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| Photo credit unknown |
𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗜𝗥 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗧?
📢 "Yeah I counted the amount of gigs I did under the influence of whatever and it was a thousand gigs that I did not sober?“
𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗦𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥?
📢 "Well it's been for Battle For The Sun and Loud Like Love sober.”
𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗗 𝗞𝗜𝗟𝗟 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙?
📢 “I'm too old to join the 27 club I also think it's a waste of life and it's terribly hard on people around you. I think humans are doomed to repeat history abut I'm trying to prove history wrong…. rock ‘n roll death, rock n roll suicide… I don't think that that's cool any more. It's been done so take care of yourself, and hold on to music.”
𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦 𝗚𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗔 𝗕𝗜𝗧... 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗔𝗦 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗙𝗜 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗬 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟰. 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧?
📢 “Yeah we were 19 and we started it in his council flat in Deptford as a little art house band with a Tascam four track surrounded by cheap broken guitars and keyboards. It was an artsy little band - Brian had studied drama.“
𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗛 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗟 𝗝𝗢𝗕?
“📢 Brian refused to get a "normal job", his Dad's a banker. So is mine I mean we had to do summer jobs here and there when we needed it but nothing much.“
𝗗𝗢𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗘𝗫𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗠 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗛𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗢 𝗔 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗚𝗜𝗚𝗦 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘? 𝗜 𝗠𝗘𝗔𝗡, 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗨𝗣 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗.
📢 “Yeah we have ultimate freedom and dare I say it there have been instances in the past when the record company have told us ‘Yeah come on do this, have this line, have a beer before you go on stage.’ We really needed to be confrontational tonight. Sometimes the record companies are at fault. I'm still in disbelief record companies can endorse and make the artists do more harm to themselves.”
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| Photo credit: Joseph Llanes |
𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗠 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗘𝗣𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗦. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 “𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗞“ 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗧𝗢 “𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗬 𝗕𝗢𝗬“... 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬'𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗟𝗢𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛. 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘?
📢 “I think as a writer, if you're a novelist, or filmmaker or musician the most direct way to reach an audience is to base it on personal experience. In all of these songs there is a grain of truth and kind of autobiography on Brian's part. I think once we reached Black Market Music the lyrics on that whole album it's naming all the different pill boxes we had in the medicine cupboard…. [pauses] Relatable? Yeah sure. I have an issue with drugs being illegal because people are always going to be trying to find drugs, what happens is that they buy them on the street and they're impure and they die from the rat poison that's in them. It's the same thing with prostitution. Prostitution is never going to go away. They force it on the streets which makes it less safe for the prostitutes and also drives it underground to a murkier, more dangerous place where human trafficking definitely plays a part. Alcohol is a big killer. I've had more friends who've had serious issues with alcohol and more friends that have died from alcohol abuse and that's perfectly normal. It's like 'Come on! Wake up'“.
𝗜 𝗔𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗘. 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗙𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗦? 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗬 𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗗?
📢 “I mean at one point we were basically living and breathing Placebo. We had no family and what we would do is we would lock ourselves in a windowless basement and write and record and it was in the centre of London. So what we would do is we would go in in the afternoon play a bit go to the pub, play a bit more then that night we'd go and check out other gigs if it was Scarfo who are The Kills former band, or if it was the Pumpkins or PJ Harvey and then come back inspired and write. So it was pretty much 24/7. And basically every day in a musician’s life is a Saturday night.”
IS THE REASON THER'S SO MUCH ADRENALINE ON YOUR MATERIAL BECAUSE OF THAT LIFESTYLE?
📢 “Not necessarily. I think we were drawn to the post punk of Sonic Youth and kind of Fugazi - the visceral punk. Not the Sex Pistols but the visceral energy that comes with playing at breakneck speeds and then kind of mixing that with catchy melodies on top. It's still there with us and yeah we just naturally were drawn to that.“
𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗟𝗧 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢?
📢 "It's a state of mind. You have to make a conscious effort every night when you're on stage to think about the fact that some people have never seen you before and also people have paid good money to see you so you owe it to the audience."
𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠-𝗪𝗜𝗦𝗘, 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗔 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗡'𝗧 𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥?
📢 "Yeah. There are certain songs that looking back on it now I wouldn't have included on albums. What we've done over the past two years is we've remastered them for vinyl I've got the good monitors so I've had to listen through to all the records and certain songs you're going what the fuck were we thinking I don't like that song ...so yeah."
𝗢𝗛 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗛, 𝗦𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧'𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗢𝗡 𝟳𝗧𝗛 𝗢𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗕𝗘𝗥?
📢 "Brian basically said, ‘Hey Stef, I can't stomach listening to all these songs can you do it?' And Brian's more of a visionary when it comes to artwork so he was taking care of the visual aspect so we complement each other in that way."
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| Photo credit: Screenshot from the video Jesus' son |
𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙-𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗖𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨-𝗩𝗘 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗡?
📢 “I think so. He definitely has a troubled relationship with his past lyrics. Because like the line: "A friend with weed is better" on ‘Pure Morning’. He wouldn't write something like that now, but he did back then. For him it's being able to walk on stage and sing with conviction without smiling or without making up different lyrics you know.“
𝗦𝗢 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗘𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗛𝗜𝗠 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗚𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗬.
📢 “What we tend to do is cover ourselves with quite a few versions of our songs that we've released. One of our first singles, 'Teenage Angst', has been done in piano format, it's been done in the rock format, and it has this stadium rock format. Then we went back to an electric bass led version. So in order for us to remain interested in our back catalogue we often change them and adopt them to how we feel. Sometimes a song when we record it, it's in an embryonic form it tells you ‘Listen, I'm supposed to be played this way.'”
𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦?
📢 “Brian did the track listing.“
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘𝗦?
📢 “I mean when you master something in the ‘90s it's very different to now. Now you've got to compete with so many other, especially American releases which are pumped volume-wise. Also a lot of people listen on laptop or on headphones.“
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗘𝗣, “𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘'𝗦 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗜𝗧“... 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧?
📢 “They were us having fun in the studio. We chose some covers that we were fond of. Also we did two versions of '20 years'. One that was recorded in Russia and a live one that was recorded in France. Also, we're children of the 80s so a lot of the covers we chose are from the 80s.“
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗚𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗?
📢 "Yeah I mean the tour is going to take us into 2017 so by the time it finishes we're probably going to be Xmas 2017 and go back into the studio after that."
𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠?
📢 "Both me and Brian want to approach the next album outside of the box. We feel like we've stamped our identity on the world so let's go outside of the box. Approaching the writing process in a different way."
𝗕𝗘𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗜𝗧 𝗕𝗘 𝗪𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗖 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧?
📢 "Yeah for example songs like ‘Too Many Friends’ and ‘Battle For The Sun’ like you said were written on an acoustic guitar in a classic manner. But when me and Brian get in the studio we surround ourselves with tools and synths and broken guitars and different types of guitar and the drum machine and we just follow something we both get turned on by, be it a sound or be it a loop so we're going to try doing it in that vein."
𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗣𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥?
📢 "I’m completely excited about playing old songs: I like it. I think I want to see people's reactions as well."
(Gigwise, September 34rd 2016)
Post by Silke
