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The PLAYBACK:stl Archive Vault
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Home  Archive A Placebo For The Pain
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A Placebo For The Pain |
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Written by Dawn O'Neall
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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It’s always hard to title an album. You try and find a title that
captures all the emotions of the songs on the whole album.
Placebo is the essence of rock. Since their debut in 1996, they have
had several hit albums, acting gigs, a mainstream radio hit, and duets
with glam rock icon David Bowie. Placebo’s music is feral and raw.
Their sound is dynamic and often has a great pop hook as they challenge
your preconceived notions about gender, homosexuality, love, and pop
culture. Their newest album, Sleeping With Ghosts (Astralwerks), is no
exception. Although the disc is filled with synthetic beats, it doesn’t
take away from their intense sound. In fact, these manufactured sounds
add to Placebo’s music. It makes them, if you’ll excuse the phrase,
seem especially bruised and broken.
Playback St. Louis talked
to Stefan Olsdal, the band’s bass player, before their concert in San
Francisco. So sit back, relax, and marvel at my dorkiness as I try to
keep my giddy screaming in check.
So, it’s been three years since your last tour. What have you been doing in that time?
We’ve played more dates in Europe and around England. We spent about
six months recording this album. We had Christmastime off, but since
then, we’ve been working and touring.
Sleeping With Ghosts is an interesting title. What is it in reference to?
It’s always hard to title an album. You try and find a title that
captures all the emotions of the songs on the whole album. You don’t
really want to fight it. That goes for song titles, too.
We
really racked our brains for this one. It came down to Sleeping With
Ghosts and another title; Sleeping With Ghosts sounded the best. Also,
we sat around with the record company and management and decided it was
the best.
It’s basically about the relationship with your
memories. How they come back to haunt you and how they change in
relationship to how you feel now and how you felt at the time.
Did you expect Sleeping With Ghosts to have an electronic feel?
I think the simple choice of producer Jim Abbiss and who he’s been
working with—he works with a lot of electronica [Massive Attack, Unkle,
DJ Shadow]. We don’t always do rock music. We do electronica, hip-hop,
and so I think that comes a bit from our interest and that of the
producers. It definitely ended up more electronic than our previous
ones. At the end of the day, it’s still very much a rock album, an
album that still sounds like Placebo. It’s not a complete turn, like
we’ve become Kraftwerk all of a sudden. We didn’t do a Kid A. It’s an
organic rock album, but with touches of electronica.
Are there any other genres of music that you would like to experiment with?
Country Western! [Laughs] We’ve done a bit of dub and jazz, like in
“Something Rotten,” for example. We’ve done a bit of hip-hop on the
last album, Black Market Music, with Justin Warfield. It’s kinda genres
we like that come into the music. As for the future, we don’t have a
crystal ball. We don’t really censor ourselves when it comes to writing
music, either. You can’t censor your emotions. We always try to be as
honest as possible. Even with interviews in the past, we’ve always been
quite open with people.
This is also your first American tour in three years. How’s everything going?
It’s better attended than the last one. Audiences have been more
receptive. It’s very encouraging; we still have a cult status in
America. We’re a lot of fans’ best-kept secret. In Europe, it kinda
exploded. In Paris, we’re playing a show for 18,000 people. We don’t
really mind that. We know that we’re not going to be as big in other
countries and around the world. It’s a step back coming here, but we
still enjoy it.
How does it feel to have cult status?
In some ways, it’s been more relaxing, playing small clubs. It’s like
what we used to do a few years ago. It’s more intimate for the
audience, but at the same time it’s also relaxing.
Have you had any strange experiences or stories on tour so far?
We nearly didn’t make it into the States because one of us lost our
passport. In this country, you can’t go anywhere without ID, even in
bars when you look over 21. You know, we nearly didn’t get into New
York. We almost had to cancel that one. At least I haven’t fallen
offstage. [Laughs] I did that a couple of tours ago and broke my wrist.
I’ve heard that you like Peaches and At the Drive In. You
even do a Pixies cover in concert. What else are you listening to right
now?
There’s a lot of stuff. Right now, Joy Division is playing.
We play a lot of Har Mar Superstar and Queens of the Stone Age; uh…the
new Eels album, Shootenanny! It’s all over the shelf, really.
What would you do if you weren’t a rock star?
I wanted to be a hairdresser when I was twelve. I don’t know; I’d
probably be unemployed. [Laughs] The band has become a huge part of our
lives. We don’t know what we’d do without music. Well, I might’ve
become a music teacher or dress up in a drag show. There’s a bit of
transvestite in me.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Probably on the road or the studio. We seem to be doing it that way.
For the past couple of albums, we’ve been touring and then recording a
new album. Yeah, it’s kinda the old-school way, like how U2 and R.E.M.
used to do it. I think that’s how the band comes alive.
So there are more Placebo albums in the future?
Yeah, we’re contractually bound to another one. [Laughs] So, at least
another one, but there is an album of B-sides and cover versions that
we’ve done. That should be out soon. There’s also a DVD of a live gig
that is coming out.
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