⭐ 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑩𝑶, 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬
After a colossal anniversary tour and nine years of recording silence, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 are finally back in business. Live from his London rehearsal studio, chameleon rock icon 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 chatted with us at length about his edgy, unconventional eighth release, 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨.
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| Photo credit: Mads Perch / Edit by Laetitia |
💬 Oh, I've got a bit of the Monday blues, but I'm fine.
𝑾𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄...
💬 Yes, of course. We were almost ready to release it and go on tour two years ago. Everything that's happening now is happening in a time lag. And then, our retrospective tour for our twentieth anniversary and the one for 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 also took a lot of time and energy. Nine years without a new record is a long time, but that's the way it is. Unfortunately, we had no control over it.
𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 ?
💬 I'm sure it helped shape its sonic palette. It was like a kind of rebellion against this more commercial aspect of the band's life. On 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨, we really had this sincere desire to lay ourselves bare. Every album we've done has been a reaction to the previous one, but on this one I think it was more in response to this rather masturbatory anniversary tour. On the other hand, I also realize that it did our audience a lot of good. It has taught us to accept the euphoria that the fans give us on stage. And this is probably the first time in my life that I've realized that so much, because I've always made music in a very selfish way. It's a necessary means of expression for me. If this tour has taught us anything, it's that there is value in giving pleasure to others, rather than satisfying yourself.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 ?
💬 Actually, I think we started earlier than that, in 2016. It was as if we were back in the early days of 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨, and as a pair we realized the endless possibilities that were open to us. We could do anything... so that's what we did, anything ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) So we started digging in lots of different directions, like we were diving into little imaginary rabbit holes. We were like Alice In Wonderland or Sonic jumping from ring to ring to change dimensions. That's what set the mood for most of the new songs.
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| Photo credit: Torsten Roman, 2009 |
💬 I guess after twenty-five years of playing guitar, you get intrigued by sounds that still have some kind of mystery to us. So there was something enigmatic about using synthesizers. But we deserve to be enthusiastic and have this freedom ! We've always had this very democratic approach to the use of instruments. Each instrument has to have a specific meaning and role. It has to serve the song. On this album, we didn't want to force ourselves to add guitars to remind us of our identity. We knew it was a danger to force things. One of our biggest influences in that respect is 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞. When we started 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨, my favourite band was Sonic Youth and for 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳 it was 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞. So we tried to make a big mix of those two influences, and finally discovered our own sound. On 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨, I think there are also traces of 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐤, 𝐂𝐚𝐧, 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭, the whole German krautrock scene that gradually evolved into a more electronic sound, which we always loved.
𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 ?
💬 You know, I've always had a big problem with patience. I tend to get bored very, very quickly. The tricky experience of our retrospective tour made us realize that we needed to get back to something challenging and disruptive. We didn't want to lose ourselves artistically in the past. When I went into the studio, I said to myself, "𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥". That's where the idea of doing everything backwards came from.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 ?
💬 Well, I wondered what is the last thing we usually choose when making a record. Most of the time, it's the cover, isn't it ? So let's start with that ! So on our first day in the studio I came up with this image and this idea of doing everything the wrong way round. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 was very excited about this approach, so we made the whole album that way. This allowed us to renew our creative process, but also to re-imagine our own role as a composer and artist.
𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 ?
💬 Absolutely, but I don't think I have enough energy in me to change characters as many times as 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 did throughout his career. A few days ago, it was his birthday. He should have been 75. Now I'm almost 50, I'm getting older, so I think about him a lot. When I was my age, he had this huge party at 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯, where we had the honour of playing. When I was in his orbit, I was young and arrogant. I was convinced that I deserved to be there with him. It wasn't until he left us that I really understood the effect he had on my life as a human being and as an artist. At the time, I didn't realize anything. Today, all this learning makes sense. It's very moving and overwhelming. But somewhere, I have the feeling that I still carry him with me a little, like a mentor, a godfather or a lucky star. Without getting too esoteric, I still feel like I have a relationship with him (𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵). Excuse me, it's still very hard for me to talk about 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 . I am absolutely, unequivocally grateful to him.
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Photo credit; Robin Francois |
💬 Sometimes I'm suddenly struck by strong emotions, and talking about 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 often triggers that for me. I remember having a long discussion with 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 about whether or not we should continue to play 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 on stage. Every time we play it live, we project images of 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 on the big screens. It's so strong emotionally for me that it breaks my heart a little bit. But I'm sure 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 would have said to me: "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸". He always asked me if I was comfortable with my music. If I said yes, then he would tell me that I was not ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) For him, you had to be uncomfortable, all the time. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 often reminds me of this phrase when I get too emotional during a live performance.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 ?
💬 It's a pretty cool story. It's a picture of a beach, 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, north of San Francisco, California. In the 50's, or maybe even a little bit before, this bay was used by humans as a kind of garbage dump. They used to dump everything in it: cars, fridges... all their crap ! A few years later, they did a big clean up, removing all the metal. They then realized that the water had polished off all the glass bottles underneath, forming a unique beach filled with small multi-coloured pebbles. To me, this is a good representation of how nature acts in response to the harmful actions of human beings. We use our ecosystem as a giant bin. In other words, we shit on it ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) In addition to cleaning up our mistakes, our planet manages to make something beautiful out of it. I think it's a very strong message. It's also an increasingly topical theme, which I wanted to highlight on the record. Today, it's almost impossible to make an album without mentioning the ecological crisis.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑻𝑰𝒎𝒆...
💬 Like the other tracks, I wanted to express myself more honestly about what I think of the world today. I wanted to capture all the confusion that surrounds it. This song is based on the theory of evolution. An animal or an insect adapts to its environment, while a human being adapts it according to his moods. What is implicit in this, even beyond what my lyrics or the cover of this record suggest, is that nature will always eventually take over. The world we destroy day after day will return to its wild state when we disappear, which at this rate may happen sooner than expected. How can I not get the Monday blues when I think about this ? (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴)
✔️ 𝙼𝚈𝚁𝙾𝙲𝙺 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚗°𝟽𝟺 - 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝟸0𝟸𝟸
✒️ Translation and transcript by Laetitia
⭐ Brian being emotional when speaking about David Bowie is so touching 💗
⭐ Four days before the album release ! 😄 Do you feel the excitement growing up dear Soulmates ?? 🔥 🎶 🎸
Posr by Laetitia
