𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖, 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐲 "𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐁𝐚𝐛", 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖

Dear soulmates,
Today I prepared an 🔸𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖🔸 for you which Placebo did right before going on stage 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟎𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖 (broadcast on French TV on December 4th, 1998). It was their first time playing the famous venue in Paris.
The interview was done in kind of a mix of French and English, so I translated French parts and transcribed English ones to make it readable and of course enjoyable for you.
𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔, 𝑶𝒍𝒈𝒂💗

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬, 𝟑𝟎.𝟏𝟏.𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖
➡️ https://bit.ly/2MOHNI4

Photo credit: screenshots of the video, edit by Olga

🔶𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖, 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐲 "𝐓𝐨𝐩 𝐁𝐚𝐛", 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖🔶
𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐞𝐮𝐯𝐫𝐞: Here’s a band that we all adore. Before going on tour to America, they’re back to France and today we have the opportunity to talk to Placebo. They also agreed to take part in our "Night of Glam". First of all, Brian, you need to clarify that you are not a glam band.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: No, why, it's even interesting. When ‘Ziggy Stardust’ came out, I was one year old. We are too young to remember glam. The music of our childhood was mainly disco - Blondie, ABBA, Bee Gees, etc. So glam didn't really affect us that much. And all the conversations that are going on now are caused by the fact that we appeared in the film [Velvet Goldmine], and journalists began to draw parallels ...
𝐏𝐌: But looking at your nails, Brian, people must be thinking: Brian Molko must be a glam because he’s got painted his nails!
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: No, he must’ve been gay! (Laughter)
𝐏𝐌: I’m going to introduce you to everyone. Brian - vocals, Steve - drums, Stefan - bass, guitar, and vocals. All together you are Placebo, and you make a lot of noise! How did you get to do this movie? Let's talk a little about Velvet Goldmine. Was it luck, was it good to do?
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: (pointing to Brian) It's his fault!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yes, it's my fault. I've always been a big fan of Todd Haynes [director of Velvet Goldmine]. When I was in college, I was crazy about his movie Poison. And then ... It happened when 'Nancy boy' became a hit in England, when our faces were in all the newspapers and magazines ... He was casting for a film in London - he wanted musicians from London to star there - and as soon as I heard about it, I called him and said: "I’ll do anything, just let me in your movie, mate!" (Laughs) And then everything started spinning like a snowball, and Steve and Steph got small roles too...

Photo credit: Adrian Green

𝐏𝐌: You play musicians there, and you’re dressed really funny in that movie. Do you think these pictures are going to follow you for all your life, are you scared?
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Yeah, definitely, I'm afraid already!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The film came out at the same time as our album. And we knew that 'Pure morning' should now be talking about us - as part of the promotion for the new record - but not a song that we didn't even write ['20th Century Boy']. But we ended up putting it as B-side on one of the singles. And after we recorded this cover, there were rumors that we changed our image - like Marilyn Manson - and became a glam band. So, it’s possible that such associations originated from here.
𝐏𝐌: Did he give you some bit of advice? [about David Bowie]
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yes ... This man went through everything, and in the end, he went a completely different way. Therefore, his music and his opinion are important to us. He advised us to never lose our spontaneity, said that we should always think about not "stagnating", and that we should not be afraid of following our inner instincts, listening to our inner voice ... He is a legend, and when the legend himself gives you such advice is a great success.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The New York Dolls are much more of a smack band sat than kind of an acid… From what I've read, from a little that I’ve read about The New York Dolls, they were pretty nasty people, pretty evil. I don’t really know what happened but most of them are dead [of overdose]. (To the camera) Don't try it at home, kids! (Laughs)
𝐏𝐌: Who wants to talk about Lou Reed?
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: I remember I had a job as a driver, when I was driving a racing cars that's when I went on 'Transformer' [Lou Reed's second studio album] heavy. I wasn’t hearing him really too much before 'Transformer'. I just remember driving around England in the summer and listening to this album constantly. I’ve been blown away by it when I discovered it, about eight years ago.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Lou Reed is accused of goths’ coming to existsnce. (Laughter). And this, generally, is his fault. Look at the cover of 'Rock N Roll Animal' [Lou Reed's live album], that's the first goth! (Laughs) If it wasn’t for that we wouldn’t have all these [roar] vampires walking around the planet right now. For me, The Velvet Underground was a real discovery. It was the music of my sort of 17 till 22. I listened to The Velvet Underground obsessively. It’s kind of much much more important to me than their solo stuff.

Photo credit: Corinne Mariaud

𝐏𝐌: Do you like the subgenre of glam that Sweet and Slade represent?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Absolutely not. It’s kind of an equivalent of Oasis. All these bands like Sweet and Mud are for Lager lags who like football, and just kind of doing it because that’s kind of what’s happening, if you know what I mean...
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Bowie told once to Mick Ronson, "If you put on a dress and wear a makeup and you’ll get more chicks!" And it works! So, they get into glam rock to get chicks.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah, to get women, trying to get pussy, yeah.... They all are just drinker and footballer kind of people ... I’m like “Nah, get out”. Once you can see their stubble underneath their makeup...
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: And double chin.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: In one of the Bowie documentaries, I saw an interview with him where he said that Syd Barrett was the first person to suggest wearing makeup. Then I thought: it was before the 60s, but, apparently, it was Sid Barrett who was a kind of catalyst for Bowie that made him think about makeup. It was him who Bowie admired the most. Interestingly, we are not Alice Cooper fans at all, but big fans of Syd Barrett. (Laughs)
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: But there was also Little Richard.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Little Richard, yes – if you wanna go the other way back.
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: He's a king of rock and roll!
𝐏𝐌: And he was the first to publicly admit that he was homosexual, not to mention his craziness and his background.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yes, and he was a black man. It’s sort of this flamboyant… Faggy black man...
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: He was freaking everybody out.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I always thought he was the first punk.
𝐏𝐌: He was the first in everything!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Exactly!

Photo credit: LUZ Photo Agency

𝐏𝐌: Mott The Hoople were one of the bands Bowie talked about ... Steve: Mott The Hoople? I worked with Dale Griffin (referring to Brian) remember, we had done the Peel session? Their drummer worked for the BBC Maida Vale studios, recorded [actually produced] sessions for John Peel. (Aside) Kind of old asshole[?]! (Laughter)
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: That’s your best mate!
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: Anyway, I met him, and someone said to me: "This is the drummer of Mott The Hoople." And I was like, “What? Who is that?". Then I looked more after Mott The Hoople stuff, and it’s absolutely ridiculous. I am so glad that we can get a band together right now rather than then. If you had to go through that being in a band just to make an impression... Nah...
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: We're so happy that we’re have careers in the 90s and not in the 70s.
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞: Yes, there we go with that choice [Velvet Goldmine]. (Laughter).
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Being in this film only made us happy that we are in this time, not at that time because we would have looked so stupid! I think we look quite good now! (Everybody laughs).
𝐏𝐌: Let's talk a little about Roxy Music.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I don't know much about Roxy Music and that proves once again that we are young enough to remember this kind of music. The first thing I heard from them was, I think, ‘Avalon’ or something like that. They are quite old. Not many of the songs that were played in the movie [Velvet Goldmine] I have heard before. 'Virginia Plain', '2HB', 'Ladytron', 'Baby's on Fire', some other songs by Brian Eno ... I have not heard them before, and I discovered this band [Roxy Music] precisely because of the film.
𝐏𝐌: It was very strange band, because Brian Eno was like a... who realized then he was a genius... Their first gig was at Bataclan, it was in 1972, and I attended it. By the way, it’s that very stage where you will be performing soon.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Have you been to their concert in 1972? What month?
𝐏𝐌: I think it was April.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: April ... Before I was born!
𝐏𝐌: We have to play some T. Rex.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Bowie called me this week, he just listened to our cover of '20th Century Boy', he really liked it, and he said - since he knew Mark Bolan well - he said that Mark Bolan would be proud that we made a cover of this song. I was moved by this very much.

Photo credit: Neil Cooper

𝐏𝐌: We’re gonna play Placebo 'Pure Morning' video. Could you explain to us the concept of the video? Everyone is talking about it, it's a rave! Say it in French if you can.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: The idea came from ourselves as we wanted something special, different from what we did before. We're tired of playing instruments in music videos. And we wanted to do something like a short film. But at the same time, something abstract, where there would be tension, a certain drama. The idea was inspired by an old Grace Kelly movie about a guy who tried to jump off the eaves of a New York hotel for 14 hours. And in the video, we stop, or rather they try to stop us, and the main reason for that is that they’re going to put a small experiment on us ...
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: Yeah, they feed us to the sharks. (Laughter).
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: In the next video, we're going to be put in a huge shark tank. (Laughs) But we are not paranoid!
𝐏𝐌: Thank you Brian, Stefan, and Steve. Thank you very much! You were wonderful, and now you’re gonna go on stage. The audience is impatient. How do you like France in general, French people, how do they differ from another audience?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: They are very emotional, they shout loudly.
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧: They dance.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: And they also demand your commitment. They are very demanding. In France, you have to do your best, you always have to deliver.

Post by Olga