Brian Molko

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Citizensmith (talk | contribs) at 13:00, 9 December 2007 (rv unexplained deletion of cited quotation.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Brian Molko

Brian Molko (born December 10, 1972, in Belgium) is a songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Placebo.

Career

Born to a American international banker father and a Scottish mother, Brian Molko's family moved frequently during his childhood, including spells in Scotland, Liberia, Lebanon and Luxembourg. Molko has referred to his mother's home town of Dundee, Scotland as "where I grew up".[1] He attended Goldsmiths College in London, where he studied drama. He describes his childhood as a period when he felt very lonely and alienated. He started to wear make-up at the age of 11. He was an actor in a school drama theater.

While Molko was brought up in a strict household that disapproved of artistic expression (his father wanted him to become a banker) he rebelled by affecting an androgynous image, wearing nail polish, lipstick and eyeliner, and listening to punk. In his late teens, he came out as bisexual.

Molko and Stefan Olsdal both attended the International School of Luxembourg in Luxembourg, but they were never friends. When Molko moved to London to study drama at Goldsmiths College, where he graduated with a degree, he met Olsdal at South Kensington Tube Station. Molko invited Olsdal to one of his gigs in a club, which he played with Steve Hewitt. Olsdal was impressed with Molko's voice, and together they formed Ashtray Heart; eventually they changed the name to Placebo. Together with drummer Robert Schultzberg (a friend of Olsdal's from Sweden) performed together in 1996. Schultzberg did not fit in the band, however, and was soon replaced with Steve Hewitt, who played on Placebo's demo tracks.

Molko's musical influences include Depeche Mode, David Bowie, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedys, Serge Gainsbourg, Syd Barrett, Bad Religion, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Nick Drake, Joy Division, The Cure and The Pixies. Molko taught himself to play guitar. At the age of 16 he got a Telecaster replica as a present from his parents. Soon after, he bought a real telecaster. He plays other instruments such as bass, harmonica, keyboard, saxophone, drums and turntables. Occasionally, Molko works as a disc jockey at clubs. Nowadays Molko listens to electro-clash artist Peaches, his old favourite, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others.

Along with Hewitt and Olsdal, he had a small role in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, for which Placebo performed the T. Rex song "20th Century Boy." He played Malcolm, a singer of the fictional glam rock band, "The Flaming Creatures," who resembled the early Alice Cooper band.

In 2005, Molko's long-term partner, Helena Berg, gave birth to his first child, Cody. He said he named the child after his long-time friend who died in a car accident. He currently lives in London but frequently travels to Paris.

In the same year he was voted as 39th of the 50 sexiest rock stars by Kerrang! magazine readers.

He has performed as a guest vocalist on tracks by Timo Maas - 'Pictures', 'Like Siamese', 'First Day', Alpinestars - 'Carbon Kid', Trash Palace - 'The Metric System', 'Je t'aime, moi non plus' (duet with Asia Argento), the AC Acoustics - 'Crush', Kristeen Young - 'No Other God', Dream City Film Club - 'Some' and with Jane Birkin - 'Smile'. He also wrote the English lyrics to 'Pink water' version 3, a song by Indochine from the album that is due to be released at the end of 2006. Molko is friends with David Bowie, with whom he sang Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing"[2] and the cover "20th Century Boy" live.

Equipment

Molko uses a variety of guitars. In the Sleeping With Ghosts era, he used Gibson SGs (The Bitter End, Every Me Every You, Plasticine, Black Eyed, Without You I'm Nothing, Special K, Bulletproof Cupid, Soulmates, Special Needs, This Picture), Fender Jaguars (Allergic, Pure Morning, Nancy Boy, Bionic, Centrefolds, Where Is My Mind), a Fender Thinline Telecaster (Taste In Men) and a Fender Bass VI (Slave To The Wage). For amplification he used a Fender Twin Reverb.

Through the Meds Tour, he used Gretsch Duo Jets (Infra-Red, Because I Want You, Song To Say Goodbye, One Of A Kind, The Bitter End, Running Up That Hill, Special K), Gibson SGs (Special Needs, Every You Every Me, Black Eyed), a Fender Jaguar (Drag, Nancy Boy), a Fender Thinline Telecaster (Twenty Years) and a Gibson Chet Atkins SST (Meds). Once again his amplifier was a Fender Twin Reverb.

During a 2003 interview with Graham Norton, Molko revealed he collects guitars, and gives them all names - amongst them are his favourite, 'Bitch', and a pink guitar (which he claims is gay) called 'Bertie'.

Filmography

Appearances

References

  1. ^ "NME Interview with Placebo". NME/PlaceboWorld. Retrieved 2006-07-17.
  2. ^ "Placebo with David Bowie Chat Transcript - 29/3/99". BowieWonderworld.com/SonicNet/Yahoo!. Retrieved 2006-10-14.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Brian Molko.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brian_Molko&oldid=176760653"