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читать дальшеWhen I put Placebo new album Meds into my player it really surprised me. It sounded so different from what IЎЇve heard from Placebo in the past but at the same time it was so uniquely them. I got a chance to talk with the lead singer of Placebo, Brian Molko, about making a less electronic based album, doing a duet with Michael Stipe and just generally whatЎЇs its like to be such a cool down to earth dude.
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Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey Brian, what are you up to?
Brian Molko: IЎЇm in Paris at a hotel which resembles a 17th Century bordello. ItЎЇs got chandeliers, red walls and mahogany everywhere. IЎЇve been doing interviews and photo shoots. YouЎЇre my last victim of the day.
DRE: Are you guys playing a show in Paris?
Brian: No, weЎЇre just here for promotion.
DRE: What was the inspiration for Meds?
Brian: During the lyric writing, I never sit down and Ў°IЎЇve been inspired by this event or this feeling or this set of circumstances.Ў± I try to operate on an instinctual level, which takes me to a place where I donЎЇt think I would go to if I was being intellectual in my approach. In a way you donЎЇt really know what the themes are and what shape an album is going to take until youЎЇre halfway through recording them. ItЎЇs like a jigsaw puzzle sometimes. Every day you go into the studio and you put another piece in. I find that the songs lead you as opposed to you leading the songs. The thing about the band is that we never sit down and decide in a calculated way where weЎЇre going to go. We allow the emotion of the music to take us in a direction. Of course we try and achieve a certain amount of cohesion thematically but itЎЇs never really calculated. We try our best to operate on a kind of a very instinctual level. WeЎЇre not the people who sit down and say Ў°Well, today IЎЇm going to write a song about politicsЎ± or Ў°today IЎЇm going to write a song about fucking.Ў± A song tells you what theyЎЇre about as youЎЇre halfway through working on them. I had no idea what the fuck Infra-Red was about because it was the first song where IЎЇd written the lyrics backwards. I started with the last line and worked my way to the first. IЎЇd never done that before. So it wasnЎЇt until I got to the first line that I was able to take a step back and understand what it was about. It turned out to be about revenge but I never sat down and decided to write a song about revenge. I like operating on that level.
DRE: Has it always been that way?
Brian: Pretty much. ThereЎЇs never really been an agenda with Placebo. We just try to be ourselves. At the beginning we were just trying to find our own identity perhaps naively because it was a case of growing up in public. But these days we try to remain as open as possible like weЎЇre conduits or vessels to a certain degree. I think that is what allows it to be emotionally accessible by people. YouЎЇre not trying to force them to feel something because you havenЎЇt decided before youЎЇve written anything what this is going to be about. You lay yourself bare and open to where it takes you and perhaps you find more truth that way.
DRE: ThatЎЇs cool because itЎЇs so common for a lot of music to spell out everything.
Brian: I donЎЇt like to force the meaning of a song down somebodyЎЇs throat. I like the idea of each person who hears the song to live their own personal story through it. As soon as you record a song and release it, it ceases to be yours so it can mean a thousand different things to a thousand different people and IЎЇm completely cool with that. I want people to live their own stories through the emotion thatЎЇs communicated through the song. Far be it for me to tell people what to feel.
DRE: Have you ever met people that have misinterpreted your song it in a way that was wrong or incorrect?
Brian: I guess so. Sometimes whatЎЇs more rewarding is when they come up with a scenario which you never even envisioned and they teach you something which makes you go, Ў°Fuck, wow. I had no idea that it could be taken that way and in fact thatЎЇs very interesting.Ў±
DRE: Meds seems to have a little less of an electronic feel to it.
Brian: A lot of that was down to our producer, Dimitri Tokovoi a crazy Frenchman of Russian origin who we worked with in the past. Whenever we worked with him on cover songs and stuff we realized that those things sounded better than the fucking album we just recorded. At that point we went, Ў°we have to make an album with this guy.Ў± HeЎЇs relatively unknown and that was important for us as well because we realized that by working with somebody like that, heЎЇd be as hungry as we were. Also heЎЇs not set in his ways and that he didnЎЇt have a resume as long as his arm. There wasnЎЇt a generational gap or a cultural gap between us. In fact, we were born on the same day of the same year so we were very good friends before we started working on this record. He realized that weЎЇd found a comfort zone which was VinceЎЇs synthesizers. He wanted to pull us out of that comfort zone and make us stare at ourselves in the mirror to make us realize that in essence we are a rock band. So we went to a studio that hadnЎЇt been renovated since the 70ЎЇs so thereЎЇs no technology to hide behind. ThereЎЇs no studio trickery to hide behind itЎЇs just, Ў°get in the fucking room and play.Ў± The album started to become about performance and musicianship and songwriting as opposed to constructing songs on computer and new technology. That brought us back to the essence of Placebo and gave us a new lease on life. It was really good for us because weЎЇd been on tour for about two years and by the end we felt like a karaoke band playing the hits to make the audience happy. ItЎЇs about time that we brought a whole bunch of new songs to make ourselves happy.
DRE: How was the first day of being in the 70ЎЇs style studio?
Brian: The first week was a bit crazy with lots of insecurity. But then you slip into a work ethic and weЎЇve never been shy of hard work. Ultimately it was extremely rewarding because it was hands on as opposed to coming up with bits and pieces of sound and then just throwing them on the computer.
DRE: I assume youЎЇve known Michael Stipe for a long time.
Brian: Yeah we met Michael in 1998 when he was executive producer on Velvet Goldmine which we had small parts in. We became friends then and kept bumping into each other. In fact, it was in this very hotel itself that we had the idea of working with Michael again because we bumped into REM here. We had written a song about adultery for a duet and we werenЎЇt sure if we were going to include it on the album because we couldnЎЇt find the right female vocalist. Then we saw Michael and it just was like, Ў°Michael. HeЎЇs the one.Ў± That immediately made sense to us, because there have been so many songs written about adultery and so many duets sung about adultery and itЎЇs always been a guy and a girl. ItЎЇs so much more modern to have a song about adultery sung by two men. Also the idea of working with Michael who has such a recognizable voice was very exciting. Since Michael is a friend and was somebody whoЎЇd really influenced the development of my voice, that was extremely exciting. We wanted to take this potentially clichЁ¦ song and give it extra gravitas and more edge. It totally wasnЎЇt about trying to find the most famous person to be on the record.
DRE: When you revealed that certain part of your personal life out in the media, did you realize it would be such a big deal or did you just want to get it out there?
Brian: When it comes to something important IЎЇve never been a shrinking violet. I wasnЎЇt going to lie and pretend that I was something that IЎЇm not. It really wasnЎЇt that much of a big deal. PeopleЎЇs reactions were just really unimportant to me.
DRE: Was it not a big deal since you reveal so much about yourself through your music?
Brian: IЎЇm 33 now and I feel like I express myself to the world. But over the past five or six years IЎЇve become a more private person than I was in my early 20ЎЇs. ItЎЇs really important to draw a line in the sand. ThereЎЇs only so much of myself IЎЇm prepared to give away and thatЎЇs what I do in the songwriting. Anything beyond that is personal and private and it has to remain that way.
DRE: If you gave away too much would your music feel less relevant?
Brian: No, I donЎЇt think itЎЇs got anything to do with music. I think itЎЇs got everything to do with everyday life and that you have to have a life outside of your band. If you donЎЇt have a life, youЎЇre going to have nothing to write about.
DRE: How do you give yourself a life?
Brian: When IЎЇm at home IЎЇm not particularly that different from anybody else. When IЎЇm on stage hopefully IЎЇm unique, but thatЎЇs up to opinion.
DRE: HowЎЇs the tour been going so far?
Brian: WeЎЇve been doing really small shows in clubs around Europe and itЎЇs been great. We get to go and play 11 out of 12 songs on the album and then choose a few oldies that fit in with the new record. WeЎЇve got a new guitarist in the band because our keyboardist left us to go be a cabaret artist in London so the showЎЇs become quite different. ItЎЇs become much more of a rock show and less about technology. The response has been phenomenal.
DRE: Since Meds was leaked onto the internet earlier this year, did it change how you guys think about releasing material on the internet?
Brian: Not really. It was really depressing to spend six months of your life busting your balls making a really good record and then some dickhead in Brazil puts it on the internet. ItЎЇs depressing for one day but then you realize that thereЎЇs no use crying over spilled milk and you just have to get on with it. I understand a lot of peopleЎЇs impatience to have access to their favorite bandЎЇs new music and these people will go out and buy the album anyway. I really donЎЇt think that itЎЇs harmed us in any way whatsoever. In fact Meds is the fastest selling album of our career.
DRE: Would you release tracks from the next album online?
Brian: ItЎЇs definitely something to think about in the future. You canЎЇt really be a luddite and just ignore technology. You have to use it in a positive way and the most important thing, if it gets music closer to people, then thatЎЇs really good. But there is the simple law of economics. If you donЎЇt buy your favorite bandЎЇs music, your favorite band wonЎЇt be able to house themselves, put food on the table, put their kids through school and so then would have to get a second proper job. If you love your favorite band you have to support them. But apart from that, I really have no problems with the internet as long as the music is distributed fairly.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
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