Like I promised last week here's the second part of Brian's and Steve Hewitt's interview with Discover from September 1998. Enjoy the read!
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| Photo credit: David Bailey |
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ง ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก ๐๐๐ง๐ช๐๐๐ก ๐๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ก๐๐ฅ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ช ๐๐๐๐จ๐ . ๐ช๐๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ ๐๐๐ก ๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ง?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “We wanted the album to leave a clear and definite reaction, not a wishy-washy feeling. I want people to really love us or really hate us, I don't want anything in between. It's important to me that my music creates an effect on the audience, no matter what the nature, but nothing makes me sadder than to find out that there are people who are completely indifferent to our music. I want reactions! And extreme reactions. Only then do I know that I'm doing the right thing.”
๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐๐, ๐ง๐ข๐ข?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Not really. I don't want to provoke on purpose. I just want to represent myself. If I as a person provoke others because of who I am, that's fine too. But I don't want to create artificial provocations. My aggression often provokes people because I can't hold it back. When I'm angry, I have to show it. I feel the same way with other emotions. I want to be free to really express myself, to be able to express myself all the time, everywhere. I don't like acting as a musician. Our music reflects our innermost, and when someone attacks our music, they are attacking our heart and soul. Our music is so closely connected to our lives, it's a part of our soul.”
๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: “We are often asked if our album is a kind of snapshot of our life, but it is only partly. Because the songwriting for "Without you I'm nothing" stretched over four years, during which we didn't always feel the same, of course. "Scared of girls" is a song that Brian had already written when I was not even in the band.”
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “It's definitely not a snapshot of any particular period of time, but shows the evolution of Placebo since the inception to the most recent song, "Pure morning," which we just wrote in April.”
๐ง๐๐๐ก ๐ช๐๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ฆ๐ก'๐ง “๐ฆ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ” ๐ข๐ก ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Because we never recorded it, it didn't even show up on our live playlists. At some point I remembered that song and we started trying different versions. That's when Steve joined us again and when we tried the song, it clicked and we knew it would fit this time. Still, the song then took us a lot of time. It's the oldest Placebo song and also one that took the longest to finish. We changed it a lot to make it fit the modern sound we wanted for the album. We also had to change "Brick Shithouse" again. The song came over us at a soundcheck in Leipzig, we then reworked it again after the tour.”
๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: “During this soundcheck we also came up with the song structures for "Burger Queen" and "Evil Dildo". It was the most productive soundcheck we've ever done... the gig totally sucked though.”
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Even songs that we've been playing live for years change over time. We're constantly reworking them because we don't want to play the same thing for years. You just heard our new version of "Teenage..." yourself. It doesn't have much to do with the original version of the first album. We felt that the song needed to go much deeper, that our emotions weren't expressed enough yet. So we incorporated the piano and now we like it much better.”
๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: “The inspiration for this acoustic set with piano came to us during some radio sessions we did while on tour. We realized that the song could suddenly express a lot more than it did before.”
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “It also has something to do with the increased self-confidence I just told you about. Because we realized that we can play instruments like piano or acoustic guitar, so we figured why limit ourselves when we can? We can play a lot of instruments, let's use them. That's what makes the songs more complex. Then we tried it out live and it worked, that was really cool.”
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| Photo credit: Adrian Green |
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “No, strangely enough never. We always encouraged ourselves, "come on, we can make the crowd out there crazy, we can" and that really got us fired up. We're crazy about playing in front of a lot of people, whether they're there for us or David Bowie.”
๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: “Our luck was maybe that it worked the first time. We totally nailed it the first time we played in front of David Bowie, and after that we always said to ourselves, "Hey, what we did once, we can do again and again”."
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “When we played Madison Square Garden, the audience showered us with ovations and that gives you a sense of gratitude and you know you can never repay them. We feel a kind of obligation to say thank you for so much good vibes that we always try to do our best. And that only works if we manage to stay ourselves.”
๐๐ข ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐๐ข ๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐? ๐๐ข ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ช๐๐ก๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “When we write a song, we don't worry about it. But when we're on a stage, it's nicer to play in front of 100,000 people than in front of 100. It spurs you on more to do your best, and I have a lot more opportunity to completely forget myself and mentally immerse myself in a sea of people I want to trade feelings with. That kind of thing challenges me. But we don't write songs with the ulterior motive of wanting full stadiums. We're not a hit-making machine. "Evil dildo", for example, is such a song that always impresses me heavily live. Of course, you can only play the song at the end of a concert. But this wall of sounds, feedbacks, and histrionics, it always blows me away. It also shows us that we're capable of expressing all extreme kinds of feelings. "Evil dildo" is so fierce, horrible and violent and in contrast to that "Teenage Angst" is an expression of the highest possible tenderness. We are able to fill up a scale with the most diverse emotions, we have no interest in being limited to anything, be it style, emotions or instrumentation.”
๐ช๐ข๐จ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ช๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ก ๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “That's fantastic. Yeah, that hits the spot, that's where we're going. Plus, they're bands I like a lot.”
[Short internal discussion about the comparison]
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “We really like the comparison, that's cool. It seems to me you get our point. I hope you really write that.”
๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ก๐ฆ: ๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ก ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ฉ'๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐. ๐๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ง๐๐๐ง? ๐๐ข ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ช๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “I am the way I am, if someone plays with my appearance, it's the viewers. I already said that I don't want to provoke anyone consciously, but if someone thinks they have to interpret something into my appearance, then they have to do that. I like reactions, but they should be clear. By the way, we were also compared to many German bands, Can and Blixa Bargeld were mentioned just as often.”
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| Photo credit: LUZ Photo Agency |
[Brian talks about Placebo's music again]
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “We always have to follow up an idea immediately. If we have tried something and it starts to please us, then nothing exists for us. Then we have to go all the way, otherwise a lot would be lost. Then, when the song is somewhat finished, we start to think about its message and whether we can achieve what we want with the music. You know, in the studio we don't have a fixed distribution of roles, we constantly alternate on the instruments. Any one of us could have played anything on the album, that helps us give shape to an idea right away. For example, if I think there needs to be a different drum rhythm, I can demonstrate that right away and don't have to ask Steve to drum something for me until I get it reasonably right. And it's the same the other way around. If Steve has a certain riff in mind, he plays it for me right away. Stefan can do that too. That's how we all get involved in the song and in the end there's a Placebo song, not a Brian or Steve song. And we are true workaholics.”
๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐, ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ก ๐๐๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐ช๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฅ?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Actually we never leave each other (laughter).”
๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐: “Look at us, don't we look like we sleep together too?”
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Placebo is our life, we just can't stop writing songs.
๐ฆ๐ข, ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ฌ?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “We could have put out a double album right now, we have thirty songs written. Some of them will be released on the singles.”
๐๐ข๐ช ๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ช๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “None at all. At the moment we don't plan any releases, we just don't have time to take care of other bands. We don't even have time for collaborations, which we are often asked about and some of which we would love to do. We are fans of the Sneaker Pimps and we have been planning to do something together for a long time, but we just don't have the time. Maybe after the tour. But being an A&R guy on the side, that really wouldn't work right now. I sang on a single by a band called Dream City Film Club. But that's it.”
๐ช๐๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ'๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐๐ข๐ก'๐ง ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ฆ?
๐ข ๐ฝ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ: “Sometimes, sometimes I miss a little bit of normality in my life. Or being able to get drunk without people writing about it.”
(Discover, September 1998, interviewer: Ralph Buchbender )
Post by Silke
