| The life of Brian (M.)
Hi Brian. I’ve just heard on the radio that today is the ‚international day of noise’. Given our talk and the upcoming album, can I re-name it to ‚battle for the sun’-day? Because this record sounds rather heavy compared to the others ...
Well, the real ‚bfts’-day will be June 8th, when the album is released finally. But what is this ‚day of noise’ about? What kind of noise do they mean?
No idea. I guess everything that makes noise. Industry ...
... crying babies, demonstrators?
Yes, probably.
That’s cool. We’re about to go in the studio afterwards to rehearse and will make proper noise. And try to sort our life musically. You can be sure we’ll make extra noise on the ‚day of noise’. I will proclaim a contest who can produce the sickest and most deafeaning noise out of his instrument.
Maybe Steve, your new drummer?
That’s likely. Steve has the tendency to treat his drums really bad. You know, when you are in a halfway successful band like Placebo, you get lots of things for free from companies. But there’s a limit. And Steve has broken so many cymbals at rehersals he has now exceeded this limit and has to pay for his stuff himself. And that were only the rehearsals, we aren’t on tour yet! That’s how hard this little kid hits those fucking drums. (note: this last sentence is literally what Brian said, it stayed in the interview in English!)
Steve is at the tender age of 22, comes from a punk-environment and looks a bit like an ‚OC California’ posterboy. You and Stefan are both in your mid-30 and have a, let’s call it artistic way to approach music. What do you talk about with Steve when you go to the pub?
That’s right, Steve is darn young compared to us and grew up in a small town in California, a bit outside Modesto. But there has to be somethin in the water in Modesto as this is also where Grandaddy are from, one of my favourite bands. Modesto is so fucking small, you can compare it to Luxembourg, where me and Stefan grew up. So what you do in Modesto is practising something every day until you are really good in it. Steve moved to London a year ago, and naturally, in the beginning, he was half-baked. But he grew to be a cosmopolite surprisingly fast. He has become a true Englishman. Meanwhile, he’s probably more English than I am. What is important to me: Steve is interested in the same music as Stefan and I, also more difficult stuff like Sigur Ros or Explosions In The Sky. It’s a bit like having your little brother in the band. You can nudge him when he annoys you and hug him right afterwards. We tease each other a lot, in the positive way.
How long will his trial period be?
For him, I hope it’s not like Ron Wood, who is in the Stones for like 20 years and still is ‚the new guy’. Seriously: Stef and I will see how Steve is doing on tour for BFTS and then we stop giving him hell. What I like about him is his irrepressible urge to learn. He is like a swam, absorbing everything. A diamond, but an unpolished one.
In a technical or a mental sense?
Well, it’s a matter of experience. And that’s what he has damn little as of yet. But this is also the reason why we wanted Steve in the band really. We didn’t want someone who was already successful and comes with a certain image. Everything he experiences now happens to him for the first time, as opposed to Stef and I. For him it’s all like for a little kid, every day new wonders happen to him (laughts). And this enthusiasm keeps us young.
Two hours ago I had the pleasure to listen to BFTS for the first time. My first rating: Brilliant, probably your best album so far. Especially „Speak In Tongues“, „Bright Lights“ and „Kings of Medicine“ are really good. The end of KOM sounds a lot like the Beatles, is this something you were aware of?
Yes. That has to do with our Beatles obsession, that now finally breaks through. We especially love their psychodelic era. When recording in Toronto, we told our brass arrangeur explicitly that we want something that sounds like „All you need is love“ for „Kings of Medicine“. I’m a Beatles fan since I was 12. I have a 3-year-old son, and lately I bought him the „Yellow Submarine“-DVD in the States. You know how kids are: If they like something they just can’t stop. So I was looking for something we both like. And it worked perfectly: Up to now we have watched the DVD at least twice a day. One time isn’t enough for him. Anyway, the Beatles were the reason we used brass instruments and string instruments this time. We wanted to surprise ourselves and extend the Placebo-sound. I think it’s interesting you choose exactly these 3 songs. They stick out in my head for a while because they are the most non-typical Placebo-songs for a while.
I think „Kings of Medicine“ would be a great last song for concerts ...
I’m sorry to disappoint you. We won’t play it live until we go on tour in autumn. I don’t think the song is suitable for a festival. The lyrics don’t fit into the festival context. If you read them you’ll see what I mean. But I can reveal that it will be at the end of the setlist in autumn.
You often say you don’t like the time between finishing the album and the first live dates because you don’t know if the audience would also be there for the new songs. Now the first tourdates are completely sold out. Do you feel better? (fyi: that’s my question!!! )
What confuses me in this period in between is that we only do press work. You spend most of the time to tell people how wonderful your new album is, but that’s only your own perspective. There is no public confirmation if you’re right.
If it’s ok I forget the journalist within for a second and tell you from the fan perspective that what I’ve heard before is really really good. How’s that for a start?
(laughts) Ohhhh. Thanks a lot. Happy to hear. Now I’m less nervous. (in a very sacastic voice)
It seems you have pretty good judgement when choosing cover songs. For example, I really like „Daddy Cool“ ...
... excellent choice!
Cheers. But now, as a b-side on the first single FWIW, there’s a cover of the Nik Kershaw classic ‚Wouldn’t it be good’. Can you please explain this to me?
(laughts) Well, this is a song that sits in my brain since I was little. NK had lots of hits at the time I was growing up, but the only song I liked was WIBG. There is such a strange atmosphere of desperation in this song, even though the hookline is very positive. You know, I have a list of songs on my computer I’d like to cover one day. And NK just felt right. When we do covers, we go into the rehersal studio and have fun. It’s like holidays from work. The song should also fit to us as a band, and this was the case here. Probably the best choice was RUTH by Kate Bush.
As we are talking, I can’t think of a singer with such a deep and pleasant talking voice like yours. When you sing, you can reach extremely high notes, like Black Eyed. What’s your secret? You’re smoking ...
Yes, a lot. But that gives character to the voice think Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen of Tom Waits. I think I was blessed with a wide range from birth. My voice does cover some octaves (in a little arrogant tone )
Do you feel that your voice gets weaker with age?
No, on the contrary, rather better. I’m like a good wine or a Stradivari.
Tell me a sick tour habit of yours?
(laughts) I think it’s interesting I need loads of chemical hand sanitizer and wet toilet paper. When we play festivals, it often proves difficult to find a decent toilet. When I wake up, I like to have „my morning constitutional“. It can happen that you find me in a nearby forest where I (you know ... my English isn’t good enough to translate this big_smile) instead of a nasty mobile toilet. When it comes to this, I’m a fan of back to nature.
And Stefan?
Stefan is eagerly writing his diary. He often sits in a corner, calmly, and writes. I think that’s sort of therapy for him.
One last personal question: I’m really hungover today. As a pro, I’m sure you have good advice for me ...
(laughts) Open a new beer, that always does it for me.
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