What about another translation of an older Russian 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ? This one was published in 𝑩𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒐 magazine in April 2007.
Until that time, Placebo already played in Russia several times and got their devoted fanbase but probably, were still a bit less known as, for instance, in France. The article is written in kind of introductory style using – intentionally, of course – the hottest and most provocative topics to draw attention of the new fans.
I hope it’s going to be a nice read for you.
Big thanks to Anastasiya Loginova for the magazine scans!
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| Photo credit: Frazer Harrison |
“I'm so happy we still exist! The fact that we managed to survive while many of our peers just disappeared, sounds hopeful,” says 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, frontman of one of the most resonant and beautiful British bands.
"𝑴𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓, 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓, 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔? 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓?"
🔺 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑙
They are insane. No, really! They confess to things that most people would be surely silent about. They don’t hesitate to publicly declare that they don’t adhere to a traditional sexual orientation (Brian Molko is bisexual, bassist Stefan Olsdal is interested in boys). They openly say that some of their songs are inspired by a crazy lifestyle - for example, Special K from the Black Market Music album is dedicated to ketamine. Brian Molko admitted that "heroin is the only drug in the world that I haven’t tried yet." Hair stands on end! But Placebo can be excused for all of that and even more. Because in music, they are gods!
🔺 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑔𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑
Bursts of electronic sound, pulsating bass, bouncy guitar sound: Placebo's style cannot be copied. All over the world, they are perceived not as an English but European band: an extra point for them since the arrogant British people have already set everyone on edge. Placebo's music can be sad, harsh, explosive - but it’s never boring or non-melodic. That was admitted by such titans of rock as The Cure and David Bowie, who willingly record duets with Brian and his band. The directors and film producers agree with that too: the song Every You Every Me became a real gem of the soundtrack of the movie Cruel Intentions, and Pure Morning is featured in the cult teen film The Chumscrubber. Recently, an ‘unholy trinity’ has been honored to get their Kate Bush cover Running Up That Hill included into the fourth season of the famous American series The O.C. And their single Infra-Red from the Meds album released in March [2006] reached the top positions in the world charts. Brian promises to release the next album in two or three years. He even came up with the title already but of course isn’t going to say anything to anyone.
🔺 𝐵𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟, 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑥𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑗𝑜. 𝐻𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝐷𝐽
They are so different but still, they are together [𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2007]. When not making music with his bandmates, Brian spends time with his son Cody, plays saxophone and loves to give out witty phrases. “Opinion is like an ass, everyone has it." he grins. Drummer Steve Hewitt is recording a collaborative album with the […] Lamb's Jon Thorne. "Finally, after so many years, I’m working with Steve from Placebo!" - Thorne rejoices, and he knows a thing or two about good musicians
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🔺 𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑙𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠
Stefan Olsdal dreams of playing with ABBA and Sonic Youth: “It would be cool if we did a concert together and ABBA were the headliners,” he laughs. Also, all Placebo members joined the Global Cool charity, an anti-global warming organization. “If we’re able to do something positive, we do so,” says Olsdal. At the end of May, Placebo are coming to play in Moscow. This is the best thing they can do for their Russian fans.
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| Photo credit: Virgile Biechy |
... 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: "I love the fact that there are people who think I'm damn handsome and others who think I’m ugly."
... 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡: “My big mouth tends to get me into troubles but there’s no other way for me. I’m small, and most people are bigger than me. If someone punched me I'd tell my drummer to beat them."
... 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: "Because of the fact that they raised me strictly as a boy, now I absolutely don’t want to wear men's clothes."
… 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐱: “Actually it's very private. I was 14, she was French and my very first girlfriend. We were both virgins. It happened in my room. I later tried to convince my mother that my nose was bleeding, but she said: "Your lie is pretty strange dear!"
… 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫: “Every day there’s a hangover. And every time you look at yourself in the mirror you think: "I don't want to go out to people now!" And it’s the same every day. Groundhog Day. After about 50 days like this, I don't want anything at all."
… 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: “I was a devastated, lonely, and afraid of people teen. I felt extremely alienated and unhappy."
(𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑜 #15, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 11𝑡ℎ, 2007)
Post by Olga
