🔷🔸𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 (Hardline, March 9th 2022)🔸🔷

Soulmate Barbara Johnson sent us a translation of an interview with Stefan that was published in the German music magazine Hardline on May 9th.
Enjoy reading everyone!
Your Placebo Anyway Team

Photo credit: Jon Stone

𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚: 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙤 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣, 𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙃𝙖𝙢𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙜. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨, 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩, 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 “𝙉𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙚 𝙂𝙤” 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙨?
📢 Stefan Olsdal: “Hi Alex, thanks for your positive review! The new album is quieter than its predecessors at one point or another. While on the older records it seemed like we couldn't get to the chorus fast enough, now we've taken our time and a kind of silence. What did a band from your home country Germany, the Einstürzenden Neubauten, say back then? "Silence is sexy".”


𝙃𝙇: 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧. 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙣'𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 "𝙇𝙤𝙪𝙙 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚" 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 2013, 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 - 𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙋 "𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚'𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙄𝙩" 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 2017 - 𝙣𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙. 𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 2020 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙪𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣. 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙖 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘?
📢 SO: “Contrary to many other people, in my situation about two years ago I was able to take positive things from the unwanted lockdown. During this time, my life slowed down a bit, because I had hardly ever had time to catch my breath in the past 25 years. The album/tour/album cycle didn't leave much time, the schedule was always full. As for the work on the album, Brain and I actually had time to develop both lyrically and musically, to come up with new ideas, to come up with songs that feel good and up to date. However, some of these ideas have been in the drawer for a few years, now it was time to open them and finalize the ideas. It's like a lot of other bands that you have one or the other riff, maybe the song is already roughly finished, but it doesn't fit the album or the time. But a good song is a good song, so you save it until the time is right for it. A negative point about the pandemic was that you weren't allowed to see each other physically for a while, which was a bit annoying, but in the end "Never Let Me Go" was finished after all.“

𝙃𝙇: 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙨𝙢 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙨....
📢 SO: “We were surprised ourselves, what a great feeling to still be loved so much. But maybe it's also a result of the fact that we're not really omnipresent in social media, don't post every day what we're eating at the moment.“

Photo credit: Jon Stone

𝙃𝙇: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙮𝙢𝙗𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚? 𝘼𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙢 𝙄 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜?
📢 SO: “No, you tend to be on the right track. In addition to some other current issues, the destruction of nature is probably the most urgent. In any case, it is so important to us that we felt it would be a mistake not to address it. We commemorate with these little pebbles, which are actually artificial pieces of glass that have been washed up so many times that they have somehow become rounded and smoothed. It's meant to be a reminder of what humans have polluted this planet with.“


𝙃𝙇: 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 "𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚. 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙝𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙖𝙨𝙢 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙, 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙.” 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨?
📢 SO: “You know, I live Placebo more than half of my life, the band is deep in my DNA now. While the past tour was painful in many ways, I just couldn't resist Brian's desire to tackle a new album. Because if I'm honest with myself, I love the band, I love our fans and I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved together over the years. One day we didn't meet in a pub as usual, but in a café to talk about the new work. At first I wasn't really sure if I could do it, if I still had it in me. It was Brian who took me with him with his enthusiasm and brushed aside my doubts.“


𝙃𝙇: 𝙔𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙖𝙩 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥, 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙚. 𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 "𝙬𝙚" 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙨?
📢 SO: “Since the work on each new album is always a very personal journey for us, I can only answer the question with a clear yes. All the work was done more or less exclusively by Brian and I, with “Never Let Me Go“ we basically only had support from our producer Adam Noble and Bill Lloyd who has been with us since day one for the programming and engineering was responsible. Otherwise, as mentioned, only Brian and I were responsible for lyrics and music. In the beginning we sat quite "naked" in the studio and then started to develop ideas. We went through one or the other quite emotional moment while writing, both developed great ideas and were always very open and honest with each other. I think,


𝙃𝙇: 𝙉𝙤𝙬, 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨. 𝘼𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙, 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮....
📢 SO: “In the beginning planning a new tour was extremely scary for me, I think this was due to the last, seemingly never-ending 20th Anniversary Tour. When this was finally over, I didn't make a big cross, but an extra large black cross. But like I said before, I was 19 years old when I met Brian, since then we've been in a band together, we've toured Siberia together, played in 40 degree Celsius in Cambodia and received death threats in Morocco, stuff like that welds together extremely. In the meantime my mental situation has changed, I feel good and the new songs are definitely worth presenting live. In addition, the live band is the same as on the last tour, it's like going out with good friends. In addition, of course, there is also the energy and love from the fans at such events, which I absorb deeply every time. That's where I stand now that I'm not on tour, talk to me while touring and you may get a different answer.“
(Hardline, March 9th 2022)

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