🌠💊 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

♦️ 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗗 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟭) ♦️

🟦 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀, 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰.

𝗔 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺, 𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗱𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀, 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲. 𝗔 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹. 
𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 ! 🌠 ✨

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

💦 𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍 𝘾𝙇𝘼𝙒𝙎 💦

🔹 On Its Third Record, Scrappy Placebo shreds skeptics and expectations

🔹 There are certain truths in life that are Darwinian, indisputable. Bumble into a bobcat's den and you'll probably get scratched. Poke your hand into a moray eel's lair, get ready for a thorough severed-digit chomping. And get on the bad side of the diminutive, but shrew-fierce, Brian Molko? When he's finished with you, you'll be gutted like a floundered fish.

🔹 Take, for instance, a recent backstage incident at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre, where 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 and his U.K. alterna-punk trio 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 had just finished headlining. Still toweling the stage mascara from his sweat-drenched face, the thin, sparrow-framed frontman was entertaining a coterie of cooing music industry nabobs with his thoughts on the transformation of Jeffrey Eugenides' brilliant The Virgin Suicides novel into an even bleaker film by first-time director Sofia Coppola. As the discussion moved on to movies, 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐲𝐧𝐞𝐬' Bowie-inspired 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 was mentioned, which instantly brought one young hotshot out of his aloof shell. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 !" he boldly declared. "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕—𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅!"

🔹 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨's eyes brightened, like a cat when it's just scented a mouse in the house. "𝑶𝒉 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉 ?" he asked, moving to face his opponent. "𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 ?"

🔹 The loudmouth didn't even see it coming. "𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒚𝒆𝒔 ! " he shot back. "𝑽𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒕 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅."

🔹 "𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 ?" grinned the Placeban with barely contained delight. "𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕! 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒎, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒕! 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑺𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐 ..." and 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 raised his right hand, middle finger extended, until it was directly in front of the poor pretender's nose. "𝑭𝑼𝑪𝑲 𝒀𝑶𝑼 !" A guillotine beheading couldn't have been more effective. The kid could only stammer, turn red and bleatingly admit that he hadn't really seen the flick—he was only parroting some reviews he'd read. Too late—𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 had already turned his back on him, dismissing him from the chat entirely.

Photo credit: Helena Berg

🔹 "𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆: 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒐𝒏𝒆; 𝑺𝒚𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒐!" cackles the mischievous 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨, recalling the incident a few weeks ago over lunch at his chic New York hotel. He could've done the P.C.-polite thing and let the chap squeak by with his affrontery. But it just isn't his non-fool-suffering style. "𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕," claims the 28-year-old, pointing across the table at pinstripe-suited drummer 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭, an even more mischievous chum he's known since they were teenagers attending London drama school. (Only last night, Hewitt—on a late-night stroll through Soho—had smilingly misdirected several couples who'd mistook him for a local.) Why is the duo so scrappy? "𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕," 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 sighs. "𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒔, 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒕𝒐 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑪𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑾𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇—𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅-𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒐𝒃𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 2 1/2 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍." He sighs, shakes his head somberly. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒏𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒎, 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑺𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕, 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕."

🔹 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 has another good reason to be on the defensive: stalkers. He's got 'em in spades. Sometimes, he says, "𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 '𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆'—𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚." One night, he arrived home late to find a starry-eyed female encamped on his apartment doorstep; she'd bluffed her way past security, adoringly informed 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 she'd come to stay and death-gripped the stairwell railings as guards struggled to drag her away. What's the spooky allure ?

🔹 To understand 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨, you have to understand the 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐧. On the band's third release, 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 (Virgin), lead/rhythm guitarist 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 leapfrogs through so many musical styles it's head-spinning—from scratchy punk ("𝐷𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝐵𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐶𝑎𝑚𝑒") to shimmering glam ("𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘-𝐸𝑦𝑒𝑑," "𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐾," "𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑛") to folk-quiet balladry ("𝐵𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛," "𝑃𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑜𝑚"), flat-out funk 'n' hip-hop ("𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑒 & 𝑀𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑒," featuring U.S. rapper 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝) and even cheeky, Modern English-retro New Wave ("𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑔𝑒"). Part prick-kicking confessional, part socially conscious outrage, 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨's material is—above all else— impassioned, compelling, some of the most true-blue-believable rock ’n’ roll you're likely to hear this year. Add to that 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨's unique singing voice (imagine a black-footed ferret, gnaw-squealing at its trap-clamped leg; or maybe Rush's Geddy Lee with a certain part of his anatomy caught in a clamp) and his innate instinct for combining melodic experimentation with huge, arena-pleasing hooks, and you've got a guaranteed formula for superstardom. Already, 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 (issued elsewhere last October) has moved nearly a million copies in Europe alone, hit the Top Ten in 15 countries and launched three smash singles ("𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑒𝑛," "𝑆𝑙𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑔𝑒," "𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐾"). Will America follow suit ? 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 is such a commanding presence—both onstage and off—there are few capable of resisting his hypnotic spell.

🔹 Today, the black-T-shirt/black-jeans-clad 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨—staying "𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔"—has let his sideburns grow into pincer-beetle points, and trimmed his trademark Louise Brooks bob into a businesslike, side-parted style that would've made June Cleaver beam with parental pride. One mouse-click through the labyrinth of unofficial 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 websites will explain why: Most feature photos of male and female lookalikes, some eerily accurate, some laughingly awkward. "𝑰𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰'𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒅 𝒃𝒆, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐𝒔, 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔, 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒃𝒐𝒃. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 '𝑶𝑲— 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 𝒃𝒐𝒃 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐.' 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅'𝒔 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍, 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚."

Photo credit: Hamish Brown

🔹 It all started innocently enough. "𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈," explains 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨, examining the cracked ebony polish barely clinging to his fingernails. "𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏-𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 11 𝒂𝒏𝒅," 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 "𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 14. 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 '𝑴𝒐𝒎, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆—𝑰'𝒎 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝑰 𝒂𝒎.' 𝑰𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍." Before that ? "𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔, 𝑩𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚, 𝒎𝒂𝒏 !" (Ergo, 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 adds, the strong thread of religion wafting through 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜.)

🔹 Instead, the "alter" boy eventually wound up in London, where he and 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 began occasionally gigging. By chance, he bumped into another old schoolmate—Swedish musician 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐥𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥—in a tube station, and invited him down to see his combo perform. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 was formed that very night, with guitarist 𝐎𝐥𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥 switching to bass (which accounts for his unusual, Joy Division-melodic approach to the instrument) and 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 momentarily switching to his side group, Breed (he rejoined in '96, just in time to tour behind a decidedly carnal-themed 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 debut). That same year, 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 huddled in a tiny San Francisco cafe, less concerned with discussing the disc than he was with trying to picture what attractive Bay Area native he might pick up at that evening's meet 'n' greet. This coati-mundi-masked miscreant hadn't come to edify—he'd come to party.

🔹 And party 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 did, on into the recording of its glam-happy, million-selling follow-up, 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, and hit singles like the jagged-but-chiming "𝐏𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠" (which 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 still refers to as "𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈."). But the pleasure train was about to derail. The British press had already dubbed 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 the "𝑑𝑟𝑢𝑔-𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑥 𝑑𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑓"—true, he never refused any backstage treats on offer. But stimulation gave way to self-loathing, with the nadir being that fateful night the 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 tour hit Paris—minus one blind-drunk 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨, who'd disappeared (i.e., passed out) somewhere the night before in Manchester. 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 was furious—his friend was quickly destroying himself and taking 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 down with him. It was time for an ultimatum.

🔹 In Black Market's lilting, '60s-sunny "𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐿𝑒𝑣𝑖," 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 chirps "𝘋𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦/ 𝘊𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘤𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺— 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 ... 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘦/ 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦." Make no mistake, says the singer: "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈'𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆— 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 '𝒆𝒎—𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃 𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐 '𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆—𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒅𝒈𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒖𝒄𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.' 𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐-𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊-𝒅𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒔—𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐-𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏." And casual sex with your own doppelganger groupies ? "𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕," shrugs 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨, while both 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 and 𝐎𝐥𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐥 (who's been sitting silently at the table for most of the interview) furiously nod their heads in agreement. "𝑩𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒘."

🔹 Isn't there any excess in which the cleaned-up Placebans still indulge ? Vodka/Red Bull cocktails, they shamefully confess. "𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 !" barks 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭 .

🔹 "𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉 ," 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 pipes in. "𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 100 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒖𝒑 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐." Like, say, at the close of the 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐭-co-produced Market sessions, which 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 had "𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆—𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐. 𝑾𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒄𝒌, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄."

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🔹 With such clarity, renewed focus has come a bevy of creative rewards. At personal invite, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 played 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞's 50th birthday gala in '97 (a favor which 𝐁𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐞 returned two years later by crooning "𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑡ℎ 𝐶𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑦 𝐵𝑜𝑦" with his pals at the Brit Awards). Fresh from a slot on Australia's gargantuan 𝐵𝑖𝑔 𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙, 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 immediately got to work producing a documentary on—of all things—folk-rock ruffians the Dirty Three. And 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨's outrageous feather-boa-ed turn in 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 turned a few Hollywood heads, as well—𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 and cohorts were cast to portray Judas Priest in the upcoming Mark Wahlberg vehicle Metal God. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕-𝒂-𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔," 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 hisses. "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑹𝒐𝒃 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂, 𝒖𝒎, 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆—𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅—𝒘𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒅 ‘𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒚𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏.’ 𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 ‘𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒕, 𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒆.' 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒃𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 !"

🔹 But the biggest bonus of all is the aesthetic quantum leap forward that 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 represents. Judging by 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 history, you might think a track like "𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐾" is about drugs, or ketamine in particular. But 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 tried it only once, a decade ago, and is merely using the allusion— against a stark backdrop of strummed acoustics, "𝘣𝘢-𝘥𝘢 𝘣𝘢-𝘥𝘢"-fluffed verses and a clanging, sugar-coated climax of a chorus—to illustrate the giddy floating/falling experience of true love.

🔹 Did someone say "true love" ? 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 starts to squirm in his seat. "𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒖𝒑, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕," he sighs, while his eyes follow a stiletto-heeled minx as she clickety-clacks to a seat at the bar. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏."

🔹 "𝑰𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕," the artist suddenly decides, getting a spunky second wind, "𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆—𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒔. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒚𝒘𝒊𝒓𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔. 𝑺𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖" 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 "𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒆" 𝑯𝒆𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒕 "𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕."

🔹 And what about 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 's wicked snubbing of that wanna-be cool cat ? Like 𝐇𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭's faux pas, it wasn't exactly middle-path-seeking material. "𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕," 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 concludes, eyes all a-glitter again. "𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 !"
✔️ 𝙿𝚞𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎 - 𝙼𝚊𝚢 𝟸00𝟷

Post by Laetitia

💎 𝕀ℕ𝕋𝔼ℝ𝕍𝕀𝔼𝕎 𝕎𝕀𝕋ℍ 𝕊𝕋𝔼𝔽𝔸ℕ (𝟚𝟘𝟘𝟙) 💎

🔹 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑆𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠, 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝐼'𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 2001.

🔹 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠, 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚, 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠, 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 "𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦", 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 😄

𝐴 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑖𝑡 ☺️

𝐼𝑛 21 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠.

🔹 𝐴𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

Photo credit. Kevin Westenberg - Edit by Laetitia

🎤 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰?
🎸 It’s been great. We went to number one in France.


🎤 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀.
🎸 Yeah, we toured for Without You for fifteen months and then were in the studio for the new album for nine months. It’s been like a pregnancy from conception to delivery.


🎤 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱?
🎸 We laughed our way through this one. The second one was full of relationship troubles and we weren’t feeling good psychologically and didn’t get along with our producer. This time we co-produced and it was more creative and inspiring.


🎤 𝗪𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼?
🎸 We wrote most of the album after we finished the tour. When we went to the studio we had it all in us really from playing the new songs too much. We were dying to do new stuff.


🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲?
🎸 I think its an angrier record. I think it is more coherent. I think it rocks more. I think we had all of that in the back of our minds when we wrote this album. Because Without You I’m Nothing was a bit skitzo. It didn’t know if it wanted to be a punk album or a melodramatic love song album. I think it suffered from being slow in some places. On a submusical level we wanted to keep this one up.


🎤 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲.
🎸 I think we matured more as songwriters. We definitely decided to put music ahead of our lifestyles as we did in our past as well. Which is something I think we’ve fallen victims to.

Photo credit:  Kevin Westenberg / Edit by Laetitia

🎤 𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹.
🎸 Yeah its headline grabbing stuff.


🎤 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 ‘𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵’ 𝗼𝗿 ‘𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴’.
🎸 It gets quite boring really.


🎤 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗜’𝗺 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹. 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 “𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗞” 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 ‘𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆/ 𝗻𝗼 𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴’.
🎸 It’s the comparison of the rush of drugs to falling in love. Where gravity comes from is what comes up always comes down. You can’t escape it.


🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 “𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻”?
🎸 That is really about two and a half minutes of self disgust. It explores why humans treat themselves so badly and treat everything around us so badly. It seems everything we touch turns to garbage and how we’ve enslaved ourselves. And how we still feel the reprocusions of slavery. It basically explores those topics.


🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹.
🎸 They are still broken hearted love songs that we’ve been doing since the first album. I think this album is more inward looking than outward looking. It’s more worldly. There are topics of racism, homophobia, politics, voyeurism, and other sorts of things.

Photo credit:  Jason Tanaka Blaney

🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 ‘𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗮𝗻’ 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 ?
🎸 (𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩) You know what a Trojan is right ?


🎤 𝗬𝗲𝘀. (𝘞𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘫𝘰𝘬𝘦) 𝗢𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲. (𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯) 𝗜 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘅 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗺𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲.
🎸 Well its really about changing a lifestyle. It’s telling a friend to take it easy and if he keeps going the way the song describes that he will die.


🎤 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘅, 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗹.
🎸 Yeah. It’s really about pulling someone you care about back from the brink.


🎤 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘆𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 “𝗦𝗹𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝗴𝗲” ?
🎸 It’s about following your dreams and not getting stuck in the nine to five machinery. It’s about promoting individuality.


🎤 𝗜𝘀 “𝗦𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗲 & 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲” 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀?
🎸 That was written during the May Day Riots and that is where the line “Revolution, dope, guns, fucking in the streets” comes from. It’s the first track we brought hip hop into the mix.

🎤 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁?
🎸 It was really cool. It actually felt really natural. It was a song that didn’t have a chorus at the time. We were like “what the fuck are we going to do here?” And we were like “fuck, lets do a rap”. And it seemed crazy, but it really turned out to be a great idea. We knew Justin Warfield for a few years and got him to come over. And it was just that one second before he opened his mouth where we were like ‘shit, I hope this thing works’ and then he opened his mouth and it was like ‘ahhhhh’.

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 “𝗛𝗮𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗻”?
🎸 On the musical level we managed to sequence music with a live rock band on top. That took us the longest to get right. On the lyrical level its our version of “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday. It’s about walking around the south in the last century.


🎤 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴?
🎸 Yeah, about black men hanging from trees.


🎤 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗴𝗼 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻?
🎸 We want to be more hands on each time, but we always have had the final say. We have to live with it so this time we decided to let it be on us and become more hands on. We wanted it exactly the way we wanted it and I think we achieved that.


🎤 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳?
🎸 It was really good. We were more focused and definitely more confident.


🎤 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗼𝘂𝘀?
🎸 We had an acoustic show about a week ago in Paris. And we did the songs differently and I was shitting myself so badly.


🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱? 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀?
🎸 It depends. Some nights I feel really intimidated by the whole thing and other nights I sort of surf like a wave and try and eye as many cute little boys as I can in the audience.


🎤 𝗜 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲.
🎸 I also run through my rock poses. (Laughs) It’s like ‘rock pose number twenty-three coming up’. (𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴)

Billie Holiday. Photo credit:  Getty Images /  Michael Ochs Archives

🎤 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱?
🎸 We found the perfect way recently in a hotel in Australia. We found this Jacuzzi and a beer and that was a perfect way to unwind. We don’t have that everywhere so usually it’s a couple of drinks and I’m out by six in the morning.


🎤 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱?
🎸 No, I think any press is good press. We stand behind everything we’ve ever said. But there have been a lot of lies printed about us, some have been quite good.


🎤 𝗔𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆?
🎸 Yeah. Apparently I had tea with the Dalai Lama. I thought that was quite good. There are just loads of silly lies like how many drugs we’ve consumed in a week. Which if we would have done it we wouldn’t have been here.


🎤 𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
🎸 I find it annoying. I mean they want to blame us for everything like the Columbine massacres because we do drugs as well. It's one of those things where drugs have always been a part of music since the days of smack, sweet potatoes, and jazz. It’s just headline grabbing. It’s going to be more interesting than what guitar strings we use.


🎤 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀’ 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀?
🎸 Yeah, but we live in a see tv culture with shows like Big Brother. People are fascinated by other people’s lives. It’s a voyeuristic quality like we explore in “Peeping Tom”.

Photo credit: Hamish Brown

🎤 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘅 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝗻, 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆?
🎸 Absolutely. We do that sometimes in the studio. There are no defined roles in our music. Maybe we should just get three keyboards and stand around like Kraftwerk. I’m a huge fan of Depeche Mode as well.


🎤 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀.
🎸 Once you’ve written one way and then do it again you can’t keep doing it. We don’t like working from a formula. It just gets boring if we repeat ourselves. We want to find new methods. I think anything that feels written when we play it together becomes Placebo. I think the fact that we come from three different backgrounds makes it more possible and opens more doors.


🎤 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗯𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂.
🎸 Thank you. To me any music that intrigues you enough to want to listen to it again is a really positive thing.


🎤 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗴𝗼.
🎸 I think most of the songs are filled with melodies.


🎤 𝗪𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁?
🎸 I picked up the bass because of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden. (𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) And then I really wanted to write music because of Depeche Mode. I’m just in total awe of their song writing.

🎤 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
🎸 “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA. I grew up with them. I still think they are the best pop band of all time.


🎤 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲.
🎸 It’s kind of ABBA on speed. It’s all just songwriting by the book to make a million. It’s stinkville. (𝘞𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩)


🎤 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗶𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼’𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲?
🎸 I think we’d like to stay around for a long time. We look up to bands like U2 and REM for their longevity and reinvention. If we can still be here in ten years and make relevant music. And if you go to the record shop and can still find us between PJ Harvey and Portishead we’ll be happy.
✔️ 𝙷𝚒𝚙 𝙾𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 - 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟷𝟾, 𝟸00𝟷

ABBA. Photo credit: Sigfried Pilz

⭐🎵 𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑲 (𝑪𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑶𝒇 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒓𝒆) https://bit.ly/3atFq90

🎵⭐ 𝑩𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑴𝑪𝑴 𝑪𝒂𝒇𝒆́) https://bit.ly/3znXJXJ

⭐🎵 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔) https://bit.ly/3xahK1d

🎵⭐ 𝑺𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑪𝑫.𝑼𝑲) https://bit.ly/3NYnzWa

⭐🎵 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍) https://bit.ly/398rxwR

🎵⭐ 𝑯𝒂𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒊𝒏 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒆 𝑹𝒆́𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒓) https://bit.ly/38RIXO2

⭐🎵 𝑩𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 - 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕 (1959) https://bit.ly/3mfeVHj

🎵⭐ 𝑷𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒐𝒎 (𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑭𝑵𝑨𝑪 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒔) https://bit.ly/3NUVWgP

⭐🎵 𝑨𝑩𝑩𝑨 - 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝑰𝒕 𝑨𝒍𝒍 https://bit.ly/3Nni8jL

Post  by Laetitia

🔻 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗔𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗚𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘 𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟 (𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗔, 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟭) 🔻

♦️ On July 6, 2001, Placebo hit the stage in 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝒂𝒕 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍.

♦️ Before the concert, Brian gave a quite funny interview to Austrian music radio station 𝑭𝑴4. I've transcribed it for you.


♦️ 𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 ♦️

🎶 Bionic
🎶 Passive Aggressive
🎶 Leni
🎶 Little Mo
🎶 Every You Every Me
🎶 Without You I'm Nothing
🎶 Slave to the Wage
🎶 Special K
🎶 My Sweet Prince
🎶 Commercial for Levi
🎶 Peeping Tom
🎶 Black-Eyed
🎶 Pure Morning

Photo credit: Ullstein Bild

♦️ 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ♦️

📻 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 ?
🎸 It's our ping pong table yeah. While we were making Black Market Music, there was a ping pong room next door to the studio and we got obsessed with ping pong. So we decided to buy our own and take it on tour with us. But there's not much space here and we don't really get the chance to do it at festivals, you know. When we play our own gigs, we set it up every day and have a few games you know beforehand just to keep you from getting tired and keep you from getting bored.

📻 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏 𝑽𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘, 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇 ?
🎸 Well you just have to learn and realize and be okay with the fact that festivals by nature are completely chaotic and that nobody really gets a chance to test anything beforehand. So everything by nature is going to be more sloppy. So in a way that places a little less pressure upon you so you learn to let things go a little bit more you know.

📻 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒙𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔 ?
🎸 Yeah, i mean it's far less precise you know. The nature of the context is much different because the audience isn't necessarily 100 yours you know. So there's an extra challenge in that to keep people's attention but also you know the whole situation is different. So you have to have a different attitude, it's a completely different context.

📻 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 ?
🎸 It's something that's quite fun really you know because you get to hang out with other bands, you get to see people that you haven't seen in a while. Four years ago, we were playing here with Therapy you know, and we're playing here again you know it's kind of funny. So it's more like you know the season of sitting in the grass you know and kind of and just hanging out more and then it's like: "oh right, okay" it's time it's time to go play now.

Placebo at Forestglade 2001. Photo credit unknown

📻 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒆'𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 ? 𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 ?
🎸 No, not today. I didn't walk out into the fields today, no. Well I guess it must have been in Greece just before we came here yeah.

📻 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒊 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅.
🎸 Because we worked very very hard on being concentrated and being focused and being very tight. I think people pay good money to come see you you know, and ticket prices keep going up and up you know, so it's like you really have to give them value for money, you really have to deliver you know, otherwise they can walk away feeling ripped off you know. But whatever you do, there's always people who walk away feeling ripped off or you just go on your site the next day and like people just complain and complain and complain you know. Every now and again, you have one or two many drinks before you go on stage and you're a little bit sloppy and then you go on the web the next day, and they go: "Man, he was drunk, man if i saw him i would have kicked his ass man but still they're my favorite bands.". It's like: "Wait a minute". People can be so demanding sometimes you know, we're just human beings.

📻 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕, 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 ?
🎸 Yeah, luckily we don't really suffer from writer's block so when we have the opportunity, we try and write as much as possible on tour. Because if you don't, then you stop being creative for a really long period of time and then you start to feel like a performing monkey, it's important to keep your creative juices flowing and we try and do that. So we've always kind of continually written you know which is a good thing.

📻 𝑺𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌-𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 ?
🎸 It takes a long time you know to come down off touring you know. It's like if you have two weeks holiday, it just doesn't work you know because it takes you a week or two to come down anyway you know. I think Michael Stipe once told me that after the new adventures in High Five Tour that it took him about four months to come down, you know. So you have a tendency to run around like a chicken with your head cut off or you just hit massive post-tour depression and you just don't know what to do, and you want to throw yourself under a bus you know. Because you feel so useless, because your life isn't organized you know, and you have nothing planned for you the next day you know. You want to call up your tour manager and go like: "Where am I supposed to be ? You know tell me what to do today !". Yeah, it's a weird feeling.


𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞.
🎶 https://bit.ly/3pkNBsP 🎶

🌟 It was kindly shared by 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑟𝑖𝑠, who shared this amazing gig with me so that you can all enjoy it ! 🌟
💗 𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑵𝑲 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑪𝑯𝑹𝑰𝑺 !! 😄 💋

✒️ Transcript by Laetitia
Post by Laetitia

🔸𝗠𝗬 𝗦𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗘🔸

📌"𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥-𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟'𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 "𝑀𝑦 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒", 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑: 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔."📌
(𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙼𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚘, 𝚃𝚎̂𝚝𝚞 𝚗°𝟹𝟹 : 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟿)

Screenshot: Rock Werchter Festival 2001

Maybe it's the winter season in which I am always accompanied by melancholy ...
Placebo is my faithful guide ... their songs are exactly what I'm looking for and need as my drug.


That is why I dedicate today's post to all those who love "𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐄"
- one of the most beautiful, painful and at the same time the most interesting ballads I know. I will always be fascinated by the combination of human pain describing lost love with hunger for drugs and escape from reality.
What happened in Brian and Stefan's life that they expressed it with a song so perfectly desperate?
We have many quotes in which they both described it, but the statements were a little different: was it the man or the woman who was the direct cause of this suffering?
In a Polish interview, I finally discovered an explanation that you can read today.


𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 (𝗡𝗢𝗡)𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗭𝗢𝗡𝗘, 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻, 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟯🔸
🔸💬The most memorable fragment of your first concert in Poland was the performance of My Sweet Prince. Although the words in the chorus "my sweet prince, you are the one" are also characteristic of one of the most famous works in the history of literature, something else probably inspired you to use them in the text...
BM: "Right. But Hamlet has nothing to do with it. These are words someone had smeared with lipstick on the wall of my house before doing something very stupid. They made a deep impression on me. My Sweet Prince is another song that wrote itself. It all happened at a time when someone very close to us was experiencing a personal tragedy. It was about our friend and my ex-girlfriend who had come close to death. It was very sad and hard to swallow."
(Placebo (NON)SECURITY ZONE, Berlin, May 2003)

A very sad experience ... it certainly touches deeply everyone who has had a similar experience in their lives ... I really like the excerpt from the interviews that Rita shared here on the page. That passage expresses Brian's painful emotions very sensitively:

🔸💬 .../.../Some of your lyrics are, as I've read in your press release, autobiographical reactions to your personal struggles, yours specifically, and well, I've a question for, well, for an answer I need for myself really. If you're uncomfortable with the question, I wouldn't write anything you asked me not to, but - I would like you to at least tell me, off the record sort to speak, about Sweet Prince. (Did I just say 'off the record'? )
BM. "Okay."

🔸💬 (This next part, when I heard it on the tape, I thought, my god, I must seem so weird. Because for a second I just sit there. And then, I said it.) Well see, uh, I'm a recovering addict and -
BM. "Are you really?" (Not sarcastic)

Screenshot: Rock Werchter Festival 2001

🔸💬 Unfortunately. Yeah, and considering that, I've experienced a few things, you know. Anyway, I researched the web trying to find something to confirm whether in that song you are literally referring to heroin addiction. But I couldn't find anything about it. So, is it - metaphorical?
BM. "Not at all, it’s very literal. It was a very dark period of my life. I mean, and yeah, the song is essentially about a choice, about a breakdown between two romances. One with a person, and one with the ... with a substance."

🔸💬 Well, to some that lyrical expression is obvious, but do you care though if others can get it? Or is it just for your expression, your catharsis? Especially that song. And, uh--
BM. "Well, it's being comprehensive, artistically, that is very very important to me. But that song, well both romances, were tragedies for me, and both well, almost led to death really."

🔸💬 Well, in that situation, you just can't have both.
BM. "Personally I’ve -- yeah, they both spur on the other and each person just keeps feeding it, and you don’t want the other person to stop really. And you can’t --"

🔸💬 You can't have a relationship with that person while you're doing fucking dope. (It occurs to me...) Wow, are you interviewing me? (smilling)
BM. "It’s alright, really. But yeah, the only way to really get out of the substance abuse, if you want to at that time -- is to break the relationship --- and it is, it was, a very painful experience. You know, that song is the, well, the one that is kind of closest to the bone, and I’ve never really been that naked before, lyrically. It’s very difficult to talk about. And, I always have to watch what I say. That’s why I asked if I could write--- Oh yes, well everything I’ve said so far is okay. Good. Well, thankfully I did, uh, for my own protection I knew that I had to get out before it became a problem. I’ve a great deal of responsibility first and foremost to Steve and Stefan. And well, Steve has a daughter and these things, as we spoke about, these things have a domino effect with the three of us, y’know, it goes a long way, the synchronicity. I had to stop for me...too, and to protect the band. It’s very important for me not to f*ck up. I’ve always been, see, in a way, a lot of my life has been about things like that, like breaking down taboos for myself. And uh, a lot of my experience growing up has been based on doing -- on transgression and doing what is forbidden, and that is, y’know, it’s almost like the last taboo."

🔸💬 That's a big one. Especially for people with that psycho, creepydumbtype of tendency toward self destruction it's usually the mother load.
BM. "Yes, and I’ve had problems, hang ups with depression, a lot of emotional problems in the past and it’s taken me a long time to get to that point where I don’t need a crutch."

🔸💬 And Placebo?
"It’s my life now. The band is too precious to f*ck up. And I’d never been responsible before for anyone’s attempted suicide and well, that was very difficult for me to deal with. That song, I just, well, it sort of vomited itself forward, it had to be written. It happened while we were demo-ing the second album and that song wrote itself about a week after the fact. Basically it really really affected us in a very big way, all of us." .../.../
𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒:
https://bit.ly/3FHwczZ

Screenshot: Rock Werchter Festival 2001

What do you say to this emotional dialogue, dear friends?
Drugs and love ... both are often very addictive and it is a very limiting factor for life ...
What fascinates me, however, is Brian's mention of connecting love with drugs.
Because I studied drug addiction a bit while I was in high school, it was interesting to me to find references to heroin in this song.
Brian's verses testify not only to his experience with this addiction, but especially to his incredible talent for putting this pain into texts. This song is another masterpiece in a series ..


𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆:
🔸 „Me and the dragon can chase all the pain away...“

“Chasing the Dragon” is a term used when heroin is inhaled through smoking the vapours usually by heating it up on foil and using a tube to breathe them in, also smokable through a "bulb" which is a glass cylinder with a bulbed end to put the drugs in and be heated over a flame.

🔸 „Me and my valuable friend...“
The price of one dose of heroin for the use described above can be found on the Internet, and it is not a small amount of money, it's measured in hundreds of dollars.

🔸 „Can fix all the pain away...“
"Fix" is another nickname for heroin.

🔸 In fairy tales, the prince always lands on the "White Horse", which is another nickname for heroin.
Although it is not directly mentioned in the song, many heroin addicts who felt addressed by this song formed this imaginary connection with the song.
Because heroin is at that moment for all these lost people the "Prince on the White Horse" who comes to save them from the hardships of everyday life.
🔸⭐🔸

Dear soulmates, with this post, I definitely didn't want to get anyone depressed. The difficult situations in life need to be seen from the other side: anyone who gets out of addiction to anything becomes a stronger and better person and can pass on their experiences.
Look at Brian and Stefan ... their lives speak for themselves.💗
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 "𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔".

But to illustrate the atmosphere of this evening, I can't miss the song. I always cry for this video I share with you:

📹 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 “𝑴𝒚 𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆” 𝑳𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟏
🎵 https://bit.ly/3nEMQKA 🎵 

Post by Marti

🌟 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗔𝗧 𝗟𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗦 𝗗𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟭 🌟

🔸 "Here's proof that rock never dies". That's how 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 introduced 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑀𝑜 during the concert at 𝐿𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑠 𝑑𝑒 𝐵𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 17𝑡ℎ, 2001.


I was listening to the performance and can't help but think how great this concert was !

𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑏𝑜 hit the stage at this festival four times, in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2017.

The support band which opened the set for Placebo was none other than 𝑆𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑠, who has remixed 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑒 in the past 👏🔥

Live at Le Printemps de Bourges 2001. Photo credit: Gilles

💬 "The Printemps de Bourges must become, for all those interested in song, a place of creation, expression and confrontation on the song of today."

With this sentence, 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 presented a new concept at the end of 1976: a song festival in the heart of a medium-sized provincial town, to be held during the Easter holidays.

The first Printemps was a success: almost 13,000 tickets were sold. From the first festival in 1977, a special programme, "Les Scènes Ouvertes" (translated as "the Open Stages"), offered a space reserved for young, unknown or unusual talent. Attendance at the festival continued to grow until it reached 100,000 tickets sold in the 90s. However𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔's concern for quality over quantity has led to the Festival being deliberately limited to around 50,000 seats.

In 2001, for the 25th session, the venue has gathered many great artists such as Muse, Sigur Ros, The Divine Comedy, Tortoise, Henry Salvador, Disiz La Peste, Goldfrapp, Sawt El Atlas and many more. A variety of music from all over the world, which makes the festival a good reputation.

Live at Le Printemps de Bourges 2001. Photo credit: Gwen

⭐ 𝑺𝑬𝑻𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑻

🎵Dub Psychosis

🎵Haemoglobin

🎵Days Before You Came

🎵Allergic (to Thoughts of Mother Earth)

🎵Scared of Girls

🎵Bionic

🎵36 Degrees

🎵Passive Aggressive

🎵Leni

🎵Little Mo

🎵Every You Every Me

🎵Without You I'm Nothing

🎵Slave to the Wage

🎵Special K

🎵Taste In Men

Encore:

🎵My Sweet Prince

🎵Commercial for Levi

🎵Peeping Tom

Encore 2:

🎵Black-Eyed

🎵Pure Morning

Live at Le Printemps de Bourges 2001. Photo credit unknown

⭐ 𝑹𝑬𝑽𝑰𝑬𝑾𝑺

📖 Placebo started energetically with Haemoglobin. The beginning of the concert is dominated by explosive tracks from their self-titled debut album. On Teenage Angst, Bionic and 36 Degrees, the audience goes wild. There is a serious scramble in the pit and Brian Molko gives the security team the message to calm down. Brian takes over the keyboards for two tracks, including the sufuriant Peeping Tom. Wearing a cowboy hat, Stefan Olsdal takes care of the entertainment standing on an amp and provides second vocals on an intense Without You I'm Nothing. Steve Hewitt is hidden behind his drums, but is still very present musically. A fourth musketeer, Bill, joins the power trio on stage to reinforce the guitar sound.

The many tracks from Black Market Music, for which the audience seems to have a preference, prove the effectiveness of the latest album. A very electro My Sweet Prince starts the first encore and the concert ends with a long awaited Pure Morning. The core fans are delighted despite the lack of sound quality. The fans and others leave the Igloo with bleeding ears but with a smile on their faces and don't forget that the next day they will see Divine Comedy, JJ 72 and Muse. 📕
(𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴.𝘤𝘰𝘮)


📖 Brian Molko blessed by the Gods ? Not sure. Saved from the waters, that's for sure. For this first day of the festival and contrary to all the weather forecasts, the rain gave us some respite. Arriving late under the big top of the Igloo after having passed the few unconscious people who were fleeing the crowd, we came face to face with the guys from Sneaker Pimps who were following Placebo's French tour step by step. The spirit is friendly, but the headliner is late if we refer to the attitude of the audience who will only give a few polite cheers despite the 3000 souls attending (which won't be enough to fill the room). It must be said that the most fervent followers of the power trio had already planned to be in the front row by taking the hall by storm from 3.30 pm. The opening of the doors started two hours later, so we understand the heavy feeling of impatience of some. At 9pm, the applause meter is really flying, Brian Molko has just entered and starts without any introduction on Dub Psychosis. The evening is launched in the same way as the concert in Paris in March and the decibel level is just as devastating. Haemoglobin's saturated guitars are barely audible (so to speak!) and we're at the stage of fearing sudden deafness for the days to come, the sound is not quite perfect and our ears will surely take a hit. Bill, the band's multi-instrumentalist, swaps the keyboard for the guitar and it's an over-excited version of Days Before You Came that triggers the first slams in the crowd. For those who wanted to adopt the same look as Molko by coming to Placebo's concerts in a clean suit, it should be noted that the fall of the jacket is more than advised in the first rows... Afterwards, Brian and his band take a turn towards their 2nd album with Allergic (To Thought Of Mother Earth) followed by Scared Of Girls and the atmosphere temperature hasn't dropped a bit. The die-hards are having a field day and the pit is clearly looking like a battlefield. Stefan takes things in hand and Bionic's bass kicks in before being joined by Brian's guitar. The Igloo tent is overheated and the violent chords of 36 Degrees do not help. The song ends and Molko gives a reminder: There are a lot of people here tonight, so try not to push each other. Try to have respect for each other." The audience nods and Brian takes up his ironic tone: "Don't hurt yourselves, it would stay on our conscience." Thanks for them. Putting their money where their mouth is, the band starts the stripped down Passive Aggressive to calm the heat. As a dutiful leader, the Placebo singer then takes the floor again to pay homage to the pre-engineered King Elvis concert before missing his start on Little Mo: Here's proof that rock 'n' roll never dies." Every You Every Me and then Without You I'm Nothing follow before giving way to an unstoppable end to the first set: Slave To The Wage, Special K and Tatste In Men. The 3 singles in a row would make any octogenarian Charles Trenet fan jump, so what can we say about a venue dedicated to the Placebo cause ! The band goes back to the backstage before returning to polish up the work: a shot of My Sweet Prince, a bit of sweetness in this world of brutes with Commercial For Levi and Peeping Tom before the band goes backstage for a second time. The traditional last encore is awaited and no one is determined to leave the place when Brian appears again to motivate the audience to come back the next day for the rest of the festival's program including Muse, Stephen Malkmus and The Divine Comedy. As the evening drew to a close, the chorus of Black-Eyed's vocals continued to ring out in the tent before Pure Morning's now customary finale. The crowd is finally satiated, the satisfied band lose themselves behind the stage in the middle of a hugging session. Placebo are now done with France before their next appearances in July for other festivals. Later in the evening, the Bourges venue continued to bustle with activity in the nearby bars, but it was clear that Placebo had set the bar high for this opening act. 📕

(𝘙𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘔𝘢𝘨 - 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 2001)

Live at Le Printemps de Bourges 2001. Photo credit:Gwen

⭐ 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒈 ! 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐.

📻 https://bit.ly/3r9jp5X 🎶

Postb by Laetitia

♦️𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖: 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟏♦️

It's time for an 🔸𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖🔸 again. In this one from 2001 Brian and Stefan talk a lot about songs from the album “Black market music” and the rock star lifestyle. Other topics are Brian's family and Club 27. Enjoy reading!

Photo credit: Scarlet Page

𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗬 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗘? 𝗜𝗙 𝗜 𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗟 𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗜 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗨𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗧𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗥𝗨𝗚𝗦...
📢  𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: [Leans forward with a conspiratorial grin.] “Are you trying to tell us something?“ [laughs]

𝗕𝗨𝗧 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗙𝗘𝗘𝗟 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗨𝗣 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗘?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “In the past I think we may have been guilty of putting the lifestyle before the music. Now the focus is on doing what we do to the best of our abilities. And when you've managed to do that, then you can reward yourself and go a bit crazy. As long as you've got enough time to get over it before the next show. We don't want to let each other down, or the fans, even though maybe we never did let them down by embracing the rock lifestyle. Maybe it's what we needed to do. But then our capacity for consumption was far greater than it is now. As soon as you hit 25, hangovers completely change.“

𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗡𝗬 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗦?
📢  𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: “Living as if there's a tomorrow. There's a great Chinese proverb: Live as if every day is your last, and as if you're going to live for another 100 years.“

𝗜𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗔 𝗕𝗬-𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗚𝗘?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “You're not the same person you were when you were 22. You're 22 years old, you've been on welfare, and now you've got a record in the charts, money, people paying attention to you for the first time. You're going to go absolutely fucking apeshit. But then comes the post-coital depression. And that was 'Without you I'm nothing'. That's waking up after the party. You look around at the debris, and the memories come back. You feel ashamed and you place your head firmly against the pillow and go, "Oh, no ... Why?"“

𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗕𝗨𝗠'𝗦 '𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 “𝗚𝗢𝗗'𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗦. 𝗛𝗘'𝗦 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥.“ 𝗜𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗚𝗢𝗗, 𝗗𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Yeah, my older brother. [laughs.] I was raised a born-again Christian. I have my life over to Jesus when I was 11. I took it back when I was 14. But that stays with you for a long time. I remember my mother saying, "When Jesus knocks at your door, it's your choice to open the door or to leave it closed. And Jesus will knock for a while, but then your heart will become hardened and he will leave." And the song can be about that, or it can be about not letting someone else into your heart.“

Photo credit: Matthias Clamer

𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗠 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗗 '𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞-𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗗' 𝗜𝗡 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗛 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 “𝗜'𝗠 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗕𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗞-𝗘𝗬𝗘𝗗, 𝗔 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗔 𝗕𝗥𝗢𝗞𝗘𝗡 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘“?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “I don't talk about our music with my mother, but she is proud of me. I think the song would have more of an effect on my dad. He tried to dissuade me from pursuing any artistic endeavours whatsoever. He ignored me for most of my life, and then wanted to be my friend when success came along. I think he studies the songs more. And I think he probably gets the message.“

𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧'𝗦 𝗔𝗡 𝗨𝗡𝗨𝗦𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗘.
📢  𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙣: “It's shit.“
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “But that's dysfunctional families for you. And it made me the person I am today. The fact that my mother was extremely religious and my father was a businessman made me forge my own identity at a very young age.“

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧, 𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗔𝗗 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗚𝗢 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗠 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “You hit the nail right on the head. I was being primed for the ministry. My leadership qualities were recognized and I had private Bible studies with the pastor.“

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 '𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗔𝗚𝗘', 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗡? 𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗝𝗢𝗕 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗨𝗡 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠.
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The song tells you to be an individual, believe in yourself and have the courage to chase your dreams. If you do, the rewards at the end are tenfold versus doing what your parents tell you to do. Get a good job, get married, have 2.4 children, 1.2 goldfish, 3.6 cars ... To a lot of people, that's the epitome of personal success. Which is why so many people get through a mid-life crisis. People reach a point in their lives and go, "Is this it?"“

Photo credit: Kevin Westenberg

𝗔 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗔𝗦 𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗧𝗢𝗢. 𝗜𝗡 '𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗟𝗘𝗩𝗜' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗥𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗘𝗫𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗦, 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗗 𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔 “𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗡'𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗘“. 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗘𝗫𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Very much so. At the time of 'Without You I'm Nothing', I made a lor of bad lifestyle choices. Steve and a couple of other close friends had to grab me by the scruff of the neck and go "You're my friend, I love you. We depend on each other. You've really got to" - like the song says - "change your situation, otherwise you're not going to be on the planet for much longer." I was very lucky to have those people around me.“

𝗦𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗧𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗔 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥, 𝗔 𝗩𝗢𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 𝗦𝗔𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚...
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “Come back. You're worth more than this.“

𝗗𝗜𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡 ”𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗣𝗜𝗗 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕”, 𝗧𝗢 𝗤𝗨𝗢𝗧𝗘 𝗞𝗨𝗥𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗕𝗔𝗜𝗡'𝗦 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 – 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗔 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗛𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗔𝗧 𝟮𝟳?
📢  𝘽𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣: “The world does not need another rock-and-roll casualty. Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin - we don't need more casualties like them. I refuse to let that happen. It doesn't mean I'm stronger than they were, but I just have this picture of myself as an old man, getting together with Stef and Steve at the age of 60. Not playing music, but sitting down and going, "Do you remember ... ?" So far my premonitions have been correct.“
(Alternative Press, August 2001)

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