"I lost my voice so I can't do too much talking. I'm just getting it back today," protested Brian Molko, lead singer / songwriter / guitarist for one of Britain's most original exports, Placebo, in a recent interview with The Michigan Daily. He then proceeded to talk for a half-hour about his band, his love of techno and his disgust with music journalists. There's more here than meets the eye.
But that's the case with Placebo. Though they live in the UK, none of the band members are British. Molko himself is a walking contradiction, appearing to be an attractive young woman, replete with silver nail polish and pink lipstick. And if it's possible for music to be androgynous, then Placebo's certainly is, with lush melodies and arrangements coexisting with a harsh rock attitude.
"Last night we left the Weezer audience a bit confused, I think," Molko admitted. "A few people in the crowd seemed to get it and were moshing, but our music is a far cry from 'Buddy Holly.' But that's OK, we've been in the same kind of situation before."
Indeed, one of Placebo's main goals is bending and blurring boundaries. Molko rejects any attempts to pin his music down: "It's so meaningless, this categorizing and filing away of music. The British press had such a hard time figuring out what category to put us in that they invented a new one for us: 'Gothcore.' I find it very difficult to say that I have any kind of kinship to any particular kind of music."
Placebo's music isn't the only alien thing about the band Molko's childhood saw him follow his investment banker dad all over Europe in pursuit of higher and higher returns.
Molko explained the effect of the gypsy-like upbringing of the band on its sound: "We all grew up in lots of places around the world, with no real country of origin. So we didn't have the same cultural and musical experiences that most other kids have when they grow up. We just play the music that comes naturally to us."
And it's the music, despite all the coverage Molko's image gets, that's paramount in Placebo. Considering the anthemic rush of "Come Home," the hypnotic groove of "Bionic," the sleazy, glam-inflected "Nancy Boy" and the beautiful, psychedelic ballads like "Lady of the Flowers," Placebo's self-titled debut album shows that there's more to the band than just a love of silver nail polish.
"I get frustrated when people don't talk much about the music," Molko sighed. "(People) should ask me things about the music, aspects of it, and not expect me to explain it to them."
Molko may want listeners to draw their own conclusions about his music, but it isn't hard to figure out that Placebo is a dynamic and unique band. They're already planning their next album, a techno project (to be released on their Escalator Music label) and a remixed single version of "Nancy Boy," along with the usual routine of touring the world.
Even the addition of a new drummer hasn't broken Placebo's stride: "We've been writing a lot on the road, and our new drummer has really opened things up for us creatively," Molko said. "There were some tensions existing in the band before that were hindering us. Now, with our new drummer, we've written five songs in the past month. It's been very exciting." As is nearly everything with this band.