✨🎉𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗠𝗖𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗡!🥂🎉

🎈Today we are glad to celebrate the birthday of ✨ 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 ✨, the 𝑴𝑫 of 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, who along with 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏 has managed 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 for 27 years and who in this long wait for the eighth 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 album gave us exciting clues with his tweets.

Photo Credits: Unknown / Dave McLean IG / City Life Dundee // Edit  by Rita

✨🎉 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐄! 🎂🥂🎉

🥳 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔! ⭐

🎈 𝑅𝑖𝑡𝑎 & 𝑇𝒉𝑒 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑚 ❤️✨

📌 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 was born on August 6, 1956 in 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆, 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅. He began promoting concerts in his hometown in the late 1970s to earn a living. He then moved to 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 and in 1989 founded the concert promotion company 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 with 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏. They started promoting almost all the bands of the grunge scene such as 𝑵𝒊𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂, 𝑷𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍 𝑱𝒂𝒎, 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏, 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔, 𝑨𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑷𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒔, among others. To date, 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 has promoted over 3,000 live concerts. In the link below you can see an extensive collection of posters of the bunch of bands they have worked with.
📸 https://bit.ly/3d7DPY4 🎶


By 1995, grunge fever had faded. 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏's tragic death deeply impacted the music scene and, of course, to all those who loved him and admired his enormous talent. Meanwhile, just a few months earlier, a three-piece band had formed in 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 whose style caught 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 and 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙's attention.

🎤 “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎𝒔!”
▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚎, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝚜𝚝, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟼.


It was with 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 that 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 moved into artist management. Besides them, on their roster have been 𝑩𝒓𝒚𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒚, 𝑹𝒐𝒙𝒚 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄, 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑬𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 (𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕's former band) and currently they also manage bands such as 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒔, 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒇 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂, 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝑷𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒐𝒅, 𝑻𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝑳𝒆𝒆, 𝑫𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒊𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒚𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑷𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑺! and 𝑫𝒆𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒂.

For 17 years, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 has been living in 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒌, 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 with his family and there he also established another 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 office, apart from the ones located in 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 and 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆, which continue to discover and promote new talents.

Photo credit: Johann-Evrard

⭐ 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 is also a great storyteller, because throughout all these years of working with many artists, he has accumulated all kinds of anecdotes as funny as interesting. These are some of the stories he has told about 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐.

🔹𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨?
🎤 I have hundreds of stories about Placebo, most of which are really funny. They are the best guys I've ever worked with, they will never let you fail. We played in over seventy countries, and wherever we went, funny stories happened. Once in Argentina we were on a tour bus on our way to the airport, and Brian asked me how long it took to fly to Mexico City, and I replied: about two hours. In fact, we had to fly for eleven hours and twenty minutes! And once in Moscow, at the reception in our hotel there was a huge, very long cake (probably 60 meters long!). I think it was made to take part in the competition for the longest chocolate cake. In the evening, we were back from a concert and Brian fell into the cake, which made it two meters shorter. Next morning, Brian was very much confused and gave some money at the reception for his wrongdoing. A case in Chile: we were in the bus and I said how awful white socks looked on men and that only Michael Jackson looked good wearing them. Then Stef suddenly lifted his trouser leg, and there were white socks with black shoes! I felt quite embarrassed and said that only Michael Jackson and Stef can look good in white socks.

🔹𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦 '𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨: 𝐀𝐥𝐭 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚'. 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?
🎤 It was one of Placebo's Russian promoters who helped with the idea for ‘Placebo: Alt Russia’. He flew to me to Bangkok five years ago, and I said: it would be cool if the musicians could ride down the Trans-Siberian Railway. Richie Mattila (that's his name) promised to help us and he did! All the Placebo members were absolutely delighted and still remember this tour while we shot the film. For the first I visited Russia in 1984 and since then I’m in love with its culture and history.
▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, КИНО ТВ/𝙲𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚖𝚊 𝚃𝚅, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸𝟹, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟶.

Backstage at Halloween cooccert, Hamburg, October 31st .2016. Photo credit: Placeboworld 

⭐ 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞 & 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 ⭐
🎤“Morrissey was meant to be going on tour with David Bowie,” 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 recalls. “As Morrissey often does, he cancelled his whole tour. We’d just signed to Hut Recordings, I don’t even think we had a record out then but John Giddings, the agent for David Bowie, said, ‘Why don’t you give this young band a crack?’ Bowie listened to the tape which had ‘Nancy Boy’, ’36 Degrees’, ‘Teenage Angst’ and ‘Bruise Pristine’ on it – six really good tracks. He decided to give them 13 shows opening for him in arenas. He’d wait for them offstage and watch them from side of stage and give them advice.

“A couple of years later, he had his 50th birthday party at Madison Square Garden and he invited Placebo. He paid for all the flights, first class, hotels. The bill was David Bowie, ‘special guest: Placebo’, then under that it was something like Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins or something. Then he guested with Placebo onstage at Irving Plaza [venue in New York]. The first time I got introduced to him, we were sitting in the dressing room at the Irving Plaza. He looked about 30. I said, ‘Has anyone ever told you you look like David Beckham?’ He says, ‘I’m getting that a lot these days!’”

Photo credit unknown

✨ 𝐅𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀-𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ✨
𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆’s starriest night, perhaps, came at the 1999 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔. “David Bowie is our special guest. You go backstage and Muhammad Ali is there and everybody’s going, ‘Champ, champ, champ!’ Then Stevie Wonder comes in asking, ‘Do you know where Cher is?’ I say, ‘I think she’s a couple of dressing rooms up there.’ Then Bjorn from ABBA arrives, or Benny, one of the two. So you’ve got Cher, Stevie Wonder, ABBA, David Bowie and Muhammad Ali, it’s not every night that happens.”
▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝙽𝙼𝙴, 𝚂𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟺, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟶.


⭐ In July 2016, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 revealed exclusively with the website citylifedundee.com that he was planning to make a biopic, based on his early life in 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆 and how he started promoting bands with his friend 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒏.

🎤 “We are scheduled to start shooting in August. Brian Molko of Placebo is writing the original score for the movie. My mate Ewen Bremner (Spud in ‘Trainspotting’) and Vicki McClure (Lol in ‘This is England’) are going to help with the movie stuff.“
▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝙳𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚎, 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟷𝚜𝚝, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟼.


With this movie titled "𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔" filmed in 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆, 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 made his directorial debut. It premiered on June 29, 2019 at the 𝑬𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒉 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 where it also won the 𝑨𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅. 🏆✨

🎤 “I’m in the music business. I’d never done films before but it seems to have gone down well all over the place,” ▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚛, 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟸, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷.

Photo credit unknown

🎬 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 - 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫
https://bit.ly/3BZDRM7

"𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔" has been such a success that 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 is already planning to make a trilogy. The second part will be called "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒍". The story continues when 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 moved to 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 with his friend 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕 and how they became very successful promoting grunge bands. The soundtrack will be composed of songs from all these bands that 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 promoted at that time, from the most famous to the lesser known. While the third part will be called "𝑲𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆".

🎤“The third one is about a festival I did in Bangkok with Oasis and Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Placebo and Ian Brown of the Stone Roses on the bill. [...] Why is the film called Knitted Smoke? My dad once said: ‘Why you doing that festival, son? It’d be easier knitting smoke!’ I thought that just nailed it!"
▪️𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙼𝚌𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚗, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚛, 𝙹𝚊𝚗𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸𝟸, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷.


⭐ June 2021 saw the release of "𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝑶𝑫𝑭𝑨𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹," a documentary filmed and produced by 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏 and 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏. The film tells the story of 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑱𝒐𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒊𝒆𝒓 who since 1972 opened 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆, which has served as a shelter and school for many children from the 𝑲𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝑻𝒐𝒆𝒚 community in 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒌. The original soundtrack features music by 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 and 𝑲𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 & 𝑴𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝑴𝒄𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆. In July of the same year, 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒕 organized a special screening of the documentary and all proceeds were donated to 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝑪𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆 to address the needs of the community due to the pandemic.

🎬 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐎𝐃𝐅𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑
https://bit.ly/3oQPVHH

🎊✨🎈✨🎂✨🎈✨🎊

🔹𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫: @davidmc89397258
🔹𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦: @davefromthedee
🖱️ riverman.co.uk
🖱️ rivermanbangkok.com

Post by Rita

⭐🌸 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗 𝐖𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐍: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑨𝑫𝒀 𝑶𝑭 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑩𝑶 🌸⭐

🌟 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔, 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔. It's also Nick Gavrilovic, Angela Chan, Matt Lunn and "The Glue": Bill Lloyd. These are the people you see when you go to a concert and have an unforgettable time. And it's also former members like Steve Hewitt, Steve Forrest, Robert Shulzberg and Fiona Brice.

🌟 But behind the scenes, there are many people we have heard about or seen in documentaries or pictures. My post today is dedicated to one of those people who has been behind the scenes, but who has played and still plays 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 since the beginning of their career. I'm talking about 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏, 𝒄𝒐-𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓 (𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏) 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

Screenshot from MTV - Alex and Brian in Spain (1997)

🌟 Before founding Riverman Management, Alex (and his lifelong mate, David!) promoted bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Nirvana, dEUS, Bush and many more ! To get an idea of how hard it was, I recommend you watch the film 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔, released in September 2020, which follows David McLean's somewhat turbulent start to becoming a top promoter (directed by David McLean himself and where Alex is the producer of this biopic). A must see ❗

🎬 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 

▪ https://bit.ly/3OSoQz4 🎬


"𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 (𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗰𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻) 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟵 𝗮𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗪𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗴𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲. 𝗡𝗶𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗮, 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻, 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝗺, 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗸𝗶𝗻𝘀, 𝗥𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲…. 𝗘𝘁𝗰 𝗲𝘁𝗰."
✔️ 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚖𝚏.𝚗𝚎𝚝 - 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝙳𝚊𝚢 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝: 𝙰𝚕𝚎𝚡-𝚆𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗 - 𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝟾, 𝟸0𝟸𝟷

Placebo recieving Gold Award in Berlin for Loud Like Love (2016) - Credit unknown

🌟 Very interested in the demos Placebo sent her some thirty years ago, Alex saw the potential of this unknown band and was "𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦" when she saw them live for the first time.

🌟 Alex is present at all levels as you will discover in the interview I'm sharing with you today, in which you can't help but notice that Alex is like a mother who takes wonderful care of her children, as this eventful episode relayed by Kerrang!, testifies:

"𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗽 𝗕𝗶𝘇𝗸𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲. “𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝗖𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲,” 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼. “𝗛𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿. 𝗛𝗲’𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝘀𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. 𝗠𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻. 𝗛𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹."
✔️ 𝙺𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐! - 𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝 - 𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝟸00𝟿

Screenshot from Sleeping With Ghosts documentary

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣❗ The fact that she ended up in the Placebo circle is not surprising at all ! She is just like the band members: strong, independent and with spirit. 🔥👏

🌟 Alex followed the band on tour since the very beginning of their career and is still on the road with them as some fans spotted her in Mantova on June 29, 2022.

🌟 𝑰 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙 (𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏). 😊💎


🌟 I let you enjoy this interview with Alex Weston and discover how she sees Brian, Stefan and Steve and you'll see she knows her thing about the band ! The interview isn't recent (2000), but what a wonderful woman, full of love and respect for her protégés.

▪ ◾ ♦️ ◾ ▪

🌸 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤'𝙨 𝙘𝙤-𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙙 / 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢?
💬 Same year as my partner, Dave McLean - we received a demo, met the boys and they came to a few of our gigs (we promoted bands in those days !) and eventually we all mutually decided to work together. That was five years ago.

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙗 𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤-𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡?
💬 I organize the boys' schedules and co-ordinate all their day to day activities, including press and promo (UK and international), videos, Producers, studios, artwork, rehearsals, band holidays, etc. I also liaise with the fan club, web site and oversee the band's merchandise, etc. And Dave and I deal with the band's lawyer and accountants too. I handle all incoming requests and contracts for the band., and liaise daily with the record company on all aspects of planning for any Placebo campaign to ensure that we make the best of the band's time. Dave and I are fiercely protective of brian, Stef and Steve and like to have everything working thoroughly and efficiently. Everything that gets to the band has to go through me and Dave first. I'm a sticker for getting things in writing or contracted. At the end of the day, Dave and I work together to guide and further the band's career.

Placebo and Alex Weston receive Gold Award for Soulmates DVD in Berlin (2005) - Credit unknown

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙛𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 / 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙟𝙤𝙗?
💬 I think the most satisfying part of the job is watching the band's career progress internationally. Over the five years, record sales have increased substantially and we are playing good sized venues all over the world. There's something very satisfying, very satisfying about playing a sell out UK tour and then going to the other side of the world (ie Australia) and playing to equally large sell out crowds. As far as the most enjoyable part of my job goes, Dave and I like the band to be happy because if they're happy and enjoying what they do, then so are we. If they're tired, stressed out and miserable (generally towards the end of a long tour) then it becomes increasingly difficult to ask them to do 'one more interview or phot session' for example. The requests for the band's time never stop, we just have to monitor things and draw a line when you see the cracks appear.

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚?
💬 We put Placebo on at the Underworld in Camden and didn't know if they could play live or not so it was the moment of truth ! They could and they were fantastic. They played Lady Of The Flowers in the soundtrack and I was completely blown away. I knew then they were something special.

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡?
💬 They're not like any other band I've ever worked with. They exude star quality. They are three totally different characters that somehow get into this close knit that is Placebo. They are just very special people who are passionate about what they do.

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙜𝙞𝙜 / 𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙮?
💬 I loved doing the U2 dates just for the excitement of seeing Placebo play to hundreds of thousands of people an the big Zooropa stage ! The most nerve racking was when Placebo played the Irving Plaza in New York in February 1999 and David Bowie joined them on stage for an encore of Without You I'm Nothing and 20th Century Boy. I was so nervous for them and so desperate for it to work well and it really was one of the most exciting moments. The most enjoyable gig to watch was at the Rockwave festival in Greece last year. Deus played before us and then Placebo played an amazing set with the sun going down behind the open stage. It was a beautiful warm night and the atmosphere was amazing. The crowd was incredible and it was a pleasure to see.

🌸 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤 𝙜𝙞𝙜 / 𝙛𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙮?
💬 It was the Paradise in Amsterdam, a 'London Calling' event. It was Placebo's very first time in Amsterdam and our stage time was very late which meant too much time for drinking and erm, 'smoking' before the gig. It was the first time the Dutch record label had ever seen the band play and it was a disaster ! The PA was dreadful, strings and guitar strpas broke, and they weren't playing their instruments properly and kept wandering off stage. I remember hiding behind the mixing desk at the sheer horror of it all!

Screenshot from Canali TV - Alex Weston in Istanbul (2009)

🌸 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤'𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙖𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨?
💬 The new album is everything you would expect from Placebo. It's a mixture of hard edged rock songs and emotional, heart wrenching slower numbers with their first venture into a bit of American rap. It's the band's first album they have co-produced and mixed so it's very personal to them. I really love Spite And Malice, the rap song with Justin Warfield. I also love Peeping Tom which tugs at the heartstrings. I always love these Placebo songs. I Know was my favourite on the first album and Without You I'm Nothing on the second. A great Placebo album.

🌸 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙗𝙤.
💬 🔸 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 - the most wordly of the band. He's a father (of gorgeous Emily) and therefore quite responsible. He keeps everyone's feet firmly on the ground and is not afraid to speak his mind ! He's car mad and obsessed with all things black - music, clothes, women...
💬 🔸 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 - an absolute sweetheart. The quietest of the bunch who often finds himself in the middle of two loud mouths! He's very kind and thoughtful (brings homemade cakes and biscuits into the office - delicious). Stef on stage however, is frankly an absolute star and is so moody, cool, intense - just mesmerizing!
💬 🔸 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 - where to start ! He has his moments and can be a devil but is generally quite adorable and gets away with murder because he knows he can with his daft little grin that makes you give into him! He really does live for this band and is such a passionate character. Brian is on the phone 5 or 6 times a day with some crazy idea or scheme he's come up with. His brain never seems to switch off ! He can charm anyone when he wants to - if he wants to!

Photo credit: Universal Music

🌸 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙬𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙨, 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙠𝙚𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 (𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜!)

𝟏- 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 ?
💬 Brian - Drama. (𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 '𝑢𝑛 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡'!)

𝟐- 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒉𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐.
💬 Breed and Boo Radleys (Right again!)

𝟑- 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 1996?
💬 Evil Superstars and Scheer (𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐴𝑙𝑒𝑥, 1,5 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 '𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒!)

𝟒- 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉?
💬 Well, it's not Brian! I doubt very much if it's Steve (although maybe his daughter has). I would guess Stefan, although I don't remember seeing any at his flat. (𝐴 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑)

𝟓- 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆?
💬 Are you deliberately asking me more difficult questions than usual? A guess again - Ferrari - do you actually know the answers yourself? (𝐼 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐹𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 -𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 1/2 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒)

𝟔- 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓?
💬 Saul Fletcher. I think the boy was saul' nephew (𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡! 1 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡)

𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐺𝑅𝐴𝑇𝑈𝐿𝐴𝑇𝐼𝑂𝑁𝑆 𝐴𝐿𝐸𝑋 !
✔️ 𝚂𝚒𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚝 - 𝙸𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚎 𝟽 (𝙰𝚞𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚝 - 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸000)

▪ ◾ ♦️ ◾ ▪

🌟 I hope you appreciated the interview Soulmates as much as I did and that you realised how well Placebo are in good and caring hands. 💝

🌟 Let's end this post with the song that amazed Alex the first time she heard it live... 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐕𝐌 (1997)
💐🎶 https://bit.ly/3ySeTfy 🎶💐

Post by Laetitia

⭐🔹𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐄 (𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈.)🔹⭐

Dear friends, today we will visit Scotland. I tried to find as much material as possible for the Placebo concerts in Dundee.
Why Dundee?
𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅.
𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏'𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆'𝒔 𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔.

Placebo manager Dave McLean. Photo credit unknown

Dundee has become a culturally thriving city in recent years, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it one day (you can learn all about Dundee here: https://bit.ly/3fvWU3w ).
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐.


If I was looking well, Placebo played a concert in Dundee only twice.
The first time was in April 2003. Unfortunately, there is no footage of this concert on YT. But I can share with you a part of Brian's interview from March 2003, where he mentions in more detail the upcoming concert, which his Scottish family also came to see.
⭐"𝑊𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡.“⭐(Daily Record magazine, Apr. 2006)

Photo credit unknown

🔹⭐🔹𝐃𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 "𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭", 𝐌𝐚𝐫'𝟎𝟑🔹⭐🔹

📌/.../ Placebo are back this week with a new album, Sleeping With Ghosts, which has already spawned the Top 20 hit Bitter End.
They'll be showcasing the songs when they play Glasgow's Barrowland on April 7, and the Caird Hall, Dundee, two nights later for what will be a welcome homecoming for the singer.


"My mum is from Dundee and still lives in the city," Brian said. "She met my father and by the time I was born they had moved to Europe.
But I spent a lot of time in Dundee when I was young, at my gran's house in the summers.
I remember the Wellgate Centre and playing the arcades, where I spent a lot of my time. But there wasn't that much to do and I started smoking because I was bored. I was young and restless."


Placebo's former Boo Radleys drummer Steve Hewitt is English and the band is completed by bassist Stefan Olsdal, a Swede.
But despite being an American citizen, Brian considers himself a Scot.
He said: "I don't consider myself to be American at all, certainly not these days.
If you'd forced me to have a nationalistic feeling, it would certainly be for Scotland.
That's something I keep saying to my band. `Hey guys, don't call me English'. Being able to say you're Scottish and not English comes in handy in so many situations." /.../📌
🔹⭐🔹🔹🔹⭐🔹

Photo credit unknown

Well, dear soulmates, what do you say about Brian's confession of his Scottish nationalism? 😊
Is it even necessary to belong somewhere, to join a specific community, a nation? How do you perceive it? And who is Brian for you?


Now I have to divide my writing about Placebo in Dundee. Why?
Because the tour in 2017 did not go without problems and I will be happy to bring you this more detailed information next week.

Post by Marti

🔸🔸⭐𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐤 (𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈)⭐🔸🔸

Last week, we looked at how 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑴𝒄𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒏, the manager of Placebo, decided to organize the first rock festival in Bangkok, the place where he lives and which he loves.
In 2006, he succeeded and of course, planned this amazing event on the next years.
But for some reasons the festival had no sequel.
Already in 2006, the festival was organized in a very difficult political situation, which continued to deteriorate over the next two years. Due to the military coup, Dave McLean had to cancel the festival planned in 2007.
In 2008, the political situation was still very unstable and a state of emergency was established in Thailand due to ongoing anti-government demonstrations.
It was clear that Dave had to give up the festival again, and this time it was a decision forever😔.
🔸🌟🌟🌟🔸

Photo credits unknown, edit by Marti

But fortunately, there was another opportunity for the fans in Bangkok to attend Placebo concert in 2010, during their Asian tour, which began immediately after the end of the Australian tour on March 5, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan.
Brian was extremely tired and exhausted, so two days later he collapsed on stage during his performance in Osaka💔.
However, he managed to miraculously recover - he deserves a huge admiration for this (I won't mention how much I want to cry every time I see a video from Osaka) - and the band were able to continue touring in Taipei, Taiwan. Through Malaysia and Singapore, we get to the performance that today's post will be about.

🔸𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎🔸

💢𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨:💢

In 2005, 𝑻𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒆𝒆𝒓 (a brand of beer from Singapore and is produced by Heineken Asia Pacific, part of Heineken) decided to organize the first year of a cultural event called 𝐓𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄. It was a traveling festival that took place in one of the Asian cities every year.
The aim of this and the following years was to invite young beginning artists from the given place, who would not otherwise have much chance to assert themselves, to enroll in the given year and present their works throughout the year until the event itself. Not only musicians but also artists, photographers and filmmakers could present themselves. The goal for these young Asian artists was to reach the finals, which then took place in one of the world's most famous cities, such as London.

Photo credit unknown

🔷𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 2012.🔷
https://bit.ly/3pKTv3Z

The recordings from Placebo show are not of a very good quality, but I still think that these videos are worth watching. Enjoy the great mood of Brian and the whole band, as well as the audience, which responded perfectly to the Placebo energy⚡⚡⚡.
💗You can also notice the perfect black and white dress-code of all members of the band😊🥰👍:

🎶 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉
https://bit.ly/37DW2a8
🎶 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑻𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒌 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 1
https://bit.ly/2ZLXWAQ
🎶 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑻𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒌𝒐𝒌 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 2
https://bit.ly/2Nq9980
🎶 𝑨 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑴𝑬𝑫𝑺
https://bit.ly/3dFPb3F
🎶 𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒈
https://bit.ly/3seOZwe
🎶 𝑻𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍
https://bit.ly/2NAsdAn

💥✨✨✨💥

Photo credit unknown

And it wouldn't be perfect without these two interviews Brian gave during this Asian tour:

📌 Britain's Placebo returns to Bangkok for the Tiger Translate music and art festival on Saturday
Indie spirits will get their kicks on Saturday at the third Tiger Translate, the outdoor festival where innovative arts and sovereign music clash.
The vast parking space behind the Esplanade mall will be a massive venue for artists and musicians.
Apart from graphic installations, displays and street art by local independent groups, the festival will be booming with eclectic music all night starting at 6pm.

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜?
Brian: "We're about to get on a plane from Sydney to Hong Kong, then it's over to Tokyo, and we're to play four shows in Japan.
We've just finished the Soundwave Festival in Australia, where we played to 50,000 people per show.
After the Japan shows we play in Taiwan, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur then we have a short break before flying to Latin America to play in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, then back to Europe to play in a few places we've never played before, like Morocco and Kosovo!"

𝐴𝑛𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑?
Brian: "We all have projects that we work on, but they're put to the side anytime Placebo is recording and touring. When you have something as successful and fulfilling as Placebo, it's difficult to say, "Let's have a three-year break." Although we have a busy schedule and it is pretty tiring at times, it is very exciting and enjoyable visiting all these countries and experiencing different cultures."

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛?
Brian: "I guess my main dislike is that people can get our music for free! I can never quite understand this. If I have to fly to New York, I can't just walk on the plane without buying a ticket. If I want to buy a car, I just can't walk in the show room and drive off - I have to pay for it. So how come anyone can download our music for free?
Luckily Placebo makes the bulk of the money from touring, and so far nobody has worked out a way of duplicating the ultimate live experience, and they never will!"

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑘?
Brian: "The festival has lots of Thai acts on the bill whom I have heard of before, due to my numerous visits to Thailand. The gig will be fantastic and it will be the last show of our Australia-Southeast Asia tour. We're very much looking forward to coming to Bangkok because we loved our last trip so much!"
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 "𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑠", 𝑀𝑎𝑟'10)

📌 Student Weekly recently had an exclusive chat with Brian just as the guys were gearing up to rock Bangkok at this year's Tiger Translate festival.

𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦: 𝐼𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑?
Brian: "Yes, we spent five days at Karma Studio in Chon Buri. The studio was amazing and we recorded three tracks before leaving to play at the Soundwave Festival in Australia. The combination of a top quality studio and great environment made for a very productive five days. We'd love to record there again."

𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦: 𝐼𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦?
Brian: "Yes, I was exhausted. We'd just flown from the UK to Japan, then to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and back to Japan again! I also had to do a lot of interviews during that time. Everybody in the group was tired, and in Osaka I just ran out of energy."

𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦: 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠?
Brian: "The bulk of our earnings come from our live performances. I can't really get my head around the fact that people get music for nothing. If you stay in a hotel or eat at a restaurant, you have to pay for it. But people think that they should get albums for free."

𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦: 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠?
Brian: "We just do our own thing and try not to follow trends. We don't listen to advice about what we should or shouldn't do, and stick to our principles.
We put a lot of effort in to our live shows, and that has earned us a loyal fan base, which we're very thankful for. And we also manage to write good songs!"
(𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑒𝑘𝑙𝑦 "𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑡 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑘", 𝑀𝑎𝑟'10)
💥✨✨✨💥

Photo credit unknown

For today, I say goodbye to you and look forward to next Wednesday, which will end the Bangkok adventure with the band Placebo.
Personally, I hope in my heart that one day this whole tragic situation with the Pandemic will end and I will be able to write about new Placebo adventures - and not just those in Bangkok.

Post by Marti

🔸PLACEBO IN BANGKOK & DAVE MCLEAN'S OASIS DIET🔸

Dear friends, the idea for today's post came to me from two sides.

🔸Firstly, I found an amazing interview that Brian gave at the Sonic Bang Festival in Bangkok in 2013 and that I will share with you next time.
The interview mentions that Placebo performed in Bangkok for the third time.
🔸And then I read a couple of loving and very funny articles earlier this year, where Dave McLean of Riverman Management was interviewed about two sequels to his film Schemers, which are being prepared for filming.
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒊𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆
𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑭𝑰𝑹𝑺𝑻 𝑹𝑶𝑪𝑲 𝑭𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑰𝑽𝑨𝑳 𝑰𝑵 𝑩𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑲𝑶𝑲.

Photo credit: Kevin Cummins, unknown / edit by Marti

📌“The third one is about a festival I did in Bangkok with Oasis and Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Placebo and Ian Brown of the Stone Roses on the bill.
“I actually call it the Oasis diet because I lost 12 kilos while I was promoting them.
“Why is the film called Knitted Smoke?
My dad once said: ‘Why you doing that festival, son? It’d be easier knitting smoke!’
I thought that just nailed it!"
(Dave McLean, The Courier Jan 2021)

Photo credit: Kevin Cummins

🔸*🔸💢𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐢𝐧 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐊𝐎𝐊 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔💢🔸*🔸

📌 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩
"Years later, I met a drinks promoter in Bangkok called Cyril Legrande. He said: “I really want to put on a festival. I’ll sponsor $2m providing you book Oasis.”
We got Oasis, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand and Ian Brown. Then I got a fax:
“The sponsorship has gone down to $1m.” Then another: “$500,000.” The Thai promoter said: “You’ll have to cut the band fees – is it absolutely necessary to have Mr Franz and Mr Ferdinand? Can’t we just have one?” 😁😁😁
Then he added: “You need to guarantee that Oasis turn up, or else you will have to pay their $500,000 fee.”
This was when Oasis were renowned for cancelling.
I woke up the next day and thought: “I’m going to have to sell my house.”
When they walked out on stage I leapt in the air with ecstasy. My girlfriend went: “I never knew you liked Oasis so much … ”
(Dave McLean, The Guardian Sep 2020)

📌“The gig happens, the crowd turns up, it’s a big success,” adds McLean. “I kept going backstage to see if everything’s okay because at that time they were a bit frosty, anything could happen. So when they went on stage I jumped up and punched the air singing ‘you gotta roll with it!’
My partner said: ‘I never thought you liked Oasis that much!’ She never knew that I’d guaranteed £500,000 of my own money. I actually call it the Oasis diet because I lost 12 kilos in six weeks while I was promoting them.”
(Dave McLean, NME Sep 2020)

⭐🔸⭐🔸⭐

Brian with Oasis singer Liam Gallagher.

Do you like Dave's memories?😁😍🥰
The festival was organized despite all the possible problems and the first year was really unforgettable.
A few mentions that could be found on the Internet:

📌 Held at Lakeside Muangthong Thani, an expansive carpark site situated about a 30-minute drive from the Bangkok city centre, the festival boasted a bill that read like a who’s who of British indie rock.
On the first day last Saturday, Britpop giants 𝐎𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬 headlined a bill that also included Scottish art rockers
𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐳 𝐅𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐝, ex-Stone Roses frontman 𝐈𝐚𝐧 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧
and Belgian experimentalist outfit 𝐃𝐞𝐮𝐬. It was some feat pulling together such an indie treat. Day two saw art-school punks the Futureheads and Mercury Prize-nominated quartet Maximo Park sharing the bill with indie heavy hitters
𝐒𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 and 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨. Not too bad either.
Although there were some teething problems for the organisers (Riverman, Matching Entertainment and Pernod Ricard), which is understandable as it was the first time they had attempted to stage an event of this magnitude, the festival was generally very well organised. Logistical support from the Thai government was a big plus.
Headliners 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 worked hard to get the crowd going but as much as 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 tore into a nearly indie metal-sounding set, the night really belonged to Snow Patrol and their singer Gary Lightbody who sang beautifully throughout with soul and emotion.
(Live4ever.proboards.com Feb 2006)
⭐🔸⭐🔸⭐

Photo credit: Kevin Cummins

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 2006, 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒.

📌At dusk between the crowded market stalls of Patpong, Bangkok's touristy red light district, Placebo are brandishing copies of their new album for the first time. The band are more incredulous than proud, however, as they have just handed over 100 Baht (Pounds 1.45) each to buy some illegal bootleg CDs from a street vendor.
Meds, the fifth Placebo album, is not due on shelves anywhere until next month.

"Hey, this is us! This is our new album," Brian Molko, the band's diminutive singer and guitarist, berates the Thai teenager sitting behind dozens of racks of counterfeit discs. The stallholder looks nonplussed, scrutinising the unofficial sleeve artwork, cobbled together from magazine images. Looking back in turn at Molko's mascara-lined, milky-blue eyes, the improbably tall bassist Stefan Olsdal and the lank-haired drummer Steve Hewitt, confusion turns to astonishment as he realises who his latest customers are.😍
Molko might have been expected to throw a tantrum at the stall, given his reputation as the bisexual ringleader of a drug-fuelled glam-rock'n'roll circus...(...)

But, ten years on, Placebo prefer to laugh off their black- market encounter. Over drinks in a bar where bored-looking Thais in bikinis dance for sex tourists, Molko checks the spelling of his lyrics on the bogus sleevenotes. "You have to have a sense of humour about it," he chuckles, "I mean, did you see the look on the guy's face?"
Hewitt, a straight-talking Mancunian, is more forthright. "It's like someone shagging your missus, it feels that personal," he fumes.
"I've not even held the finished thing in my hand and already you can get it here. That makes me really irate."
Molko shrugs. "It's something that would have really bugged me a few years ago but now I try not to let it," he says, further confounding his reputation as a drama queen.
"What's the point of trying to stop something you can't control? When the album was leaked on the internet (there have been 26,000 illegal downloads since), I got really upset that day - you are minded to get very vengeful - but you have to move on."

Although Placebo are content to celebrate long into the night, confirmation of how much they have calmed down comes as their afterparty, fuelled by alcoholic drinks company sponsors, is suddenly hijacked by a teetotal Ian Brown.
Silencing the DJ with a show of Mancunian bravado, the former Stone Roses singer loudly protests that he has lost his favourite pair of camouflage-print sunglasses, which - after much effing and blinding and threats to strip-search everyone - turn up in a fridge. Brown switches back into amiable mode as if nothing has happened and the party goes on.
"And you were expecting me to be a diva," Molko jokes, while remaining conspicuously out of harm's way.😊
⭐🔸⭐🔸⭐

Placebo in Bangkok, 2006. Photo credit unkown

Unfortunately, I won't show you much from the band's concert itself, because the only recording is not in good quality. But that's the way it goes sometimes. Even so, it does not make this topic less attractive.
🎶 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 (𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐤𝐨𝐤 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝟏𝟗.𝟎𝟐.𝟎𝟔)
https://bit.ly/3dfswLr

⭐Anyway, you can enjoy my collage of photos from this event.⭐

Post by Marti

💢⭐𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏⭐💢

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩. 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑦𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑒.
𝑊ℎ𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚? 𝐵𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔.

🎵𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒑 - 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 (𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍) "𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑶𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓/𝑵𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐." 𝑻𝑴𝑻

https://bit.ly/3nCJh4G

🎵𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒑 - 𝑷𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒉𝒂𝒔 (𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍)

https://bit.ly/3oEoXB4

The Mirror Trap - pic taken from their fb account

The band were formed while studying music at Dundee College in 2009 and made a name for themselves in support slots with the Scottish indie rock band The View. They quickly recorded the first two albums, which celebrated success in the local rock environment. Former Dundee FC footballer and promoter 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐞 spotted the band's talent and introduced them to 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐜𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
💥And that was the right moment for 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩 (𝐓𝐌𝐓).💥

𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑛 2011 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑠 - 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑡 - 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 30 𝑆𝐸𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐷𝑆 𝑇𝑂 𝑀𝐴𝑅𝑆.
When Placebo was planning a tour for 2012, Wilkie and McLean pointed Placebo to The Mirror Trap and the band supported our guys at the first concert of the year at 𝐇𝐌𝐕 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝟓.
The gig in Edinburgh was a bit exceptional - after the introductory set of four songs, the performance was interrupted by technical problems with a broken pedal, and during the repair, Brian tried to entertain the audience. I found a few videos for you so you can enjoy the very talkative Brian😍.

⭐🎵⭐🔊⭐
https://bit.ly/3oBY3tH Placebo HMV Picture House, 25/4/12 Brian speaks
https://bit.ly/3i2nSAI Brian's speech EDINBURGH 25.04.2012 (part 1)
https://bit.ly/2LJktuk Brian's speech EDINBURGH 25.04.2012 (part 2)
https://bit.ly/3sirL9h Brian's speech EDINBURGH 25.04.2012 (part 3)
https://bit.ly/3ozoOiD Brian Molko's stand-up comedy in Edinburgh

...and a few songs from this performance:
🎵For What It's Worth
https://bit.ly/39itTW8
🎵Special Needs
https://bit.ly/38wlb7e

Placebo Screenshots from Edinburgh 2012, edit by Marti

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 „𝐓𝐌𝐓“.
Unfortunately, at the concert in Edinburgh, Placebo did not have time to get to know the opening band.
🙌⭐💗 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑖𝑛 2013 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 „𝑇𝑀𝑇“ 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑.
Brian Molko went to one of their gigs in Dundee in complete secrecy, listened to the band, sensed their energy and left the concert inconspicuously at the very end ... For a few fans who noticed him, he was something like a "fata morgana" ...

📌An article in The Courier from May 2013 said:
„Music fans watching local bands in Dundee’s Non-Zero’s on Tuesday night were blissfully unaware they were also in the presence of one of UK music’s biggest players.
Standing quietly at the back after slipping into the Castle Street venue was none other than Brian Molko, frontman with Placebo.
He had popped in specifically to see The Mirror Trap, his favourite local act, who he had requested as a support for Placebo in Edinburgh last year.
Along with his manager, Brian stayed until the end of the gig then left before most people even realised he had been there.
Gary Moore, lead singer of TMT said: “We were totally stunned when we found out he had been in the audience. It wasn’t until we came off stage that we started to hear a few whispers from people in the crowd even then I don’t think they really believed it.
However I got speaking to Dave McLean, who manages Placebo, afterwards and he confirmed Brian had been there but had to leave swiftly after we played to head down to London.
We met the whole band after we played with them last year. It’s really cool to know they are still thinking of us, and that he would take the time to come and see us play in a small venue in Dundee early on Tuesday night.”
TMT manager Dave Neil said: “The manager had been in earlier on in the day and was saying how much he loved the venue and that it reminded him of a club in Tokyo.”

🎵𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅:
https://bit.ly/3i43wHt

📌Dundee promoter Daisy Dundee added:
“There was a real buzz afterwards nobody could quite believe he was there. He stood at the back hiding under a hat and got stamped in like everybody else. It was all over within half an hour and he was gone before anybody really knew.
It’s incredible, but also quite refreshing, that a man of his fame can just drop into a local gig in his home town without any fuss and go largely unrecognised. It’s also a great boost for The Mirror Trap as well as the local music scene to have such celebrity endorsement on a Tuesday night.”
After their gig The Mirror Trap said on their Facebook page:
“Had lots of fun. And Brian Molko from Placebo came by to watch our set. Jeepers, fun times.”
Brian was born in Brussells but grew up in Dundee, where his mother still lives. He had good things to say about TMT following their support slot at Placebo’s comeback gig at the HMV Picture House in Edinburgh last year.
Daisy added: “He said they had the best reception from any Placebo fans, who were notoriously hard to please.”

The Mirror Trap - pic taken from their fb account

⭐⭐⭐

𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑'𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑇𝑀𝑇 𝑡𝑜 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝐿𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑛 8 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 2013.

I have to share with you a small but very nice Brian's mention of TMT, which my dear friend Olga found - thanks darling for it😍💗!

📌"We always love going to Scotland. My mum's from Dundee so it's a bit of a homecoming for me, and we've got a great new Scottish band from Dundee opening for us, called The Mirror Trap. We took them around Russia last year and they're growing into a really strong identity."
Herald Scotland Feb'15

𝐵𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑇𝑀𝑇 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑢𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑎 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 2014.

📌In an article in The Courier magazine from June 2014 you can read:
„A young band from Dundee have been plucked from relative obscurity to support emo rock giants Placebo on their eight-date arena tour of Russia.

The trip will take the Dundonians across three time zones and as far as Siberia, where they will play a gig in a venue called the Ice Palace.
Lead singer Gary Moore said: “It feels amazing and completely mental to be asked to tour the world’s biggest country with one of the world’s biggest bands.
This is such an alien sort of opportunity for us, so I really can’t imagine what sort of things will come from it.
Obviously I hope we get a ton of new fans and become international super-mega stars… but in reality I’d say we are just going to play every show at full throttle and try and meet as many new and exciting people as possible.
If we can come home feeling that we have given every ounce of ourselves then I will be happy; if some glorious opportunities arise from it then it will be a bonus.”

Gary continued: “In November, we played a couple of shows in Edinburgh and Glasgow, in front of about nine people combined.
We felt pretty low after that but have always believed whole-heartedly in what we do, so we were certain that better things would come.
Then, this happened. I guess this is one of the biggest things to happen to a Dundee band of our sort of status, in that we are complete nobodies, with rubbish jobs and no money or standing within the music industry.“
⭐⭐⭐
In 2014-2015, TMT accompanied the band Placebo on the Loud Like Love Tour and they also supported our guys during some of the concerts on their "20 years of Placebo" tour.
𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅?

Unfortunately, in 2018 The Mirror Trap disbanded with some members going on to form the band "𝐄𝐜𝐡𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞".

Post by Marti