𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: 𝗚𝗜𝗙𝗧𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗕𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡

💝 Birthday Gift Opening 💝

🎈 Dear soulmates,

🎂 Brian's Birthday is very special for all of us not only because of the "Special" here on Placebo Anyway and the wishes 💌 we send to Brian,
but also because of the 🎁 birthday gifts 🎁 which add 🍰 a cherry on the top making it extra special. 🤩

Photo credits: Perou; Photo edit: Susie Bosco

🎁 Imaginary birthday gifts wrapped in imaginary glitter paper ✨ increase the curiosity and fun!

I have compiled a list 📋 of totally unique and really fun birthday gift ideas dedicated to Brian 🥳 to put a smile on anyone's face. 😃 😊

Remember! 🍾🥂 One should never go to a birthday party , even online without a gift, 🎁 Y'know!!! ;-)

I would love to see your 📋 birthday gifts for Brian. 💝 Everything is possible, today! 🤩

🎉 5 gifts for Brian by Susie Bosco 🎉

🎁 Gift 1 🎁 A book. 📖 "Tequila Mockingbird - Cocktails with a literary twist." 🍸
A hilarious book of cocktail recipes based on famous novels. They can indulge themselves with endless literary jokes, witty comments, and titles like The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose. :-D
It's geniu, soulmates.
🔎 Have a look at the gift here 👉 tinyurl.com/y3db2hph

🎁 Gift 2 🎁 A "Passive Aggressive Notepad" 🗒😤 , useful in the recording studio or on tour. 🎶
🔎 Have a look at the gift here 👉tinyurl.com/yy488bow

Photo credit: Gilbert Blecken, edit by Susie Bosco

🎁 Gift 3 🎁 Brian will love this one: 🗃 "The Self- Contained HooteNanny" 💯
Get your guitars out of here! 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
This amazing device is 17 instruments in one.
That’s an entire band. Placebo in a box! 📦
💻 And not a small one either! It stores 13,000 songs in 10 categories, features a 15” touchscreen interface 🖥, and is housed in a magnificent oak cabinet that is a work of art all its own.
🔎 Have a look at the gift here 👉 tinyurl.com/y6kj53nc

🎁 Gift 4 🎁 A "Uranus Soap". 🧼 A gift to delight Brian's inner child with space's silliest planet!
🛀 Does ordinary soap leave his bathroom dull? This smart little soap make his sink or tub interesting, doesn't it! 🧼 Just like the soap says... 💫 Uranus isn't just a planet.
🔎 Have a look at the gift here👉 tinyurl.com/y3pxlygm

🎁 Gift 5 🎁 "A Brian Molko Selfie Toaster". 📸 🥪
To brighten up his morning with a breakfast game-changer. ☕️🍞
The Selfie Toaster is a truly weird way for any weirdo to start a weird day.
He will love it. 🤩
🔎 Have a look at the gift here 👉 tinyurl.com/y3oevlm5

Photo credit unknown, edit by Susie Bosco

Now it's your turn dear soulmates!

💝 Which special, funny gift would you give to Brian? 💝

Have a great 🎈 "Brian Day" 🎈 here on the page.

Yours, Susie Bosco

STORY BEHIND A PICTURE: Brian receiving an Honorary Fellowship at Goldsmith

Dear soulmates!
I think all of you remember that Brian Molko studied Dramatic Arts and Theatre and graduated from Goldsmiths’ College in 1993 with a degree in drama. But do you also know that later he received an Honorary Fellowship at his alma mater?

Magnificent ceremony, following all the glorious traditions of University of London, took place on December 19, 2012 at Goldsmiths. Mr. Molko was one of five people were given honorary awards by the institution that year alongside Big Issue founder John Bird, novelist Rose Tremain, playwright and screenwriter Moira Buffini and primatologist Dame Jane Goodall.

Brian commented on his award: “I am extremely pleased to be offered an honorary fellowship from Goldsmiths. I have very fond memories of my years spent there, which helped shape me into the artist that I am today. I am particularly grateful for the freedom to take risks which the staff encouraged and for the ambition they nurtured in us – no matter how brazen or off-the-wall it appeared”.
(CMU Editorial, December 13, 2012)

Telling about the milestones of alumnus’ life and career, then Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of English Alan Downie finished his introduction with touching “Welcome home, Brian!”
Nevertheless, Mr. Molko seemed to be really nervous and moved by the solemnity of the moment. He addressed his speech to the students: "I am very humbled to be here ... I'd like to congratulate you all for having the determination and the courage of your convictions and the singular vision that is necessary to come as far as you all have already and I wish you all the best."

You can watch the whole ceremony here:
https://bit.ly/2NztdRC

Brian is remembered by the faculty as a “quiet” but unusually creative young man. In the documentary “Placebo Androgyny” (also known as “The Sun Also Rises”) some of Brian’s teachers share their memories of him as a student.
https://bit.ly/2VsgwfN

However, choosing the only right direction in life hasn’t come at once.
"I'm the black sheep of the family," Brian admits. "I come from a long line of bankers, yet when I was 11, I really got into acting and drama.”
(Belfast Telegraph, February 19, 2015)

“The name of this track [Pierrot The Clown] reflects my obsession with clowns and my passion for the circus. In high school, I even thought of enrolling in a clown school and becoming one … But fortunately for everyone, I was accepted at university!” (Rock Mag, April 2006)

So, having previously studied at the European School of Luxembourg, and later the American International School of Luxembourg (AISL), Brian decided to pursue his dramatic dream at Goldsmiths’ College in London. He was accepted into university at 17, the first in his family to do so.
"By the time I left university, my passion had turned again," Brian says. "I decided that I wanted to form a band. So I spent two and a half years on the dole after I finished studying - which I call my artistic grant, and I've paid that back in taxes! - meeting Stefan Olsdal at South Kensington tube station along the way. It all happened from there."

Almost 20 years after graduating – and just in a several days he turned 40, by the way! - Brian was back to Goldsmiths in a completely different status receiving his award and, more important, well-deserved respect and recognition.

GOLDSMITHS HISTORY

Goldsmiths, University of London is a public research university specializing in the arts, humanities, social sciences, computing, entrepreneurial business and management. It is a constituent college of the University of London. It’s situated in New Cross, a highly populated, vibrant area of South East London with a considerable art and music scene.

It was founded in 1891 by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute (more commonly referred to simply as the "Goldsmiths' Institute"). The Goldsmiths' Company was established in the 12th century as a medieval guild for goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers.

In 1904, the Institute was acquired by the University of London and was renamed Goldsmiths' College. The word 'College' was dropped from its branding in 2006, but Goldsmiths' College, with the apostrophe, remains the institution's formal legal name.
Nowadays, Goldsmiths is internationally known for creativity and innovation - a reputation backed up by the highest academic standards. There are many world-renowned artists among its alumni. Goldsmiths has always had a reputation for independence and free thinking both as an institution and among its student body. The university cultivates an atmosphere that is encouraging and receptive to new ideas.

Dear soulmates, what do you think of a value of such an award for Brian? How does it feel for you to watch him in this quite uncommon situation?
Much love!
Yours, Olga

Photo credits: Goldsmiths - University of London, Alamy
Post by Olga

Montreal Gazette "Placebo Effect Gets Polished", 2003

Photo: Carole Epinette

Montreal Gazette "Placebo Effect Gets Polished", 2003
by Jordan Zivitz


Group has grown up. North American tour means smaller audiences - and less pressure.


"Oh no. Oh no." Brian Molko knew what was coming. The none-more-androgynous singer for Placebo was just told that his interviewer had been thumbing through old press clippings from Molko's debauched days: tales of demolished hotel rooms, verbal warfare with other artists and general depravity. The title of Placebo's latest album - Sleeping with Ghosts - relates to being haunted by the memories of former loves, but it's also relevant to juicy bad-boy stories that just won't die.


"Look, man, let me put this straight: If they're handed attention and money, every kid in their early 20s will jump into the deep end of the rock 'n' roll pool," Molko said in a tone that was more defiant than annoyed. "The only difference is that we did it in public, and we're still being crucified for it.


"If you expect us to be the same people at the age of 31 that we were at the age of 22, then you're a bigger idiot than me. I don't mean you personally, but for people to expect you to be the same person is just absurd. If you are, that means you're a very sad person. It means you haven't learned anything. You haven't grown. All these incredible, crazy, chaotic, mind-blowing life experiences that you've been through have taught you nada, and that's shameful."


Molko has learned plenty. How to live well without dying young. How to practise the fine art of diplomacy. (It's doubtful the singer will again describe his audience as "50,000 crimes against fashion," as he did at one festival appearance.) And how to sharpen his music into a sinewy glam/punk/electronica hybrid that can be as vulnerable as a first kiss while stinging like barbed wire.


Molko, bassist Stefan Olsdal and drummer Steve Hewitt have been on the road since March, so they've had lots of time to polish the already refined Sleeping with Ghosts material. But the allure of playing North America - where the European trio draw a fraction of their overseas audience - is being able to scuff the polish.


"The pressure is lifted off of you to be this magnificent band; it's punk rock again," Molko said. "We've just done our biggest tour ever in Europe. The smallest show we played was for 5,000 people, the biggest place we played was 18,000 people. Now we're in North America, playing in front of 300 to 500 people. I'm having a blast, because it's like going back and relearning the ropes, but with all the skills that you've picked up."


As they often do, things play differently in Montreal. Originally booked for the Spectrum, Placebo's show tomorrow has been moved to the much larger Metropolis, where the band just played in July.


"It's our connection with French culture. I grew up in Luxembourg - I grew up watching French TV, I grew up with French music, I grew up with French cinema, and there's an obvious connection between me as a human being (with that background) and me as an artist. So it's not some kind of frivolous thing about 'We love Montreal.' It's the truth."


Molko always speaks the truth; just ask the old flames who have found themselves immortalized in song. The music-as-therapy cliche isn't so cliched in Placebo's case ("I've saved a lot of money on psychiatry bills, mate"), although not every relationship leaves a spectral trail strong enough to merit a lyric.


"You have to have a very serious impact to be worthy. I don't mean that arrogantly: Sometimes you have relationships that are frivolous and sometimes you have relationships that are very, very deep and meaningful. It's the ones that are deep and meaningful that affect you, that stay with you, that continue to haunt you for the rest of your life."

A Place For Us To Dream - Best Of - Placebo

 

 

 

Placebo celebrate their 20th birthday and go on a world tour in autumn.

Their journey around the globe starts October 13th in Denmark and ends December 15th in the London Wembley Arena.

The band promises that they are going to play songs from all periods of their long career at those shows.

Brian Molko announces: "Let me just say that much: We are going to play songs that I swore I'd never play again. We have to recognize what the many Placebo fans out there really want to hear.
They've always been very patient with us cause we just seldom play our commercial successful material.

But a 20th birthday seems appropriate to us to rethink that attitude. That is what we intend.
We are going on this world tour for the Fans and it offers us the opportunity to rediscover our early music. So if you want to hear pieces like "Pure morning" or "Nancy boy", which we didn’t play in ten years and maybe will never be playing again, you better come to those shows! Of course we will have some surprises as well."

 

Besides on 7th of October appears a new best-of album called "A Place For Us To Dream" with three unpublished songs.

Sources: .universal-music.de /  http://bit.ly/2a430K8

Placebo - Twenty Years acoustic version - Russian TV 2016

 

Ladies and gentlemen here is the acoustic version of 20 years in a Russian tv show...
Let's see if you notice something different than usual! 

‪

Placebo World Tour 2016/17 - Soulmates Meeting Point

Placebo World Tour 2016/17 - Soulmates Meeting Point

We created this meeting point to find other fans from all over the world to organize fan meeting and enjoy together the Placebo World Tour.
Let us celebrate together the 20th Anniversary.

 > GO TO THE MEETING POINT <

Tour dates & ticktest: http://www.placeboworld.co.uk/shows

By Placebo Anyway 

2nd of May - International Placebo Day - Placebo Anyway 2016

2nd of May - International Placebo Day - Placebo Anyway Party

24h Special here on !!

You will love it!!

"Placebo Day" is the unofficial holiday for fans of the rock band Placebo, held annually on 2 May. Its origin lies in a lyric from the band's song "The Bitter End":

"We're running out of alibis/On the second of May."

Enjoy our soulmates party on Placebo Anyway

 

The Fly - Interview with Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal -2013

The Fly "Interview with Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal"

 

26.07.2013

As Placebo prepare to release their new album ‘Loud Like Love’ later this year, frontman Brian Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal speak to Alison King about their upcoming 7th album, digital dementia and how computers think we’re gay…


The songs on ‘Loud Like Love’ were originally meant for Brian’s solo project, so how did they end up on the record?

Brian Molko: I was working on some songs in my home studio or “garden shed”- every man needs a garden shed – and I was trying to write songs for me, without worrying about it having to be at a certain standard for the band. So I was playing acoustic guitars and piano and the only rule I had was that I could use regular guitars but I couldn’t use any distortion. It helped me write in a different way. For example, [new song] ‘Scene Of The Crime’ started with an oboe sample I found on the Internet – I just found it completely wild and started writing the song around it. Actually, we started working on the album accidentally because we went into the studio to record a single and then it became the ‘B3′ EP and then we were having such a good time with Adam Noble (producer, dEUS) in the studio that we wanted to stay. Normally, we have a writing period beforehand. As we didn’t really have a massive lump of material, I said ‘I have these songs, maybe some of these will work?’. In the end we worked on four out of the six songs that I presented, including: ‘Too Many Friends’, ‘Scene Of The Crime’, ‘Hold Onto Me’ and then we had our customary writing period to finish the record.

‘Loud Like Love’ was recorded in two parts, with touring in between. When returning to the studio was there anything you wanted to change after playing live?

Stefan Olsdal: The first half we recorded and it was already done so there was no reason to come back and rework those.

BM: We don’t have that luxury anymore to try out new songs. At the beginning, before we even started making records and before camera phones and YouTube, we would try out stuff at gigs and see what the reaction would be for the ideas we were working on, but we don’t have the luxury to do that now. If anything, we only had one new song to play anyway. I didn’t really enjoy being on that tour. I just felt like we were rehashing old ground and I knew that we were working on the new record so I really wanted to go back.

Would you write and record in two parts again?

BM: No, you end up putting way too much pressure on yourself. If you record something in two halves, you’ve already set a benchmark for yourself that you’re just trying to reach or surpass – I think that made it difficult for us. I’m happy with it but I can’t listen to it now. It’s not that I’m bored of it, I just don’t want to get over-saturated. I’m aware that I get over-saturated really quickly with our own stuff so I kind of have to stop listening to it because I know I’m going to be living with these sounds for a long time.

After touring, does your album change?

BM: The songs grow a little and almost take on a life of their own. By the end of the tour they end up being how you wish you’d had the time to get them to before you recorded them. If we had the luxury that Pink Floyd did with touring ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ before recording it, maybe the songs would get to a place where they felt like the definitive version.

Last month Russian parliament passed a law banning “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.” What are your thoughts on playing in countries in which the politics are so at odds with your own beliefs?

SO: We’ve never shied away from playing in different parts of the world and I’ve personally become more active in gay rights. I’ve been as honest and open about it as I feel I should. A lot of the time people in these places don’t have a lot of power over what is happening with the government. We do what we can. It’s unfortunate because western civilisations should be opening up and becoming more liberal and accepting, but it isn’t.

BM: Just by being the people we are, we represent a certain thing to the people that come to our shows. I think it’s really important to play places like that because in a small way you’re a force for good. We promote tolerance just by showing up and playing.

Is there a level of responsibility involved when gaining success in music to have an educated or informed opinion about the message you may or may not willingly be sending out?

SO: I think a lot of the people who are role models or who have responsibility are teachers, politicians and people who take office in public positions. What we express is how we feel through our music and lyrics. Our primary purpose is not to go out there and be political with a big P – That’s Bono’s job!

Are you confused when people think you’re provocative?

SO: Well, you’re given all this freedom to express who you want to be and we kind of explore that. We never set out to provoke. I think just by the nature of who we were, when we started in the 90s, we didn’t really fit into a musical scene that was happening at the time. I think we’ve been pretty honest in our career. It can rub people up the wrong way, but that’s just the nature of who we are.

18th century philosopher Georg Hegel prescribed the theory that history is the unfolding of an awareness of freedom. Does that ring true with you?

SO: Musically, I think it’s become more challenging as we go on. It’s a challenge to not repeat yourself, to find something that is relevant to us that excites us. Being in a band does give us freedom to express ourselves but it doesn’t mean that it gets any easier.

BM: I don’t think we’ve decided what we sound like yet. By the time we did the second album, in 1998, we’d already grown tired of the “power trio” format which is very much what our first album was about. We wanted to find what our sound could be. Hopefully, we have done that a little bit more with every record. I think this one really has broadened the idea of what a Placebo song can be.

Will you ever find the definitive Placebo sound?

BM: I hope that the day that we stop – if we ever do, and I hope that it’s not very soon – that at that point we sound completely fucking different to how we sounded before. Otherwise, I will be horribly disappointed. I’d quite like to be big enough to keep trying to redefine it every time. I’m not saying that [last record] ‘Battle For The Sun’ was a step backwards, but it was more of a macabre, rootsy album and I feel that this one is a reaction against that. It’s considerably different.

You can buy the album in five different formats – what’s the best way to listen to it?

SO: We were in a hotel in Germany and each room came with a vinyl player. It was nice to put on a big round disc and sit back. Vinyl has that tactile aspect to it and you can actually sit without even the volume on and hear the music of the vinyl. So, you can get the record because that’s something that’s close to our hearts.

BM: No matter what people say, it will sound better on vinyl if its mastered to vinyl. I grew up listening to music [in that way] so it has a sort of romanticism to it.

Online music is cheap and easily accessible. Has that instantaneous aspect made us listen to music differently?

BM: I mean, human beings are like electricity, we always veer towards the path which is easiest and people will go for whatever’s quick. There’s this new kind of syndrome which apparently a lot of people are suffering from which they’re studying in South Korea. University professors are studying digital dementia and the idea has got to do with neuro plasticity and neural pathways which are continually forming in our brain. Due to overuse and overexposure of technology the right side of our brain is shrinking and the left side is growing and as a consequence we’re having more and more problems concentrating and remembering things. It’s very easy when you wake up first thing in the morning to check your phone or emails before you even have a cup of coffee, so it’s an interesting thing for me and I wonder what the effect of this continuous exposure to technology is doing in changing the way we express and digest art. I mean, when you listen to a record on vinyl, you’re making a commitment. The physicality of listening to it and what you have to do to get sounds to come out of it makes you more likely to sit down and concentrate. You have a physical relationship with it because you have to get up and turn it over.

You sing “my computer thinks I’m gay” on ‘Too Many Friends’, where did that come from?

BM: Well, that actually happened to me and it was the spark for writing the song. I don’t know what I wrote or what I had watched but one day my computer just switched what it was advertising to me and I thought, ‘Wow, my computer thinks I’m gay!’. I thought ‘What a ridiculous way to start a song!’ and it kind of stuck in my head. Around the same time some friends of mine said they’d stopped taking friend requests on their social network because they had “too many friends”. I don’t social network at all, so I thought about what that actually means – having “too many friends”. Then I thought, ‘How many friends do I have?’ and ‘What does friendship mean today?’

More people are quitting social networks. Are we simply turning against them, or is it the paranoia of being spied on?

BM: Well, I think, ‘Why are you surprised that you’re being spied on by the American government?’ With the amount of information you put out there about yourself and to think that it would not happen is naive. It is as naive as believing that the creators of these social networks are trying to do something that’s honourable for society. All they want to do is to create wealth for themselves and their shareholders. The problem isn’t the technology itself, the problem is the people. It’s the same thing when people say to me “You’re writing about drugs” or “You’re writing about depression” or “You’re writing about addiction”. No, I’m just writing about people and these are things that have an impact on how they relate to each other and how they interact with each other.

You’re now 40 years old, a father and have quit drugs. Does that automatically mean your music is more mature?

BM: Mature always makes me think of a cheese, a cheddar is mature. I don’t know, the whole change of lifestyle thing is more of a physical imperative to be able to tour – it’s a young man’s game!

Finally, what is your best achievement?

BM: I feel privileged to be in the position to make records and to put on shows and sell tickets and that we haven’t bored our audience senseless yet. So, there must be some kind of process of renewal within what we do – it can’t just be working a formula and producing the same sound because you can’t sustain that every time.

---

Source: thefly
Photo: Placebo.com