๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐! ๐๐
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| Photo credit unknown, edit by Silke |
“I first met Brian Molko at the Edinburgh festival in 1993. I was also working for a record company at the time, so I asked Brian to send me a demo tape of him, Stefan Olsdal and their original drummer. It had four or five tracks on it and I was immediately blown away; it’s how Placebo got their first management deal,“ Bill explained in an interview with Native Instruments.
As the band was very inexperienced he started to drive them around, helped them to get some equipment and did their sound. Later Bill became Stefan's tech and also started programming a bit. Around the release of “Without you I'm nothing“ Placebo asked him to play live with them. Bill Lloyd: “At first, I used to play behind the cabs because they wanted to keep it to three members on stage [laughs], but after a while they said, no it’s silly, come on stage with us.“
Soon he also started to assist the band when they worked on new releases. He mainly plays bass, guitar and keybord, and since “Loud like love“ he is also involved in the songwriting.
I thought it would be interesting for you to get to know a bit more about Bill Lloyd in his own words, and so I added one of his rare interviews. And in the quotes right below you can read what Brian has to say about him.
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| Brian and Bill DJing. Photo credit unknown |
๐ข ”Bill has been around since day one, you know. Bill used to drive us in his ford transit van, you know,with a mattress in the back and the equipment and do everything for us, sound etc. He's been our close friend since day one so when we needed and extra guy it was obvious that Bill was going to be that person. It took us a long to time get him out from behind the amps. He was shy so he liked to hide behind the amps. Now that he has come out in front of the amps it's actually changed him into a bit more of an extroverted rock and roll person which is nice, which is good to see. The reason that we decided to have an extra keyboard player was because the sound and the album had become just too complex for even just the four of us to play live.”
(Suicide Girls, February 2004)
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ด๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ?
๐ข “He’s Bill Lloyd from the group Tram, and he plays a little bass when Stefan and I are both playing guitar, and plays a little keyboards. It’s his choice he’s offstage. He doesn’t want to be seen. He’s our tech, who got promoted.“
(NME, "Missive Attack", December 1998)
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| Bill Lloyd, Stefan Olsdal, Nick Gavrilovic, Steve Forrest, Brian Molko, Fiona Brice. |
♦️ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ – ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐๐ง๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ♦️
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?๐ข “I started off as a tech for Placebo around the time of the second album, and they asked me to play some stuff at gigs so I developed this dual role. Then eventually I got to contribute a few little ideas and bits of playing in the studio on the odd occasion; a bit of bass or keyboards.“
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “I was in a band from the Croydon area called Faith Over Reason and we got a publishing deal while I was still at school. Then we carried on after we left school for a few years. I mainly played keyboards and then bass.
The music was kind of folky indie rock… a bit dodgy really, and not very cool!
Then I worked for a small record company for a while where I sometimes had to drive bands around and help them set up. It was a really cool label called Big Cat; they had bands like Pavement who I really liked.
I was always interested in technical things so I learnt a bit about it… you have to be interested in technical stuff to be any good at it otherwise you’d get bored!“
๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “It’s more out of the necessity of keeping the profile up. It’s not too bad though, we have had a bit of time off here and there.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “We were touring, then we did some writing sessions where I had to set up the gear and get the sounds so we could record it for the demos. Then we started doing the album.“
๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “I mostly like it but it can get a bit much after a year or so!“
๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข "We went to South America for the first time earlier in 2005 and that was fantastic, I had a great time.
France is a good place for us to play; we always get treated really well and the venues we play are designed for bands whereas in countries like the UK you’re sometimes playing in classical music venues, which sound terrible. And I always look forward to going back to Australia.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “It’s kind of unique and doesn’t follow any particular styles; it just does its own thing.“
๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “If you’d have asked me that a few years ago I’d have said no way but the longer it goes on the more I think I can’t really see a finish!“
๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “Probably the darker, mellower stuff interests me more than the up-beat songs. I really like the album we’re making now because it has that darker flavour.“
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| Photo credit unknown |
๐ข “I really like it; I wouldn’t like to be at the front of the stage and I don’t like the limelight. A couple of times the band have pushed me to the front if it’s my birthday or something and I hated it! It was kind of sweet of them but I didn’t feel comfortable. I prefer being out of the spotlight and just working on the music.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐?
๐ข “I think it was the Thompson Twins… I was in my early teens and I was really into synthesisers. I learned to play my grandmother’s electric organ and wanted to get a proper synth. I seemed to have a fairly immediate understanding of that type of technology, it was definitely my thing. I had a triple keyboard stand and a home-made A-frame which I thought was really cool but it was the 80’s so that’s ok!“
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “Probably not! I don’t think I could start all over again with anyone else; getting to know them and exactly how they do things.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “If you’re starting out, Fender probably do the best guitars for the least money. You can get something playable for £200 or so that will sound all right, you can gig with it. All the amplifiers I like aren’t starter amps; my favourite bass amp is the 200T Ampeg. For guitars, Marshalls are always good but if you can afford it, you can’t beat the Fender Twin ’65 reissue… it’s the best reissue I’ve heard.
With keyboards, the old classics tend to be my favourites, my first keyboard is my favourite still, it’s a Korg 700S monophonic synth. The latest thing I like which is quite cheap is the Korg Legacy reissues of their old synths. You can get all the vintage sounds like the Poly 6, Wavestation and MS20 and they’re all really good.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “We don’t use sequencing live, but I’ve started using a sample programme called Contact. Live I use a keyboard and pedals to trigger clicks and sounds and stuff.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐?
๐ข “I’ve done it a couple of times! It’s a nightmare.“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐! ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข “I probably used to but I can’t play drunk now! None of us get wrecked before we play; maybe just a couple of drinks!“
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐?
๐ข “The Sigur Ros album was my favourite from 2005. I like a lot of film soundtracks by people like Ennio Morricone and John Barry. I like such a wide range of music; all the greats and some obscure stuff too, it’s hard to specify anything in particular…“
(WAREZ Magazine, August 25th 2006)
Post by Silke
