(๐๐๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฝ ๐พ๐ป๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ป, ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ธ0๐ท๐ฝ)
Not only an excellent musician and music theorist, but also a faithful friend and above all a beloved husband and father.
⭐๐๐ฎ๐๐ก ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฅ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐๐๐ฒ.⭐
Let's get ahead of our time tonight and dedicate this post to someone who deserves it so much.
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| Photo credit: Dave Clark IG |
But it is also important that Stefan used his music career to raise awareness among people about the burning issues of society.
Let's take a look at what topics make up Stefan's world.
๐ธ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ ๐# ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ธ
๐๐ฌ „I think he (Brian) writes good lyrics. And he also has a vision and unusual ideas. I'm more of a technically based type. I can play many instruments and I am able to come up with instrumental ideas.“
(๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, „๐ถ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ “, ๐๐๐́๐ฃ๐ 2016)
๐๐ฌ "Mine and Brian's styles differ a lot, he is much more gutsy, I'm more theoretically minded. That has always been an interesting combination of styles.
It's always a search for new combinations of guitars, amps and pedals. It doesn't matter how many distortion pedals you've got, there's always a cooler one out there."
๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ, ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฌ?
"I started off playing drums! Then more out of vanity I was thinking if I was going to be in a band, I wanted to be in front of the drum kit!
"Then I picked up bass and taught myself the theory of music, and from there I went to piano because I wanted to explore the harmonies of music, and why certain notes work better with some rather than others.
"I then got into rock music and wanted to get my head around guitar. When I first joined Placebo I was on bass with us as a three piece, and gradually it started to move around."
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ - ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ?
"I never wanted to become a virtuoso on any instruments, I just wanted more tools to create music and write songs. Looking at someone like John Paul Jones, I admire him immensely for his playing and he is a string arranger and keyboard player. Some people want to get really good at one thing and that is also cool."
(๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ "๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ , ๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐", ๐ด๐ข๐'13)
๐๐ฌ .../***/ He’s recently collaborated with Gizelle Renee to create a fingerless leather rainbow glove – based on Gilbert Baker’s world-famous design – celebrating their ‘mutual commitment to acceptance, respect, equality and human rights’.
The idea, he says, “started with Russia”.
He tracks back a few years to “a lengthy tour of Siberia – three weeks in cities we hadn’t even heard of”. With him being openly gay, Placebo’s lyrics, and Russia’s “draconian” attitude to sexuality,
“We were like, ‘We’re crazy doing this. Are we going to get out of there alive? I don’t know.’”
But he didn’t want to go there and not make some sort of statement:
“I painted my bass in the rainbow flag colours, and managed to get away with it without being hunted down or beaten up.”
It was a risk in Russia – waving the rainbow flag, so to speak, to an audience comprising minors, “but I managed to get away unscathed”.
He even posed for a photo “in the Red Square with my rainbow bass – a symbolic f*ck you”.
Then he felt he wanted to carry on with the message, but with
“something a bit more portable and powerful in a different sense”.
Inspired by the rainbow fist symbol, he teamed up with Gizelle Renee in creating “a really good quality glove” for him to wear onstage.
“Then we said, ‘Why not share this, why not make something more out of this?’”
Now others can purchase a pair of rainbow gloves, with proceeds being split between the Peter Tatchell Foundation and the LGBT Foundation.
“The message still needs to be heard. We’re in a world of bigots, still, they’re everywhere. There’s countries where we are still persecuted and some countries even carry the death penalty for sodomy. So it still feels relevant to stand up behind the rainbow – we’re pushing it out there.”
(๐๐๐ธ๐น๐ด๐ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ท๐ด๐ฟ "๐น๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ผ๐ด ๐๐ ๐ ๐ด๐ผ๐๐ต๐๐๐", ๐น๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ , 2018)
๐ธ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ ๐# ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ธ
.../***/ I then ask him about his own son, and what steps he takes to instil into him the values of acceptance and equality.
“He’s got an issue with gender,” he informs me.
“He can’t differentiate between male and female. He basically refers to people as people, and I’m like, ‘Ok, he’s helping me get my head out of boxes.’”
Sometimes, he says, his child will return home from school where he’s been told by somebody that a man should marry a woman.
“Well, no son,” he says back, “that’s not right – that’s simply not true. Matter of fact.” For him, “Equality and justice for all is such a matter-of-fact thing.”
This is the way he’s trying to teach his son said values –
“the way I believe it should be”.
If I were to have a child I’d so want them to learn the aforementioned principles and would feel real pressure to make sure they did, and would be frightened of failing them in that respect.
“As a parent all your insecurities are brought to the front,” he says,
“because you’re constantly trying to direct a person’s life in terms of what you know. And sometimes I realise I know nothing.”
His kid will ask questions, he resumes, and he has no idea of the answers.
“You try to make it up, but you don’t get away with it with kids because they see straight through you. You’ve just got to pull from your resources, you’ve got to grow up a bit, you’ve got to be consistent in what you teach them, and just go with what’s right to you. We all have our own realities and it’s just about trying to instil what I believe is fair and just – but at the same time I cannot force him to be or think exactly like me.”
(๐น๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ , 2018)
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| Photo credit unknown |
.../***/ “Mental health is being talked about more these days,” Olsdal says, “and I welcome that dearly. I am openly in recovery as well,” he continues,
“so I am going to talk about my experiences with addiction. That’s what’s happening on the fringes of my existence – I’m just trying to share my experience as an addict in recovery, and bring mental health issues to the forefront. I’m trying to encourage conversation and discussion and just let people know that help is out there.”
He highlights the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), which ‘is leading a movement against male suicide, the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK’.
“I’ve been to very, very dark places,” he states, “and I know people who have committed suicide. It’s horrible, and I just want people to know there are other options.”
Who was there for him when he needed help? It was the Samaritans, who in a 20-minute phone call lifted “a huge burden” off him. “Samaritans is a great helpline.”
CALM also provide a helpline, he tells me.
“So as a first step, if there’s no one else you can turn to, these charities are there. It’s incredible just to talk to someone who will listen and can empathise. It can do you the world of good if you’re in a dark place.”
He says there’s a way out of loneliness, which he cites as something depression and anxiety stems from.
“Humans aren’t made to be alone; that’s what causes anxiety, because we have to get back to our pack, our tribe – we’re pack animals, we’re not made to be by ourselves. A lot of anxiety and depression is about lost connections with people, or a lost connection with yourself or your values.”
Loneliness, he says, like addiction, does not discriminate.
“It happens to the whole spectrum of people.”
In sharing his own journey he hopes to make the world a better place. It might only be a drop in the ocean, he points out, but that's more than no drops at all.
(๐น๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ , 2018)
Finally, Stefan's quote, which is so useful for today:
๐๐ฌ /***/ "...you can't change the world in which we live. Even in a democracy you can't do anything, there will be shit around you, time goes on and you can't do anything, nothing can stop it. So it's about finding a glimmer of hope in all this mess, finding the bright side of things.“
(๐ธ๐๐๐๐ฆ, ๐๐๐๐โ/๐ฝ๐ข๐๐ 2009)
Dear soulmates,
the shared video is an example of Stefan's musical talent.
This is a Placebo version of the song Post Blue, which was specially rearranged for one of the most beautiful shows - MTV Unplugged 2015.
I hope you enjoyed today's post and would love to read your comments.
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐!!!
๐๐ฅง๐พ✨๐ฅ๐๐บ๐๐ฅ
Post by Marti
