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Placebo
NME Stage, Sat 12 Jul.
Backstage at Glasgow Barrowland, Brian Molko, guitarist and vocalist with the rather splenetic Placebo, is examining a blood blister on his nail-varnished fingers. He has a hangover and his hands tremble slightly from drinking too much coffee. There’s a sizable scratch on one of his ears, a souvenir of the night before and an over- enthusiastic fan who wanted her own little chunk of Molko to take home with her.
Still, he's got through the soundcheck for tonight's gig intact and despite his somewhat delicate state he's on good form, a natural born interviewee. And he knows it. Soundbites tumble out one after another: 'For someone of my size, my mouth is way way too big and that gets me into trouble' is one. 'We're anti-meathead rock' is another. But hang on, here's the dog's proverbials: 'When you become a quote/unquote star you suddenly become very shaggable. You go from being an unremarkable loser on the dole to being very desirable' is the kind of quote that journalists dream about.
Or how about tour stories? Fancy some tales of excess? How about the time in Germany that the band drank a bottle of JD in twenty minutes before going on stage, did
the gig and then smashed up the drum set? Or let's have the Placebo take on drinking: 'We used to be big bourbon heads but bourbon's just nasty and it fucks with your skin as well,’ says Molko, sounding vaguely repentant before adding 'We've switched to vodka now
because we think it's much purer.’
Whichever way you cut it, Placebo appear to be the living embodiment of the wild side of rock 'n' roll, a band who walk the walk as well as they talk the talk.
Placebo: the real Brian Moloko stands up (centre)
But is the Brian Molko that we see on stage screaming about 'another fucked-up junkie' against a backdrop of spiked rubber orgies, is he the real Mr Molko?
’The stage is where all these feelings that you can't let out in every day life manifest themselves and are
exaggerated,‘ explains Molko with a relative degree of
gravitas before the lure of the bons mots becomes too much: 'It's the place where you feel ten feet tall and given my stature that's quite nice.’ (Jonathan Trew)
Death In Vegas
Slam Muzik Tent, Sun 13 Jul.
Okay, Richard Fearless of Death In Vegas, there are 70 plus acts playing at T in the Park. Why should we go and see your lot?
'I actually think we're really boring to watch. That’s why we concentrate on our visuals. We're not a band you look at and think "I'd love to be in them".'
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Death In Vegas: kingsize peachiness
Come on, you can do better than that What about these visuals? The dance tent will be brimming with snappy visuals — what are yours all about?
‘We have big neon signs of EMS and the Devil in blue and God in red flashing on stage, and our name flashing to burn it into people’s retinas, Coming from a visual background [he’s a trained graphic designer], I’ve a lot of artwork based around EIVIS, so it seems to have a bit of a stamp.’
Fearless, who also pays the rent by Dng at London's Heavenly sOCial club, met Steve Hellier, his partner in big beats, four years ago.
Their coupling has borne considerable frUit, With the release of a variety of singles -— the most renowned of which, the Woodstock Festival-sampling ’Dirt’, is shortly to be re-released — and an album Dead Elvis.
In addition, Death In Vegas, like Underworld before them, have channelled their skills into composing music for adverts. A 'gung ho, heaw metal' one is in the bag for Budweiser, and they‘ve also done Guiness, Grolsch and one .‘or Scottish Drugs Awareness. And speaking of drugs and Scotland, they're also working on music for the forthcoming film version of The Acid House
All of which sounds peachy — by anyone else's standards.
'The band's taken off, but to be honest, I actually enjoy DJing more than domg the band ’
Fine. We'll concoct our own reason for seeing Death In Vegas — they make
a ngsize sound. T (Fiona Shepherd)
Hardbody
Radio One/KTWWH Stage, Sun 13 Jul.
Named after the fit, desirable victims in Brett Easton Ellis’s sex and slaying novel American Psycho, five-piece Hardbody inhabit that smoky musical hinterland between the cool broodiness of a sophisticated guitar band and the red- clawed angst of P.J. Harvey.
A former drama student at the RSAMD, Louise Quinn, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for Hardbody, joined the band when drummer Alistair Cooke came across her busking in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street. 'I never thought that my songwriting would be a serious option because I enjoyed doing it so much,’ explains Quinn. ’It was always really private, 3 part of my quiet times, something I did for therapy almost.’
A deal with Sony offshoot Haiku quickly led to the private becoming public and Quinn’s musings having an audience beyond her bedsit. 'I don't really want to influence peOple’s emotions, I just want people to understand how I feel and identify with it,’ says Quinn. ’It's about things like jealousy and negative emotions, all the things that get overlooked in favour of positive emotions. Although a lot of it isn’t very negative, more reflective and melancholy.’
The other side of the Hardbody experience comes across courtesy of Quinn's love of fuck you fem bands like The Breeders. 'When I started listening to women with electric guitars I got that feeling of power that I get now when I plug in my electric guitar, switch on the distortion pedal and just go waaaah!’ enthuses Quinn while miming a windmilling lick strategy.
'You can be really aggressive and that’s something girls are brought up not to be. It’s all “cross your legs and shut up". Wielding a guitar and screaming your head off is a pretty good way of getting rid of any pent-up frustrations.’ (Jonathan Trew)
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Louise Quinn of Hardbody: WAAAAAAH!