his story
Brian was sent to an internationall boarding school in Luxembourg. After that, he rarley saw his father. It was at this school where he first met Stefan Olsdal, although they were not friends and hardly ever spoke to eachother. As Brian recalls, "in the space of seven years we might have exchanged one sentence." Brian and Stefan were the complet opposite to eachother. Stefan was a popular 'jock' while Brian was an outsider. Infact, Brian was often picked on, his nickname was �faggot�. But this didn't bother Brian, he just carried on getting stoned and hanging around with the drama society. At the age of 14 he began playing women onstage. He however didn't start dressing like a woman in Luxembourg, because it wasn't the place for it.
His love for acting made him leave school in Luxembourg at the age of 17. From here Brian went onto studying Drama at Goldsmiths College in London, but his father wasn't pleased with this decision.
In 1994 Brian bumped into Stefan in London's South Kensington tube station. Stefan: "Brain just screamed my name and i turned around.....it was like 'Thats Stefan Osdal!' The two of us were like 'fucking hell, it can't be........it is' It was very uncomfotable, very weird. I was trying to aviod you (Brian) and talk to the girl you were with. I got her number before i atcually got yours. It was so quick....."
Outside the subway the two of them discovered that they had a mutural interest, music. Stefan attended a gig that Brian and Steve were playing that night; Brian first met Steve outside Burger King in Lewisham in 1991 through a common friend who was Steve's girlfriend; and immediately decided a band had to be formed " I fell in love with his voice and his guitar playing because it was really different" remembers Stefan. Steve was also involved with another band called Breed, but contributed to Placebo's intial demos when time permitted. Because of his conflicting commitments with Breed Steve was replaced in Placebo by a Swedish drummer called Robert Schultzberg.
Robert was asked to leave the band on the way to a rehearsal for The White Room as the atmosphere within the band was unbearable. " I think Robert had a very big problem with me being the personality that I am. I guess being more flamboyant than him, receiving more of the attention than him, being more of a focus in the band than he was. I just became increasingly tired the focus of Robert's rages against the world. i did a lot to gain his trust, but it was never enough." It was the original chemistry which eventually proved to be the most enduring, and Steve was asked to permanently re-join Placebo in 1996.
By that time the band had already made an extraordinary impact. Startring with their live debut at London's Rock Garden in January 1995. During 1995 they toured with Ash, Whale and Bush, determined to hook all-comers into their congregation, and released their debut single, 'Bruise Pristine' on the Fierce Panda indie label in November1995. The band were constantly on the road, playing club gigs and support spots. At the end of their first year, Placebo had their first taste of tangible success when 'Come Home' reached number three in the indie chart.
In January 1996, Placebo signed a deal with Hut Recordings. Placebo secured their deal with Hut a mere 51 weeks after their first ever gig.They also, in that time, set up their own label, Elevator Music, via a special deal with Hut Recordings.They began in 1996 with the critically acclaimed 'Come Home' single in January '96 and toured the UK with Belgian art rockers Evil Superstars and Europe with David Bowie, who became an instant fan of the band and had invited to support him on several of his European concert dates. "We went from 300 capacity venues to 8,000 to 12,000 capacity stadiums almost overnight, which was freaky," Brian notes "Now we've played to 16,00 people in Paris, those festivals are not going to scare us".
Placebo's first album was recorded in Dublin during the spring of 1996 and was released in June of that year. The 10 tracks were mostly about sex, and the singles '36 Degrees' and 'Teenage Angst' went on to achieve gold status. Placebo then returned to the road, re-tracing their touring schedule of the previous year, this time playing to packed houses throughout the country.
When Robert 'left' Placebo, Steve was the first drummer phoned by Brian who had placed Steve 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 one and a half days rehearsal before touring thirteen countries in four months!'.If confirmation was ever needed about Placebo's rising fame, it came in January 1997 with the release of 'Nancy Boy' as a single. As one of the stand-out tracks on the album, 'Nancy Boy' went to number four in the UK chart . The same month Placebo played at Madison Square Garden in New York as special guests on the bill for David Bowie's 50th birthday party. The New single Bruise Pristine was released on May 12th.
Placebo were also invited by executive producer Michael Stipe to play parts alongside Ewan McGregor and Eddie Izzard in the forthcoming film Velvet Goldmine, which was released in Autumn of 1998. At the begining of 1998 the band started work on their second album due to be unveiled in October 1998, the second album is a collection of twisted love songs which deal, in one form or another, with heartbreak and loneliness. The end of August 1998 saw Pure Morning, the first single from the album, go straight to number four in the UK charts. For the pleasure of French fans and their own delight, the band released a French version of Burger Queen on November 23th before starting a third album.
Black Market music, Placebo's third album, was released on October 9th 2000 world wide. You can say its a bit 'rockier' than the other two albums. Only four days after its release, PLacebo set out on a world tour, playing show's everywhere from their home of the Uk all the way down to Australia.
More info coming soon!