PLACEBO INTERVIEWED BY FANS 1998 (part 1)

This afternoon I bring to you one of my favorite 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 interviews. Published by 𝑵𝑴𝑬 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 in November 1998, fans sent in all kinds of questions to the band, as usual 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 gave such honest, interesting and funny answers. They are truly delightful guys!!

… well, you already know that 
Enjoy reading dear soulmates. 💖

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

𝙌 & 𝘼 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊  (𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙸)

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑩𝑶 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎…
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒔? (𝙰𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗, 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚠𝚢𝚣, 𝚂𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “At a Spice Girls party, I told the American representative of our record company that they could take their record company and shove it up their arse. And I insulted somebody’s wife at the same party, in front of the Spice Girls, and got picked up and thrown across the room. That was pretty embarrassing.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I mistook Scarlet Page (daughter of Led Zep guitarist Jimmy) for Liv Tyler (daughter of Aerosmith singer Steve). I went up to her and said: ‘You’re that famous guitarist’s daughter! Liv Tyler!'”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔?
(𝚁𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕 𝙷𝚘𝚙𝚎, 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I remember being in Africa, and we had a housekeeper. And I have this image of being in my cot and it looking like a jail cell, and she was sweeping up. I think I was about two.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “Being about four years old and running up the drive when my mum called me, and falling over, and sticking my teeth through my tongue and bottom lip and it all being stuck together.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I remember running down a gravel hill near my parents’ house when I was about five, and just falling down. And smashing my whole face up.”

𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓? (𝙼𝚊𝚝𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚜, 𝙰𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚗)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “Mine came a little later. Mine came when I was about 18 or 19 (𝘌𝘳, 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳? – Ed).”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I had a lot. I was a very frustrated, lonely and anti-social young man. I felt very alienated and very bored as well.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑹𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝑬𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔? (𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝙹𝚊𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚎, 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚐𝚘𝚠)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “To be honest, you kind of try and shut it out of your mind as much as possible, otherwise it ends up being a cross you have to bear, really. And it’s much healthier to just ignore it, because it’s so easy for your feet not to be on the ground anyway, that if you acknowledge it you could end up getting completely carried away. It’s absolutely flattering. But often I feel quite undeserving of it really.”

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔? (𝚂𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚗, 𝙺𝚘𝚜𝚣𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊, 𝙿𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I don’t think we would ever go out on a date with anyone who is intimidated. It’s hard to find people who are relaxed around you, but you wouldn’t want to go out with anyone who felt nervous in your presence.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “Don’t know. I’ve more important things to worry about.”

Photo credit: David Tonge

𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕? (𝙱𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝙿𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊, 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗)
(𝘜𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘮 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Who me? No, I’ve always been a bit thin up here. If it’s one of these (𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦) then you can pretend to be a monk for a while to accentuate it, like Stipey did. Then you shave it all off.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “It’s true. He’s been like that ever since I’ve known him. I’m balding. I’ve got a bit of a patch up here, and it’s all going to be receding. Over the last couple of months it’s really been freaking me out.”

𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒊𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆? (𝙹𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝙼𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚕, 𝙽𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚍)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “If someone was writing my biography, then I’d definitely want it called Getting Away With It, except I think someone’s done that already (𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘺 𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺 – Ed).”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d call it I’m Just A Soul Whose Intentions Are Good. Oh, Lord Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. The truth is stranger than any lies we could come up with. And more obscene.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “Oh, I’d call it Take Me Away From All These People.”

𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕? (𝙴𝚖𝚖𝚊 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚂𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚆𝚛𝚎𝚡𝚑𝚊𝚖)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “No, not really. I would like to be taller, but I guess being short and small is one of the first things that drew me towards girls’ clothes, because they fit me much better, and there’s so much more variation. They’re just funkier, there’s more that you can do with them. The way that they’re cut is usually more flattering, and they’re usually available in pint-size size, which is good.”

𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕? (𝚂𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚑 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚢, 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Holden Caulfield (in JD Salinger‘s The Catcher In The Rye), maybe. Just for the feeling of alienation. The only thing Holden Caulfield wants to do throughout this whole book is to call this girl, and he never manages to call her, he never manages to get through. And that sums up my life quite well.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕? (𝙽𝚊𝚘𝚖𝚒 𝙺𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚗 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “You know, that’s about someone I used to go out with really, and that was like me exorcising the guilt of that failed relationship which I was mainly responsible for. But I’m also nothing without these two. At the moment spliff and minibars, because we just go from bus to minibar to bed.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “I’m nothing without a coffee machine, fresh coffee and a mobile phone.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “My bed. Because I’m sleeping about 15 hours a night at the moment.”

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒆? (𝙰𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚠 𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎, 𝙼𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚡)
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “In my sleep, and definitely not on an aeroplane.”
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “In oblivion.”
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d be interested in finding out if there is a light which you walk into, and if you do meet people from your life and walk hand in hand with Jesus. I would hate for my death to be tragic: I’d like to be old when it happens. But hopefully a young death is unlikely.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈? (𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚊 𝙹𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝, 𝚆𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “We were in Cologne and we went to this most amazing rave party, and we got back at 8am and smoked reefers the size of the… tourbus, basically with some German mates.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I spent two hours with my feet above the ground at that party. I thought I could fly. It was really lovely. I saw the sun come up this morning.”
𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I haven’t seen the sun for a couple of days. How is it?”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Still the same.”

Photo credit: Karen Mason

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆? (𝙲𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚛, 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚎)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “My mum was pretty blown away. My dad’s pretty blown away too now, though it took him long enough to get his head round it. He used to want me to get a proper job. They take the image in their stride.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “They’re getting used to it. I think the fear is slowly turning into pride: I think they were quite perturbed in the beginning, but they’re coming round to it. I was always a bit of a loose cannon, then again I was always the artistic one: bit of a social misfit. I probably still am.”

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒓𝒚? (𝚁𝚎𝚡, 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚕)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “‘Nature Boy’ by Nat King Cole and ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’ by Jaques Brel.”
 https://youtu.be/ZpF1J9FnD4E
 https://youtu.be/oR_SZR_tmxM
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “‘Montague Terrace (In Blue)’ by Scott Walker.”
 https://youtu.be/okWihNm-4wg
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “‘The Winner Takes It All’, by Abba.”
 https://youtu.be/92cwKCU8Z5c

𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆?
(𝙼𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎, 𝙴𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚡)
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆: “I was going to have a Prince symbol done once, but I’m bloody glad I changed my mind. I’d love one of those old sailor busty maiden ones. Tits everywhere. Be f*cking ace.”
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’d probably have a little demon tattooed on my shoulder.”
🎤 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏: “I’d probably have a snake on my shoulder blade.”

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖? (𝙺𝚊𝚝𝚢 𝙱, 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚢)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “I’m getting more and more comfortable with it. Imitation is the highest form of flattery. My comments about the Molkettes and Molko clones have been misconstrued in the press and particularly in NME. I was quoted as saying that they should just get a life, basically, but that was only half of what I said. It’s a strange thing: you get used to it after a while, but you still react with a similar amount of shock. To you, you’re the same asshole that you always were and you don’t understand why someone would want to look like you. But I’m not dissing it at all.”

𝑰𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖? (𝙺𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚢, 𝙸𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍)
🎤 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏: “Very bad for you. I can’t go there any more. By the end of the evening you’d really end up hating yourself for being such an over-the-top individual, just like talking about yourself, and you end up really, really paranoid. It all ends up in a big mound of self-disgust. It ain’t good for the soul, man. Just have f*cking spliff, man.”
𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒅...

Since they were talking about "𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈", I chose for you an early performance of this eternal classic.
 https://youtu.be/dfjeajTYzNw

See you next Saturday with the second part. Have a happy weekend.
 Much love! 💓

Post by Rita