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X-clusive: Placebo On 'Meds', Adultery And Michael Stipe
At the beginning of the band’s world tour, Placebo spoke exclusively to Xfm Manchester about collaborating with R.E.M, their summer festival must-sees and going back to their roots.
With their new album ‘Meds’ recently hitting shop shelves, Placebo are currently gearing up for yet another successful jaunt around the globe. And while he may be too busy in his day job to join the band on the road, bassist Stefan Olsdal spoke about the band’s collaboration with R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe,
“He was the executive producer of 'Velvet Goldmine', a film that we were in for about five minutes, in 1998 and we’ve stayed in touch since and forged a friendship. And when it came to that song ‘Broken Promise’, it asked for another voice.
“It’s a song about adultery and we thought it would be interesting to have it between two men rather than a man and a woman. We were in a hotel in Paris and R.E.M. were there and [drummer] Steve had the idea and said ‘Well why not ask Michael?’ and he was up for it.
“It would be great if we were at the same festival and Michael could join us on stage, that would be something quite special. But for us it was a big enough feat to have him on the record.”
Speaking about the band’s recently confirmed Reading and Leeds sets, Olson went on to reveal Placebo’s plans for 2006 and just who he’ll be watching from the side of the stage,
“This is just a short English tour and then we’ll go off and do mainly festivals over the summer, including Reading and Leeds. I hear the Pixies are playing [some of the same festivals as us] so it would be fun to see them.
“I’m also quite excited to see White Rose Movement because we’ve got them on tour with us now.”
Olson also explained that the new album represents a return to the band’s beginnings…
“’Meds’ is our fifth studio album and I guess it’s a bit of a return to our roots in the sense of stripping it down to bass, drums, guitar, piano and vocals. It’s more immediate sonically, more direct than our previous albums which tended to be a bit more electronic.
“I haven’t really listened to the album since it’s come out and I can’t really go back and listen to it now because I’d only listen to it for the wrong reasons. But I think Brian’s [Molko - frontman] lyrics are open and non-specific in the sense that people can place themselves inside the stories.
“It’s still hugely satisfying and encouraging that people do take it to their hearts.”
The album 'Meds' is out now, while the next single 'Infrared' is released on May 23.
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