Denver, september 3rd. The 2007 edition of Projekt Revolution, festival featuring headliners Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HIM & Placebo finishes tonight. As Pure Morning opens their set, Brian Molko tells the crowd, “I hate this fucking song. The tour ends tonight & I’m happy to know that we’ll never play it again.” Almost two months later, as Steve Hewitt leaves the band, this phrase about a song you’re tired of playing seems now to have been a hidden farewell. Confirming the doubts we’ve had these past few months, the band’s separation from their drummer proves that things are bad in the Placebo house.
First hint that something was wrong – the half-hearted response to the release of Meds in Europe. Though presented as the trio’s best effort to date, & despite being well-received critically (& by RockMag), this fifth album, darker & more powerful did not create the deserved result. The strong opening, better than on Sleeping With Ghosts, didn’t stop it from falling down in the European charts. In France, Meds finished, in 2006, at number 34 for the year. In 2003, Sleeping with Ghosts was at number 12. While Muse escalated with their Black Holes and Revelations, finishing with Le Parc des Princes, ready to reach a U2-esque dimension, Placebo struggles & remains in Europe on a disappointing middle-ground. (is this a bad thing? Another question for another time.)
Another problem – their artificial live shows. Placebo has always been cold onstage, it’s their style. But today, more and more fans criticise them for it. The two Bercy gigs, the 2nd & 3rd October 2006 disappointed more than one, Nicolas Sirkis was the first. In May, the latter confided in us: “Placebo have done too many concerts. I try to talk to Brian about it. They’re tired. & I see their endless touring, & what really interests them is money, money… It’s really sad, I think. It becomes routine. The reason why Brian doesn’t do something on his own is because, effectively, they want to breathe. They’ve done too much, all the time. They’ve done too many things.” Because in May, on Franci Zegut’s blog, there was a rumour that Placebo’s lead singer spent a few weeks in paris to record a solo album, with a track featuring Nicola Sirkis. This news just followed the announcement by Steve Hewitt of a drum & bass/dance album in 2008. The project is named Ancient B, & on it are to be found Robert Smith & Jon Thorne. Stefan Olsdal, on his side, is to invest him time in his side-project, Hotel Persona & is to play bass on two tracks on the album from Mas Spam, out on 23rd October.
American Dream – However, if there’s to be a positive event, it’s the sudden interest that the USA shows in the trio. Surfing on the success of their cover of Running up that Hill, used on TV series The OC & appearing in Bones & CSI:Miami, Placebo re-edited Meds under a different format (leaving out In the Cold Light of Morning in favour of Running up that Hill & bonus tracks Lazarus & UNEEDMEMORETHANINEEDU). Meds places itself in a good position on the charts, & after the 17 dates already played in autumn 2006, Placebo come back for another 18 coming back from their south-american campaign. Just as their tour ends, the official site announces a third one: taking part in Projekt Revolution with Linkin Park this summer, invited by the Agoura Hills gang, for 27 stages across the US & Canada. A good way of converting the American kids not yet aware of the band’s existence. As a visiting card, Placebo releases an Extended Play 07 sweeping their back-catalogue along with live versions of Pure Morning, Running Up That Hill & Infra-Red.
Their marathon tour behind them & their drummer gone, the trio, reduced temporarily (?) to a duo seem done. The exhaustion is palpable, especially for Molko. For the first time in the history of the band, the band have had to cancel gigs, most of them for health problems. Nowhere in Europe did we hear Infra-Red or Meds get as much airplay as The Bitter End or This Picture managed to get. Anticipated as the explosive new album, Meds didn’t enable Placebo to pass to a higher stage. Is it the end? Not necessarily. The success in the US, even if it finds its origins in a four-year-old cover, was spread thanks to MySpace & the interest that single Meds got from American radio. The first US tour in autumn 2006 was supposed to feature the double act She Wants Revenge/Placebo, but it was the latter who had the honour of ending all these dates. These signs, to which we can add the five-minute sell-out date of the intimate gig at the Coronet Theatre in London – they added an extra date – shows that many still want more. & Molko & Olsdal, despite their exhaustion & their divorce from Hewitt, could still have some tricks left up their sleeve. No studio session is planned before March 2008, & questions on the future of the group may not get an answer any time soon.
Extra bit:
Spinal Tap Syndrome? Though Steve Hewitt was part of the Placebo adventure from the start, his contract with Breed, his other band, stopped him from joining the trio in its formation, resulting in the choice of Robert Schultzburg, Stefan Olsdal’s childhood friend. But the drummer left the band in 1996 because of tensions with Brian Molko. Steve Hewitt then stepped in to take his place for the next 11 years, until the 1st October 2007. Though it was presented as an amicable split, there was still some tension. “We can’t live under the same roof,” declared the official site. Steve Hewitt’s disaffection may have been long in the coming, as the drummer seems to want to invest himself fully in his new project, Ancient B. The two left, however, have not said whether they plan to get a new drummer, or whether they will choose to have a studio musician for the next album. Watch this space.
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Τ Ο Υ Σ Λ Α Τ Ρ Ε Υ Ω ! ! ! 
