐ฝ๐‘ข๐‘›'09)

Scene from Velvet Goldmine

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

ANNIVERSARY: Teenage Angst


That’s a song that refuses to die.”
(Brian, Vanyaland, October 18
th 2013)

Today we celebrate the ANNIVERSARY of Placebo's third single "Teenage Angst". It was released 24 years ago today on 16th of September 1996 and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was recorded at Westland Studios
 in Dublin and produced by Brad Wood.



Listen to ♫ TEENAGE ANGST ♫

The official video was directed by Trevor Robison. It shows the band members locked in a red latex cube, all three of them are dressed in the same red colour. Several teenagers also enter this cube and show how anxious they are.

BRIAN ON THE VIDEO CLIP 
"This video was directed by Trevor Robinson. I think is the only video he made. Maybe because the experience of working with us must be so traumatic, he’s never made one again."
(DVD “Once more with feeling”, 2004) 

LIVE HISTORYThe song is part of the band's repertoire prior to the release of their debut album in 1996. It has been performed in notably different versions.
The original one was staged up until 2000. A piano-based version was played during the “Black market music“, “Meds“ and „Battle for the sun“ tours.
During the „Sleeping with ghosts“ tour “Teenage Angst“ was played with a
 hip-hop inspired drum beat. At the end of the “Battle for the sun“ tour in 2010, the song was played with a new arrangement. Another rework was performed during the “Loud like love“ tour.



BRIAN ON “TEENAGE ANGST”
“We kind of keep re-writing a lot of songs in order for them to become playable for us so that we can connect with them. Most recently, we’re on our fourth version of “Teenage Angst” from the first album. We have a brand new version of that, which is actually my favorite of the tour. It took 20 years since I wrote that song for us to settle on what I think is the definitive version, but that’s ok.“
(Pure Volume, September 12th 2013)

The lyric to 'Teenage Angstsprings to mind: 'Since I was born, I started to decay...' A grotesquely bleak image. 
"But it's true. As soon as you pop out of the womb, you start to die. It's the paradox that you begin life but you also begin death. The use of toy instruments enables us to communicate that on a sonic level."
(Guitarist, August 1997)


"When I was a teenager, I felt things in more passionate ways, I've gone through rebellion phases. I was feeling depressed, I felt like the world was about to collapse. A sort of alienation towards parents, a rebellion against what they wanted me to become, against growing, going through this kind of changes. My emotions were going in many directions because physically, I was becoming an adult. I was longing for it, but I was still dealt with as a child. Art and creativity were minor things, unknowned in my familly. That's surely for that reason, I reacted so violently. I became the ugly duckling: my father wanted me to become a businessman, and my mother wanted me to be a saint. Finally, I satisfied none of them. At this age, music can represent many things, be the last emergency exit. Play guitar was a sort of outlet to my familly troubles, to authority. My parents didn't contribute at all to what I am today and that's marvellous. I am here today only by myself. I need to have success, very selfishly, to refute all people who thought I would not go far in life, to show it to the people who were better than me at school, my rivals in every way, my parents.”(LesInrocks.com, August 13th 1996)

Photo credit: Screenshot of the video, cover of the single, edit by me
Post by Silke

Sunday, September 13, 2020

ANNIVERSARY: LOUD LIKE LOVE


Today is the ANNIVERSARY of Placebo's seventh studio album “Loud like love”, it was released seven years ago on September 13th 2013.



According to Brian the record “Loud like love” is a concept album. It's a collection of ten short stories that are built around the theme love, and the songs approach the topic from ten different angles. You can see them as stand-alone songs, but you can also see it as only one love story told from the beginning to its end.

It starts so hopeful with the first song “Loud like love” (
Can you imagine a love that is so proud? It never has to question why or how. Breathe, breathe. Believe, believe.) and ends with desperation and pain in “Bosco” (I ask you for another second chance but then I drink it all away […] I do you harm because I can. I've such duplicity at my command so I keep on lying to your face). The tracks inbetween show all nuances from falling in love to the point when all feelings have gone and everything is lost and in vain.

It's interesting to know that “Loud like love” and “Bosco”, the first and the last song of this cycle, were written at the same time.
“They became sort of the bookends for the album and the story”, Stefan told a journalist in an interview with Hanger in September 2013. About the rest of the album I want to share another statement by him from that conversation: “I relate to certain songs because of my own relationships and problems that I’ve had but I also see certain songs and I go “Jesus! Brian, have you been to that place? That’s a f*ckng dark place.” And he’s like “yeah haven’t you?” No, not that dark.”

“Loud like love” was recorded at RAK Studios in London and produced by Adam Noble. It reached no. 13 in the UK Albums Chart.
Three singles were released from the album: “Too many friends”, “Loud like love” and “A million little pieces”.

The album consists of ten songs, about half of them were originally written for a solo project that Brian wanted to do at that time.
”The record is called 'Loud like love' but it doesn’t have ten love songs on it: this is Placebo World so of course we’re going to explore the more dark recesses of emotion – obsession, jealousy, alienation, heartbreak, abandon – and even the absence of love and the effect that has on a human being”, he explained the album in an interview with The Music in September 2013.
In another interview Brian
said that he sees “Loud like love” as a collection of ten short stories with a unifying theme that approaches the subject from ten different angles (Hunger, August 2013). Brian and Stefan both stated several times that they were very proud of the album and that they think it is their most honest and vulnerable release to date.

♫ LISTEN TO "LOUD LIKE LOVE 

08. Purify
10. Bosco


The Chinese version of the album swaps out “Rob the bank” with Pity party (of one)”. Pity party (of one).
The “Loud like love” limited edition includes a DVD with eight live versions of the songs.


BRIAN AND STEFAN ON “LOUD LIKE LOVE”

It explores how love can be violent, brutal and disorientating, and how the absence of it can lead people to behave in quite extreme ways. It also deals with jealousy, obsession, heartbreak and how addiction can tear relationships apart. So, it’s an album about people and the way that they interact with each other – or fail to.“
(Brian, Hunger, August 8
th 2013)
”I’m really, really proud of how bare this record in terms of what it’s expressing
emotionally. We really let the listener into who we are, what our soul looks like, through these songs. We’re not hiding behind anything anymore.”
(Brian, Vanyaland, October 18
th 2013)

”There are a lot of emotions and colour in this record. It’s both emotional and exciting at the same time.”
(Stefan, The Straits Times, August 20
th 2013)


”When you think of the first song “Loud like love” being perhaps the first initial euphoric rushes of infatuation, and innocent discovery and youthful abandon, to “Scene of the Crime” being the first moment of transgression, to all the way through to the second-to-last song, which is “Begin The End,” which is the point in a relationship when you realize that you’re still in it, but you’ve passed the tipping point, that you know it’s over even though it’s not physically over yet. And then to “Bosco” which is kind of an apology and a search for redemption. I find that really interesting too, that it could be 10 songs about ten different relationships — and also the whole album could be seen as one, at different stages.”
(Brian, Vanyaland, October 18
th 2013)

"'Loud like love' is very eclectic and textured and layered. I think it's more varied and more adventurous. We took a lot more risks with this record. In terms of the emotions in the lyrics I think it's our most honest and vulnerable album to date.''
(Brian, Bangkok Post, August 18th 2013)

”Equally, the title track ‘Loud like love’, was written at the same time as ‘Bosco’, and they became sort of the bookends for the album. ‘Loud Like love’ talks about the origins of love. I think that’s a very interesting concept because it’s an emotion we can’t touch but it’s so real and different for everyone. I relate to certain songs because of my own relationships and problems that I’ve had but I also see certain songs and I go “Jesus! Brian, have you been to that place? That’s a f*ckng dark place.” And he’s like “yeah haven’t you? ”No, not that dark.”
(Stefan, Hanger, September 4
th 2013)

Photo credits: Covers of album and singles/edit by me, Joseph Llanes (3)
Post by Silke