If you haven't already read the first part of my story about the day, click here.
We made our way awkwardly into the interview room, and plonked down the cameras. Brian was laughing and saying, jokingly, "What's this?? I expected it to be David himself coming to interview me." Have you ever felt like a very poor substitute?...lol. The room was full of very expensive sofa's and the coffee table in front of us was loaded with sandwiches and drinks of every sort. I sat down across from Brian and then Steve and Stefan came and sat on his other side. They looked like schoolboys, all squashed together...lol. They had had a hard few weeks, with round after round of interviews, so I was hoping that ours would be a bit of light relief.
We chatted for a few moments while Steph set up the camera, mainly about Placebo's website. I had been in their chatroom the night before, trying to discover whether the band had any 'sailor' type chat nicknames. The chatters were very funny......"Not someone ELSE doing research for an interview? I have spoken to about 44 journalists preparing for interviews with Placebo in the past few weeks!" said one of them.......lol. The room was full of buzz and anticipation for the new album and tour, just like ours often is. We touched on their own degree of interest in the internet, and I realised that we had started into the interview, as that was one of the early questions on the list.
You can see for yourselves, on the video, how things went after that, but we warmed up as we went along, giggling over the fun questions, and frowning over the serious ones. Brian had an opinion on every subject and I was glad I had done my homework, as I felt that he wouldn't have suffered a fool gladly. Although he is extremely attractive, there is also a vulnerability about him, which there is almost bound to be with a songwriter who has laid his soul open through his songs in the way that Brian has done, and who has had his whole personal life and personality finely examined in the music press for several years. Steve was a cheeky, laddish, regular bloke, who took the mickey out of my Northern English accent, and was very obviously used to charming the ladies. Stefan was very shy and quiet, although we did get one or two responses out of him, and some lovely smiles. The three of them certainly seemed to be the best of mates. Steve patted Brian's knee protectively at one point, and they all stuck together and supported each other's views. They considered the questions carefully, and gave some very thoughtful answers. For certain, Brian was the complete opposite, in reality, to the persona which has been projected on him by some sections of the media.
When the interview was over, I gave them a copy of Live and Well, which they seemed genuinely delighted to accept. There was a bit of tussling over who was going to own it, with Brian clutching it to his chest and saying "It was given to me!" I think they will really enjoy listening to it, as they supported David on parts of the tour which it represents. I wonder what memories it evokes? They were also very keen to come into Bowienet and have a look around, which Eric has now arranged for them. If you spot anyone with a 'placebo' nickname, it could well be one of the band! They are hoping to spend quite a bit of time online to fill in the dead time on tour.
While Steph and I were packing away the cameras, the lads were getting ready to go off and do a VirtueTV webcast for which around 2,900 questions had been submitted. I hope they didn't have to answer them all! Off they went, with many smiles and goodbyes, and we said our own goodbyes to the girls who had been looking after us, and decamped to a restaurant in Paddington to stuff pasta and dissect the day.
I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as we enjoyed making it! Steph has made a fab job of both the filming and the editing, and deserves a big thank you for sorting this out, as well as working 15+ hour days on a freelance job for HTV Wales.
Best of Luck, Placebo, with the album and the tour! Thanks for taking the time out to talk to the Bowienet members!
You can click here for my review of Black Market Music ( into the UK charts at No. 6 last week! ) , and here to buy the album, online.
I saw Placebo live at Leeds on Oct 22nd. Waaahoooo!!! lol.... If you haven't already read about it, you can go here.
:))
spaceface