✨𝑪𝑶𝑳𝑳𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑹𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕✨
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| Photo credit: Hayley Madden |
As you may remember, we already shared many great interviews with very special persons connected in some way to Placebo – photographers, musicians, producers, directors etc. – done by 𝑨𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒚𝒂 𝑳𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂 for her 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭.
As soon as the 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 is just turning 5, there comes new exciting stuff to celebrate the anniversary
In collaboration with 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲, we’re going to exclusively publish the upcoming interviews immediately, so you have no chance to miss them!
Congratulations and big THANK YOU to Anastasiya for her impressive work full of genuine love to our favourite band!
And now, enjoy the newest 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 with 𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍, a documentary photographer who did photo shoots for musicians and bands such as Garbage, Foo Fighters, PJ Harvey and many others. In 1996 she took some pictures of Placebo for 𝑵𝑴𝑬.
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Photo credit: Hayley Madden |
𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚: Hi, Hayley. Thank you for finding time for this interview! Had you met the band or listen to their music before this photo shoot? Did you have something like a certain image in your head about Placebo?
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: I had not met the band before, but I had seen them in concert. I certainly listened to their music and I loved their sound, and of course their style. I try not to have a preconceived image of any band before I shoot them, but it's hard when lots of good photos are around not to be influenced, especially if they are the band everyone is talking about – which they were when I got commissioned to do the shoot. They were all very striking in looks and style, so I knew that not much work would be needed to make them look good.
𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚: Can you tell me about the photo shoot. For what print media did you take these pictures?
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: The commission was a feature for NME, a British weekly newspaper. It was a big deal for me as I was the new kid on the block, but all the other photographers were already busy (it was Britpop). It was a double page feature, and the interview had already been done. I usually try to sit in on the interviews to get to know the band a bit but there was no opportunity for that on this occasion.
𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚: Why did you take black and white pictures? Or was it necessary for this certain shoot?
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: NME was one of the last papers to go fully colour and this feature was scheduled for black and white. Converting colour film to black and white gives poor results, especially if it is going to newsprint, and black and white film has much more range artistically, so if a commission was a black and white shoot I always shot on black and white film. Also we did not have big budgets to work with, so we had to shoot economically. I rolled my own film and processed it and printed it in my bathroom overnight which most of the music news photographers did then to avoid expensive overnight processing lab fees. Of course if Photoshop had been readily available I would have shot colour and processed it digitally. I do think Placebo are a 'black and white' image band though!
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| Photo credit: Hayley Madden |
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: It was in Liverpool, an old theatre called the Lomax where the band were playing that evening. The band did not want to go outside, but we did have the run of the whole theatre. I had location lights with me, but they needed power, so in the end it came down to shooting in the only room which had some spare electric sockets. Unfortunately every time I took a shot it fused the whole theatre. The stage crew were very accommodating and obligingly reset the fuse box each time I took a shot, but it did make for a very stilted shoot.
𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚: What was the most interesting in working on this photo shoot?
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: Definitely the chance to meet the band. They were extremely patient but I did not get a great variety of images as the circumstances were so limiting. That is why I put the prints in water afterwards, bent them and shot the effect, so I got a bit more variety for the picture editor to choose from. I think it suited the band to have something out of the ordinary – I could not have pulled this off with Oasis or Pulp for example – but it was totally out of necessity rather than a preplanned artistic decision.
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Photo credit: Hayley Madden |
𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧: Despite all the fuss around them at the time they seemed to have their heads screwed on and their feet on the ground. They were quiet and reserved, which was very different to the more boisterous and sensational Britpop bands at the time. They also came over as very private and they were all definitely 'outsiders'. Having said that they were not at all pretentious or difficult, they were very professional and a pleasure to work with. I really liked them and was sorry the shoot had so many technical problems. So yes, it would be great to work with them again and actually have a chance to photograph them under less pressured circumstances.
(𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡, 2021)
Your Placebo Anyway Team
Post by Olga
