𝗫-𝗥𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: "𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵, 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲-𝘂𝗽", 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟯

The 2003 interview with Brian that I share with you today is a mix of him talking about Placebo's music and answering some very private questions. There is only one thing he refused to reveal anything about – do you want to know what it is?

Apart from what Brian wants to keep a secret you will learn more about his family, his drug use and his sex life. And of course the interview includes a lot of info about the band's then new album “Sleeping with ghosts”. I hope you'll enjoy reading.

Photo credit: Franck Courtès

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗜𝗦 “𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦” 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗢 “𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖”?
📢 “This album is a return to what we do best really, it’s dealing with relationships again. It’s got so much to do with the fact that we had an eight month period off beforehand to think for the first time and be human beings, to reacquaint ourselves with humanity outside of the rock’n’roll bubble. It was very natural that those were the kind of songs that were coming out.
With 'Black Market Music', we’d just done the 'Without you I’m nothing' tour with just each other and CNN for company, and we ended up in the studio very pissed off, railing against the injustices in the world. That’s why 'Black Market Music' is more angular and angry and political. 'Sleeping with Ghosts' shares similar themes to 'Without you I’m nothing' but I think it’s broader. 'Without you I’m nothing' was a very bleak album because of thee lifestyle choices we were making at the time, and the bad drugs, and I think this one is tempered with a little bit of hope.”

𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗘 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗬 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗧?
'📢 After the BMM tour we were spent – physically, obviously, cos we’d been on the road for so long, and emotionally, we were very very messed up. And we’d run out of realistic life experiences to write about. Nobody really cares about the colour of your tour bus and the fact you can’t shit on your tour bus, or how many notches on bedpost you have at the end of the tour. We realised we needed a break for the first time in seven years. We needed to reacquaint ourselves with genuine everyday human contact and exchange. I moved house as soon as I came off the tour, my first proper home, so I came back down with a big bang of domesticity. I wasn’t Brian Molko the rock star anymore, I was just Brian Molko who needed to furnish his apartment. It’s in Old Street, round there. So we decided to take six months off, then six months became eight months. It was a good chance to think about what had happened to us, well, me anyway, over the past ten years. They say your life changes every seven years, Saturn returns and all that and it’s interesting to note it’s seven years since Steve came into the band, and I turned 30 as soon as the album was finished. And I had this eight month period to look back through everything I’d been through emotionally and I started to deal with it for the first time. I started to think very much about the relationships I’ve had over the past ten years and whether they’d changed me and the effect that they’d had on me. So 'Sleeping with ghosts' became an album about exorcising the demons of your past relationships. And in that way, it became a very therapeutic and cathartic thing for me.”

𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗨𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘, 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗗 '𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗨𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦, 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗛 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗠𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗣𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗧?
📢 “By the time I reached 30 I realised there is no tragedy without joy in the first place. I became quite obsessed by the idea that you carry the ghosts of your relationships past with you for the rest of your life and people come back to haunt you, and that this is often triggered by external stimuli – smells, a song on the radio, an article of clothing, a book, whatever. I wondered what effect your memory still had on you to this day, regardless of the amount of time from the end of the relationship and where you are now and how you’ve moved on. Along the way, I managed to exorcise a few personal demons. Songwriting does allow me to lead a more balanced existence than I would without it. I feel blessed to have that outlet. To be able to express yourself to the world. To use your art as a form of catharsis or therapy. I think without it I’d be much, much more messed up than I am anyway.

𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗔 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠, 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 '𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗧 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖' 𝗗𝗜𝗗?
📢 “In a way, yeah, cos as an artist you always want to feel like you’re improving. If it did a lot worse I’d be disappointed and I’d have to ask myself a lot of questions. But at the same time, I don’t want it to sell as many records as Coldplay, or The Strokes, cos then I’d feel even more pressure than I do already. I think we’d say to ourselves, well, where do we go from here? I am a little bit worried about reaching the top simply for that reason. We don’t have to become U2 just yet. There’s plenty of years ahead for us to do that.”

Photo credit: Fuse

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗖 𝗦𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪, 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗘 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦?
📢 “We still feel like outsiders and we’ve always felt like outsiders. We’ve always felt like Radiohead in the way that we’ve created our own context, our own little planet where we have our own rules, we’re not affected by musical trends and just keep making music our way. However, I am not naïve and I’ve become very much aware of the fact that it’s the 21st Century: you have to prove your relevance again. You have to prove to the fans that you’re not ready for your pipe and slippers just yet, that you’re not passe.”

𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗪𝗔𝗬𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗦 𝗔 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗕𝗔𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗘𝗘. 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧?
📢 It was who I was at the time. I had a great deal of arrogance and a great deal of bravado, but I think the bravado was brought on by a huge insecurity. I did get a reputation for being a beast as well. I was called a ‘drug crazed sex dwarf’ at one point. In every exaggeration there’s always a grain of truth, I guess.”

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗤𝗨𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗗 '𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗔'?
📢 (laughs) “Yeah, I think that’s great. Then again, talking about bravado, socially, the bravado that I exuded had a lot to do with my intake at the time, and that was a way of me dealing with mammoth insecurity.”

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 '𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘' 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧?
📢 “Everything, Around 'Without you I’m nothing' there was a really bad period where the drugs changed and it wasn’t very clever.”

𝗪𝗘'𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗜𝗡, 𝗬𝗘𝗦?
📢 “Yeah.”

𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗡, 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗢𝗡 𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗜𝗡𝗩𝗢𝗟𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧?
📢 “Because I’m an old romantic, really, with an excessive personality. It was always going to happen. I managed to pull myself out of it before anything got very serious.”

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧?
📢 “When you have a band threatening to kill you … Well, when you’re placed in a position where you go: career, friendship, music, art or heroin, you make the choice pretty damn quickly. I didn’t get into it deep enough to develop a nasty habit, but physically, giving up is days of discomfort and being really down, but you start to rise out of it.”

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗢𝗜𝗡?
📢 “God, ’98. I don’t really do drugs anymore. After heroin, I had a real problem with cocaine as well. I remember talking to my manager and saying, “this is all getting to be too much effort, I don’t know if I can deal with it, I just want to get back to where I was before”, which was just a drinker and a smoker. It agrees with me; the rest of it doesn’t really at all. And that’s all I am now, a drinker and smoker. It’s good. A stoned band is a happy band!”

𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗜𝗧 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗖𝗞 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥𝗬?
📢 “It never got that bad. I’ve always had a really strong survival instinct, which has prevented me from jumping in at the deep end and staying there for too long when it comes to things like that. I’m very proud of the fact that this album has no drug references.”

Photo credit: Perou

𝗜 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗘𝗗 𝗢𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗪𝗘𝗕𝗦𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗕𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗦 '𝗔𝗡 𝗘𝗫 𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟𝗕𝗢𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗠' 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗖𝗨𝗧 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗧. 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘?
📢 “I still wear make up a lot! I’m actually wearing more, it’s just more expensive and better applied! The hair, well it took me 25 minutes in the morning to get to a point where it was suitable for Brian Molko to walk the streets with. After BMM, it was cut all your hair off, it’s low maintenance, you’re taking a break and anyway, you don’t want to be recognised walking around London, I want to be able to pass a bit incognito. This is your sabbatical from the rock bubble. And I felt like being a boy again for a little while. I’ve been this boygirl for so long that I just thought it would be interesting and different to just be a bloke again and wear jeans and a sweater and just wander around and be a regular Joe. I wanted to be able to take the Tube and for people to go ‘nah, can’t be’”.

𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗗?
📢 “I don’t know. I haven’t really lost any hair. I’ve been like this for the past seven, eight years. If it was to happen I’d just do the honorable thing like Michael Stipe and just get over it. I just hope I have a nice shaped head. There will be no transplants and no combovers, that’s for sure. If it happens, there’s nothing you can really do. I’m quite philosophical about it. They say it’s a sign of virility anyway!”

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗬?
📢 “My father and I don’t communicate anymore. We’re just not good for each other so we’re not in each other’s lives. I love my mum. But she’s deeply religious, she’s a Born Again Christian which is what I was raised in. I left the church at around the age of 13, 14 as I started to discover my sexuality, which was definitely at odds with the church. My mum lives in Dundee. With my mum, our conversation is limited because I essentially do something that is not the way of the Lord. She’s just had to get used to it. I think the make-up is the thing that annoys my mum the most. Thankfully she’s hard of hearing, so she hasn’t really got the records fully. I have an older brother who I’m really close with, and that’s it.”

𝗗𝗢𝗘𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥? 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘 𝗔 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦?
📢 “With this kind of relationship, there usually is one somewhere along the line, but there’s no direct reconciliation planned at present by any means. Sure, it saddens me; cos of that, I’ve always had problems around the time of birthdays and Christmases and things like that. But I’ve learned to deal with it. I’ve always been the kind of person to look towards the future. Perhaps cos I’ve made so many mistakes in the past, I want to run away from them really quickly.”

𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗔 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗡?
📢 “I’ve considered it many times. I’ve been very close to going to see people; I’ve cancelled appointments on the day for many different reasons. But to be honest, I’m lucky to have the music, that’s totally where I get it out. I’m quite happy with the amount of neuroses I’ve got now. They keep me ticking over. If I got rid of them all, who knows, I might become Sting for God’s sake, and I can’t imagine anything worse on this planet!”

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗠𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗬?
📢 “I was in Africa where we were living at the time. I was about two years old and I remember being in my cot, and it seemed to me to be like a prison cell already. I remember staring through the bars watching our maid sweep the floor.”

Photo credit: Tracey Griffin

𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗛?
📢 “Organised religion has always seemed a bit of a cop-out to me, cos you’re accepting a list of rules without finding your own morality and your own principles – which takes more effort, but is infinitely more rewarding. The idea of life after death, which I grew up with all around me, is that it almost seems like an excuse for not living your life today. Life is so precious that it can’t be a rehearsal for some idyllic existence in the clouds. If you realise there could be nothing at the end of it all, it doesn’t mean you have to have a massive existential quandary about it, it just makes every second that you live all the more precious, and everything you do and every effect you have on other people much more important. When we go, we go. I’d like to believe in reincarnation. It would be nice, but I’m not too sure.”

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗔 𝗗𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗕𝗢𝗗𝗬?
📢 “Yes, when I was a kid, in a car wreck on the way to school one morning. I was shocked at how ghost white this body way. And it was very soon after the accident. It’s an image that’s never left me.”

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗕𝗢𝗗𝗬?
📢 “As a kid, everybody slaps their peers around, but I was always very small so I was usually on the receiving end of bullying. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that at home, I didn’t really have the family unit that made it good for me to interact socially with my peers.”

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗠 𝗢𝗙 𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗔𝗗𝗨𝗟𝗧 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦?
📢 “Oh shit yeah, I’ve been threatened with violence for wearing make-up. I’ve had a lot of aggression from a lot of people but I take it with a pinch of salt. It’s okay. Thankfully, my band are bigger than me! Don’t mess with my drummer from Manchester, that’s for sure! Haha.”

𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘'𝗦 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚?
📢 “Big abstract question! Probably.”

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗔𝗥?
📢 “I was on the march (the anti-war protest on February 15). This is a war that America decided to have even before September 11, and whatever justification that anyone can find for this, you can’t get away from the fact that they’ve been waiting for an excuse. When September 11 happened, the Americans were ready to attack straight away, but it was like, let’s hold on, as the media aren’t gonna take this very well – let’s get Afghanistan first, we were going to invade them anyway. It’s a case of America trying to force its way of life on the rest of the world and I think, simply on a philosophical level, if this is what the genocide of children is about then you have to make a stand about it. And if we weren’t going to war over the exportation of the American way of life, we should be marching against it anyway, against globalisation and America’s policing of the world when it sees fit – when it has financial or political interests, or when it has both in this case. You have to march, cos so many people are buying this bullshit. I do believe in peaceful protest and civil disobedience when it comes to this.”

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗜𝗘𝗦𝗧?
📢 There was a period in 1999 where I was gloriously happy, but I was delusional! (laughs) I was head over heels in love and I thought that this was it and that I was sorted and that a whole bag of worries had just left me, like Pilgrim’s Progress, losing the burden of the sins on his back. I felt deliriously happy. But in the immortal words of Ian McCulloch, nothing lasts forever.”

Photo credit:  Spiros Politis

𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗜𝗡 𝗔 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧?
📢 “Next question.”

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗?
📢 “The woman I lost my virginity to. I was 14, she was 16. We lost our virginity together. She was a beautiful French girl called Carole. She was my first proper girlfriend.”

𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗜𝗡 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛?
📢 “I was 17. It’s when I moved to London, and fell in love with a third year drama student. I think he relished the idea of breaking me in probably more than was actually in love with me! I’ve had sporadic relationships with men since. I think we’ll probably all evolve to a point where we’re all bisexual. It may become the cultural norm. But in order for that to happen the church has to stop having such a massive influence on everyday culture. When that starts to happen, it’s very possible that culturally and sexually we’ll take on the natural state, which I think is closer to bisexuality than anything else. I remember a fantastic quote of Derek Jarman’s which was “the world has to realise that heterosexuality is not the norm, it’s just common”. That says it all for me.”

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡?
📢 “Many times. I’ve been a heartbreaker too. Which I find funny cos I’m the guy who couldn’t get laid at college. Which is why, when people treat you like some kind of sex symbol, I find it quite embarrassing. I’ve been a bad boy, and I’ve hurt people along the way. It’s impossible to exist and to take risks in life without hurting people along the way. There’s nothing worse than not attempting something cos you’re worried about a negative outcome. That’s self-censorship on a life level.”

𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗘𝗫𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗖𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗧?
📢 “I’m happy with the idea of the myth but you have to understand that a myth is a myth. A lot of music culture is about the propagation of those myths: I mean, I’d hate to be Sting or Gareth Gates or Fran Healy. It’s just all a bit too nice. Certainly for many years I was a tart, but similarly with drugs there’s a point where you can’t do that forever, that becomes very boring as well. If you have any depth to you as a human being you’re going to start looking for something else.”

𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗡?
📢 “Yes, shock horror, Brian Molko is a love cheat!”

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗔𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗙𝗨𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗦?
📢 “Yes. But not recently! (laughs) I often wonder if monogamy or marriage is one of these social constructs that has been put in place in order to control the general public. It’s a kickback to the Old Testament. It’s very uncommon for animals to mate for life. And there was a study done on pigeons and they found that 13% of pigeons are inherently homosexual. Gay pigeons, let’s go! (laughs) I’m convinced my dog was gay when I was growing up, too.”

𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗘𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗡𝗢𝗪, 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗗 𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢?
📢 “Yes, I'm improving as a human being. I have more respect for people, I'm learning to become less egocentric and arrogant and I'm learning to listen to people a lot more, which I think is really important. If I went back and saw myself at the age of 22, 23, I think I'd be shocked, and I'd realise why I got such a bad reputation and why I had a reputation for being a drunk and other things.
If I was able to go back to myself at that age, I think I'd say to myself "drink more water and don't worry about it, it's going to get better". And I think it does. For me, my twenties were definitely a second adolescence which I feel I'm coming out of right now, cos I've just turned 30. It was a chaotic, schizophrenic and excessive time and I experienced a lot and learned a great deal from it. I would have a real problem as a human being if I hadn't. I do think it gets better. I wouldn't necessarily do my twenties again, cos it was a very difficult time. But the demons don't shout as loud anymore. It's okay being me right now.”
(X-Ray "Molko on life, death, smack and make-up", April 2003)

Post by Silke