Placebo - Naked and unashamed

Sexual and searing is the jagged pop of the multi-national rock trio, Placebo, who are about to play in Auckland. Lead singer Brian Molko talks to Mike Houlahan.

"Desperate" is Brian Molko's one word summation of his band's music. "Desperate, but also romantic," he adds, as he tries to encapsulate the edgy, nervous music and often intensely personal lyrics which stain Placebo's albums.

"The first record was quite an enthusiastic, fresh record, full of lust, vigour and the energy of youth," says Molko, an American who makes music with a Swede (Stefan Olsdal on bass, guitar and keyboards) and a Briton (drummer Steve Hewitt).

"This time we're slightly more world-weary, broken-hearted and melancholy. It's more of a post-coital kind of record. A lot of the songs are to do with break-ups and loss."

Placebo is a band that wears its heart on its sleeve. The trio are open about sexuality and substance abuse, subjects that feature in songs as well as several frank interviews with the band. More than most bands, Placebo takes the listener for a trip through their lives, which is sometimes a wild and frightening roller coaster.

Take Evil Dildo, a hidden track at the end of latest album Without You I'm Nothing.

"That's the final song in our set, it's the sound of the amps breaking," Molko says. "It's crazed and quite violent. The voices on it are taken from my answerphone. It's someone who called me up and made death threats and threatened to mutilate me. I thought it would be the ultimate ?@*-you to put it on a record."

Then, from the same album, is My Sweet Prince. Initially a sweet, lilting song, it unfolds into a harrowing account of heroin abuse. Molko's delivery is sugar-coated, but wrapping pure pain.

"It's probably the most personal and forthright I've ever been in a song," he says. "I'm very proud of that song. I'm not proud of the story behind it, but I am proud of the lyrics and the vocal performance. It's the most naked I've ever been in a song."

Although that song broke new ground for Molko in terms of lyrical frankness, Placebo has always been an upfront band. That, and a canny, catchy sense of melody, saw Placebo's first demos attract considerable attention. One of the sharpest sets of ears belonged to singer David Bowie, who hired the then unsigned Placebo as his support act for a 1996 tour.

"Morrissey had just left the tour and they needed a band in a hurry," Molko says. "He'd heard our demo and invited us along, which was kind of mind-blowing. It culminated with a [1997] Madison Square Gardens gig for his 50th birthday. Playing a space like that was a superb thing to happen to the band."

At around the same time as being signed up by Bowie, Placebo - which had a few independent releases to its name - also signed on the dotted line with Hut Records. Their major label debut, Placebo, boasted a British top four single, Nancy Boy and saw the band score another major support tour, this time U2's European dates on the Popmart tour.

"U2 was an incredible opportunity which was too good to turn down," Molko says.

"We were trying to stop touring because it was keeping us out of the studio. We had decided to stop, then the U2 offer came in and we couldn't say no to that. We had others, too, but were in the fortunate position of being able to say no.

"We're very flexible. We've got a big enough set of songs so that we can tailor it to whatever audience we're playing. We'd play a few more of our gentler songs for the U2 crowd, but if we were in a room with a few hundred people who were our fans we'd probably play full-out punk rock."

By the time Placebo went into the studio to record its most recent album, the band went through a line-up change which has had a significant impact on its sound.

Hewitt, Placebo's original drummer, had left the band to concentrate on his first outfit, Breed, and had been replaced by another Swede, Robert Schulzberg - who drummed on the first album. However, the relationship between Molko and Schulzberg became strained to breaking point during those sessions and Hewitt moved back onto the drum stool in 1996.

Perhaps one reason Placebo's music often deals with the feeling of being out of time and out of place is because of the multi-national make-up of the band.

Make no mistake, Placebo are hot. Without You I'm Nothing was a top 10 success in Britain, boasted two top five singles and deservedly cruised into many publications' top albums of the year list. Recently they were nominees at the British music awards, although they probably wouldn't qualify as being British.

Who: Brian Molko

What: Placebo

Where: Powerstation

When: Next Friday