[Placeboworld official site]
[Soulmates Never Die (unofficial Placebo site)]
Placebo Members
Brian Molko
Date of birth : 10th December 1972 Nationality : American/English Instrument played : Guitars, Vocals, Bass Musical influences : Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Nick Drake, The Pixies Bio :Brian was born in Brussels and he is the youngest of the two boys of the Molko family. The International banker career of his American father led him to different countries from Belgium, Lebanon, Liberia to Luxembourg where his parents finally settled down. He endured a lonely upbringing and felt much as an only child as his brother was ten years older than him and had left home. Brian and Stefan attended the same American school in Luxembourg but never spoke to each other as Brian was already an outsider, preferring Drama to sport. On October 1990, at the age of 17, Brian moved to England to study drama at Goldsmiths in London living in the southeastern side for five years. His Scottish born-again Christian mother and his father tried to pull him in different directions in his formative years in the hope of making him becoming like them. But the only result they got from him was totally the opposite as he forged his own identity trying to escape from their educational, family and religious pressures, and became the nail-polish, lipstick and eyeliner-wearing, androgynous, travestite, drug taking musician that we all adore. Brian is one of the most charismatic singer of his time, creating along his way bunch of Molko lookalikes and turning innocent girls (and boys) into hysteric fanatics. Brian is definitely our 2Ist Century Boy.
Stefan Olsdal
Date of birth : 31st March 1974 Nationality : Swedish Instrument played : Guitars, Bass, Keyboard Musical influences : Depeche Mode, Abba Bio : Stefan, Placebo's bass player, began his journey to musical stardom in 1987 by playing the drums for his school orchestra. He soon realised though, that he'd feel so much happier if he could be 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. Stefan, like Brian, also grew up in Luxembourg.
Steve Hewitt
Date of birth : 22nd March 1971 Nationality : English Instrument played : Drums, Percussion Musical influences : Nick Cave, Bee Gees, Smashing Pumpkins, James Brown, Prince Bio : Steven grew up near Manchester in Northwich, home to Tim Burgess of the Charlatans. Steve actually played with Burgess for a time in the Electric Crayons. He also featured in a band called the Mystic Deckchairs. At seventeen he saw an advert in Afflecks Palace: 'Genius duo require drummer for German tour'. He duly joined Breed, toured Germany and left to join the Boo Radleys on a temporary basis. After recording the Boo Radleys debut album he was again gigging frantically leaving Breed on the back seat for eighteen months. Simultaneously, Steve was playing with then happening dance outfit K-Klass, who scored five top 40 hits from 91-94. In time, Steve found himself being sucked into the London session work, doing the music for car adverts. Back then, money was always a factor. And money was the knife that slit Breeds throat. They came off Nick Caves "let Love In" tour (where Steve developed a friendship with The Bad Seed drummer Thomas Wylder), devastated to discover that they were still nobodies. This was after six years together, two of those 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 can't function without playing" Today, aged 26, Steve doesn't have to worry about jacking in his day job. In the past he's been a joiner and an apprentice building racing cars for Williams; he even did a stint at Dougie's 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 Mac's "Albatross". He didn't even have a foot pedal. A self taught player, at seventeen he was already teaching others, working out of Dougie's store. Steve's 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 Placebo's 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. I've 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.
