It's time for another interview. This one with Brian, Stefan and Steve Forrest was printed in Greek Vimagazino in June 2009. Enjoy reading.
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| Photo credit: Torsten Roman |
Brian: “Not too good. We’ ve been doing interviews all the time and we are sick of discussing the same boring things.“
I HEARD YOUR NEW ALBUM [“LOUD LIKE LOVE“] AND OVERALL I LIKED IT.
Brian: “Really? You are the first one who says that. No one has mentioned a thing until now, so it’s nice to hear something.“
I THOUGHT TWO OR THREE SONGS ARE A LITTLE BIT FLAT, BUT I BELIEVE “THE NEVER-ENDING WHY“ WOULD BE A GOOD CHOICE FOR THE NEXT SINGLE, ESPECIALLY IN GREECE. WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Brian: “I say that you don’t work at a record company, so you can’t speak.“
MAYBE YOU PREFERRED TO MENTION ONLY THE POSITIVES. BUT I WON'T STICK ON THAT, SO TELL ME WHAT IS THE “NEVER-ENDING WHY“ FOR YOU?
Brian: “It’s all the questions you’ll never find the answers for, like, for example, “why is there so much misery, on personal and world level?” you can spend a lot of time wondering, looking for the answers you will never find. In the end, it is better to accept misery, like happiness, as a part of life. Maybe the one can’t exist without the other.“
IN ANOTHER SONG YOU WRITE: “A HEART THAT HURTS IS A HEART THAT WORKS“. SOMETIMES HOWEVER, WE “BED DOWN“ OUR HEART, SO WE CAN AVOID GETTING HURT. THIS DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN WE HAVE TO TURN IT OFF.
Brian: “Absolutely not. It’ s comforting to know that you can actually have feelings. Sometimes they can really make you happy and some other times really miserable. But you feel, and this means that you are alive and that there is no reason to be afraid. Like many others, I used to anesthetize myself, so I wouldn’t get hurt, but I try not to do this anymore. There is going to be big sadness, but also intense happiness. It’s better than feeling nothing.“
A FEW DAYS AFTER YOU SENT YOUR NEW ALBUM TO THE RECORD COMPANIES YOU WITHDREW IT, SO IT WOULDN'T BE LEAKED BY SOME JOURNALIST. WE ALL KNOW THAT AN ALBUM IS ANYWAY UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET THE FIRST DAY OF ITS RELEASE. WHY IS IT THAT IMPORTANT THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENS WITH SUCH SECRECY THES DAYS?
Stefan: “Bands should have control of when they want the record to be realized. If this doesn’t satisfy some people, let it be. The record is ours , so they can f***k off.“
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| Photo credit: Audrey Cerdan |
Brian: “No. nationality never mattered. Steve has a level of musical skill which would be required for anyone who would happen to get into the band. What also matters a lot is to find someone with whom you can travel the world and who has a positive aura. After the “divorce” with Steve Hewitt, placebo were surrounded by darkness. So we needed positive thinking and enthusiasm.“
ARE YOUNGER ARTISTS MORE PASSIONATE ABOUT THEIR JOB?
Brian: “I don’t think that he is more passionate than me or Stefan, although we have definitely experienced whatever the rock’n’roll circus had to offer to us. Of course exhaustion is a reality, that’s why we wanted his enthusiasm to take away from us the cynicism of our 30something years. And it does.“
STEVE, HOW DO YOU FEEL?
Steve: “I’m really happy. Being a member of a band that you respect and they respect you as well as a person and as a musician is always the key to success.“
DOES THE ECONOMICAL CRISIS HAVE AN EFFECT ON YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE SOON?
Brian: “You are speaking to the wrong person. The f*****g economical crisis and all these discussions about bankrupting companies make me so bored. What do you expect me to tell you?“
APPARENTLY NOTHING. WHAT IS WORTH BATTLING FOR?
Brian: “For a lot of things. A better tomorrow would be a good beginning, either it is for the others, or for yourself.“
DID YOU TAKE PART IN THE “EARTH HOUR“? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT AN HOUR CAN REALLY SAVE THE PLANET? OR CAN IT BECOME A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT CAMPAIGN FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES?
Brian: “Although I’m going to be accused of pharisaism, I believe that people should do much more, but this has to be done from top to basis. At least at the USA things have started to change, Obama’s team is more interested in the environment, but still there are a lot of things to be done.“
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| Photo credit: Joseph Llanes |
Brian: “It’s the media circus. The excitement of the British yellow press and general public with sick people seems morbid to me. I’m not surprised that Amy Winehouse hasn’t released any music and I’m also not surprised that when Pete Doherty sings, it sounds like a cat being straggled. Addiction to drugs has usually a bad effect on the artist’s creativity. There is nothing romantic about all this, as much some want to see it this way. Those people are screaming for help, don’t you see it? Someone should help them.“
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU DON'TLIKE TO REMEMBER FROM GREECE?
Brian: “I ate worms in a kebap and had diarrhea.“
DO YOU INTEND TO PLAY SONGS THAT YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED BEFORE?
Stefan: “We can’t play all the audience’s favorites. At the end they will ask us to play in their living room…“
Brian: “…while we are making love. And still there will be some who won’t be satisfied.“
(Vimagazino, June 2009)
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