I think we all know that Placebo's fifth studio album “Meds” (2006) marked a turning point in their career. Things had gone downhill for quite a while, there was a lot of drug use and alcohol involved before and during the production of the record. The friendship between Brian, Stefan and Steve Hewitt had become a dysfunctional working alliance. The world tour that followed the release of “Meds” was the death knell for the triangle, and as result Steve had to leave the band. But that's not the topic of this post.
Today we will have a closer look at what Brian and Stefan said about “Meds” from shortly before its release on March 13th 2006 until the follow-up album “Battle for the sun” came out in 2009.
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| Photo credit unknown |
๐ข “We went to the studio with electronic ideas, with hip hop influences, but what was finally recorded is completely different! I dunno what happenned, but we immediately started with simplicity… Instead of doing something very cerebral, we did something instantaneous. A return to Placebo’s roots.“
(Brian, Rock Magazine, December 2005)
๐๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ณ๐ช, ๐ช๐ด๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ?
๐ข “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 artists, then it become really easy because no one is afraid of hurt the ego of the other.“
(Brian, Rock Magazine, December 2005)
๐ข “When we started we had twenty songs for the album, and from there, by an elimination process, we left the ones included in the album. Fortunately, our record label gave us the freedom to work at our own pace, contrary to the release of the singles compillation. With 'Meds' we had more freedom regarding time and preparation, and more in things such as releasing dates and other things, because the six week previous to the album's release are the hardest for us because we sometimes have to be in different cities in the same day.“
(Brian, Scars, 2006)
๐ข “While I was writing the songs, I was interested in what the people in the modern world need to survive the day and what they use as medication. The meds could be religion, love or a variety of medication that allows them emotional survival… I’m talking about those kinds of meds.“
(Brian, OK!, 2006)
๐ข “The album is bizarre, we let the pieces obtain what they wanted, what they needed. The album will be different to what we’ve been able to do, but you’ll still be able to recognise our sound: melodic, fast, punky in places and depressing in others. The fans should feel comfortable with it, while being surprised… hopefully!“
(Stefan, Rock Magazine, January 2#meds
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| Photo credit unknown |
๐ต https://bit.ly/3Drkuc7 ๐ต
๐ข “I think it kinda makes sense, you know. All the people who live and inhabit the songs in the album are under some form of anaesthetic, whether it's chemical, emotional or spiritual. And I think during the song writing process, it sort of interested me - the different form of anaesthetic that people use in order to get through the day, to survive. I suppose this album to a certain degree explores that.“
(Brian, Bangkok Post, March 1st 2006)
๐ข ”When I started working on this record, I only had two subjects to write about: love and addiction. I don't want to follow the path of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain. Or even worse: Pete Doherty. I've also always had a problem with the glorification of addicted rock stars. A junkie in the gutter is a junkie in the gutter. But I can't deny it: I had also taken that dead-end road - one day I realised there was a chance I might be the next rock casualty.”
(Brian, Humo, March 2006)
๐ข “I think the group’s image has evolved a bit over the years. Placebo became something slightly obscure, a bit too intelligent, a band with a dark and simultaneously complex side. This return to the roots was necessary. ... We’ll soon see what the media makes of this album. But nobody will be able to say that this album was made with this or that goal, that it’s commercial or something else. It’s just a breath of fresh air, and most importantly, an album that feels like us.“
(Brian, Rock Sound, March 2006)
๐ข “Well, actually, I think this is probably our darkest, most tortured record. But I think there's a freshness and an immediacy and a directness about it sonically that probably makes it a bit more accessible. I think in the past we've kind of been wilfully obscured or purposefully oblique in our approach, and now we've stripped everything down and returned to the core or the essence of this band, which is a tight, urgent rock band.“
(Brian, Boyz, April 2006)
๐ข ”There wasn’t a generational gap or a cultural gap between us [Dimitri Tikovoi]. In fact, we were born on the same day of the same year so we were very good friends before we started working on this record. He realized that we’d found a comfort zone which was Vince’s synthesizers. He wanted to pull us out of that comfort zone and make us stare at ourselves in the mirror to make us realize that in essence we are a rock band.”
(Brian, Suicide Girls, May 14th 2006)
๐ข "I mean, 'Meds' is an album about anesthesia and addiction. It's an album that I don't think we could have made five, six, seven years ago, simply because the negative effects of the rock lifestyle weren't as apparent then, y'know? Perhaps we were too young.”
(Brian, Sydney Morning Herald, September 8th 2006)
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| Photo credit: Benni Valsson |
(Stefan, Clic Music, April 2009)
๐ข "Now i can look at it from a distance, 'Meds' was a bit of a bleek/pale record in which you'd find a lot of pain and hardly any hope. Now i wanted to make something with a lot of light and neon. I believe in that, that is my state of mind at the moment. At the time i also believed in 'Meds', but you have to be alert/carefull that you don't lose yourself in the darkness."
(Brian, De Limburger, May 28th 2009)
๐ข “'Meds' sounded claustrophobic, without a sparkle of hope. The album felt like a grainy black and white film.“
(Brian, De Standaat, May 30th 2009)
๐ข “If you look back at our last album 'Meds', it sort of looks like a black and white grainy film. This time we wanted to make something in 17mm technicolour wide screen.“
(Brian, OK! Magazine Australia, June 2009)
๐ข “The recording of 'Meds' was a veritable orgy of drugs and abuse. This was the way we draped ourselves in the veil of denial, refusing to see that Placebo was not doing well ... I was totally addicted to drugs and alcohol, I went to a clinic to heal (silence). Four days after I left the hospital, I went on tour. In solidarity, Stefan has also stopped to drink, it was the first time we were touring sober, it was terrifying [...]”.
(Brian, Les Inrockuptibles, May 26th 2009)
๐ข ”We left the studio without pride, disunited, washed out. But there was a tour to achieve, then we marched to the front lines, as if nothing had happened. I hoped it would heal the wounds: it bruised them. For two years on the road, I really felt alone.”
(Brian, Les Inrockuptibles, May 26th 2009)
Post by Silke
