𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆...🔹💦
Dear friends, I know how eagerly we all expect every mention of the new Placebo album. The child has already been born, and yet it is still mysteriously hidden from us. And to give you a little idea of how such a Placebo album is made, I went back in my memory to the creation of the MEDS album, which was released in 2006.
MEDS is considered the best album in Placebo's entire career.
We know from many interviews that tension and misunderstanding between the band members escalated during the recording of this album. But from the articles I found, you can only feel the joy and enthusiasm for creating this gem.
You can read excerpts from several interviews, and in the end you will enjoy the amazing performance of the song 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟳, which Brian said about:
(𝑆𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑠, 2006)
“One of the tracks you write for all the ladies out there.”
(𝑋𝐹𝑀, 2006 )
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| Photo credit: Nadav Kander |
/.../
It is here, behind these walls of faded yellow bricks, that Brian Molko (vocals, guitar), Stefan Olsdal, (bass) and Steve Hewitt (drums) have been working since last June on Placebo’s fifth album. After leaving the cute hostess/receptionist and having been removed of MP3 players or any other electronic object vaguely resembling a recording device, we’re able to enter. In the kitchen, arranged into a work room, you can find an expresso machine, a leather sofa, a Ping-Pong table, a Wurlitzer juke-box, a vintage fridge on which a plate of cookies is balanced, and near the floor, a few gold discs of artists who recorded in this studio (from Kim Wilde to the Libertines, passing by Bryan Ferry, Feeder or Page/Plant.)
“Welcome to the RAK! It’s one of the last independent studios of London,” states Brian Molko, all smiles. “You noticed on arrival. It’s located in the residential district, far from stress, far from show-business, far from everything. When Dimitri suggested this address, we didn’t hesitate one second. This place gives us the atmosphere, the discretion and the comfort we were looking for.”
“Placebo are negociating an important turn-around in their career”, specifies Tikovoi. /.../ I talked with the group at length about what they wanted. To return to the energy and spontaneity of their debut or to go further into sophistication? They opted for the first choice, because the pieces lent themselves to that premise perfectly well. The RAK has three studios. I chose to record in the largest room. Brian, Stefan and Steve played in a triangle, looking at each other. There weren’t any machines. My aim was to get a raw sound out of them. I concentrated on the songs and the unity of the group rather than working the vocals and instruments separately.
/.../
Placebo wanted to be present for this private listening session – a rare enough occurrence.
“We’re really excited by this album. It’s always interesting to see people’s reactions listening to it for the first time. They don’t even need to speak. We can tell if they’re getting into it or not. So far, there’ve been mainly happy faces coming out of here. It’s pretty encouraging,” confides Stefan Olsdal. /.../
(𝑇𝑒́𝑙𝑒́𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒, 𝑁𝑜𝑣 2005)
⭐
Dimitri explains: “The idea in the beginning was to re-do a fisrt album, including the challenge of making each song really exciting and unique. [To] get rid of the production and make it more direct, not to hide behind layer of nice-sounding things. [I wanted] something that gets to the core of the band and the emotion of the songs.” Dimitri’s approach meant that Placebo were pushed out of their ‘comfort zone’ with Brian in particular encountering writer’s block when it came to lyrics.
“It does get harder as you get older, as you get more successful,” he details. “It gets harder and harder with each record trying not to repeat yourself, trying not to become a cliché. I certainly didn’t want to repeat myself on this record so it was extremely challenging. I did go through periods of blockages. But another thing Dimitri said to me was that when you’re going through a process of change, it’s a very difficult position to be in and you just have to keep pushing because ultimately you’ll be so much more rewarded.”
(𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑, 𝐹𝑒𝑏 2006)
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| Photo credit: Nadav Kander |
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒊𝒏 𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒆 2004, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 5𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏?
"Many things. We started writing near Cannes in France, then, we wrote the major part of the album in 6 weeks, but it was last year and of course, it has evolved. Ideas go on! We met in London, almost 3 months ago, with Dimitri Tikovoi whom we worked on «Runninig up that Hill» and «The Ballad of Melody Nelson» , which were on the cover album. We wanted to work with him for a long time. For some reasons: we were born the same day, the same year…"
𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒉 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆…
"Yes. And we wanted to work with someone of our generation, we didn’t want to work with someone that could have been our father, like many famous producers with whom our label tried to make us work with. We thought that it would be more interesting to work with someone of our age. When we began this album, no one was more than 35! The atmosphere was different and i think it’s one of the reasons that made things move. The recording took 8 weeks, ans that’s very quick for us."
𝑻𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒊, 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒓?
"Yes, it is! We had an argument the first week, the kind of «Why do you treat me this way? I’m your friend!» But after the first week, it became very easy. Since the clash was ended, we take the roles established between producer and atrists, then it become really easy becuse no one is afraid of hurt the ego of the other. We know each other rather well and finally, we didn’t stop making jokes with each other. It creates an atmosphere of camaraderie… Very democratic! And i think it has also contribuated to the speed of this recording." /.../
𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚?
"I think that i’m in a period of changes, of transformations with lyrics, i didn’t want to repeat the same things and maybe i was in a position of comfort. It’s with Dimitri that i manages to break this situation, rediscover something, a danger or an anger, but something fresh, something that is not a cliché, that is not an inferior version of the angst and the frustration that existed on our firsts albums. When you grow old, it becomes harder, i think, to write lyrics… I still speak about addiction and confusion, but differently, i hope."
𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉?
"There’re no rules in fact. We try to stay very open. When it’s me that make the song, I can begin with a voice melody, when it’s Stefan, it more with a guitar, and when it’s Steve, it’s with drums. We can also begin with a piano line that Stef or me find accidentally, It’s often accidental."
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| Photo credit: Nadav Kander |
After Brian Molko last month and before Steve Hewitt next month, Stefan Olsdal speaks to us live from the mixing studio on Placebo’s future release, due 14th March 2006.
𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐.
"We begin around 2 or 3 pm, and work until 3 in the morning. This week, for example, we re-recorded the first track on the album because we weren’t satisfied with the sound of the mikes or with the studio it was recorded in. Between two takes we went down to studio 3 to see how the mixing was going, then we went back up the record, then we went back down to see Flood, etc."
𝑺𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔!
"Yeah, we need the exercise! [laughs]. This week has been hard, intense, because we’re trying to go fast so the album’s out for the start of 2006. Everyone’s exhausted, but we’re still smiling, and we’re all going out tonight."
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔?
"We wait a bit before going out. Brian records some more vocals. Then, if the mixing goes well, we all go out together. Flood, the band, Dimitri and the technicians. We’re probably going to eat out together. There’s such a team spirit, everything’s going great. We wind each other up from time to time but it’s all fun. Afterwards we’ve got to go to east London for one of our mates’ private party. We’re going to relax, get release from the pressure. The session’s been long – we’ve been locked up since May, and since we’ve been mixing and recording at the same time, it’s been worse. We hardly ever go out. That’s why tonight, we plan on going wild."
⭐⭐⭐
🔸𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝐻𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐽𝑎𝑛 2006🔸
𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏?
"It’s been the best recording session of my life. Everyone was the same age and we were just a bunch of young adults making an album. We had loads of fun, we all really connected. We’re all really confident in this album, and especially very proud. It’s a big step forward. The album’s very different to the last – our sound has evolved thanks to Dimitri and Flood. You know, we wanted to work with Flood for all our past albums, but he never had the time. It was finally possible for this one, and he did a damn good job on it. He’s thrown the group forward, made us sound how we’ve wanted to for four albums. The fans will be happy, they’ll feel as if they’re inside the music. We really tried to put tension and excitement into the pieces. It’s a very ‘rock’ album, much more so than ‘Sleeping with Ghosts’ and I think the tracks will work really well onstage."📌
🔸⭐🔸
Post by Marti
