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Well, what else do you expect?!?! I gotta have my all time fave band on here otherwise it wouldnt be complete. Well, I dunno what else to say, so I suppose I'd better get on with telling you all about that sex God that is Brian Molko and the other band memebers!!! |
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BRIAN MOLKO!!!
DATE OF BIRTH: 10th December 1972
NATIONALITY: US/UK
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY BRIAN: Guitars, Vocals, Bass
INFLUENCES: Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Nick Drake
OTHER INFORMATION!
Brian Molko was born on the 10th of December 1972 to multi-nationality parents, scottish and american. In the early years of his life were spent being dragged anywhere, from Liberia to Lebanon to Luxembourg by his father, who was an international banker, in his quest for more money.
He was sent to a private American school in Luxembourg, and was even an outsider then, he was the boy who prefered drama to sport.
Stefan also attended the same school. However, the two never actually spoke to one another, due to the fact that Stefan was a jock and in with the popular crowd, and Brian (who, himself, puts it so very well) was a loser.
When he was 17, Brian moved to England to study drama at Goldsmiths in London. His father would have liked for him to follow a career in banking but, fortunately for us, Brian decided that rock and roll, and nail varnish was a more preferable career option.
Brian's sexuality has had much speculation surrounding it, with some journalists taking more interest in who or what Brian sleeps with, rather than the music side of his life. However, without a doubt, Brain can be said to be one of the most interesting characters to come on to the music for a while!!! |
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STEFAN OLSDAL!!!
DATE OF BIRTH: 31st March 1974
NATIONALITY: Swedish
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED BY STEFAN: Guitars, Bass, Keyboard
INFLUENCES: Depeche Mode, Abba, 'dodgy rock bands'
EXTRA INFORMATION:
Stefan is Placebo's colossus bass player. He began his journey to stardom in 1987, when he played the drums for his school orchestra. He soon realised he'd feel much happier playing up front in a band, rather than sitting at the back un-noticed. "So I got on to bass and played that for a while at the same time as learning piano. The first bass I bought was a Fender Precision, because of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris, but since then I've never really tried to emulate a particular sound or hero. I've always thought more about the creative side" he stated in an issue of Bassist magazine.
Like Brian, Stefan grew up in Luxembourg. It was by chance that he and Brian bumped into each other two years after Brian had moved to London.
They discovered more in common than they both thought and formed Ashtray Heart. Stefan introduced Brian to Robert Schultzberg, who he'd played in a school band with, and so, Placebo was born. By the time they'd played just five gigs together the men in suits were turning up to sign them. They signed to Hut records in January 1996. |
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STEVEN HEWITT!!!
DATE OF BIRTH: 22nd March 1971
NATIONALITY: UK
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED IN THE BAND: Drums, Precussion
INFLUENCES: Nick Cave, Bee Gees, Smashing Pumpkins, James Brown
EXTRA INFORMATION!!!
Steve was born on 22nd of March 1971 and grew up near Manchester in Northwich, also home to Tim Burgess of the Charlatans. Steve actually played with Burgess for a time in the Electric Crayons.
Sreve also featured in a band called the Mystic Deckchairs. At seventeen, Steve saw an advert in Afflecks Palace: 'Genius duo require drummer for German tour'. He duly joined Breed, toured Germany, then left to join the Boo Radleys on a temporary basis.
After recording the Boo Radleys debut album, Steve was again gigging frantically leaving Breed on the back seat. At the same time, Steve was playing with dance outfit K-Klass. In time, Steve found himself being sucked into the London session work, doing music for car adverts.
Back then, money was always a factor. And this was the knife that slit Breeds throat. They came off Nick Caves "Let Love In" tour devastated to discover they were still nobodies. This was after six years together, two of those were spent touring with Cave.
Following a dismal, disastrous gig at the Bull and gate, Breed called it a day. With a pregnant girlfriend and no musical work forthcoming, Steve was forced to get a job as a forklift truck driver. "I had to get back into music again," he decided, "I cant function without playing" Now, aged 26, Steve doesnt have to worry about jacking in his day job. In the past hes been a joiner and an apprentice building racing cars for Williams; he even did a stint at Dougies Music store in Northwich.
Steve Hewitt became a drummer because one of the kids at school asked him to. His first gig was a school assembly at Weaversham High, playing Fleetwood Macs "Albatross". He didnt even have a foot pedal. Steve is a self taught player, who, at seventeen, was already teaching others, working out of Dougies store.
Steves elder brother was a rock fan, so Steve loved AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Dio. Later he got into more indie-inclined likes of The Smiths and The Wonderstuff, along with the obligatory weed smoking Pink Floyd interludes. In terms of sound and style, Steve has taken Placebos recorded drum tracks and built on them. "I listened to the first Placebo LP," he says, "and I thought Robert was technically a good drummer, but in terms of feel and groove it felt like he was fighting it. Ive just sorted out the tempos really, on the stuff that was done before I joined, and just put more groove, more feel in it. Made it less uptight."
PLEASE NOTE: It was actually Steve who played on the very first ever Placebo demos, along with Brian and Stefan. Other commitments prevented him from joining the band back then... but that's a long story...
When Robert 'left' Placebo, Steve was the first drummer to be phoned by Brian, who had placed him at the top of a list of three. 'I sat in my bedroom with my practice kit for two weeks and learnt the LP', Steve recalls. 'Then we had a rehearsal of one and a half days before touring thirteen countries in four months!' |
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