🔷INTERVIEW WITH STEFAN – DOUBLE J (MARCH 2022)🔷

💠𝐈𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐥𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭💠

📻 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐉 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 (𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭) ✨
https://ab.co/3tIWuiC


𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 is in a hotel room in 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔. In a few short hours, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 – the band he formed in 1994 with frontman 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 – will play their first concert in four years.


🎤 "It's all a bit of a shock to the system," he tells 𝑫𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝑱'𝒔 𝑪𝒂𝒛 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏 in 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑱 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔. "Being back on the stage after such a long time and also after the lockdown. It's a bit of a double whammy.

"A lot of feelings, a lotta nerves. It's a little bit like before we played our first ever show, that's kind of what it feels like. I'm just hoping that the muscle memory will kick in."

This may be one of the most important weeks in the band's almost 30-year career

On Friday, they release 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑮𝒐, their first new album in eight years, the longest spell between records in the 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's history.

While a portion of that time of relative inactivity can be put down to the great pause that COVID forced upon all of us, that's not the whole story.

In 2014, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 embarked on a world tour celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band. It was a huge success, but that success came at a cost.

Photo credits: Mads Perch, Stefano Masselli, Photographer Unknown // Edit by Rita

🎤"It was supposed to be one year long, that tour. It dragged out to three years," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

"That was great, because people wanted to see us. But the relationship that we have with our old material started to become a little bit disjointed and disconnected.

"I think we started to kind of lose a little bit of what it meant to be in a band, or why we're why we were doing it. It kind of sort of spun us out a little bit, negatively."

Burning out on their classic material was not ideal, to say the least. But there is lots to be learned from the biggest challenges we face in life, and the lows 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 felt at that time helped him realign with what matters most.

🎤"We came to the end of that tour and I felt that, if we were ever going to go on tour again, we needed a new album," he says. "That's the raison d'etre. That's the fuel for us. So, yeah, there was a bit of soul searching going on.

"For me, personally, the making of Never Let Me Go enabled me to write myself out of that hole, and get back to why I'm in a band. Why it's still important for me, and why we still have something to say.

"It's not that we want to communicate something to people, it's more that we need to write music. That's part of our being."

It was a complex time for 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, whose adult life has been almost entirely consumed by the band.

🎤"I hadn't really known my life without Placebo," he says. "It started when I was 19. For so long it was a matter of slotting life into Placebo's schedule. I think that gave me quite a twisted outlook on the meaning of life."

When the prospect of not continuing crossed 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍's mind, it barely seemed possible.

🎤"𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝑫𝑵𝑨," he says. "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.

"I just remember how I felt when we first started to write together. It just felt so right. And the music that was coming out… I just thought to myself, 'This is the music that I want to hear'.

"I think a lot of musicians can relate to that, they create music that they're missing out there. It's just part of me, music, and I don't think I could ever let it go.

"Writing again with Brian just kind of brought all that excitement back. That sense of purpose and meaning. It slowly anchored me again."

Photo credit: Rock Sound 

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 formed when 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 and 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 met in 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 in the mid-1990s, despite the fact both had previously attended the same school in 𝑳𝒖𝒙𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒈, and had shared frustrations at its lack of culture.

🎤"As teenagers, we never really felt that we fit in," he says. "We were living in this a bit of a black hole culturally in Europe, this place called Luxembourg, there wasn't much to do.

"𝑺𝒐, 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅."

The band offered the men a chance to vent their frustrations, as well as find and exhibit who they were as people. For 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, this remains 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's most vital function.

🎤"𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐, 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔," he says. "𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚.

"𝑾𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏. 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.

"𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐.

"𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓."

The band still appreciate the impact they can have on people though. Music has been vital in 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍's life since well before it became his profession and he helps his contributions can help others as much as his heroes' helped him

🎤"𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍," he says. "I remember as a teenager being confused with my own sexuality and not really knowing who I was, what I was.

"I found extreme solace and a powerful friend in bands like Depeche Mode. I remember locking myself in my room with just Depeche Mode and me, and how that helped me through many dark days.

"𝑰𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐'𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒓, 𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆'𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓."

Photo credit unknown

💠 𝐀 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇 💠

The most musically striking thing about 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's new album is the heightened focus on synthesizers, which appear on each of the record's 13 tracks.

🎤"𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑫𝑵𝑨," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 explains. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅.

"We surrounded ourselves in the studio with all these vintage keys, all types of keyboards. We said that, on every track, we need to have a synth or a keyboard.

Not only do the keys offer an interesting and well-suited sonic dimension to the band's songs, their inclusion allowed the band's core members to stay refreshed creatively.

🎤"Every time we do a record, we feel that we have to approach it from a slightly different angle, to keep us from getting bored or avoid the pitfalls of becoming too comfortable in what we do," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

It wasn't just the instrumentation that got them inspired, 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says the enthusiasm and creativity of his long-time collaborator was key in reenergising him.

🎤"We wanted to approach the whole process slightly differently this time. So instead of doing what we do last, which is choose the artwork and the album title, Brian came with that to me first and said, 'Let's start here and work our way backwards'.

"𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅. 𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕.

"My confidence was not at its highest, because we'd had a bit of a break and our latest tour wasn't the best tour for us. So I was in a little bit of a hole. He pulled me out of it and we embarked on making this record."

Despite all the acclaim and immense success the band have enjoyed over the past few decades, making this latest record felt like going back to basics for 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐.

🎤"𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒌𝒆𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆.

"𝑺𝒐, 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒂𝒓."

It felt like starting again. It felt like they had the freedom to do anything.

🎤"In a way, we saw that as a world of opportunities that had kind of opened up for us," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

"We could do anything. So we said, 'Okay, let's make an album with just us and a drum machine. And we'll plug the guitar straight into the desk, let's get rid of the amplifiers'."

Screenshot from BBC6 Hub Sessions

💠 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 💠

𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says that, over the years, he has learned to accept change. Hearing him speak, however, it sounds like it's something he kinda relishes.

He seems truly proud that 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 aren't the same band as they were when they began.

🎤"When we made our first record in our early 20s, there were certain aspects of our personalities that shone through in a different way," he says.

"We were very young back then, full of testosterone. If you listen to the songs, it's like we couldn't get to the end fast enough.

"I think we felt that everything we did was amazing. We just wanted to go around the world and party and just show everyone how much we deserved to be listened to.

"𝑯𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕'𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝟐𝟎-𝒐𝒅𝒅.

"𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆."

When a band is willing to change, it means their music grows with them as people. Fans will come and go, but when the artist is offering a true representation of themselves, their work will always

🎤"The albums have kind of let us portray little snapshots of who we are at that particular time," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

"𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑰𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.

While there are some strong themes coming through on the band's new album, 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 is loathe to offer his take on 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐's lyrics. He says his creative partner feels the same way.

🎤"𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍," he says. "𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕, 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔.

"I think, in a lot of ways, songs stop being the artist's as soon as they're released. Because we have no control over them now, and how people with will react to them, or what people would think, or how they will move them or not move them."

Photo credit: Jpseph Llanes

There were some big changes in the making of 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝑮𝒐 that neither 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 nor 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 had much say over.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕, who'd drummed on the band's previous two records, left the band in 2015. Rather than bring someone into the fold as a fulltime member, the two founders went it alone.

🎤"I think this is the first album we've ever started without having a drummer in the band," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 considers. "I suppose you're not writing an album in the kind of 'usual' way, because it was just the two of us."

"The previous albums, the way that we'd written them, we would go into a rehearsal room, the three of us, and just kind of jam ideas until they became songs, basically. So that process was different this time. We were in a studio, just the two of us."

As you might expect, the two men have figured out a relatively seamless working relationship over the years.

🎤"𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

"I'm the one who knows how to work Pro Tools and I'm the one who knows the names of the different chords, I get a bit more theoretical about the whole thing. Brian is a bit more conceptual.

"𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒚𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒔. 𝑾𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎, 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅."

Another thing the band couldn't do much about was a little thing called COVID-19.

🎤"We'd pretty much finished the album by the time lockdown hit," 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 says.

"But what that time allowed us to do was to, on our own – me at home, and Brian at home – really get inside each song, lyrically and musically. Really explore the molecular structure of each song, and really find each track's identity, and fulfil each song's potential to a level that we haven't perhaps in the past.

"I'm not talking about perfection, because it's easier now to make perfect, because of all the technology that we have. You can remove squeaks and tune everything. We like to leave in the kind of imperfections.

"But the time allowed us to really fulfil each track. Perhaps that's why this record is so layered as well – there's keyboards on every track, and we've explored different musical pallets and themes.

"And [time allowed us to] find the tracks that really work as an album. Because, at the end of the day, we're still kind of an albums band.

As 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 warms up for his first time on stage in years, he says he won't make any promises about a return trip to 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂, where they last toured in 2017.

🎤"The shows that are happening this year were meant to happen two years ago," he says.

"I think what we learned to live with over the past couple of years is disappointment. You know, don't build up your hopes, because you just don't know if they're gonna happen.

"It's looking good now. We tend to do very long world tours and it's just the beginning. We'd love to [come to Australia], we'll just have to wait and see."

▪️𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝙾𝚕𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚕, 𝙳𝚘𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝙹, 𝟸𝟺.𝟶𝟹.𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟸.

🔹𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:
https://ab.co/3qDSVIy

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