Dear soulmates,
Placebo's new album is out. We are happy to publish all new interviews, all reviews.
Today, however, I had a great need to go back in time and remember Placebo's beginning.
I found a beautiful Stefan's interview from 1997, which is worth sharing just because of the last two sentences.
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| Screenshot from the video |
/.../ "I started playing drums about ten years ago in the school orchestra. I decided that I wanted to be up front in a band, so I got on to bass and played that for a while at the same time as learning piano. The first bass I bought was a Fender Precision, because Iron Maiden's Steve Harris," he gulps, visibly startled at his own confession,"played one; maybe I shouldn't admit to that...."
𝐎𝐨𝐡, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲?
"Since then, I've tried to emulate a particular sound or hero. I've always thought more about the creative side. I had two or three bass lessons, but I don't really believe in being taught how to play; I think it's better to teach yourself. I played guitar for about four years when I was in a band in Sweden. Then I came to London and guitar. With the guitar I tried to get as technically good as I could, so I could play as second nature and express myself better."
𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞.
"I bumped into Brian (Molko, guitar?vocals) after a five year gap. He did a gig in a pub in south London, and when I saw him play I just said "let's play together", and that was that. I fell in love with his voice and his guitar playing because it was really different. We started playing together but we kept on switching instruments. I could never be satisfied with one instrument."
𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬.
"The band started off as just the two of us recording on a four-track, switching instruments, using toy pianos, toy guitars, but most of those songs ended up as B-sides."
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| Screenshot from the video |
"Brian created most of our songs to start with, sitting at home, writing and singing. Now sound checks and rehearsals are where our creating is mostly done. Sometimes you can sit at home, get an idea and bring it to the band, but mostly it's a complete band effort. "One Big Evil Dildo", the band's live encore track, came out of a sound check in East Germany. That was the first time we had ever played that together, and we performed it, recorded it and kept it that way."
𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝
𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 - 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 - 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐄.
"We did a couple of dates with David bowie last year, and his 50th annervesary bash in Madison Square Garden in January; they were amazing gigs." Meantime, 2 + years of continuous touring with Ash, Bush, and fellow Swedes Whale, will soon draw to a close to allow some studio time for the band.
"We're going to be touring until the end of August and then we're trying to get a break from it. I'm just going to concentrate on the studio.
Without the music, it's nothing."
𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦.
"My favourite song is `I.Q'," he comments. "I just think it's the most dynamic and beautiful - musically and melodically. It has a toy piano in there - and it's my best playing as well. The thing with a three-piece is it forces you to get into your instrument a lot more. It's a very triangular thing, and Brian's guitar playing and my bass playing tend to work hand in hand. I'm not a big fan of the big, fat E-string. I find that it can be a bit boring. There's much more you can do with the bass; there are some really nice tonal qualities to it. I'm approaching bass now to take it somewhere new; I'm playing it more like a guitar in someways."
/.../
𝐍𝐨- 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.
"Brian's been on every front cover in this country. I think it's great. I'm surprised at the way things have been going. I thought we were going to be a band for bands. The success of "Nancy Boy" was really unexpected."
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| Screenshot from the video |
"Ideally, I always want Placebo to be more about the music, but you can't help what people want to hear and want to know. Brian looks a certain way and if we're portraying stuff in more than one way then thats fine." just under one year after their first gig, Placebo secured a deal with Hut records, followed shortly by the birth of their own record label Elevator Music.
"Our own record label allows us, basically, to get the ultimate deal. For us it is best to have our own label, as we plan to release different side products in the future. What you see is only part of Placebo. Long term, I'd like to see longevity, because this is what we live and breathe: what we get up in the morning for. We want to write that perfect song."
(𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚂𝚎𝚙'𝟿𝟽)
Is there such a song on the new album?
Anyway, today we can end with pure Placebo energy, which is real hardcore.
I'm talking about the song 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐨 from WYIN album and its live performance from the ´ß.
Remember last year's "Lost Tapes" gift from the band? Amazing gig, don't you think?
Interesting fact - the song Evil Dildo was played live 38 times.
First played November 4, 1996 at Le 400, Bordeaux, France, most recently played July 13, 1999 at Rockwave Festival.
🔸💬 "𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑡, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑠 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔," 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠. "𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑚𝑒. 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 ?@*-𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑."
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚋𝚘 - 𝙽𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍, 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟸000)
📌 The story behind the song is that Brian forgot to take his name out of the phonebook after the first Placebo album was realeased and there was a message on his answer machine with a sort of Steven Hawking voice.
It's a quiet creepy song.
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| Screenshot from the video |
𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓*𝑐𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑓𝑓
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠"
🎶 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨:
https://bit.ly/38dOmdX
It's interesting, however, that the similar lyrics as from Brian's answering machine are used in a song by Irish musician 𝐀𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧 - 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧 from the Come To Daddy, which was released in 1997.
🔸💬 You can read everything about this unexplained secret here:
https://bit.ly/3Okdmon
Definitely worth it.
Anyway, Brian handled the threats on his answering machine brilliantly. Using this nightmare in this song with such a crazy title is a great idea.
Dear friends, enjoy the evening with this memory.
Post by Marti
