🌠💊 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊: 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙍𝙐𝙉 𝙁𝙍𝙊𝙈 𝘿𝙄𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙎𝙀 💊 🌠

✨𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴!
I found a great interview with 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍 published in the Swedish 𝒁𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒆 in 2001 that I hadn't read before and, of course, I want to share with you. Among the things 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 tells us here are 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's friendship with the 𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 band 𝑹𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒊𝒏, how he feels about being Swedish and about the then novelty of consuming music in digital format. Wow, how much things have changed! So get comfortable and enjoy reading.

Photo Credits unknown / Edit by Rita 

🔸𝐵𝑦 𝑃𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐽𝑎𝒉𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑡

𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 is one of the most written about bands in the foreign music press. In 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏 you read a few reviews and a short interview in the evening papers, despite the fact that one of the country's biggest rock stars is in this international trio. Now they are in 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏.

They have played at 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆's 50th birthday party, supported 𝑼𝟐 and had a dozen singles on the 𝑼𝑲 charts. Their third album has been showered with critical acclaim and with that behind them they have been on tour pretty much all year. As if that wasn't enough, they're being chased by all the world's press wherever they go. In 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏, however, 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 and 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 are relatively unknown. Mostly perhaps because 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 didn't grow up in 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏, but most likely because the media doesn't know about it yet. The group will be playing a Swedish show at the 𝑨𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒌𝒂 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 this summer, bringing with them songs from their incredibly strong album 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄. When they stopped off for a gig in 𝑨𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒎, I took the opportunity to call up the band's Swedish bassist 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍. A few digits on the phone and presto.

📞 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭?
🔹It's 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏's manager who answers, but he quickly hands the phone over to 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏.

📞 𝐇𝐞𝐲, 𝐡𝐨𝐰'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠?
💬 We're a bit tired today, we visited our friends from Rammstein and celebrated that their album is number one in the German charts and typically only number two in the Swedish one, he laughs. We went to one of their favourite places yesterday, some goth club, that's their style. Otherwise, the tour has been going on for a while now, so the break yesterday was nice. Today we're playing here in Amsterdam after we've done a lot of Eastern Europe.

📞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫?
💬 Well, we met Rammstein at a festival in Australia and we have so much fun together, so it's always fun to meet them. Otherwise we are good friends with PJ Harvey's band and some others but we don't have time to meet many people during the tour as there are gigs almost every day.

Photo credit: Mark C. O'Flaherty

📍𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 was born in 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏, but grew up in 𝑳𝒖𝒙𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒈 and went to the same school as the band's singer 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 . However, they hung out in different gangs at school. 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 was popular, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 wasn't, if everything written about the band is to be believed. It wasn't until several years later that 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 bumped into 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 at 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 in 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 and they decided to start a band together. I guess the question is how Swedish he feels today.

💬 I guess I have mixed feelings about Sweden, it's mostly personal, then we're not that big there, he says happily. I was born in Gothenburg but we moved to Vällingby outside Stockholm quite soon. I lived there until I was eight and then we moved to Luxembourg, as I said. It's been a while since I've been home now, but I try to make time to visit Sweden from time to time.

💬 We're all living in London now but I don't know how long we'll be there, there's so much disease and shit there now.

📞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐬, 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?
💬 No, that's very much why I want to get out of there. We've flown around so much that we don't feel at home anywhere, so moving doesn't feel strange in any way.


💫⭐ 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 ⭐ 💫
The group does not hide the fact that they are gay. 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 points out to me that he is proud to be gay and that 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 is too and that 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 is bisexual. Often the media tries to focus on their orientation and other things, but as 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 puts it himself:

💬 They're trying but they're not going to succeed.The music is the most important thing and no matter how you twist and turn Placebo's music, it is quite timeless. The first album could be the last if it weren't for the production.

💬 We were quite young when we made the "Placebo" album, I was only 19 years old. It was a low-budget production and we only had three weeks, so it probably feels more like a good demo today. The songs I think still hold up and I'm very happy with them. We still play a couple of songs from that record live.

📞 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐮𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐩-𝐡𝐨𝐩. 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐚 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝?
💬 It's not that strange. Brian and Steve have been listening to hip-hop for a long time and in "Spite & Malice" in particular there was a hole that we didn't know what to do with. We knew the rapper Justin Warfield from before and we said; why not try him? That's the way it is, and the type of music. I think it was very successful so it might come back.

🔊 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 & 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 - 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝒕 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎 🎶
https://bit.ly/2nYinIe

Photo credit: Mark C. O'Flaherty

📞 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲?
💬 I guess the three of us have in common that we all like PJ Harvey, and we hang out with her band a lot too. Her music is modern yet timeless, something I think our music is too, maybe that's why we like her. Otherwise, I guess I grew up with Depeche Mode as big idols. As a Swede I have listened to some Swedish synth bands too, Mobile Homes, but they have stopped now I think. Then I try to buy some Swedish music too. Lately I've been buying Kent's B-sides, Covenant, Bob Hund and Robots latest. Robot I think is very good, have you heard them?

📞 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜. 𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬?
💬 I don't think it's that strange. On the last album we use a lot of machines, which I think is natural because I grew up with that kind of music. On the first records we used more of a normal set up with guitar, bass, drums and vocals. This time I think it's more modern sound, but of course it still sounds Placebo.

📞 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟?
💬 On the tour there will be so much guitar music, so once we listen it will be to music without guitars. Right now Red Snapper, Aphex Twin and David Simon are probably spinning the most.

📞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭?
💬 Napster is more like a jukebox, you discover music that you might otherwise never have come into contact with. I don't think it affects record sales either as the public still buys just as many records. Should it start to affect the sales of our records, it's not good, but for now it's okay.

⭐ 𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣❓✨
🇸🇪 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐧: 31 March 1974 in Gothenburg

🌠 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 and 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏's nickname for 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 is "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒖𝒍𝒄𝒂𝒏", taken from 𝑴𝒓 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒌 from 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒌, logical and serious. 🖖

🎸 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏's first electric guitar was yellow and he named it "𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒂". 🍌

🎵 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬: Depeche Mode and Abba
▪️ 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚏𝚊𝚗 𝙾𝚕𝚜𝚍𝚊𝚕, 𝚉𝚎𝚛𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟷.𝟶𝟷.𝟷𝟷.

Before I say goodbye, I invite you to watch the aforementioned 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's performance at the 𝑨𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒌𝒂 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, one of the most important festivals in 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒏 that was held annually between 1992 and 2010, in which initially mostly synth bands played and later also included pop, alternative rock and metal bands.also were included pop, alternative rock and metal bands.

✨🎶🎸 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑨𝒕 𝑨𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒌𝒂 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝟏𝟑.𝟎𝟕.𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟏 🎶✨
https://bit.ly/3YBi4Cx

Post by Rita