𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝐁𝐁𝐂 𝟔 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨, 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟰

𝑯𝒊 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔!
Today I have another ✨𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖✨ for you. Brian did it for 𝐁𝐁𝐂 𝟔 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐨 on August 2nd 2014. He explains how his understanding of androgyny evolved through the years, admits what kind of a compliment he appreciates most and tells about the influences of the songwriting process.
Enjoy it!

Photo credit: Nino Fuori

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Our legend today is from one of my favorite bands, Placebo. Welcome to 6 Music, Brian! Hiya!
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Hiya! Hi Liz. That's very kind of you.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: No. I really mean it. I hope you won't take offense, but there was a bit of mistaken identity when I first heard you, before I saw you, and, I wonder what you think of this. I thought you were a female lead singer.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I take no offense to that, whatsoever.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Oh good. I loved your voice.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: It's something that I noticed happening when I was at university. And so, when I got into a band, I thought that I would play it up a little bit to see what kind of effect it would have on an audience. In the end it sort of became very much a kind of a political act, more than anything.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: What do you mean?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Well, I wanted to confront homophobia, basically, I wanted anybody who was homophobic in our audience to think I was a girl, to fancy me, then to have to ask themselves a few questions when they found out my name was "Brian".

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Right. And did you get asked questions?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: (Laughing) Well, yes, certainly. But it kind of evolved from there after a little while. And some of the elements of what we were doing effectively were appropriated by the mainstream. We kind of moved on, a little bit. I sort of understood that androgyny was more about blending, you know, the in-between place, rather than a guy in a dress. It took on more of a sophisticated and subtle tone.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: I've fought battles. I've tried to make gender irrelevant in my own trade. So, should gender be irrelevant?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Well, yeah. I think it should. Absolutely.

Photo credit: Angelo Marchini

𝐋𝐢𝐳: So, in rock-and-roll, are we not selling sex, to some extent?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah. But that’s historically, always been the case from Elvis onwards… and it’s always been part of the attraction. And certainly a concert is a place where people can come and feel free, and our concerts are particularly like that, you know. It’s a celebration of freedom and tolerance and acceptance.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Well, I loved you when I thought you were a girl. And I loved you when I found out you were a bloke. When I saw you on “Top of the Pops.” I just think you have one of the most distinctive voices ever in rock-and-roll music.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Uh, thank you, that’s a real compliment. I’ve always been obsessed with voices that are unique like from Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bjork, Polly Harvey. So that’s a big compliment for me. Thank you.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Well, like all those people you’ve mentioned, I think you’ve got real passion and pathos and pain in your voice as well.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Well yes, because it’s a form of catharsis for me. It’s a form of self-therapy in many ways. People often ask me ‘what are your influences in terms of deciding what to write about’. I’m often scared by the blank page. For me the most major influence is the process itself. And through the process of songwriting I discover what’s going on inside of me emotionally.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: You’ve had seven albums, seven studio albums, and another album which I absolutely love is your Covers album, and that features “Twentieth Century Boy,” “Running up that Hill” by Kate Bush, […], but you did get labelled with this kind of glam rock genre as well, didn’t you? Not least ‘cause you got embraced by David Bowie.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yes, that is true. Umm...we were lucky enough to kind of be mentored by David Bowie very early on in our career. And, he heard a demo of ours, it had the Nancy Boy song on it, and he invited us out on tour before we’d even released our first album. Which is incredible. And then I wrote this song “Without You I’m Nothing,” and one day he phoned up and said he liked it so much he wanted to sing on it. So, that happened. I mean, there isn’t really, for a songwriter, you know, a bigger accolade. And, it’s an incredible thing, for me, anyway, and I was so young when it happened. So I think this whole glam rock thing sprung from our very brief appearance in a movie called Velvet Goldmine. And it just became a very easy thing for people to uhh… just kind of put us in a box.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Well, I’m glad you did cover that T-Rex song, ‘cause I think it’s a great version. I also loved your Boney M “Daddy Cool.” That’s such fun! Anyway, let’s play a track now from the new album, it’s uhh.. well it’s not new anymore, it’s six months old or something. Loud Like Love, but it's a new single from that – “A Million Little Pieces.”
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Oh wow! It’s a cliché really, I’m most proud of the last one, but I will probably be most proud of the next one, when we make the next one.

Photo credit: Yevgeniy Zateychuk

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Which song, do you think, you get through your set and think, 'Can’t wait to sing that one, because the whole place is going to erupt.'
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: We started playing a song from Loud Like Love called Begin the End, which is quite a hypnotic song which we haven’t played live very much. We just started doing that recently. Umm… but the very last song on the album, it’s called Bosco, umm, and it’s very difficult. We can’t play it live at the moment because we need a string section in order to do it justice. And I’m particularly proud of that song because it uhh… I think every now and again, a band, if they’re lucky, they write a song that transcends the band’s identity, that can kind of exist within its own context without referring to who the band are in order to have life and to tell its story, and I think that Bosco is that song for us.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Ok, well I’m gonna tell you what my favorite song is in a minute, and play it. But first of all, you are in France as I speak to you now, and you’ve got quite a few dates there, different festivals, and then all ‘round Europe, Switzerland, Milan, Rome, Madrid, Athens, Hungary (just pickin’ in the air), Germany, and then later in the year, In October, back in Spain and Portugal. What about us here?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Uh, well, we have to do some more British gigs very soon. We’re talking about it at the moment. So, watch this space.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Well, do! Because I know four girls who do a string quartet thing so I can even help you out with that.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Ok, alright. Ok, cool. We’ll talk about that after the interview then.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: OK. Well, I hope you keep on keeping on and bringing us great songs and great performances and I hope we’ll see you soon. So I absolutely… I loved it from day one, in 2003 I think it was not long after this station 6 Music had started up, and I thought – Yes! This is the kind of thing that 6 Music was made for. And it’s Bitter End. Is that a favorite?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yes, it’s a live favorite.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Yeah, I thought so, because I been there, and we all did go bonkers.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Yeah. It’s usually the last song we play before the encore. It’s usually the peak of the energy crescendo of our show.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: That’s why I thought you might have chosen that one, or mentioned that one. But I’ve done it anyway, I’m glad you agree, it hits the spot.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: It certainly does, yes.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Well, lovely to speak with you. And we hope we do see you in the UK soon. And uhh...
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: So do we. Lovely talking to you too.

𝐋𝐢𝐳: Ok and… so A Million Little Pieces out now. Placebo coming soon. I’m gonna play Bitter End and sort Brian out with some cellos and stuff. Thank you for coming on the show.
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

Source: https://bit.ly/355NVla

Post by Olga