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| Photo credit unknown |
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, BFTS 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.
📢 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: 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!
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| Telekom Street Gigs 2013. Photo credit unknown |
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…
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| Photo credit: Scarlet Page |
📢 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!
(Têtu, July-August 2013)
Post by Silke
