LATEST NEWS STORIES
22.11.08
Steve Lamacq interview
Brian will be speaking to Steve Lamacq live on air on BBC radio station 6Music (available on DAB Digital radio, TV and online) this coming Monday 24th November at 17.35pm (GMT). Brian will be talking about the bands involvement in the MTV Exit show (campaign against human trafficking) in Cambodia.
20.11.08
PLACEBO TO PERFORM HISTORIC CONCERT AT ANGKOR WAT, CAMBODIA TO RAISE AWARENESS AND INCREASE PREVENTION OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
FIRST-EVER ROCK CONCERT AT THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE-LISTED 12TH CENTURY TEMPLE
PHNOM PENH / LONDON / BANGKOK 20 November 2008 – Placebo today joined a host of other international and local artists performing at a historic MTV EXIT concert to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking, a crime impacting millions of people worldwide. The concert will be held at Angkor Wat in Cambodia on 7 December.
Also performing below Placebo on the bill will be Duncan Sheik, Australian Kate Miller-Heidke, US group The Click Five and some of Cambodia’s biggest recording artists.
MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) is a project of the MTV Europe Foundation -- a London-based registered charity – to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking and exploitation. MTV EXIT in Asia is produced in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“We are incredibly proud to perform at this important concert,” the members of Placebo said. “We hope that through our music and involvement in this event and the MTV EXIT campaign that millions of people learn about this tragic form of slavery.”
To read the full press release, Click Here!
19.11.08
Placebo confirm first headline festival date for 2009!
PLACEBO have been confirmed to headline the Nova Rock Festival in Austria on Saturday 20th June, 2009.
The NOVA ROCK Festival, presented by Orange, will take place between the 19th and 21st of June 2009, on the Pannonia Fields II, in the beautiful village of Nickelsdorf, Burgenland. The festival is now in it's fifth year!
Tickets costing 109EUR plus Booking fees are available in Austria at www.musicticket.at or directly in the Musicticketshop (Skodagasse 25, 1080 Vienna), in all Raiffeisenbanken (with discounts for club members) and www.ticketbox.at, at ÖTicket +43 1 96 0 96 or www.oeticket.com and all ÖTicket distribution points, and Ticket Online at www.ticketonline.at or +43 1 88 0 88
Tickets are available in Germany at Ticket Scharf (+49/8652/2325) or www.ticketscharf.de and throughout Europe at all known CTS Eventim advance-booking-stores.
Further information and tickets can be found at www.novarock.at or www.musicticket.at
06.11.08
Brian at Melody Nelson
On 23rd and 24th October Brian Molko performed at Serge Gainsbourg’s “Histoire de Melody Nelson” concert at Cite de la Musique in Paris; arranged and conducted by Jean Claude Vannier. Brian sang the “Ballade de Melody Nelson”, a duet with Martina Topley-Bird performing the part of Melody.
Other artists who performed on the night were French actor Mathieu Amalric (currently playing DOMINIC GREEN, the villain in the new James Bond film “Quantum Of Solace”!!!), French singers Brigitte Fontaine, Alain Chamfort and Daniel Darc, French actress Clothilde Hesme and operatic singer Seaming To.
See photos of the event in our gallery, and catch a clip of the show over on YouTube!
18.09.08
Recording Studio Photo Feed Exclusive!
Take yourself into the studio for an insight into some exclusive shots taken by the band themselves during the recording of the 6th album in Toronto, Canada.
Click HERE to take a peek, and be sure to share it with your friends via the share link at the bottom!
17.09.08
Brian to perform Ballade of Melody Nelson in Paris
The extensive history of Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier gave birth to compositions and arrangements that have since reached cult status, transcending over time and generations.
Born from this collaboration, Melody Nelson (1971) is one of the first “concept albums” in France: this disc does not merely juxtapose tracks, but tells an actual story, that of an adolescent – Melody – whom the narrator hits with his car. From this accident is born a romance, which ends with the death of the protagonist.
The album, which hardly garnered success at the time of its release, is today considered one of Gainsbourg’s best. The album likewise owes much to the arranging and composing talent of Jean-Claude Vannier - an interesting fate for an artist who learned the basics of orchestration by reading a Que sais-je? He has since moved onto a series of prestigious collaborations, including with Dalida, Michel Polnareff, Julien Clerc, Martial Solal, Astor Piazolla and Barbara.
Following Melody Nelson, in 1972, Jean-Claude Vannier composed another project, for which Gainsbourg produced a narrative framework: L’Enfant assassin des mouches. This short, cruel tale, where the child fly-killer ends up stuck to a strip of “child-paper”, is a small masterpiece of its genre, but was unsuccessful at its release and rediscovered only recently.
The production of these two works on the stage of the Barbican Centre in London in 2006 became a considerable success. Today, Jean-Claude Vannier repeats this experience, surrounded by prestigious guest artists, which will include Brian performing The Ballade of Melody Nelson with a guest vocal appearance from Martina Topley Bird.
Histoire de Melody Nelson (The Story of Melody Nelson)
Wednesday, October 22, 8pm
Thursday, October 23, 8pm
Venue: Cite de la Musique, 221 avenue Jean-Jaures 75019, Paris
Part One
L'Enfant assassin des mouches (The Child Fly-Killer)
Music and arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier
Story by Serge Gainsbourg
Part Two
Histoire de Melody Nelson (The Story of Melody Nelson)
Music by Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier
Words by Serge Gainsbourg
Arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier
Jean-Claude Vannier, conductor
Orchestre des concerts Lamoureux
Le Jeune Chœur de Paris
Quatuor à cordes d'enfants
Claude Engel, guitar
Thomas Coeuriot, guitar
Graham Clark, electric violin
Gérard Bikialo, piano
Herbie Flowers, bass
Pierre-Alain Dahan, drums
Michel Musseau, sound-effects
Guest artists:
Mathieu Amalric
Alain Chamfort
Daniel Darc
Brigitte Fontaine
Clotilde Hesme
Brian Molko
Seaming To
Martina Topley Bird
Price of ticket: €39
Reservations: 01 44 84 44 84 or www.cite-musique.fr
06.08.08
PLACEBO - THE RETURN!
Placebo are back in the studio working on a new album! The band finished their last touring campaign in September of last year in the USA (on the Projekt Revolution tour with Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance). Since then the band have taken some much needed time out and over the past couple of months have been hard at work writing and demoing new material in London. The boys are now recording with producer David Bottrill (the man behind Tool’s ‘Aenima’, ‘Salival’ and ‘Lateralus’ albums, Silverchair’s ‘Diorama’ and dEUS ‘The Ideal Crash’). Engineering the album is James Brown who worked with the band on ‘Meds’.
...And on the drums with Placebo...?????!!!!! Introducing... Mr Steve Forrest! Hailing from Modesto, California, he was previously the drummer with American rock band, ‘Evaline’. Some of you may have spotted Steve playing with Evaline supporting Placebo on their US tour in October '06.
27.5.08
UPDATE FROM STEFAN
Hey,
Stefan here saying hi to everyone. Just want to say I’ve got an album coming out in June with my side project Hotel Persona. This is something I’ve been doing in my free time from Placebo over the past couple of years with some friends in London. It’s basically a collection of tracks we wrote for fun to play at parties, nothing to take too seriously! It’s pop music with a dancefloor beat, and lyrics sometimes bordering on comedy. Kind of exploring the entertainment value of music and making something a little more light hearted than what I am used to, something people with a couple of drinks in them could understand and sing along to! Some of the tracks are a little more serious and some quite intimate and fragile, and we’ve also got a couple of guests to bring some flavour.
Placebo is currently writing the next record and will record it this year, so Placebo fans shouldn’t be worried that this project is taking away from that.
Hope you can have some fun with it like we did!!
Stefan
14.4.08
HOTEL PERSONA RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM- ‘IN THE CLOUDS / EN LAS NUBES'
Stefans side project Hotel Persona is releasing their debut album this spring.
After spending the last couple of years DJ'ing and remixing, Stefan spent the break after Placebo's Meds tour completing the album with David Amen and Javier Solo.
The Spanish version ‘En Las Nubes’ is released through PIAS/Spain on 5th May, and the English version ‘In The Clouds’ through Edel in June.
The album includes collaborations with Brian Molko, Samantha Fox, Alaska, and Miguel Bosé.
Check myspace.com/hotelpersona for tour dates and more information.
READ THE OLDER NEWS STORIES HERE
|
