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06.09.13 MusicWeek 23
LEFT Loud Like Love Placebo’s seventh studio album is out on September 16. The band will kick off a European tour in Warsaw on November 12, ending at Brixton’s O2 Academy on December 16
some sort of vacuum. I’m not attracted in the slightest by social media
and social networking. I have a hard enough time keeping in touch with the people that are close to me in the physical world. The idea of putting myself out there any more than I do already just doesn’t appeal to me. I have no desire to keep people abreast of what I’m doing on a daily basis - in fact, quite the opposite.
After the latest line-up switch, where is the band at in terms of working relationships? BM: It’s in a good place. The change of personnel was all about preserving mine and Stefan [Olsdal]’s songwriting partnership, our friendship and ability to be in a band together. We started the band in 1994 - that’s when we
first started writing songs together and out of the first batch came Nancy Boy - so after this experience it feels like that partnership is going from strength to strength. We spend a lot of time in production, getting the songs together as we want them to record as a three-piece. Then we go into the studio and Steve does his drums first, then Stefan and I do everything else and just have the freedom to run riot.
music anymore, because you’re making noise all the time [in the studio]. I go home and listen to instrumental piano music that is lot quieter - which is why the piano features so heavily on this record. The other thing that was very different is how we
started using iPads as an instrument. It was invigorating and wonderful to have access to a vintage synthesiser for like £5, which in the past would have cost you £5,000. It’s an approximation but it’s a pretty good one. It brought a lot of colour and light and shade onto this record. We recorded it in a studio that was built in the ‘70s on a desk that was built in the ‘70s but we came in with an iPad and plugged it into that desk - so that gives you an idea of the scope of what we were prepared to attempt in terms of instrumentation on the record. We weren’t sonically shackled by this idea of drums, bass and guitars being the thing that we must stick to.
Do you think the album can match the sales of previous releases? BM: I can only hope so. Every time we make a new record it feels like you have to re-apply for your job, you’ve got to prove yourself all over again. So [the sales numbers] remain to be seen. I think the [lead] single Too Many Friends is one of our more commercial moments - it has a mass appeal that we’ve lacked in the past. As to how well the album does, we’ll see in September and the New Year.
“If we’d continued with our previous drummer we probably wouldn’t be here. It got to a point where it was very pained and we had to change. Now there’s more of a common goal when it comes to making records and touring” STEFAN OLSDAL
Stefan Olsdal: This is Placebo mark three. If we’d continued with our previous drummer we probably wouldn’t be here. It got to a point where it was very pained and we had to change. Now there’s more of a common goal when it comes to making these records and taking them on the road. The line-up that we have live has increased over
the years as well - we’re a six-piece now. It’s also the same line-up that we had on our last album. We’re just a bunch of people that really enjoy each other’s company and that’s paramount to a good tour and to put on a good show.
A question for Brian, your hedonistic lifestyle has been well documented. Are you still doing the whole partying/rock’n’roll/drugs thing? BM: Me personally? No. I don’t know if it’s really dignified for a 40-plus year old to be running around pretending he’s still 22. I think [not doing that anymore] has allowed us to improve and grow as a band.
You’re not on Twitter - why? BM: I don’t have a TV, I don’t listen to the radio, I don’t really read the music press - I enjoy my media blackout these days and like being creative from
You’d always been on a major label until your last release which was with [PIAS]. Why have you gone to Universal this time around? BM: We always keep ourselves open to whatever offers are being thrown our way. It just so happened that the people we worked with at Virgin Germany when we first started the story of Placebo have ended up working at Universal Germany now, so we had a really good relationship with that team. It was like going back to a family.
What made you go to [PIAS] for your last album? BM:We wanted to try a different way of doing it. One thing I’ve taken from that experience is how much hard work goes into every aspect of making and then promoting and getting a record out there, so this time around we just wanted to focus solely on the creative.
Your back catalogue isn’t on Spotify. Brian has said he’s unsure about the model, what do the rest of you think? Steve Forrest: I think it’s just as bad as stealing it if I’m honest. I have a couple of friends who are in bands on the way up who’ll get a message saying they had 65 plays in however many days - the money barely covers their plectrum cost. On the advert [Spotify says] ‘we pay each of our artists’ but it’s bullshit, they pay the artist almost nothing. SO: I understand it reaches a lot of people, but subscription-streaming services is a can of worms. I have a lot of friends who are just putting out their first or second album and it’s so difficult for them to even make any money back from their self-funded record. At the moment not enough money is getting back to the artist.
Do you think it’s a lot harder to be an artist these days than it was when you first started out? SO:We were quite lucky because we were on a major label that was having big success with a girl band [The Spice Girls] at the time. They were also living in the golden age of the CD - a lot of people who owned the vinyl would then go out and buy the CD of that vinyl they had at home. It’s harder for guys to get the time to develop nowadays and you have to deliver your ten greatest hits on your first record. I know friends who, in order for them to get any
kind of financial support from their publishing company, have to have the whole album recorded and presented on a CD - so yeah, it is tougher.
What does the future hold for Placebo? BM: Just touring and touring and touring. I can’t wait for the next 18 months to two years, it’s what I know how to do and hopefully we do it well. Touring all that we know; I think I’m virtually unemployable - this is all I’ve done since I was 21. It gives me a real sense of purpose.
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