Placebo Biography

     Stefan Olsdal was 11 and Brian Molko was a year older, when they first met at a little private school in Luxembourg. Both were sons of bankers and were avid listeners of music. All of which inspired them to take up instruments, Brian the saxophone, then later the guitar. A young Mr Olsdal, started on his musical path as a drummer, but his ego ‘kicked-in’, and he decided that he’d prefer to be at the front of the stage, so he moved to the guitar and bass.

The boys were very aware of each other’s presence (as the school was such a small place, and you couldn’t really miss each other.) The opportunity arose, for them, along with some mutual friends to attempt to start up a band. Unfortunately nothing came out of this, as no one had a clue where to start. So they spent their time together just eating pizza.

School can be a difficult time (as everyone knows, especially during ‘teenage years’. Hormones, physical and mental changes and the quest of finding out who you are as a person. Add this to the longing of being part of the ‘in crowd’, it’s a turbulent existence.) This was no for different Stefan and especially Brian.

Stefan was a good athlete and he was a member of the school basketball team, which made him ‘popular’. Brian, was shy and he suffered from bullying (he recalls at one point being dangled by his ankles over a 10ft wall.) To escape, he studied drama and theatre, and took solace in hanging out in the art room, with the students. Artists tend to except people, no matter who they are or what they look like.

Brian had issues at home he had to deal with too. His Mom (a devout Christian) was pressuring him to become a priest. He rebelled  saying “I got my life back from God!” Plus the awareness of his sexuality (that he liked boys as well as girls.) Was causing inner and outer conflict. A landmark memory of this, recalled in an interview with Brian “I was 16, and recovering from chicken pox. Myself and a friend was running round the forest, playing Indians with our tops off, and I remember thinking: I like the feel of his skin against mine…” 

At the age of 17, Brian moved to London to study drama at Goldsmith’s College, while Stefan finished his schooling in Sweden. The five years in South East London (New Cross, Deptford and Lewisham), was a dark period of Brian’s life. Recalling the depressing places he stayed and some of the bad habits he acquired. This added to the earlier psychosis, which in the end featured in the compositions on the first album ‘Placebo’.

Then came the ‘Fateful Day’… Brian and a female friend from Luxembourg, were making their way to an art exhibition at 9:30am. They spent the night in her father’s flat in Chelsea, but they were running late after a night of overindulgence in alcohol. As they entered South Kensington Tube Station, they spotted a tall lad with a guitar strapped to his back. Brian’s friend asked “Is that Stefan Olsdal over there?” They went over to investigate, and it was. They swapped numbers (“I was more inclined to take her number, than Brian’s” recalls Stefan) and agreed to meet up again.

Their passion of playing music, had still continued. Stefan was studying guitar at the Musician’s Institute in Wapping, while Brian had formed a band with a drummer, Mr Steve Hewitt. (who’d he’d met via a mutual friend at Goldsmith’s.) Also at this time Brian was listening to bands/artistes like PJ Harvey, Sonic Youth, Can, Violent Femmes and the Pixies. While Stefan chose Depeche Mode, Metallica and Abba.

Brian invited Stefan to come to see an ‘acoustic’ gig that his band were doing at a venue called ‘Round The Bend’ in Deptford. Not only was he performing with Steve (who hailed from Manchester), but writing with him too. Though at this time, Steve was heavily involved with another band called Breed, so he could only find time to play ‘one-off gigs’ with Brian, when commitments allowed.

During this time, Stefan has his own band (whom he started with a friend that he met during  his last three years at school in Sweden.) They had written nearly 60 songs between them. Now Stefan had come over to rejoin his parents, who had moved to London.

He took up the invite and came to the gig. Stefan was impressed by what he heard and saw recalling “Brian had such an amazing voice and I loved the way he played his guitar!” and he asked “Do you want a bass player?”
Brian’s answer was “Let’s start a band!”

Which was originally called ‘Ashtray Heart’, then it was changed to ‘Placebo’. Stefan said “I was more a technically trained musician and we complemented each other perfectly.” 

When Steve’s commitments with Breed allowed, they got together to write and compose a collection of songs, and produced some demos (which contained a ‘primitive’ version of ‘Hang On To Your I.Q.’ with a completely different melody.) Though, time was limited with Steve, as his commitments grew, so the band needed a permanent drummer. After many auditions, Stefan enlisted the talents of Robert Schultzberg (he knew from his time back in Sweden.).

Their first gig was at the ‘Rock Garden’ in Covent Garden in the January of 1995. Feargal Sharkey (ex-lead singer of the Undertones) was now in the role of A&R person. Though he left after 3 songs, as the lads decided to ‘punk it up’. They also played at the Goldsmith’s Bar and Macmillan’s in Deptford. It was at Sound Advice that they recorded some ‘proper’ demos, and with the  help of friends, assisting with distribution, many people were talking about this band called ‘Placebo’.

In the summer of that year, they teamed up with promoters (which then later became management) Riverman. It was them that really got things moving and they arranged a gig at Camden’s Underworld, where nearly 100 A&R men turned up to watch them perform. They got a lot of offers, but they continued to ‘gig’ and it was later that eventually signed a deal with ‘Fierce Panda’. They released their first single ‘Bruise Pristine’. While ‘Come Home’ was released on ‘Deceptive’.  It was also around this time that a certain Mr David Bowie (who managed to get hold of the demos) asked the band to support him on his ‘Earthling Tour’. Then they signed to ‘Hut Recordings’, which allowed them the creative freedom that most bands could only dream of.

It was now 1996, and it was time for Placebo to record their first album. They hooked up with a producer called Brad Wood, and laid down the tracks in a studio in Dublin. They worked 12hours a day, seven days a week to complete it. Here they learnt a lot during the whole process and formed a friendship with Brad.

As they toured, Brian and the others realised that it was the start of something big. Plus they noticed that the band was a bit of a ‘weirdo magnet’ –which Brian was proud of. Everything seemed perfect, but black storm clouds started to appear. The relationship between Robert and Brian broke down. They found it hard to acknowledge each other on and off stage. It came to a head in a final argument before appearing on ‘The White Room’ (the band’s first major TV appearance) the basis being that there wasn’t room in the band for both of them.

They finished touring, and after completing their American leg, Robert left. Steve returned to the fold, as he left Breed and at the time was playing in ‘The Boo Radleys’ (which had just signed a record deal.) This was after meeting Brian at the Phoenix Festival, where Steve reacalls “He looked miserable, he had everything on a plate, but he was so miserable!” Also Mr Hewitt expressed how unhappy he was in his present band. So after practising the first album in his bedroom, Steve left ‘The Boo Radleys’ and joined Placebo permanently.

They toured Germany together, and new songs came from the sound checks, which were: Burger Queen, Evil Dildo and Brick Shithouse. They continued touring right through till 1997, the year which they received to honour to play at David Bowie’s 50th Birthday at Madison Square Gardens. Also they got to support U2 and fulfil Brian’s lifetime dream: performing at London’s Brixton Academy (a crowd of 4000 and Brian in a dress!!!) The whole tour was summed up by Brian’s infamous quote: “We left a trail of blood and spunk behind us!” Also in many an interview, the band members sexuality was a hot topic. Stefan revealed that he was homosexual, Brian was bi-sexual, while Steve was straight, which the band said “Made them very dangerous!” and Brian’s saucy comment “We’re the fags your girlfriends want to shag!”

Also a film role was offered and accepted, which was to appear in the ‘Glam Rock’ movie ‘Velvet Goldmine’ (Where Brian and Steve performed as ‘The Flaming Creatures’- along with Xavier, who was going to reappear in the Placebo line up in the future. While Stefan played bass in ‘Polly Small’s Band’, with Donna Matthews of Elastica.) They acted alongside ‘Bend It Like Beckham’s’ Jonathan Rhys Meyers, ‘Trainspotting’s’ Ewan McGregor and Eddie Izzard. While ‘Nancy Boy’ rode high in the charts.

It was now time to record the second album. During the start of 1998, they went to the ‘Real World’ studios, working with producer Steve Osbourne, and Paul Corkett. ‘Without You I’m Nothing’, was a huge milestone for the band creatively. It was melodic, and beautifully written, containing deep emotion. This enabled them to receive a nomination at the ‘Brits.’ Where they performed ‘20th Century Boy’ (a track featured in Velvet Goldmine) with Mr Bowie.

‘Pure Morning’, ‘You Don’t Care About Us’, ‘Every You, Every Me’ was released from this album, and the band embarked on an 18 month world tour. While multi-musician Bill Lloyd, joined the Placebo family. Covering new territories of Australia (where they supported ‘Silverchair’) and South Africa (with ‘Garbage’.) During their tour of the USA, they recorded a duet with David Bowie, ‘Without You I’m Nothing’, the title track from the album, and it was released as a limited edition, enhanced CD single.

By the time the summer of 1999, the long tour had caught up with the band. Stefan broke his wrist, while in South Africa and Brian, suffered from a trapped nerve in his spine, as well as a bad case of tonsillitis, which meant the band had to pullout of the V99 festival. Disappointing the home crowd back in the UK.

From the late autumn, the lads returned to the studio to record their third album. This time rapper Justin Warfield (formerly of ‘One Inch Punch’) and Severe Loren a.k.a. Caroline Finch (singer/guitarist of Linoleum) collaborated on some tracks. While producer Paul Corkett (who worked with the band on their previous album) rejoined the team.

‘Black Market Music’ was premiered at a ‘secret’ Fan Club gig, at the Oxford Zodiac on 20th July 2000. It was well received by the ever growing fan base. It was formally released in the October, where yet again, the lads embarked on another 18 month world tour. This time playing: Croatia, Poland, Russia and Mexico. Singles released from the album were ‘Taste In Men’, ‘Slave To The Wage’ and ‘Special K’. ‘Black Eyed’ was only released in Europe (excluding the UK.)

On completion of this tour, the boys decided to take a six month rest, before going back into the studio. They spent their time, buying homes and doing the odd side project. Brian turned his hand at DJ-ing, where he set up a regular slot at Camden’s Underworld (every 3rd Wednesday in each month) called ‘Intro Venus’. It had a ‘Medical Theme’ and the crowd had to dress-up as doctors, nurses, patients, etc, while Mr Molko rode the ‘wheels of steel’ dressed up as surgeon, splattered with blood!!!

They had an acoustic gig at the London’s Scala, which was a charity event to raise awareness for cancer research. This was sparked by the death of promoter Scott Piering. He had promoted the likes of The KLF, Prodigy, Pulp, Kylie Minogue and of course Placebo. The event was called ‘4Scott’ and only 750 tickets went on sale, and sold out in a couple of hours. As well as Placebo on the bill, Pulp, Stereophonics, Richard Ashcroft and Badly Drawn Boy performed too.

Riverman had also decided to manage another band ‘The Alpinestars’. They had remixed ‘Taste In Men’ and Brian returned the favour, by being a guest vocalist on their single ‘Carbon Kid’.

By late 2002, Placebo returned to the studio, to record their fourth album. This time, past relationships and the debris left behind featured in the songs. ‘Sleeping With Ghosts’, was released in March 2003, and was previewed at 3 fan club gigs, the largest at the London Astoria on March 10th. ‘Bitter End’, ‘This Picture’, ‘Special Needs’ and ‘English Summer Rain’, were released as singles. The band packed their suitcases and went on tour again, this time Hong Kong was added to the list and Xavier joined the line up. ‘Sleeping With Ghosts’ was re-released as a special edition, with a bonus CD of cover versions. 

Also they played their biggest gig to date at Bercy near Paris France, where the crowd was 18000! This gig, along with some ‘behind the scenes on tour footage’, was released as a DVD on 15th March 2004.

On the 25th October 2004, they released a ‘Greatest Hits’ album ‘Once More With Feeling’ (where a special edition included a bonus disc of remixes) Along with two new tracks: ‘I Do’ and ‘Twenty Years’ (which was released as a single.) Also on the 5th November, they played their first gig at Wembley Arena. Where they played to a full house, and Robert Smith joined them onstage for two numbers: ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ and ‘Without You I’m Nothing’. 

The lads took a rather long break, where in the spring of 2005, they did a mini tour of South America, playing Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. Playing to sold-out stadiums. Where in the July the lads took part in the global event ‘Live 8’ in Paris. While in the September of this year, Brian became the proud parent of a son, named Cody. Who is said to be named after a friend that passed away in a car crash.

Stefan and Brian had some side projects as well. Brian worked with Timo Maas on his album co-writing and singing on ‘Like Siamese’, ‘Pictures’ and ‘Last Day’ (which was released as a single.) Stefan teamed up with David Amen and Javier Solo to form ‘Hotel Persona’.

During this time the lads returned to the studio and proceeded to write and record their fifth studio album. With the assistance of producer Dimitri Tikovoi, they came up with ‘Meds’. Unfortunately there was a bit of controversy, as the album was leaked on to the web in the December, while it wasn’t due for release till March 2006.

The first single from this album was ‘Because I Want You’ and the band provided the rare opportunity for fans to star in the video, which was shot at Camden’s Koko venue. Later on they did a signing at London’s Virgin Megastore upon the album’s release. Then shortly after they announced a UK tour, which sold out in 6 hours. They released another track (not available in the UK) ‘A Song To Say Goodbye’, then ‘Infra Red’ and ‘Meds’ (which featured the vocals of Allison Mosshart a.k.a. VV from The Kills.) This wasn’t the only duet on the album, as Michael Stipe performed a duet with Brian on ‘Broken Promise’. 

Also in this time Stefan did a small DJ tour with ‘Hotel Persona’, playing a few dates in Spain and London.

The lads embarked on a massive world tour, which took them again to new places, including China. They played some huge festivals ‘Reading’,‘Isle of Wight’, Coachella and many others. The toured continued right through 2007. They returned briefly to the UK in March where they played two ‘intimate’ gigs at the Coronet Theatre in London’s Elephant and Castle. The second date was added, after Brian’s annoyance of a huge number of tickets for the first gig were being sold on eBay.

For a huge part of this year, Placebo took part in the ‘Project Revolution Tour’ featuring bands like Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and HIM (among others.) This ran from the 25th July to 3rd September 2007. Here they gained a new strong fanbase in the United States, where they would do signings at the gigs.

It was on  the 1st October that it was announced that Steve Hewitt had left Placebo due to personal and musical differences. Leaving many fans shocked and devastated, as he was a major part of the band and had been with them for 11 years. Though he had been there since the beginning, it was just the fact that he had other commitments.

Stefan with ‘Hotel Persona’ had recorded an album, titled ‘In The Clouds’ and this had it’s live debut in Madrid on 19th February 2008. Where Brian joined him on stage, as he features on a track called 'Modern Kids'.

In the Spring they are set to record their 6th Studio album. Where Stefan said at the ‘Hotel Persona’ show, they had 6 tracks already, but they haven’t decided on a label (as they had completed their 5 album contract with Virgin EMI) and a possible replacement for Steve.


Placebo are always changing and growing. They are a unique, creative and extremely talented band, which will be around for years to come…

 
© Coral Gregory – Soulmates Never Die Forum