📍𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑡𝑐𝒉𝑒𝑙𝑙
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| 📸Photo Credit: Franck Juery, 2009 |
🎤 Well, that's the challenging equilibrium you try and strike every time you make a new record: trying to push the boundaries and limits of your sound without repeating yourself. You have to try to do something new, exciting and fresh with the band's sound and play with the band's conceived identity, but at the same time not disregarding what makes you uniquely 'you'.
⭐ 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈?
🎤 I think so! The greater the body of work, the more difficult it becomes to write a fresh song; it becomes a lot more challenging. As far as longevity is concerned, I think if you look at the careers of the likes of The Cure or Depeche Mode - I use those examples because they both released albums this year, 30 years into their career - well they've made music, since day one, purely on their own terms, unaffected, unconcerned by trends, movements and fashion in music. They followed their own path and stuck to their guns, and I think that's why they're still making records which are still worthwhile listening. We're 15 years in, and that's where I'd like to be in another 15. It's not like we have any other options; we're basically unemployable, you know, so this is it.
⭐ 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐'𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒎 𝒆𝒕𝒄. 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓?
🎤 I started looking back on my career around the time of Meds [fifth studio album, released in 2006]. As a lyricist I thought I was using a great deal of gimmicks. For example, the whole chemistry/medicine cabinet routine that is Commercial for Levi or a song title that screams 'Look at Me!' that is Nancy Boy! I made a decision that I wanted to stop using gimmicks and address the bigger questions in more everyday language where possible, and try and simplify it, I suppose. Say more by saying less, that's kinda the trip I'm on right now.
⭐ 𝑰𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏' 𝒂 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌𝒚 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆?
🎤 Everybody who writes wants to write stuff that's timeless and doesn't date, really. I think you have to be very careful if you want to do that. You have to tap into the spirit of the age but at the same time write something that transcends it. I don't think that using incredibly culturally specific language enables you to do that. So, I'm trying to transcend that and write something that can stand up to the music that I grew up listening to. Take Leonard Cohen, for example. There's a universality in his music and a simplicity which makes it appreciable and meaningful in any decade, any century really. I think that's what I'm trying to do, hopefully in some way making a difference.
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| Photo credit: Scarket Page |
🎤 Right now I'm just wondering how the hell am I going to survive the next two years of this touring schedule and pull out of this in one piece.
⭐ 𝑶𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑼𝑺 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅, 𝒊𝒇 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍?
🎤 It's good to have an intelligent person running one of the most powerful countries and someone who generally cares. I'm less sympathetic towards the economic problems that exist right now than some people might be, because I have never been able to understand the whole culture of living beyond your means. I mean, I've been unemployed for a long time, I've been homeless, I've slept in train stations and I didn't spend money that didn't belong to me. So I find it difficult to be incredibly sympathetic with the culture of avarice that has got us into this position.
The other thing that annoys me about this whole focus on our economic woes is that nobody is talking about the environment anymore, and if anything is going to get us in the ass, it's going to be that. The hole in the ozone layer is still there, 20 years after they discovered it, and it's getting bigger and bigger, yet this isn't news. I want to be involved in the world. I think it comes from being a parent; you want to try and contribute to make a place for your children to grow up in that's hopefully a little bit better than where you were. Unfortunately, it seems that we are heading straight towards some form of environmental armageddon, and perhaps we deserve to go the same way as the dinosaurs for our treatment of the planet.
▪️𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚢, 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟺, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟿.
𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴!
Now I bring to you an interview with 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐, which is a gem from beginning to end as once again he talks to us from his side as a songwriter about how his songwriting style has changed over time, the challenges he faces and what he aspires to achieve in his songs. ⭐🎶
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| Photo credit: Taratata TV show, 2009 |
🔊 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐆𝐨 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐝 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐭 𝐈-𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖 🎶
https://bit.ly/3W4YkpQ
🔊 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 - 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 (𝐀𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜) 🎶
https://bit.ly/3FVKVe7
🔊 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 - 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 (𝐋𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫) 🎶
https://bit.ly/3BGNHRV
Another thing that caught my attention in this interview is that 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏's last answer reminded me of what he mentioned about the environment in the Placebo interviews we read earlier this year. A pity that 13 years later things have not changed much, so it is worth remembering that we must take care and value our planet every day with habits that are kind to nature. 🌏
🔊 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐓𝐫𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 🎶
https://bit.ly/3HGYm2G
Post by Rita

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