⭐️𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘⭐️ 𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 & 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 - 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐎𝐍 𝐊𝐈𝐃

✨𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑩𝑶𝑵 𝑲𝑰𝑫, a collaboration of 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 and Manchester-based electronic rock band 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬, was releases as single on this day 19 years ago, on June 3rd 2002.
The track was also included into Alpinestars' album 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒆 that was out two weeks later, on June 17th.
𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐝 reached #63 in the UK Single Chart.

✨“Featuring the ultra-cool, edgy vocals of Placebo's Brian Molko, “Carbon Kid” is a futuristic rock landmine exploding in a trail of anthemic guitar-driven club noise. Stomping and soaring, raw and riveting, “Carbon Kid” is a shining example of Alpinestars’ ability to push the boundaries of their already increasingly expanding musical mosaic.”
(𝐸𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝐴𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑜𝑛)

Photo credit unknown; screenshots of the interview and video; single cover / edit by Olga

🟣The song was produced by Alpinestars and Andy Green, who also did an engineering, and mixed by Dave Bascombe.
The single was released as a CD and Maxi-Single (12-inch single)
Track listings:
𝐂𝐃𝟏
1. Carbon Kid (Radio Edit)
2. Carbon Kid - Bobby Peru Electrostar mix (Edit)
3. Carbon Kid - Interfada mix
𝐂𝐃𝟐
Carbon Kid (Full length edit)
Carbon Kid - Bobby Peru Fierce Mix (Edit)
Snow Patrol - Tiga’s TGV Disco Patrol dub
𝟏𝟐”
A1 Bobby Peru's Electrostar mix (Full Length)
B1 Interfada Mix (edit)
B2 Bobby Peru's Fierce Mix (Edit)

✨An interesting fact: 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐝 was featured in some 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔 - Project Gotham Racing 3, APB Reloaded and in Test Drive Unlimited – which made a track pretty popular among gamers.

✨Both single and album White Noise were released by 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔. And that’s how Placebo got to know about Alpinestars: their management, Riverman, just decided to start working with another band and introduced a newcomer to Brian and the guys.

✨The song was recorded at 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒔 located in Shepherd's Bush, a district of West London. The guys from Alpinestars were working on their album White Noise there, and Brian lived for a while in a flat right above this studio while searching for a new proper apartment for himself (see quote down below). So, being kind of neighbors once turned out into such a great collaboration.

🟣𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃’𝐒 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘
𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 was an electronic rock duo formed in 1999 in Manchester by Richard Woolgar and Glyn Thomas.
Richard and Glyn met each other in 1995, as a result of being in separate bands that shared the same rehearsal space. They found they had a lot in common and form their own ephemeral electro group, which they named "Maxim."
Although Maxim never produced anything, it brought Woolgar and Thomas to the attention of the promoter of a local Manchester club. They took the name "Alpinestars" after a mountain bike Thomas owned. Soon Alpinestars signed with Faith and Hope Records.
The band debuted in August 1999 with an EP "Las Vegas." Its third track, "Interlaken," became the most requested track on Steve Lamacq's Radio 1 evening show. The band followed up with two more EPs, "Silicon Chick" in 1999, and "Kitzbuhel Weekend" in 2000. Also in 2000, Alpinestars released their first full-length album B.A.S.I.C. (standing for "Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code") followed by the album White Noise a year later. As for having Brian Molko’s vocals on "Carbon Kid", Woolgar said, "We wanted to get away from the sampler duo mentality."

Photo credit unknown

✨Here you can watch Carbon Kid performed live on German music television channel VIVA.
𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭. 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 - 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐝, 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀 𝐓𝐕, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟐
➡ https://bit.ly/31xtqM7

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐝 was directed by Dougal Wilson.
➡ https://bit.ly/3fsJAP5

💜𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍, 𝐆𝐋𝐘𝐍 & 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 & 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 - 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝟓, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟐
➡ https://bit.ly/39r0fP2

💜𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬
📢𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒍𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕: 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I just helped my friends. Besides, I wasn’t too busy at the time. And there was no responsibility - I wrote no music, nor lyrics. It all turned out pretty funny.
(𝐾𝑜𝑚𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑠𝑘𝑎𝑦𝑎 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑑𝑎 "𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛, 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼, 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝐹𝑒𝑏'03)

📢𝑫𝑵𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒙: 𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑨 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆-𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆?
𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I've already done that. I've sung an afternoon with the Alpinestars. We went into the studio in-between a few beers in the pub. I recorder the vocals in an hour and that was it. I can't really imagine any kind of collaboration when you're the one who has to do a lot of work, you know. It's just something you do for fun.
(𝐷𝑁𝐴𝑠𝑖𝑥 "𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜", 𝑀𝑎𝑟'03)

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Well when we were making Black Market Music, we got a phone call from our management saying 'we want to manage another band, if that's OK with you' and we said, 'yeah sure that's fine as long as they're not shit'.
And an Alpinestars track came out on an NME free CD and I heard it when we were at Olympic Studios and was really, really impressed. It really reminded me of Kraftwerk and their early stuff which is really quite cold and robotic in a similar way. So we were totally down with it and we were really happy with the fact that our managers who are total rock heads were getting into some electronic tunes.
And so the Alpinestars did their first album 'B.A.S.I.C.' which we really liked and they also did the 'Taste In Men' remix, which still stands as one of the best ones. And after we'd mixed the album I still found myself looking for a flat and staying in the studio flat above the recording studio in Shephard's Bush, and I didn't actually manage to find myself a place until after we got back off tour, so I ended up staying there for a while. And after touring, the Alpinestars were in the studio doing their second album and they were my downstairs neighbors.
They were doing this album, 'White Noise' and I used to go down and use the washing machine a lot, cos I didn't have one, and we just started hanging out and they just wanted me to try 'Carbon Kid'. So I listened to it and then we went to the pub, then back to the studio, did two takes, the second was the one, went back to pub and that was that. And for me it was really good cos I didn't write the lyrics, didn't write the vocal melody line. Just my soul purpose there was to be the singer and it was responsibility free. There was the performance, but there's just no pressure, which was why it kind of like happened so quickly and why I think it's so natural and so accomplished."
(𝑆𝑖𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 2002)

Photo credit unknown

💜𝐀𝐋𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧
📢We weren't going to have any guest vocalists on the album at all, except that Brian had said a while ago when we did a remix of Placebo "if you ever want a vocalist just let me know". He was staying in the flat above where we were in the studio so we left a CD-R outside his room, and at 4 o'clock the day before he was supposed to leave he ran down and was like “I've learnt the lyrics, I wanna do it!!!"
(𝑈𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒)

📢𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐'𝒔 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒐𝒏 𝑲𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆?
𝐆𝐥𝐲𝐧: Great music is never confusing, just enchantment.
𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝: I think our fans and those of Placebo will enjoy this song as much. If every song Brian sings sounds like Placebo, it's because no one can sing the same way he can.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏?
𝐆𝐥𝐲𝐧: Brian is a great chef too, so we invited him to participate in one of our new recipes. But without warning us, he sprinkled our creation with one of his powders, the insolent! When we tasted the mixture we started to move like never before and our hearts started to beat faster and faster. What was this ingredient? He never confessed it!
(𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 2002)

Post by Olga