Interview
with Brian Molko on the TV show Taratata, France. By Nagui / 2009
Nagui: Placebo inTaratata ! Welcome Brian!
Brian: Thank you.
Nagui:
You’re welcome. So,
when artists come to Taratata, that means they trust us, but when artists come again to Taratata,
that means they come for pleasure! And for us too, it’s a great honor and a great pleasure to have you back,
Placebo, in this Taratata!
Brian: Thank
you, thank you very much.
Nagui: This is the new album(he’s showing Battle for the sun)… And here is a summary of
Placebo's whole career and work in 3 minutes, summary, if I can say it this
way, by Gilles Verlan and YannGralant. Have a look…
Here starts the little report
“Tell me which songs you have covered, and I
will tell you who you are! We could make this kind of Chinese portrait with
Placebo, who has published along its almost long career, an impressive number
of covers.
For example, Placebo sang “Johnny & Mary”
from Robert Palmer. But what did the original song look like? [Robert Palmer’s
singing…]
Robert Palmer is the creator of this excellent
song in 1980. Brian was 8 years old. We can presume he’s a part of Placebo’s
heroes.
But Molko & Co also sang this [here is "Daddy
cool…"]
Yes, Placebo has covered this old disco song
from Boney M, for the French film “PรฉdaleDure” from Gabriel Aghion, with Gรฉrard Darmon and Michรจle Laroque
[all French director and actors].
In the beginning , Molko also covered, a much
darker song by Syd Barrett , creator of The Pink Floyd, who was fired for
having his brain burned to acid!
Already more famous, and the “glam spirit” of
Placebo, this cover of “Twentieth Century Boy”, for the film “Velvet Goldmine”.
Here is the original by Marc Bolan in 1973. Brian Molko was barely 1 year old!
Tell me who you sing, I’ll tell you who you
are, Go on!
When he was young, Brian must have been seduced
by the voice and the character of the mysterious English singer, Kate Bush. You
know, the one singing “Running up that hill”.
In the middle of the 80’s, Brian Molko is a
teenager and the stuff you had to listen to when you were a teenager in the
middle 80’s were The Smiths with Morrissey. Logicaly, years later Placebo
covered this pure marvel: “Bigmouth,
strikes again”.
Depeche Mode is also a part of what Molko was listening to while he was starting his firsts bands. And one day, Placebo
covered “I feel you”.
Do you remember? The original was this way…
And, of course, we know how much of a
Gainsbourg fan Brian is! From Serge, he covered “Je t’aime moi non plus” in a
duet with Asia Argento, and of course “La ballade de Melody Nelson”.
And where was my mind? Placebo also covered
“Where is my mind” from The Pixies, another essential band when Brian was 17.
He has already sung it with Franck Black, his creator, in Paris Bercy.
Finally, we have a funny Chinese portrait that
obviously shows us that Brian Molko is eclectic, because, from Boney M to
Gainsbourg, via The Smiths, there is something to make the fans become crazy!
But in fact Brian, is there any song you dream
to cover. If you do, would you please sing it a capped now? “
[end of the little report!!]
Nagui:
Attention…
Brian:[he sings] Total eclipse of the heart!
Nagui: (showing Battle for the Sun): Here is the
eclipse!
Brian: What
a thematic union!
We’re good,
hu?!
Nagui:
we’re connected ! We should do more shows together, we’re totally in sync!
Brian:
Gladly
Nagui: So,
we’re going to speak about this new album. Of course, what the journalists
wanted to say by this Chinese portrait is that by your influences, what you listen
to, which song you cover on stage, it’s easier to understand the universe of
Placebo. But of course, the authors composers you are… Well, how do you work
with Stefan? Do you work each on your own? Does each one make demos to try to
surprise the other, in a good sense
obviously?
Brian: It’s
kind of both. We write in the rehearsal room together, but we often write
separately in our tour buses or at home. We’re sending things by emails these
days.
Nagui: Do
you sometimes disagree, especially on covers? I understand Stefan really wanted to cover 'Daddy
Cool' from Boney M.
Brian: No,
that was most for our former drummer’s
daughter. As a birthday present.
Nagui: 'Daddy Cool'?
Brian: uh
hum!
Nagui: ok,
but you covered it already?
Brian: yes,
absolutely
Nagui: It’s
more disco than glamrock rock or psychialdelic…
Brian: Of
course but we are children of the 80’s .We grew up with disco, the Gibson
brothers and Claude Franรงois [French
singer]etc
Nagui: 'Alexandrie Alexandra' [is a song from
Claude Francois]
Brian: when I
was a child, in the living room, I used to do
“La Danse des Claudettes” [you can
see the original here http://youtu.be/AbXBdlLiac8 ].
[theydanse a bit]
Brian:
Fantastic!
Nagui: I am
Alexandrie
Brian: And
I am Alexandra!
Nagui: Yes,
because I am a bit more Egyptian than you are!!! [he was born in Alexandrie, Egypt!]
That will
be more logical!!!
So! You
often use references, in fact there is someone who has been very important.
Let’s do a
bit different interview in music. We’re
going to listen some songs, and you’ll tell us what it brings back to your mind…
First….
What can you tell us about the impact of David Bowie in you?
Brian:
Well, when you’re a very new band, in
1995 I think, before we have recorded our first album, D. Bowie asked us to
come on tour with him and to be the opening act at his gigs. That was
unbelievable because, before that, we played for 300 persons! And then we were
in front of thousands of people! We learned a lot thanks to that. A
relationship is born from that. We have even recorded a single together!
Nagui: Yes,
he really wanted to launch your
career! You say David Bowie is someone
who talks a lot, man to man…
Brian: He’s
a great storyteller , yes.
Nagui: How
is it like to speak to him?
Brian: He
told us stories about Marc Bolan, about
…. Bowie has always been a very social man, he has known and he knows almost
everyone! So you just have to mention someone and he tells you an anecdote
about this person!
Nagui: And
professionally, did you learn something from him? I mean you’ve learned to show
all the possible and imaginable aspects of your personality? Because he is
playing with that! With his androgynous side, creating characters such as
Ziggy, we don’t even know if he is speaking or if it’s the character!
Brian: I
think he taught me not to be afraid to follow my ambition at a 100% ! And not
to be afraid to make mistakes, because everything you do cannot be 100% successful! But the important thing is
to try and to take risks.
Nagui: To
be free in terms of look? Because, if there is an artist who has created looks
and characters by having nails painted, singing with boas around his neck,
wearing make up…. Did that inspire you? Have you thought “I’m going to play
with this ambiguity” , with this androgynous side?
Brian:
Bowie didn’t really influence me. When I started the university in London, I
was very very long-haired, everyone thought I was a girl. I told to myself “oh, wow , that’s interesting!”.
Nagui: Did
they thought you were a girl, by being aggressive?
Brian: No,
not really, I was at a party, and some guys hit on me! And asked me “What’s
your name?”; “Brian”… “Oh, nooo!”. And they ran away!
Nagui: Ok,
another song!
The
question is a bit more about the tittle “Sex and Drugs and Rock’n Roll”,
unless you have something to say about
the artist?
Brian: No,
he‘s not an influence.
Nagui: So,
sex, drugs and Rock’n Roll?
Brian: That’s The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit!
Nagui:
Maybe, I don’t know! Tell me what it means to you.
Brian: Some
nostalgia.
Nagui: For
which one of the three??
Brian: Not
for rock’n roll I hope!
Nagui: Seriously, you have communicated a lot in interviews, and you said “maybe too
much”, about your sexual orientation, drugs, while being a rock star, do you
regret having said too much about that because people only remember that?
Brian: Yes,
a bit, because people stopped talking about our music. And we became this drunk
drag queens band…
Nagui: No,
it was more like this: here is an
heterosexual, a bisexual and a gay. The 3 sexual orientations were represented
inside the band. That’s what we could read in all the interviews…
Brian: It
was a rather political thing. We wanted to promote tolerance, and it was more
of a political act something to promote ourselves.
Nagui: And
it worked because I think some fans or other
musicians, came out of the closet because of you they saw it was possible,
safe.
Brian: I
hope so.
Nagui:
Doing that open minds a bit, and bring tolerance.
You’ve said
a very beautiful phrase about drugs: “Those
who are against drugs should throw out all their rock' n roll albums”.
Brian: Yes,
because The Beatles were so stoned, that they let the drummer sing!
Nagui: Yes,
they had to be stone to do that. But Ringo… Ok, you don’t like Ringo Starr! I
understand
But strangely,
drugs and rock' n roll go so well together, it seems you have to take drugs when
you’re a rock star.
Brian: I
don’t think it’s necessary. Because it’s something which is everywhere in society, and we try to be a mirror of society. So in our songs, it
seemed impossible not to talk about being an emotional animal, here in the 20th
century, because we started in the 20th century, and not talking
about this topic.
Nagui:
Another song
Your
comments about this song depends on when you’ve been asked about it.
First, at
the beginning, Nirvana… No!
Brian: That
was in 1991, I was at university, and I was a snob of independent music. And
for me…
Nagui: too
commercial?
Brian: Yes,
too commercial! So I didn't listen to it .Maybe 2 or 3 years after Kurt
Cobain’s death, I began to really appreciate their music.
Nagui: But
you realize artists can listen to Placebo and say Placebo is too commercial?
Brian:
Absolutely, absolutely.
Brian: 2 or
3 years after my death they’ll find me pretty good!
Nagui: Yes,
always have to wait for the afterlife ! But you want to be one of the best band
in the world. There is no snob independent side of it.
Brian: But
we are already the best band in the world!!!
Nagui: Sorry! I didn't read the whole file!!! That’s why!!!
Brian: You
have to be more prepared Nagui !!!
Nagui: Yes
I have to work harder!
So, there
are lots of anglo saxon artists but you speak French very well, you've got multiple origins flowing through
your veins, which makes the richness of
your culture. And in addition , you love French culture, you like reading in
French, and there was a gig, a French
gig, in Luxemburg, maybe the first gig of your life and it gave you the desire
to make music and to be on stage.
Brian: In
fact, it gave me the desire to be on TV.
It was in Arlon[Arlon is in Belgium],just
behind the luxemburger frontier,that was
Tรฉlรฉphone[French group] and my
brother brought me there. The luxemburgertv filmed it. And 6 months later, I
saw myself on TV! I’ve just said “ah, wow! [laughs] You’re so cute baby!!”
Nagui: You
were happy to be on TV?
Brian: yes!
Nagui: Unbelievable…
Was it that gig???
[Here is the video of the Tรฉlรฉphone’s gig where
Brian was at 11!]
Brian: Wow!
Bravo! Bravo! How did you do that? How did you find me?
Nagui:
Well, it’s simple: in our Taratata team, we have someone called Yann Gralant
and Yann watched that gig image after image saying “I’ll find him!” So, yes,
you can give Yann an applause. And take a look again, in the middle of your screen, is that really you?
Brian: It’s
me! At 11!
Nagui:
Brian Molko, 11 years old, with his brother! It hasn’t been simple because
luxemburger’s archives aren’t so simple as well. And of course, a DVD of that
gig is waiting for you in your dressing room
Brian: Wow,
fantastic!
Nagui: A souvenir of your first gig, which gave you
the desire to be on TV!!
Brian: Wow,
it’s 26… no 24 years years ago. I haven’t seen it since then! 25 years maybe…
Hooo, that’s gonna be great! Thanks a lot.
Nagui: My
pleasure
Nagui: So
happy!
Well, Gilles
has talked about all your covers, which
make a part of rock n roll history. And they are going to offer us one of these
covers. You’ve chosen Nik Kershaw, let’s talk about that later. But this cover
rocks baby! Even the rehearsal was WOW!! And the drummer’s shirt is just
unbelievable! I have to say his shirt is wonderful. I don’t know if it’s in all
the good stores but… Have a look! Isn’t it a sublime shirt? The new drummer:
Steve! Placebo in Taratata, singing “Wouldn’t it be good”!
Songs played on the show
Then you can listen the songs here.
Setlist
01 - For What It' Worth
02 - Battle For The Sun
03 - Interview with Brian Molko
04 - Wouldn't It Be Good
05 - Interview with Brian Molko
You can download the show
here. You need a password, which you will find on the page.
Nagui :
Brian, come on please. Thank you so much for this gift.
The new
album, Battle for the Sun, here it
is! This new album is definitely, even according to its tittle, facing the sun.
It seems to be less dark at least, even through the lyrics or the feelings.
It’s much more colored.
Brian: Yes,
I hope to because that’s what we’ve wanted to. In Placebo, each new album is a
reaction to the one before. And we have found Meds was a so dark album, such claustrophobic, sultry. It was just
like having a look into a microscope and observe the pain of the different
characters of these songs.
This time
we wanted to do something more optimistic, with lots of colors, something pure.
Nagui: Have
you thought it could disappoint your fans who maybe prefer dark songs?
Brian:
Ooohhh… heuuu…
Nagui: Is
that a risk?
Brian: Alright, maybe. It’s really possible. But I’m
not going to censure myself, artistically speaking, because of that!
Nagui:
Alright, but in some of your gigs, I have seen more people makeup in black,
with some hair down their face, saying “life is rotten, it’s gonna end bad”,
than girls in string, red haired shouting “yeah! Carpe Diem!!”…
Brian:
Which kind of music should we play to have this kind of girls in our gigs?!!
Nagui: Brazilian
music!
Brian: So
next album will be a samba one!
Nagui: You
know I’m cartooning the truth but you know I don’t like clichรฉ at all!
Brian: Yes,
we all both know life is not rotten, life has a great sense. And if we can tell
people listening to us life is great, I think it’s a really positive thing.[asking the public] Don’t you think?
Nagui: Here
I feel the man who became a father. And when you give birth, you want things to
get better. The future has to be more shinny.
Brian:
Absolutely, you have to choose life!
Nagui: On
Placebo’s album there is …
The Never
ending Why… So there is a positive side of it but you have to fight to obtain
this light and something positive. That’s not as simple as it seems, isn’t it?
Brian: I
would say that’s the most important is to battle, and have the desire to
battle.
Nagui: So
what’s the topic of this song? A chaos, a kind of knight who’s fighting with
his partner to pull through his problems.
Brian: This
song is about… We’re all seeking answers but if you spend your whole life to
seek answers, you won’t live your life! And maybe it’s better not to have all
the answers, because some questions won’t have any answer, ever.
Nagui: What’s
important to you, obtain something or the way, the road to obtain it?Happiness
or the way to get it?
Brian: The
way to get it, definitly. The experience.The journey [already in English in the interview!]. The trip by itself which is
the most important because that’s where you learn the most! When you got it, I
don’t know, you got it. So, I don’t know, let’s go to the pub!
Nagui: Road
to happiness more than happiness itself, ok!
Brian: I
hope so.
Nagui:
Another extract from 'Battle for the Sun':
this is 'Kitty Litter'. How would you
translate it?
Brian:Litiรจre
pour chat [cat litter, but the
translation here seems not necessary! ;-)]
Nagui: It’s
a song with such sensual lyrics, if not erotical…
Brian: It’s
a very libidinous song…
Nagui: And
what’s the link with the cat litter???
Brian:
There is not any!
Nagui: I'am
afraid of a possible pun in fact!
Brian: No,
no, no, no, no, not at all! That’s because Stefan and I started to write this
song about 14 or 15 years ago. And we have never ended it. There were no lyrics,
and in 1994, we had already named it 'Kitty Litter' because that was funny. And
we checked it.
Nagui: So
this one is rather a love story…
Brian: No,
it’s rather a story…
Nagui: Of
distance and separation?
Brian: Yes,
distance and separation, and the need to see the other and the desire [he doesn’t find the word in French!]…
unstoppable[already in English in the
interview].
Nagui: Unstoppable
immediately.
Brian: Yes.
To follow this desire far away from the orther sight.
Nagui: Out
of sight, out of mind?
Brian: Yes,
it’s a bit that way. But the character in this song feels a bit guilty for that
but he cannot prevent it.
Nagui:
Aaaah, sex appeal!!!
So you’ve
said 'Kitty Litter' is a song you have written 15 years ago, I want to say
“Ashtray heart” is a tittle you got from the beginning of Placebo. Your first name
was Ashtray Heart in fact.
Brian: It’s
a song of Captain Beefheart, so that inspired us for about 2 weeks, our name
has been Ashtray Heart for 2 weeks. And it became Placebo after that.
But I
haven’t thought I would use this song in the Placebo context. I’ve written it
with 2 friends of mine. We write songs together, for fun. And this one…
Nagui: Why
didn’t you want to use it?
Brian:
Because of this connection Ashtray Heart… etc! We wanted to sell it to someone!
We wrote it in Nicaragua. Because there are some spanish inside: "Ceniero, cenicero, mi corazรณn de cenicero..." I was the only
one smoking while we were on holidays in Nicaragua. So in each pub, each
restaurant, I was asking for a “cenicero”. We had the demo of this song, we
were listening to it in our car, everywhere in Nicaragua, and that’s how this
song has been written. And it’s the first song I’ve written without Stefan, on
a Placebo album.
Nagui: once more, here is the album, Battle for the sun. You can find
any informations about Placebo, tour dates, watch them again in Taratata, are
on the internet website of Taratata[not
anymore I think!]. Thank you so much Brian for coming!
Brian: Thanx to everyone!
A special Thank You to: Bรฉnรฉdicte Convert for this great translation & Diana E.T. Foghin for supervising.
SusanneCk: design and pictures.
Credits: Taratata
