01 March 2010
Triple J, Interview with Brian Molko
Typescript by agina1106
H: ...way sitting in a hotel lobby, it's very swank, we were quite impressed...and we hanging out with a good friend from placebo, Brian Molko, Hi Brian.
B: Good morning.
H: I'm sorry is that a bit premature for me to say good friend?
B: yeah, we've only just met, dude, you know.
H: what do you think of, your first impression of aussie?
B: I think it's okay, i think it's a cultural thing. i think this is certain kind of familiarity that come to be in Australia. I'm quite used to it, I've met a band in America, you know, it's kinda like, "HELLO, I'VE JUST MET YOU, YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND" (imitating the American hoarse accent and LAUGH) so i'm kinda used to it.
H: How you got the gig(?) in the band? by doing that?
B: no, no.
T: can we be best friend, Brian Molko?
B: No. [laf]
T: Jesus, cold, cold! then you're in the couch for a sit?
B: it's way too early in the morning, you know, i havent had enuf coffee as to be friends with myself.
H: I think we are doing this for as prerecording and you dont have to fake...
B: you've just blown the whole thing [giggles like a child]
H: you're in the country for the soudwave fest shows, how do you enjoy playing all these shows around the country, along with some hardcore acts and quite still a lineup and how's it going?
B: oh it's going really well, yeah, so far so good, really.
H: your fav show so far?
B: my fav show was the show we played in Melbourne, at the festival hall a few days ago. that was pretty magical, ummm, one of those moments of collective euphoria that just eveything just kinda slots into its place.
H: is there certain moment of the set that you've got a song or a bunch of songs that around that time people just going realize that this is really cool and enjoy the music those people making?
B: yeah, song no.1 to song 22. [giggles] That's kinda really takes off.
H: obviously sometimes it's great on stage when the shows are going great. do you find yourself in moments, just find yourself doing a gig for whatever reason, and you're not really into it, you are a little bit bored, have you ever found yourself on stage being bored?
T: would you like to diplomate it again sir?
B: Every body has a bad day, it happens to everyone, like i think the most recent one was the, on the 22nd of December, 2009, we played in a ski resort in Italy, and the weather was terrible that took us like 2 days to get up the mountain, when we got there it was like a football field covered in snow with 50 people in it. we were on stage and the stage is leaking water, all the equipment is just breaking, and you just ask yourself like, "why am i here? what am i doing?" it's 3 days before X'mas and stuck up on a mountain, nothing works, nobody's here, "what am i doing with my life?" and i was just like, i put some sun glasses on and kinda grin them barely to the end. obviously it's got a lot to do with the whole bunch of different conditions, really.
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H: right now tom, we're goona play more of our interview we had with placebo lead singer Brian Molko.
T: what do you think of him when you first saw him, what's your first impression?
H: he was good.
T: short!
H: he's pretty short
T: short man little man
H: he's wearing a headware in Sunnies, sign got his inside(not sure of this), which is fine for being in a band, you can get away with it.
T: now i think is good, like i'm saying, compared to his old stuff, he look like younger than what he looked like 8 years ago would like.
H: so it is good, it's working out
T: every you and every me
....
T: this is Brian that talks when gigs dont go so well.
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B: for band, when you are kinda, when the instruments are not working, when you have technical problems, you just feel like an amputee on stage, that's one condition that makes it quite difficult. everybody has a bad day, everybody wakes up occasionally at the wrong side of the bed, everybody has stuff going on their life which can kinda influence a bad show sometimes as well, so we are only human but the thing about a band is that regardless of all these factors, we tried to pay maximum respect to the people who show up and so we do our best to give a 100%, whatever the conditions are. But, being human, this is only so much that we can do on certain days.
H: has it become easier as you've gotten older, you have been around for a bit longer to separate these stuff from the show?
B: well i think what you do from the time is that you learned to become less precious, you kinda understand that the context to a lot more of what you're doing, when you are 22, 23, every little tiny thing that goes around is sort of like a matter of life and death to you. you sort of get more distance, and more balanced from the whole thing, just thru experience.
H: so you are kind of less emotional about the whole thing?
B: it's quite okay, go, these two show, pass! you know.
H: have you ever known some of the immature(?) that the usefulness of the other soundwave acts? with the snappers?
B: everybody i've seen has been in a concealment professional.
H: you'd say something to bore shrill in your time, Brian Molko.
B: I have indeed, yes, yes, and i will take it to the grave
H: you gotta write the final song on your last album and it's gonna be "the things i've singing as a rock star"?
B: no, the songs i've sing? singing....it's a hiphop track, check it out, i wrote that! [laf] no i didnt.
H: have you ever thought of diving into hiphop at all?
B: no.
H: with a few placebo, is it too much for a leap, cuz you wanna reinvent yourself with each album.
B: but no, i cant, you know, rapping isnt really my thing, if you think my come across a little bit to inflate the concords, if you tried to be hiphop...[laf]
H: you found the concords fail?
B: aw, be a massive, yeah. very much so.
H: come on wise and musically as well?
B: in terms of inflate the concords, they go in hand in hand, the music is comedy and comedy as music is the same with the mighty boosh i think, which i think there's so successful and so original as well. and why the use of many english speaking nations of taking to them.
H: when you are chatting at soundwave fest in roll from triple j, you've mentioned that's important to keep the goth tanned, in getting out into the sun, that's an important goal of yours.
B: that's sort of eradicating third world debt, freeing tibet[....]and making sure that the australian goth get enough sun, that's my three main reasons for living.
H: there's properly a..[cant get it, but i think he's mentioning the bands doing charity a lot]..U2 blah blah blah, placebo, get the goth get tanned.
T: do you consider yourself a goth?
B: no no .
T: do you subscribe to any kind of label? in every sense so.
B: oh, dont know. ummmm, MALE? probably.
H: controversial?
B: urrr pshrrr, label? i dont know. errrr, the only label i like are designer ones, really.
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H: I remember growing up in regional australia, umm, talking of , when we sorta discovered placebo, start off my high school days and just a few....
B: can i apologize for that? [laf]
H: ohhhhh really bad influence on me do you think? and btw, can you buy me for a while turned on?
B: yeah, go on, everybody else has.
H: okay, i just bitching becuz, talking about label, i remember that one of my friends talking to me about the guys from placebo, all these different sexualities, and i didnt know much of the words that guy was bringing out but i was just sort of shocked and going "yeah yeah" but without sort of going into that, did you find it weird being in a band that having days sort of past disgust rather than, i guess we little kids going hang on. did you find that your music being disgusted that more other things as part of the band?
B: i think that as a teenager, that aspect of somebody you admire, it's life, can be sort of fascinating becuz you sort of coming to terms without the great deal. and you know, you growing up and going thru the whole process of self-discovery, i can understand the fascination. but i think if you are over 21, and you're spending more than like an hour or two fun in your computer on forums discussing this kind of stuff, then you really need to get a life.
T: and Brian, you have a large collection of guitars, indeed, you name guitars, what guitars you brought with you on this particular tour?
B: I have my Reginalay, my bitch, she's been with me since day 1. and the last one i named is called Frannie, it's a guitar from 1957, and i dont know if this is correct, but i think that whoever owned it before must have had his guitar in the room while he was sleeping with a groupie, and this groupie sort of scratched her name on the back of the guitar, and becuz it says Frannie on the back. you know, so she's called Frannie. umm, the other ones all have their names.
H: Do you feel dirty playing Frannie known she's been with other man?
B: ummm, no, i prefer an experienced girl.
(laf)
H: excellent, paid off. The sixth album's in and I really enjoyed battle for the sun and gotta a sales as well. but i just thought, now, given that you've picked apart by the people all over the years, we can play a new segment
B: we can sell and take them back together
H: we can play new segment and i've got some favorite name for it, Brian Molko answers his critics.
B: oh you gotta be killing me...
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H: we join with Brian Molko
B: it's you're going ahead of this? oh my goodness...okay.
H: so i just sort of the differences of subjectivity of music, your black market music album, in 2001....it's an awesome album, certainly placebo's pinnacle, or that loved to be proved wrong?
B: well, actually BMM is probably my least favorite album.
H: so it's incorrect?
B: no, it's probably correct to this person
H: okay, i suppose that backstreet black market music is still endear self to the gender exploring teenagers who find a girl on girl action in buffi the vampire slayer awesome.
B: that guy watches too much tv? i dont know, what do you want me to say...
H: i just wanna know what that means really...
B: oh that's pitchfork, now pitchfork on-sees everybody, that's probably a good sign.