Brian Molko: Placebo my family. Now we are a live band who are in the search for quality
Interview by Marco Molendini.
Interview in Italian here
Translated into English by Diana E.T. Foghin.
Layout SusanneCk
Success is not enough. Brian Molko, leader, guitar player, and singer of Placebo, a band whose story was built upon energy and power, explains it in a simple way: "It's possible to be admired and be depressed " and adds: "there are many rock stars who had suffered this disease, sometimes, like in Kurt Cobain’s case the disease is dealt with drugs. The problem is to understand that it is a medical issue, meaning that the brain lacks the balance produced by serotonin if you identify the problem, like in my case, you can solve it or at least you face it. As for me it was as a reaction against success and to hide the lack of confidence that I invented this exaggerated character, very confident but also very fragile. And I ended up addicted to drugs and alcohol. Then I understood that I wasn't crazy but that I had an illness that is very common in artists who look for approval and that are very complicated. Sometimes the feeling of discomfort it is not due to struggling with fame but by family issues. Like in the case of this musician who lives in America but has a British nationality. He has lived in Luxemburg and was born in Belgium with a half French and half Italian father.*
Brian, your Italian family where we're they from?
My grandmother was from Bologna, but we don't have any relatives there by now.
So what do you feel is your nationality?
British of Scottish blood. But I feel a bit uprooted and deep down I don’t feel at home anywhere. These are the feelings that might have contributed to my loneliness. And when I started Placebo I did it as a way to create a substitute of my family.
Maybe this is also one of the reasons why the band is still together twenty years after it was born. How have you changed during these decades?
Specially in a personal level. In any case, we were born as a live band searching for success and we became a creative formation that works on harmony and quality. When we were young we had the arrogance of the 20s today we try to achieve a high quality level in what we do. The motivation is towards constant change.
Maybe this is also one of the reasons why the band is still together twenty years after it was born. How have you changed during these decades?
Specially in a personal level. In any case, we were born as a live band searching for success and we became a creative formation that works on harmony and quality. When we were young we had the arrogance of the 20s today we try to achieve a high quality level in what we do. The motivation is towards constant change.
The last album of Placebo Loud Like Love. Is it like this?
It is the most honest that we have written and produced, in fact, it is about feelings of jealousy, obsession, hearts turned in pieces by pain.
In the album there are a couple of songs that deal with quite current problems like Rob The Bank and Too Many Friends song that is about social networks. Specially you who have many fans and some millions of followers on Facebook.
Too Many Friends is a song about loneliness. The search for followers on facebook is the equivalent of what in the 80’S was the anxiety of waiting for the phone to ring. In the end it is easier to have virtual relationships instead of real ones, because you don’t have to take risks. As for Rob The Bank it is not about the financial crisis as it is about jealousy.
In the album there are a couple of songs that deal with quite current problems like Rob The Bank and Too Many Friends song that is about social networks. Specially you who have many fans and some millions of followers on Facebook.
Too Many Friends is a song about loneliness. The search for followers on facebook is the equivalent of what in the 80’S was the anxiety of waiting for the phone to ring. In the end it is easier to have virtual relationships instead of real ones, because you don’t have to take risks. As for Rob The Bank it is not about the financial crisis as it is about jealousy.
You're touring for a while but is there already a new song to be included in your next album?
The ideas come from time to time. I always travel with an instrument to kill time. And take note of the ideas.
Placebo will play tonight at Rock In Roma (photos, included all the picture sources used here for this interview), a gig based mostly in their last record, their seventh album. Loud Like Love is the first album that was released worldwide through a streaming service, reaching more than 2 and a half million of reproductions in the main platforms from Spotify to Deezer
*those were the exact words of the journalist but we know it's actually the other way around.
