🌟 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐩 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 by 𝐙𝐞́𝐠𝐮𝐭 (part 2) 🌟

🔸A promise is a promise dear Soulmates 😊. Here is the second part of the interview at RTL2 on 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒔 𝒁𝒆́𝒈𝒖𝒕's broadcast, 𝑷𝒐𝒑 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. The boys keeps answering Zégut and fans' questions

I hope the second part will please you as much as the first ^^ 🔸

Photo credit: Jean Baptiste Mondino, unknown, edit by Laetitia

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Bravo Placebo.
💬Brian: I think it's the best acoustic session we've done.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Really ?
💬Brian: Yeah, yeah. There's some magic.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: I think it deserves to be on the B-side of a single.
💬Brian: We already have a studio version of Plasticine. We'll see. We'll arrange for the tapes.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: You've already got the CD that we burned for you.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Just have a question before we take a break: Loretta asks if you're going to play Peeping Tom again at the next shows?
💬Brian: For the moment, we're leaving Peeping Tom aside to make room for the new songs, the ballads from the new album, to have a little bit of time on stage. Maybe that song will come back. It's taking a holiday at the moment.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. Another question for you: are you still planning to remix the Sneakers Pimps' Loretta Young Silks?
💬Brian: Well yeah. We didn't really have time. It was difficult. I'm not sure if it's already out as a single. If it's already out, we missed the opportunity. But they're still good mates of ours and it would have been great. But we thought about remixing Indochine too, but we didn't have the time either.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So wait... Question about Indochine before taking a break. Everybody wonders, as you're pretty good friends with Nicolas, if there would be a common title: Placebo/Indochine? Is that possible?
💬Brian: I don't know. Maybe we'll do a version of Bonnie and Clyde together.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok that would be a good idea. A Gainsbourg's song. A Bonny and Clyde cover, Placebo/Indochine, that would be good.
💬Brian : But there is no project to do that at the moment but you never know, we get along very well.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok, a short break and we'll be back (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: I have a question on the chat: as you speak French well, and you have such a charming accent at the same time, could you participate in an album of covers of Gainsbourg or Jacques Brel songs? Would that be in the realm of possibility?
💬Brian: It could be interesting, but for me it's hard to write in French because I don't read enough, I don't speak enough. But my accent is not bad so maybe it could be done. There might be a compilation of English versions of Gainsbourg songs coming out with Les Inrocks soon.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: On which you are participating in a track.
💬Brian: Yeah, we're working on a track at the moment.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Which one?
💬Brian: We're working on Melody Nelson at the moment.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Melody Nelson.
💬Brian: Yeah. Something very sacred I think.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, yeah it's sacred actually.
💬Brian: But writing, I find it difficult but you never know. I'd like to do that. During the break we were talking about Nina Simone who did a version of Brel's Ne Me Quitte Pas which is incredible with a very very heavy accent but it's really very charming.

Photo credit: Helena Berg

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Note Bowie tried his hand at Amsterdam with an accent...
💬Brian: Yeah he did Heros in German too.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah and Peter Gabriel sang in German too, you know. Since we're talking about influence, you have reference points where you talk about Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel, where you talked about Janis Joplin earlier, what are your reference points? Can we talk about the Doors, the Velvet Underground, The Cure? Listening to your last album, two/three sounds that sound very Cure on Disintegration.
💬Brian: The Cure and The Smiths were the soundtrack to every afternoon when it rained in Luxembourg. The rainy afternoons of my teenage years so it's still there, a little bit in our music. There's Sonic Youth too, PJ Harvey, The Pixies, Jane's addiction.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: And you cover Where is my mind by the Pixies on stage?
💬Brian: Yeah, we've covered it for a few shows.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok, and you're gonna do it again?
💬Brian : We don't know, we don't know, we don't really like to do the same covers for people because they "expect" so...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. What about Steve for example, what are his influences?
💬Brian: What influences baby, Stevie ?
💬Steve: Pretty much the same as Brian actually. Public Ennemy, Sly & the Family Stone. Earth Wind and Fire.
💬Brian: Tom Waits.
💬Steve: Nick Cave, Captain Beefheart.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: And Stefan?
💬Stefan: When I was a kid, for me it was ABBA, all the time, disco too, like Boney M.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yes, so you covered Boney M, it just came out, so where did the idea come from? Is it you Stefan?
💬Stefan: It came from the three of us, because we all three grew up in the 80s. And in the band, Steve is the Daddy Cool because he has a little girl. But it's a joke.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: But it worked, it's a bonus track on one of the singles that you guys release.
💬Brian : But it will never be released as a single...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁 : Yeah, believe me I have it. It's coming out everywhere, and believe me, people who listen and who do a bit of radio have already fallen for this track anyway (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: A question Loriane.

𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗲: Yes, it's about the Desert Sessions by Queen Of The Stone Age. There's a rumour that you might be involved?
💬Brian: We might be involved. The offer is still on the table but we haven't had a chance to go back to the States to do it yet. If we're all together in the States, Queen, Josh and us, it could happen. It's an open invitation. I know he recently worked with Polly Harvey on the sessions. At the moment they've taken a bit of a break. We're still friends so it could happen.

𝗟𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗲: Would you be interested?
💬Brian: Sure. What's interesting is that not everyone who participates has to play their instrument of choice.

Photo credit: Jérôme Brézillon

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: I have a question for the band, which can be taken separately for each of you. When you're in the studio, away from home or when you're touring, do you like computers in general? Do you have a laptop etc?
💬Brian: How techno crazy are we ? Do you take your computer with you ?
💬Steve: I am a technophobe completely. Useless.
💬Brian: Steve is a technophobe. Stef is the most internet savvy of the three of us.
💬Stefan: That's true. But it's not very difficult.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: You Brian ?
💬Brian: I had a computer and it stayed in the box for two years. I just got it out and now I have broadband. I'm just starting to use it. There's a lot of porn...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: The first time you go on the internet is for your hobbies. Thank you, you're burnt out.
Another song we like on Sleeping With Ghosts is English Summer Rain.
💬Brian: Cool.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Can you explain how it came about?
💬Brian: First time we're going to hear this on the radio. We took a break. We bought some digital and identical studio equipment and started working on it. This is the second song I started working on during that eight month break between touring and studio. I've been listening to a lot of Hip Hop, Dr Dre and DJ Shadow. The demo was created in a DJ Shadow atmosphere.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: And it turned out to be a bit 'Cure' I repeat.
💬Brian : Do you hear some Cure in English Summer Rain?

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yes, a little bit. On Fascination Street by Disintegration, the bass that... Well, all right (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Questions on the internet: What do you think of Nirvana?
💬Brian: Nirvana? We love it of course, it's a legendary and influential band, incredible. Everybody should love Nirvana.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, it's a landmark, in music anyway. There's talk of a Bauhaus influence too somewhere, is that...
💬Brian: Bauhaus? Well, I don't have a Bauhaus record, I never had one. I never really listened to Bauhaus or Peter Murphy so it's possible but it's probably an accident.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Right.
💬Brian: But everyone knows the Ziggy Stardust cover and Bela Lugosi's Dead and stuff like that but I never had any of their records at home.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Right. A purely aesthetic question, Brian: "Every album you have your hair shortened, is that a gamble?"
💬Brian: No not really but I think it's important to stay one haircut ahead of your fans.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, okay. So does that mean that when your fans come to see you at your gigs: short hair?
💬Brian: Well you can always cut your hair but you can't force it to grow, that's the problem. I had short hair on holiday and then I ended up making an album and what can you do but wear a wig.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah no it's fine you look good.
💬Brian : Thanks.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Don't wear a wig (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So why does it end so abruptly? A bit like I Want You (She's So Heavy) by the Beatles.
💬Brian: That was Jim Abbiss' idea. I have a pretty crude metaphor, but I'm not going to say it on the radio.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yes, please do, it's after 11pm.
💬Brian: Well it's when you pull your finger out of your ass, it goes a little bit like this.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: That was a nice metaphor. There's another metaphor in French that says: "I'm going to Kärcher your cave".
💬Brian : I didn't know that one...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. And the genesis of that track we just heard from the album? (Protect Me From What I Want)
💬Brian: It was written at the very end of the Black Market Music session and it was more of an "exorcism" song. Songs that come out, that you almost throw up, without really having to do much work intellectually and writing on them. It's almost stream of consciousness. When you have something inside you that is so unbearable that you have to get it out. We were making music so it was natural for me to get those emotions out in that way. It was a kind of exorcism, a kind of therapy I guess.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: When you start a recording session, well an introduction that will maybe last... How long did it take to record the album?
💬Brian: It took four months over a six month period. Black Market Music took nine months. This time we wanted to do it in a quicker way, just had to make decisions early on that's all.

Photo credit unknown

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Are there days when we don't do much, even when the studio is booked? Are there times when we play covers, covers a bit to get into the...
💬Brian: It's more if there's a Queens of The Stone Age gig the day before. We don't do much the day after. It happened while we were doing the... We went to see the Queens play with Dave Grohl on drums. It was maybe the 20th time we saw them play but it was really something amazing.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: I have a few more questions coming up: "What do you think of U2?"
💬Brian: We always loved U2 and still do. When we toured with U2 it was like being part of the biggest circus in the world. It was a great experience.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: What about the relationship you had with them even though you were the opening act?
💬Brian: Yeah they are very very generous, they are very friendly. We even went on their private jet and stuff, it was nice.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: There's no problem of "I'll turn the sound down for you at the beginning, I'll mess up your sound a little bit"?
💬Brian : I think all the opening acts are always not so loud because the ears of the U2 fans have come...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: To listen to U2.
💬Brian: Yeah they came for that. But they've been very, very nice.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: A question about the venues: "Do you like the Olympia as a venue?"
💬Brian: We love it. I came out of the Olympia last week crying. It was a very emotional thing for me. It's a fantastic thing.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Another question a bit symbolic: "What do you think of the French public? I know that the French public is always very warm. There was a shot today on the Champs at Virgin, I heard it was quite friendly. How do you perceive the French public?
💬Brian: It's an enormously generous audience, they've accepted us with open arms from the first day of Placebo. Placebo and the French public share a very, very continental romanticism and it's also because we grew up with the French culture that there is a bond.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So for those who have listened to you and discovered you tonight and those who love you and have known you for a long time, what would you have to say to them? If you had a word to say to them?
💬Brian : We rock!

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So before we leave, Brian and Stef, you chose a record. This is Steve's choice.
💬Steve: The Kills.
💬Brian: The Kills, it's a new band but we've known Jami, Hotel, that's his name in this band, for a long time. I've known him for 13 years, we went to university together. We toured a lot with his old bands. He really found an artistic partner in Alisson and he has something very incredible. We went to see them in Cologne last week and it was a bit like watching the Velvet Underground or something. It was really something so special and so unique that now we're all about the Kills and he's a very, very good friend of ours. It makes us very, very happy that he makes music like that.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Good music. There's a band that we've been playing for a few days in Pop Rock Station that will be your opening act I think on the UK tour. It is ...
💬Brian: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah. It's got the nostalgia of rockabilly and at the same time the potency of punk.
💬Brian : That's true, yes.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: This is for the UK tour. Is there a band planned for the French tour?
💬Brian: I think we're playing with Operator who played with us at the Olympia. Yeah it's almost definite, almost.

Photo credit: Oliver Bernardt

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: We'll listen to The Kills and anyway thanks for coming all the way here. It was a real pleasure to have you here. We were supposed to finish at 11pm, it's half an hour later. We had a great time together. I hope everyone shared that at home.
💬Brian: Thank you very much, we really enjoyed it and thank you for the session it was really...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Well done for the album and for the session on our side too it was really... Hooray for the music.
💬Brian : Yeah. Thank you very much.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Thank you for stopping by.
💬Brian: Thanks Francis.


⭐𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆
🎥 https://bit.ly/3EdeeVw

⭐𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑷𝒐𝒑 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒁𝒆́𝒈𝒖𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒚𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏
📢 https://bit.ly/3H0udrD 🎵💖

Post by Laetitia
Translation and transcription by Laetitia

🌟 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐩 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 by 𝐙𝐞́𝐠𝐮𝐭 (part 1) 🌟

"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆." (𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰)


🔸 Dear all , for the last week of the year, I'd like to share with you an interview, with the best French radio presenter (this is quite subjective of me I must admit 😄 ), mister 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒔 𝒁𝒆́𝒈𝒖𝒕 ! On the March 28, 2003, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 made an acoustic concert broadcasted on RTL 2, hosted by the band's dear friend, Francis Zégut, on his program 𝑃𝑜𝑝 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. It was the first time Zégut interviewed the band.

On that very day, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 played a special set where they first interpreted 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑃𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 and 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑒 in acoustic version. On the interview, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 explained the recording process of 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒔, the way 𝐽𝑖𝑚 𝐴𝑏𝑦𝑠𝑠 did approach the songs and how the band and him managed to create a symbiosis so that the songs reached a new dimension. Why and how they've chosen this specific title for the album. And you can enjoy 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 speaking French as well ! :D

𝐴𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑠 𝑍𝑒́𝑔𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜. 𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 ! :D 🔸

Photo credit: RTL2

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Good evening. Placebo, what do you think of the credits?
💬 Brian : It's great, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead together.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, it was mixed and produced by the producers here.
💬Brian : You could do a bootleg with it.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: You think so?
💬Brian: Why not! It was all the rage last year.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Bootlegs?
💬Brian: Yeah. Take two songs and put them together.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, make versus a little bit... First question before talking about the album, do you have a lot of bootlegs of your own?
💬Brian: Yeah. There's a lot of bootlegs that you can buy in markets, things like that, in second hand shops. There's nothing you can do about it. But when you see them, you take them to listen to the quality.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah.
💬Brian : But we don't pay them.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Okay. Thanks for being here Stefan. Push the red button.
💬Stefan: Hi. Good evening.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Hi Stefan, and then Steve too.
💬Brian: He always pushes the off button.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: We are together for an hour. You've brought a couple of records with you, one of which we played not too long ago and which was your opening act in England. We're mainly here to talk about Sleeping With Ghosts, which is the new Placebo album. You were in France not too long ago but you'll be back, and we'll talk about that a little later. Off air, this afternoon and after searching the net, because we're always digging around a bit before welcoming people to find out a bit more. This sentence, "Sleeping With Ghosts", caught my attention. So I thought maybe if I typed it into a search engine, it would take me somewhere. In fact I wasn't too far from where it eventually led me. You did a heist on that phrase there.
💬Brian: Yeah, it was a line from a war photography book by an Englishman called Donald McCollin, and I saw it at someone's house.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: In the library of a friend.
💬Brian: In his library. And the sentence stayed with me for years and years and years and I thought maybe one of these four, it's so beautiful that I might steal it.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Okay, so you stole it. Not only the title but you made a song.
💬Brian: We wrote the song first but we didn't know the album was going to be called Sleeping with ghosts. We're always looking for a title that's not the title of a song because it puts a bit of pressure on not just one song but twelve, on the whole album. We couldn't find anything that was as good as Sleeping with ghosts so we stuck with it. But still, the song came first.

Photo credit: Jean Baptiqte Mondino

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. It's a beautiful track and it's a really beautiful song at the same time because there's a little bit of electro that comes into this album that at the same time mixes modernity with a melancholy. It's a really beautiful song...
💬Brian: I thought it was a title that worked for war photography but the title was so deep that it could be applied to almost anything. It was quite ambiguous but something very moving, that's why it stuck with me.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. Let's play The bitter end which is the first single from the album (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Wow, as they say, it kicks ass and with the sound treatment, it does it well anyway. There are a lot of fans who have known you for a long, long time and then there are those who are listening tonight and who have been discovering Placebo for a while with the new single, but are discovering the band. So why do you speak French so well in the first place Brian?
💬Brian: My grandfather was French, the name Molko is French too, but me and Stefan grew up in Luxembourg. You learned German and I grew up with French, with French TV of course and comics and all that.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Alright, literature, comics and so on. The second question to find out a little bit more about you, I'm addressing both Stefan and Steve, at what point do you feel you become a musician and are born to do this in the end?
💬Brian: It was when he was 11 years old, his brother wouldn't lend him his guitar.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. But at no point did he think he was going to do another job? Carpenter, mechanic, etc?
💬Steve : No.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok so he's a born musician right.
💬Brian : He must have done a lot of jobs.

Photo credit:  James Sharrock

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yes, small jobs like we all do. What about Stefan?
💬Stefan: When I was 12, I wrote a song, I took it with me to school and played it to my friends and they said it was a really good song so that's how I found I could write songs.
💬Brian: That was when you were 2 years old?
💬Stefan : 12 years old.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok, and did you know you were going to play in a rock band or did you start with classical studies, piano, things like that?
💬Stefan: No, I started with drums and then with bass and then it was the keyboard. I didn't know, I just wanted to make music.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok, just to make music. It's noticeable in the band anyway, you're all multi-instrumentalists in the end, that everyone can move from one instrument to another.
💬Brian: It's always been like that, we've always tried to make the sound of five people with three. But we never limited ourselves to one specific role because we thought it was quite boring and because we started out that way, quite arrogant so we thought why limit ourselves to one instrument. I want to play this, this, this. And we've continued to have this philosophy on all the albums we've done. We now have five people on stage but it's still the creative triangle in the studio that we respect and it gives us a lot of freedom because we haven't defined a specific role, we can play what we want to play. It gives us a big sense of freedom, we can experiment with whatever we want.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Do you learn to play music in a self-taught way, that is to say you sit in front of a keyboard, a guitar and try things out or do you take lessons?
💬Brian: Me and Steve. I learned the guitar and I'm still learning to play the piano. Steve, he's learnt the drums. We have a pretty instinctive approach. Stefan has learned music in several schools. He has a more technical approach and there is a balance I think with that.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: We're going to listen to Sleeping With Ghosts which is one of my favourite tracks on the album. If you have any questions for Placebo (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Was it the first time you heard it on the radio Brian?
💬Brian : Yeah, I'm surprised.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Are you surprised at yourself?
💬Brian: Yes, I'm a little bit shocked. It was very very beautiful.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: By the composition ? The production?
💬Brian: The production, yes. It comes out really well.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: After the break, we'll talk about The Bitter End, where it came about, how it came about. And then we'll talk about your first choice.
💬Brian : Ok. (...)

Photo credit:  James Sharrock

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So let's talk about music and only music. We played The Bitter End. There was a long break between you guys, between the two albums, the end of the tour, the end of the promo, a bit of a recharge, etc. What did you do separately during this break? Did you travel ? Did any of you go fishing?
💬Brian: For me, I found my first real home. I bought it. I came back down to earth in a very domestic way, I became the guy who needed to buy furniture, dishes and cutlery, stuff like that so it was...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: And where is this house?
💬Brian: In London. It's a flat. I found my first... "my Home".

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: When you walk in, you think: "this is where I'm going to put my bags".
💬Brian : Yeah, so I dealt with that.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Okay. Steve, what did you do on that break?
💬Brian: He got together with his family, spent time with his little girl, told her stories from the tour.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Ok. People don't speak the same language as us, etc. What about Stefan?
💬Stefan: The same for me. Seeing family and friends again. Moving around Spain a bit and writing some music, things like that. Sleep a lot.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, it's good because on tour you don't sleep much.
💬Brian : No not much. Between the airports and the tour buses... Everything is moving while you're sleeping.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: You've done a lot of things besides that, you've done a bit of mixing in clubs as well.
💬Brian : Yeah I've played the DJ...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: A collaboration with Trash Palace too.
💬Brian: Yeah. I did two songs for the Trash Palace album. But that wasn't really working. It was just stuffs I did with some friends. It took me an hour to do it. I wouldn't have done it if it was work. It was fun.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Would you allow yourselves to do solo projects, like releasing a Brian Molko album, a Steve album, a Stefan album?
💬Brian: No, we feel really strong together as a strong entity, as a rock entity. But we don't mind, we don't have a problem when one of us goes to work with a mate because we have a lot of trust in each other. So it's not really a problem.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: A real unity between the three of us. Even if there is indeed an extra musician, a bass player who was there this afternoon, but this is really the unity. Let's talk about The Bitter End which is the first single. How was it born? Where was it born? Was it born on the edge of a table? How was it born?
💬Brian: The Bitter End was written and recorded in two days at the very end of the Sleeping with ghosts session, at the end of the mix. We spent a lot of time on it, we were very precious with the mix and all that. We were using a lot of technology. We really wanted to do something very rootsy, something a bit punk, so we were jamming in the studio, while mixing. And then The Bitter End came about in a very spontaneous way.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Okay. It was born again as a three-piece.
💬Brian : Three of us, yes.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Okay. And Sleeping With Ghosts, is that another writing?
💬Brian: Yeah, at least, there were three different versions of Sleeping With Ghosts. We started with a little bit more of a Dj Shadow version, a little bit more hip hop and then we did a more acoustic version and then Jim did something completely... He tore it up, like he did with a lot of our stuff on this album, and he put it back in a very, very surprising way for us. We rolled with it, we did that on several tracks on this album. He kept surprising us with ideas that we never thought of. That's what we were excited about during the session.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: You came up with ideas during the recording and then during the production and recording, something else happened, your songs exploded with the producer.
💬Brian: Yeah, there were even songs that on the album were waltzes, that completely changed, that are not anymore. Yeah, they used to be 3/4 songs, now they're 4/4, 5/4 songs. It's funny.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Will these songs or demos that were practically done be bonus singles?
💬Brian: Yeah, we like to do that, we like to do covers, different versions of all our songs. Because we think if you can do that with a song, then it's a really good song. You can play it any way you want like With or without you by U2. You can go into a hotel, and a musician plays it on the piano. The search for a song like that is also very important because it's a universal song a little bit. That's why we do acoustic versions, not really with an acoustic guitar but rather a cabaret version. Sometimes we imagine ourselves in a movie.

Photo credit:  James Sharrock

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: But you were in the cabaret earlier.
💬Brian : Exactly.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So your choice... Everyone brought a CD, so there will be Stefan's and Steve's choice a little bit later. Tu as choisi Janis Joplin.
💬Brian: Of course. One of my heroines, a huge influence, the music of my childhood. Yeah, she's a super strong character that inspires me, who broke a lot of taboos and was stronger than a guy, in a 60's guy world.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, she was the first great female rock singer, with a voice.
💬Brian : A beautiful voice yeah.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: A fatal fate but it still made a lot of things happen.
💬Brian: But I've always been attracted to people like Billie Holiday or Janis Joplin or PJ Harvey or even Björk who have completely unique voices and I don't think there's anyone who... There are people who try to sound like her...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yeah, no it won't happen. She had a gift, it fell on her and it's hard to reproduce. (...)

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: It was Janice Joplin, a musical figure... Placebo, Sleeping With Ghosts, it's the new album. This afternoon Steve, Stefan and you, Brian, came to record an acoustic session. So you played three songs: This Picture, Plasticine and Special K. Two of them are on the new album. How did This picture and Plasticine come about?
💬Brian: This Picture started out in a form quite similar to what you're going to hear. We wrote it on tour and it was a very REM song, an atmospheric piano thing, quite abstract. Then in the studio, we covered it in a punk way but the original version was...

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: It was close to this one.
💬Brian: That's it. Plasticine, Stef came into the studio with the music as it is on the album, almost exactly as it is and then we did a little bit of a cabaret version for you today.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Everyone in the band brought their idea, their music, their text eventually... Steve was the same?
💬Brian : Steve started writing songs on guitar.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: So far it's got a sound we know but there's a little bit of electro in it. Can we say that Placebo's sound is heading towards something like Gorillaz for example? Blur?
💬Brian: I think we'll always have to be an organic rock band in some way or another.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: But with the sound, ideas and technology of nowadays.
💬Brian: Yeah I think that's important, you can't be an artistic ostrich and stick your head in the sand and say that technology doesn't exist. And to make a modern sound, you have to use the tools of today. But when we go on stage, we are interested in making rock music.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Yes, we can feel it when you are on stage.
💬Brian : But we listen to a lot of hip hop and a lot of electro but I don't think in the future we're going to be Kraftwerk or anything like that because we're quite obsessed with keeping it very human.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: Bass, guitar and drums for a start.
💬Brian: Initially yeah. But it's not completely super necessary on every song but it's what we do best too. You can't turn your back on who you are.

𝗭𝗲́𝗴𝘂𝘁: It's true that Placebo is great on stage. We're going to listen to your afternoon's set, This Picture, Plasticine and Special K. Thanks a lot for this, because there is the sound, the interpretation in one take, very professional. And your voice too. You were talking about Janis Joplin but you also have a gift that fell to you.
💬Brian: Thank you.


⭐𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆
🎥 https://bit.ly/3pXVnIU ✨

⭐𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒕 𝑹𝑻𝑳2
📢 https://bit.ly/3ynEqLL 🎵💗


Post by Laetitia
Translation and transcription by Laetitia

🔸⭐🔸𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗜𝗠 𝗔𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗦𝗦🔸⭐🔸

Dear friends,
today I have for you a translation from a Polish interview that Placebo provided to the well-known Polish music publicist Piotr Stelmach shortly after the release of "Sleeping With Ghosts" album. I really like the passage where Brian talks about the album producer 𝗝𝗶𝗺 𝗔𝗯𝗯𝗶𝘀𝘀..

Photo credit: Carole Epinette

🔸𝐽𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑦 𝐴𝑏𝑏𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔:
⭐Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Björk, DJ Shadow, Sneaker Pimps, IAMX, Massive Atack, The Verve, Editors, Adele, Amy MacDonald.⭐
So let's read why our guys wanted to work with such an important person in the music world.
🔸⭐🔸


🔸𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 (𝗡𝗢𝗡)𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗭𝗢𝗡𝗘, 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟯🔸
💬/***/ 𝑂𝑘, 𝑙𝑒𝑡'𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚. 𝐼 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦 7𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑀𝐼 𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑤. 𝐼 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡ℎ. ...
[loud laughter of all three]
BM: "Great! And that's it!"


💬 𝐷𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝐵𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑?
BM: "In a way, yes. It was our response to the relationship that developed in the studio between us and our producer Jim Abbiss. First of all, this time we wanted to work with someone who grew up in the culture of British dance music. It wasn't supposed to be some American rock producer. We believe that rock must move forward, take on futuristic features and adopt elements of contemporary, culturally important genres such as electronics and hip hop.
Jim Abbiss has worked with such artists as DJ Shadow, Sneaker Pimps, U. N. K. L. E., Bjork, and Massive Attack. And that's partly why we decided on his person. He had a bit of freedom, and we wanted someone to give us a hard kick in the ass. We expected Jim to keep us motivated at every stage of creating new songs."


💬 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡? 𝐷𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜 𝑎 "𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔"?
BM: "Come on! It was terrifying! During the first week of work, he presented his ideas to us. We were devastated. He rearranged the songs, changed their pace and duration. Honestly, he fucked everything up [laughs]!
And then, as if nothing had happened, he asked: "What do you guys say?" We didn't know what to say because the dumpling was in our throat.
Imagine taking a Fiat Uno apart and putting it back together like a Skoda. Absolute shock!
Jim drifted hard towards the electronics and we started jamming Bulletproof Cupid in response, as if to remind him, "Hey buddy, we're still a rock band!"


However, something changed during the session. Jim and I started making a very strong and clear thread of understanding. I think the beginning of this collaboration was so shocking because until now we were obsessed with controlling our own music and had a hard time giving it up.
We could not imagine that anyone with their boots and shoes would get into the whole process and disturb us.
After a while, we realized this and came to the conclusion that we had to adopt a whole new way of listening, understanding, and creating music in order to get a convincing, powerful effect as a result.


And I have the impression that this can be heard on Sleeping With Ghosts. To sum up, Bulletproof Cupid was our form of reaction to changes. We put ourselves up like some gang saying, That's us, that's who we are!"

Photo credit:  Iko Ouro-Preto

So, dear soulmates, did you enjoy Brian's answers?
🎬 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 - 𝑌𝑇 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤, 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐽𝑖𝑚 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑠.
https://bit.ly/3FwPBEI
🔸⭐🔸

Post by Marti

⭐ ALEX CHILTON AND THE SONG HOLOCAUST⭐

Today, on December 28th, which is 𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑿 𝑪𝑯𝑰𝑳𝑻𝑶𝑵’𝑺 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀, we’re going to remember this musician and his song 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭 covered by Placebo.

Photo credit: Marcelo Costa

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨)
🎵 https://bit.ly/3IrlTmc 🎵

Holocaust was originally released by 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒐𝒏’s band 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 on their 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 album in 1978 (first recorded in 1971).
𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 - 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭
🎵 https://bit.ly/3puirP1 🎵

This song is “𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒐, 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆.” (𝐽𝑜𝑒 𝑇𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑖 𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑘)
Placebo couldn’t go wrong with this one: Brian’s vocals contributed a lot to the heartbreaking atmosphere of the track.

Placebo started performing Holocaust live since 1999. In 2000, it appeared as B-side on the 𝑺𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒆 single and in 2003, was included into a compilation album 𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬.
Holocaust was only played 10 times on stage. Placebo tried it out live on February 12, 1999, at Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland; the last time they played it on December 1, 2003 at House of Blues, Anaheim, CA, USA.
The shared version was recorded at the 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝟐𝟏 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒔, 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒈𝒊𝒖𝒎, 𝒐𝒏 𝑱𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝟐𝒏𝒅, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟗.

𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐎𝐍 (December 28, 1950 – March 17, 2010) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star.

📍Chilton was age 16 when he began his musical career as the lead singer of the Memphis blue-eyed soul group the DeVilles. The quintet achieved a measure of local fame that brought them to the producers’ attention. The band was renamed the Box Tops and released their famous song “The Letter” which became a surprise hit, spending four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1967. The Box Tops experienced quite a big success over the following years before disbanding in 1970.

📍In 1971, Alex Chilton joined fellow songwriter Chris Bell to form the core of Big Star. The quartet released #1 Record in 1972, and the album’s exquisitely crafted power pop met with critical acclaim. Melancholy lyrics, sweet harmonies, and jangly guitars combined to create a sound that was described as ahead of its time. “September Gurls” from the band’s follow-up, Radio City (1974) considered to be Chilton’s masterpiece. Big Star’s final album, Third (also released as Sister Lovers; 1978), offered a glimpse of the noise-pop sound that would emerge in the 1980s with groups such as the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine.

📍Chilton embarked on a solo career in the late 1970s and worked as a producer. Chilton’s solo albums met with mixed reviews, and the legacy of Big Star overshadowed much of his work throughout the 1980s and 1990s. After a battle with alcoholism in the early 1980s, he moved to New Orleans, where he worked different unrelated to music jobs to support himself.

📍Such alternative rock bands as R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, and the Replacements appreciated Chilton’s groundbreaking work and admitted Big Star’s influence in their music. Alex Chilton retired from recording new material in the 21st century, but he remained a prolific live performer until his death.

📍Chilton was taken to the hospital in New Orleans on March 17, 2010, complaining of health problems, and died the same day of a heart attack.
In the 2012 documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me a lot of alternative rock musicians shared their memories of Alex Chilton’s seminal career.


📜 𝐋𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐒
Your eyes are almost dead
Can't get out of bed
And you can't sleep

You're sitting down to dress
And you're a mess
You look in the mirror

You look in your eyes
Say you realize

Everybody goes
Leaving those who fall behind
Everybody goes
As far as they can,
They don't just care.

They stood on the stairs
Laughing at your errors
Your mother's dead
She said, "Don't be afraid."

Your mother's dead
You're on your own
She's in her bed

Everybody goes
Leaving those who fall behind
Everybody goes
As far as they can
They don't just care

You're a wasted face
You're a sad-eyed lie
You're a holocaust.

Post by Olga

#Placebo #PlaceboAnyway #PlaceboWorld #BrianMolko #StefanOlsdal #Molko #Soulmates #PlaceboHistory #PlaceboLive #PlaceboConcert #PlaceboSong #PlaceboCover #Holocaust #AlexChilton

📌 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒 📌

𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴?
“I think I'm going to lock myself till new year. That whole atmosphere about Christmas is so hysterical: just stressed people in town, who are swiftly looking for a good gift... And if you want it or not, irrevocable you'll be looking back to the past year and all the shit will come back again. Depressions, suicide, and then you'll be stuck with you family too. I'll be glad when it's new year.“
(Samsonic, December 2003)

Photo credit: Stephen Sweet

Post by Silke

⭐𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐊𝐎 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐁𝐂 𝟔 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐑𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐎 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟗 (𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐)⭐

Here’s the second part of Brian's interview with Steve Lamacq from May 2009 (you may remember the first one I shared in my last Thursday post). Besides discussing then new 𝑩𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏 album, Steve offered Brian kind of a game regarding some of the festivals Placebo used to perform. Again, the conversation turned to be deeply meaningful yet absolutely relaxed and funny at times.

Photo credit: Rock for People Festival, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, July 6, 2009

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Saturday night in Sheffield! Absolutely loved the new stuff, it sounded really vital. Thank you for a great night!
And Zoe from Liverpool says ‘I have a question for Brian, do you know the future setlist of the tour? Will you be playing the songs off the first album as well as this new album?’
It must be quite a challenge now - isn't it? – to try to fit all these pieces of the puzzle together into a coherent setlist?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: It is, it is, and we've always had a very kind of love-hate relationship with our back catalogue. It’s always been kind of a struggle to get a set together of the tunes of our own that we actually like enough to play on an evening. Now, there’s an album six, we’ve got enough material that we can kind of keep everybody happy, I suppose, ourselves and the audience too. But we will be playing the stuff from the first album.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: So, material from the new album… there’s a track on the album which is called The Never-Ending Why which is a really rallying cry! It’s like a rebel song, it’s like really big, almost old-fashioned new wave song in the song.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yeah, I mean…

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Is it in the list?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yeah, it’s definitely in the list! I mean it’s a song I guess about the questions that we all have that never get answered. ‘Why there’s so much pain, suffering, and tragedy in the world?’ I guess the message of that song is that ‘Well, you can spend an entire life looking for those answers and you may never get them… And then it’s gone… and isn’t that better just accept that and go on with your life?’

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Are you too analytical at times in yourself, about certain things? Is there a slight OCD [Obsessive-compulsive disorder]?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Absolutely, I am a complete mental masturbator, you know, I’m somebody who has too much to think. It kind of describes me very well. (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Because it’s another song, Devil In The Details, which makes me think about that.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yes, absolutely, that’s the voices in your head. I have a joke about, like some people have a little angel and a demon on a shoulder where I have two demons and there’s some shouting match going on.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Bickering demons!
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yeah, yeah!

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Would be nice to spend a week in your head. (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: You’ve just mentioned live gigs. This is very important point about the band, I mean the popularity of the group through various different countries all around, particularly all around Europe. You often do a myriad of festivals, again, to a lot of which I’ve been. So can I try out this?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Go for it!

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: I'm just going to give you a list, some of the names of the festivals you're doing.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Ok.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: What’s one sentence which describes these festivals? As I mentioned you’ve probably done some of these before. So, off the top of your head, what do you think of when I say ‘May 30th, Pinkpop’?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Pinkpop… it’s always a very eclectic bill at Pinkpop, it’s in Holland and it’s strange because it’s a mixture of bands that you'd never find anywhere else.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Okay, Rock am Ring?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Oh, big German behemoth of a festival! (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)

Photo credit: Ullstein Bild

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Nova Rock? What is, where’s Nova Rock?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Nova Rock is in Austria and that's a heavy rock festival. That’s like a festival that Metallica - I don’t know if Slipknot are playing this year – it’s that stuff kind of festival.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: How do you get those festivals right now?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Those festivals scare me, absolutely scare me. I always feel like the gay one in a class at a festival like that.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Do you have crew envy? Because I measured that Metallica come along with fourteen buses of people, do they?!
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Well, they do. They also come along with these sort of invisible barriers that nobody’s allowed to cross, that kind of thing! They have like a force field around them wherever they go, so you never get close enough to Metallica to sort of get envious. (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Rock Wave?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Rock Wave is in Athens.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Wow, sounds good!
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yeah, and that’s a fantastic festival. We always have a great time there, it’s really warm and the Greek audience is a very demonstrative.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: And so, one more I think. I like the way that most, nearly all, of these festivals apart from Reading which is used to be called Reading Rock over here, we don’t have ‘rock’ in a title of any our festivals. But anywhere else you go in Europe, ‘rock’ has to be a simplicity part of the title.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Absolutely!

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: So, Rock for People?
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Ah I knew you’re going to choose that one! I think that one is in Czechoslovakia, isn’t it? I think that we haven't played that yet but, you know, much more has been heard with the relation to the title: ‘Rock for People? Like Rock for Cows or Rock for Pigs?’ (𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑠)

Photo credit: Petrklappercom 

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: Anyways, you’re playing soon Rock for People, you might be listening online, you might get to know the festival, do you drop us a line? [𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑, 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙]
Highlights of your own and highlights of this new album: because I prefer this record to Meds, this latest record maybe because it’s more…
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: That’s ok.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: …a coherent type of record. And also maybe just because there’s like a glimmer of sunshine.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Absolutely! We have a tendency not to take a lot of decisions before we go into the studio. But this time around, Stefan and I did have a discussion about the fact that we felt that Meds was perhaps, at least emotionally, one of our darkest records and it didn’t offer a great deal of hope and was perhaps misrepresenting us as people. We really thought that this time around we really wanted to do something that did offer a glimmer of hope, a little bit more upbeat and optimistic because of that.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: As soon as you’re saying this, it seems to be it poses some questions, it’s kind of reflective in places that you seem to come with some sort of conclusion ‘I don’t want to be over here, I don’t know where I want to be’ and it finishes with the track called Kings Of Medicine. But as a whole, if there’s one thing that ties it all together, it’s almost like an old saying ‘What doesn’t kill you, can only make you stronger’. That’s what this record feels like.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Yes, I feel very much like a bit of a survivor I guess, within the industry and also as a human being, having what I’ve been through the past 15 years which have been kind of crazy and quite aborted for the band. And I think that will to survive, that will to carry on, is what’s important and significant.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒒: It’s a great place to finish it! [...] Thank you so much Brian!
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐: Thank you Steve!
(𝐵𝐵𝐶 6 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜, 𝑀𝑎𝑦 11𝑡ℎ, 2009)

Transcription by Olga
Post by Olga

⭐𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗨𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗟 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗠𝗢𝗟𝗞𝗢 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 (𝗙𝗔𝗥 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭)⭐

"𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐’𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏’𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒔." (𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘔𝘤𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘺)

Photo credits at the end od the text

🔸 Today, I'd like to share an article about "𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐" by 𝐹𝑎𝑟 𝑂𝑢𝑡. It was published on Brian Molko's birthday, December 10th, 2021. 🔸

What a beautiful tribute 💕
Enjoy reading as much as I did 😊

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐

📕 Placebo’s Brian Molko has established himself as one of the most significant figures in the world of music over the past 30 years. Defying musical, aesthetic, thematic and personal mores, he and Placebo partner in crime Stefan Olsdal showed that music did not have to be the boisterous and misogynistic place it was in the mid-late 1990s amongst all the Britpop and nu-metal.


Following in the footsteps of Lou Reed, David Bowie and perhaps even Leigh Bowery, Molko shaped Placebo into an outfit that helped to bring the discussion of sexuality, fluidity and politics into the mainstream and change pop culture for the better.


To put things into perspective, when the 1997 single ‘Nancy Boy’ went to number four in the UK Singles Charts, the band stuck out like a sore thumb, but a refreshing and necessary one, to say the least. Discussing what were then taboo themes, the band’s message contained considerable weight, particularly when you match it against what Oasis were doing at the time with tracks like ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’.


Taking off when Britpop was at it the tail end of its commercial zenith, ironically, this proved to be very fortuitous for Molko and Placebo. They became the de jure band for all the outsiders, the square pegs in round holes, an outfit that didn’t relate to the bucket hat-wearing, alpha male brashness of the bustling music industry of the time.

Photo credit: Par Pope

It wasn’t all about sexuality, though. Molko’s lyrics touch on a whole host of challenging topics such as death, violence, teenage angst, drug use and the modern fascination with money. They often provide a means of escaping from humanity’s increasingly grim reality. The latest single, for example, ‘Surrounded by Spies’, discusses surveillance culture and the environmental collapse that world leaders are ignoring, showing that Molko always has his finger on the pulse.


Like Lou Reed, Molko has never been afraid to get into the nitty-gritty. This is one of the key facets of his brilliance, he’s a realist, a cynic even, and this again has filled his music with a pulp that many of his contemporaries could only have dreamed of having. There’s a reason why we’re still talking about Molko and Co. today and why, in comparison, Britpop eventually committed suicide by becoming a ridiculous caricature of itself, as did the mid-2000s indie scene. Placebo has, to varying degrees of success, remained relevant.


Again like Reed, Molko’s lyrical style positions him as somewhat of a Gonzo journalist stuck right in the middle of society’s most critical debates, peeling back the curtain and revealing the truth. He’s a witness that provides lessons in how we can better ourselves by outlining our faults, much like Thomas Pynchon or Hunter S. Thompson. He’s also captivated us by instilling a thrill to all of his music, much like the stomach churn you get after popping a pill. It’s a little naughty, but one hell of a ride.


Musically, in the early days, his down-tuned guitar and Generation X attitude aligned him with Sonic Youth, Nirvana and even riot grrrl groups like Pussy Riot. He espoused a caustic, sardonic wit that constantly proved that society’s established mores are flawed and something to be laughed at. “𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑠𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒,” Molko said in 2017, when he explained the band’s early ethos to The Independent. “𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑐 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑖𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 ‘𝑂ℎ, 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟’,” ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑑. “𝑆ℎ𝑒’𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑡! 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑂𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠-𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑒𝑠𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑢𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑡; 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑖𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒.”

Photo credit: Alfred Steffen

It’s a shame Kurt Cobain didn’t live long enough to witness Placebo’s rise, as it is certain he would have been captivated. In many ways, they are Cobain’s subversive spiritual successors. Showing just how provocative they are, in 2013, the band teamed up with the literary master of satire, Bret Easton Ellis, to deliver the pertinent video for single ‘Loud Like Love’, and his narration on suburban secrets is another superb indication of Placebo’s artistic vision.


“𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑,” Molko told The Guardian in 2021. “𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ, 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑥 𝑛𝑜𝑤. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 90𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 – 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜, 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑜𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑦 1% – 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒’𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔”.


Another exemplary element of Molko’s artistry is that he has always tread his own path, staunch in his beliefs even if millions of dollars are offered to him. He once turned down the offer of a million euros to become a judge on the French version of The X Factor, saying “𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑” that could have persuaded him, regardless of the fact he’s bi-lingual and speaks French fluently.


Molko is driven by artistry and dedication to what is right. That’s what makes him such a refreshing breath of ice-cool air. He’s not a careerist or a money grabber, he’s Brian Molko, and he’s true to his own convictions. Considering that we live in the age of cultural pastiche, where rip-offs reign supreme both economically and musically, Molko continues to lead by example. 📖

(Mick McStarkey - faroutmagazine.co.uk)


🔸 I never thought about the fact that Kurt Cobain might have liked Placebo, but it seems like a no-brainer to me actually !

I really like this post by Mick McStarkey who has found the right words to describe the mind of Brian and Placebo. The last sentence, in my opinion, best defines Placebo's line of work throughout their career. And I'm sure that 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑀𝑒 𝐺𝑜 will have some interesting insights in this respect. 🔸

⭐ 𝑆𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 ? 𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒 ? ✨

Photo credit: Sebastien Dolidon

🎶 Let's listen (and watch !) to the first song that propelled Placebo to fame, 𝑁𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝐵𝑜𝑦 , and the latest song they released, 𝑆𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝐵𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑠 from their upcoming album, 𝑁𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑀𝑒 𝐺𝑜 🎶

⭐🎥 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒊 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 1996 https://bit.ly/3q8FNtN 🎵

⭐🎥 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒚 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔 https://bit.ly/3me1PKA 🎵

Photo credits collage: Robin (2), Liam Duke, David Willis, Scarlet Page, Joseph Llanes (2), Mads Perch / edit by Laetitia 

Post by Laetitia

🌟 𝘽𝙊𝙎𝘾𝙊 🌟

"𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝘽𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙤."
(𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘭𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘭)

🔸 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 is the last track of 𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒, the 7th album by 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜. It's an almost 7 minute long piano melody composed by 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑙𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑙. It is one of the first song to be written for 𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒, with the eponymous track.

The character in the song is calling for redemption because of his bad habits due to alcohol addiction and nasty behaviour towards his loved one. According to 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛, 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 is the most personal song he had ever written and his apology is directed " 𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 ". 🔸

Bosco 🎥 https://bit.ly/3o9nkg1 🎵

Photo credit: Jospeh Llanes, Screenshots from the video, edit by Laetitia

⭐ 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎𝐒 ⭐

🔸 The video was directed by 𝐾𝑦𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑧𝑎𝑟 and and released on March 2014. It tells a very interesting and tragic story: the worst disappointments and desillusions in love.

Alternate video 🎥 https://bit.ly/3wq2qNq 🎵


🔸 The song has been played only once live, during the 𝑀𝑇𝑉 𝑈𝑛𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑑 session. Recorded on 19 August 2015 at The London Studios. 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 said about this recording:

"We wanted to do something extraordinary, something that would challenge us. The process has been interesting, because we were creating something while we were performing it. That was something we had never done before. The simultaneity of the performance and the creation process was completely new for us.”

(𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥)

Live MTV Unplugged 🎥 https://bit.ly/3BTTxN9 🎵

🔸 There are many quotes from the band about 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 which give lots of details on what the song is about and how important this particular song is for 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛, also on the writing process.

𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚, 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 ! 🔸

Photo credit: Joseph Llanes

⭐ 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 ⭐

📢 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐. [...] 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 ?

💬 Very melancholic. It's about a relationship that is completely torn apart by addiction. It's not a depressing song. The fact that the narrator asks for forgiveness is very significant, as I said before, it's a desire to find some redemption.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘳𝘦̀𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘦̀𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦́𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘙𝘛𝘓2 - 2013)


📢 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐. 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 ?

💬 This is my apology to a very special person who must remain anonymous but... I am in all honesty, there is no story and no narrator. Therefore, it is still very difficult for me to hear Bosco without tears coming to my eyes.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰, 𝘒𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳)


📢 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 ?
💬 Bosco .

📢 𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒓 ?
💬 For me, 𝐵𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. It sounds the least like Placebo. It is a piano song with strings. There's hardly any guitar on it. It's very minimalist. It's very long . I think it's the one song that can transcend our identity and exist in its own context, without the necessary context of the band to give it meaning . Every band tries to write that one classic song and if you're lucky, you get to do it once in your career . Fleetwood Mac have done it many times, but they're geniuses. We may have got close to that classic song with Bosco. It may not be super classic because it's seven minutes long but that felt like the right amount of time to tell the story that needed to be told.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘝𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘐𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢, 2013)

📢 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 " 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎 ...
💬 This is a very sad song , tragic, the devastating effect of addiction on a relationship. This song makes me cry. This is one of the most honest and vulnerable song in our career. We managed to create a song that can exist outside the context of Placebo.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘓𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘪𝘳)

💬 It is probably the most honest I have ever been in a song. It's a process of catharsis and absolutely and very much directed at one person in particular.

You can write as many songs as you want to make amends to people you have hurt in your life but truthfully, the only amends that count is the living amend. It's how you behave in the future.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴.𝘤𝘰𝘮.𝘢𝘶)

💬 "I think every band tries to replicate their own identity in their songs . I would say that Bosco is definitely one of those songs."
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘒𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦.𝘢𝘵)

📢 𝑾𝒉𝒐'𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒌... ?
💬 (long awkward silence) It's hard, very hard to answer this question. It's such a personal text ... It's full of regrets ... I think it's the most intimate and honest song I have ever written. The song is a way to offer my sincere apologies to someone ... It would be too difficult for me to tell more about it, I'm unable to give more details. I've never been this vulnerable in a song. With hindsight, I believe in the "Nancy Boy" era, in the 90's, I never thought our band would be able to do a song like "Bosco". It's so far from where we started ...
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘔𝘢𝘨, 2013)

📢 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏.
💬 I didn’t know that…

📢 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 ‘𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐’ 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 ? 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝑫𝒐𝒏 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐, 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒈𝒊𝒖𝒎…
💬 Yeah, in Spain too. I think it’s also an Italian wine; it means ‘forest’ in Italy. In fact since Stefan started playing the piano on this song, he chose to give this name to the melody; then I wrote the lyrics. We couldn’t find a better title so we thought we should keep it; it’s quite abstract…there’s some sort of mystery in it. It can be interpreted in hundred ways and we love that ambiguity, the mystery that surrounds it. So we kept it.
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘗𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘔, 2013)

💬 It's about a tragic relationship , torn by addiction . It also speaks of the search for redemption , and asking for forgiveness .
(𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘰 - 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴)

Photo credit: Joseph Llanes

⭐ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐍 ⭐

💬 For me, the song that has a special place in my heart is Bosco. I remember the time that we wrote that song and it was in a very early stages of the album. I wrote the music and Brian was: “That is very beautiful. I have to write something that matches that.” So when he came in that day he said “Stef, I written the lyrics and let me know what you think ?” And he sang that song and I felt like my heart has been crushed, In a good way. Bosco is melancholic and beautiful at the same time. I think it’s that fine line about being in a dark place or sort of tackling that dark side of our emotions but doing it in a poetic way. And it’s about accepting those are the kind of feelings we all experience and rather than trying to shut them out by some form of substance or blocking them out with denial, it just tells you to let yourself to live through the process and moment. I think lyrics do that for him (Brian) as well. It’s a way for him to open up.
(𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘭𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘭 - 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳)


⭐ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 ⭐

"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒓𝒚"... Our dear 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒 had to precise this has nothing to do with mosquitoes or vampires ! 😄
💬 “It’s more or less about a failed relationship, maybe. Brian writes the lyrics so he can tell you more in depth but I don’t think it’s about a mosquito.”

Photo credit: Joseph Llanes

⭐ 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐑 ⭐

🔸 All these quotes are very, very serious but.... have you ever read that funny answer by 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 at Linea Rock in 2013 ? When Barbara Caserta asked 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 about the song, he replied in an ironic and amused tone:

💬 "We wrote that in an Italian forrest, that's why it's called Bosco.

📢 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑩𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐, 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 ?
💬 We built campfire, we took magic mushrooms and we put face paint on and we did a sort of shamanic ritual in the Italian forrest and people from the other side, from another universe, sort of came and they took our hands and they placed them on a little miniature piano and we wrote that way"
(𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢 𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬 - 2013)

𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑜 ! 😄 🔸

🔸 The vocals and lyrics provide this track a total sincere and touching dimension, as if it were all a matter of life and death (by which I mean mental). The call for redemption is emphasised by the dominant piano and the strings which add a genuine and honest dramatic inflection. All this adds depth to the theme of alcoholism and the harm it can do to a couple.

We will never know if the person Brian is talking to has forgiven him...

I hope so. 🔸

Post by Laetitia

💥𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘: 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑💥

“𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐” 𝐚𝐧𝐝 “𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑” are both collaborations of Brian and French band Indochine officiel. The songs were released 16 years ago on December 19th 2005. Three different versions were recorded: ”Pink water 2” is the English interpretation sung by Brian and Indochine frontman Nicola Sirkis. Their duet in French and English is called ”Pink water 3”.

Photo credits at end of text

💿 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟮
🎵 http://bit.ly/2U2IAE3 🎵
Both songs were released on Indochine's album ”Alice and June Limited edition” , the French one also appears on the regular album. The single edit doesn't feature Brian because the bands' record labels decided to put out a version without Brian as guest vocalist. Nicola Sirkis: ”[…] his own record company refused to let us release it with him.” I don't understand this decision, but I agree with Nicola who also said: ”What is important is that the song exists, it is historic, and it comes in different versions.”

 
💿  𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟯
🎵 https://bit.ly/30OZZpy 🎵

In an interview with Rock Sound Brian explained how the song came into being: “Nicola wanted to write something in English. He called me and asked me to help correct his grammatical errors”. Sirkis made it more concrete: "In fact, I had started working on a text in French but on an English gibberish. I asked him to help me with that, because I wanted an English version of this song, but consequently he made me a full text and even added voice melodies” (Indofr, 2005).
Brian also agreed to be on hand when Indochine would record ”Pink water” so he could help the French artist with the phonetics. A few days before the meeting he called Sirkis and offered that he'd sing it as a duet wit him. Nicola about the session: ”We did the recording on a Sunday in a studio near his home, Brian came with a bottle of Chablis and we spent the afternoon together”. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

📌 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 📌
Pink water is a distinct type of wastewater associated with TNT. It is produced from equipment washing processes after munitions filling or demilitarization operations.

 Brian Molko and Nicola Sirkis in Nimes, France. Photo credit unknown 

📌 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥” 📌
📢 “It’s a song i’m proud of. I wrote it in my hotel room in Bangkok, when i spent time in Thailand.“
(Rock Magazine, December 2005)

📢 “We did that song for us, for our own pleasure, because we adore each other and to have the opportunity to work together. Many people have asked us to know if we were going to work together. We just had to find the good context, the reason to do it, and there was this song. We didn’t want to please the others, but we wanted to please us!“
(Rock Magazine, December 2005)

📹 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟯 (𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻)
🎵 http://bit.ly/2FS3tyS 🎵

📌 𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗔 𝗦𝗜𝗥𝗞𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡 “𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥” 📌
📢 ”It's quite interesting because his own record company refused to let us release it with him (it's the version with Nicola alone that was released as a single of Alice & June). I told him: "Look, you have written the lyrics, you could do what you want". Anyway, it proves that he likes the song and that, once again, his own record compagny is a big shit (laughs)! And nevermind, it doesn't matter, it's the business. What is important is that the song exists, it is historic, and it comes in different versions ...
I have seen him, he was in Paris in February, and the video was played, and he was disgusted that it was this version wich was released. On the other hand, I think that if he had really wanted to, he could have stressed and made his own record company give in. It is a bit strange, what happened with this song. I find it great, he found it great, we did it together, and so, the story ends there ...”
(Rock Mag N°78, June 2007)

Brian Molko and Nicola Sirkis in Nimes, France. Photo credit unknown

📜 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟮
Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late
So I’m gonna leave tonight

I can’t decide
If I’m the one you need
Or what you want out of life
I always thought
You’d be the one to leave
The one to change your mind

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Can’t take you with me
‘cause it’s very far
And you don’t have the time

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this place
Get me out of this place

Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late

I can’t decide
If I’m the one you need
Or what you want out of life
I always thought
You’d be the one to leave
The one to change your mind

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Before I met you
I was crushing cars
And I was doing fine

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this town
Before I drown in your deep
Pink water

I won’t remember your face
I can’t remember your frown
Because I’ll drown in your deep
Pink water

10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ...
5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1
Sky, I’m gonna leave tonight
You know, I’ve got a life to live
And it’s getting late

I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind
Can’t take you with me
‘cause it’s very far
And you don’t have the time
I’m on a rocket
To a dying star
You have to stay behind

Before I met you
I was crushing cars
And I was doing fine

Get me out of this place
Get me out of this town
Before I drown in your deep
Pink water

I won’t remember your face
I can’t remember your frown
Because I’ll drown in your deep
Pink water

𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚:
👉 http://bit.ly/2FTFD5N

𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙖:
👉 https://www.facebook.com/Indochineofficiel
👉 https://www.instagram.com/indochineofficiel/

Photo credit pic 1: Main picture taken at Nimes, France (2000) – photographer unknown, Stephane Ridard, Pfingsttag Emilie, rest unknown / edit by Silke

Post by Silke