Placebo’s spirit is primitive, but its rock music is elevated and complex.
The British rock band playing the Fillmore on Wednesday is known for its searing guitar-driven compositions, music anchored solidly in a post-industrial niche of rock ‘n’ roll that is all its own.
But it recently released a download- only album of covers recorded throughout their career. Listening to “Covers” is fascinating: Placebo has a chameleon quality, taking on the characteristics of its peers while injecting the songs with enough of its personality that they become entirely new.
Talking about five of his favorite tracks from “Covers,” bassist Stef Olsdal reveals a lot about his musical influences and pet peeves.
“Daddy Cool,” originally recorded by Boney M: “A lot of people take it as being a serious track, but we actually thought it was a fun track to do. It’s also one of those songs I remember my parents playing at their Saturday night house parties. It’s a good disco track, and we love disco.”
“Holocaust,” Big Star: “This is one of Alex Chilton’s really heartbreaking, sad, down-there, almost slit-your- wrists kind of tracks. And those two extremes are what Placebo is about. We like the extremes, and we can go from the good times of ‘Daddy Cool’ to the opposite and doing something as down and depressing as ‘Holocaust,’ which we recorded in 2000.”
“I Feel You,” Depeche Mode: “This was a Christmas present for the fan club in ’98. It was a track we were playing at sound checks, because it’s got that really great guitar. I’m a huge Depeche Mode fan, so that was a fun thing to do our take on Depeche Mode. We actually had one of the backing vocalists who toured with Depeche Mode during ‘Ultra’ touring with us at the time, and she would always sing it with us.”
“Running Up That Hill,” Kate Bush: “This is probably the one we’re most proud of. It’s the one that’s been featured on TV (in America) … We’re huge Kate Bush fans, and we also felt that the lyrics had such gravitas that we wanted to give them a bit more space, and so when we recorded it, we put Brian in a very darkened room, and he was singing under a carpet with a torch light to get that vibe. And he delivered an amazing vocal. When we met her, we asked her if she liked our cover, and she said, ‘Yes.’ We were blown away by that. It was our license to play it live. And ever since, it’s been a bit of a monster.”
“20th Century Boy,” T. Rex: “This was done for a soundtrack for a film in ’97, ‘Velvet Goldmine.’ (The film was released in 1998.) Todd Haynes was the director, and that’s where we first met him. The song was a bit of an albatross around our neck for a while, as a lot of people associated us with that song and that sound, labeling us glam, when we weren’t even influenced by glam. There’s just not a lot of that in our music. We did that purely for the film. We performed it twice, once with David Bowie at the Brit Awards in England in ’97, and another time in Japan. But we’ll never do it again.”
Placebo plays the Fillmore on Wednesday with Wolfmother and Evaline. Tickets, $25, are available via ticketmaster.com or 303-830-8497.
6more
TYPE O NEGATIVE This goth- metal group knows exactly what it is, and from the unexpected hit single “Christian Woman” to the band’s more obscure work exploring the sub- genre’s depths, the band has consistently produced music for moping. They play Sunday at the Ogden.
WHITEY The beats are heavy and infectious in this U.K. electro outfit, which plays a rare North American show Monday at the Bluebird.
FU MANCHU Call it guitar rock or stone rock, it’s heavy and greasy and dirty. They play Monday at the Larimer Lounge.
GRAND CHAMPEEN Austin’s not lacking in quality indie rock, witness this fine Lone Star band. They play Tuesday at the Hi-Dive.
WOLFMOTHER It’s not every day a Black Sabbath-worshipping three-piece from Australia captures an entire generation. This one plays Wednesday at the Fillmore. Picture above is Andrew Stockdale.
KLAXONS More self-aware, dancey goodness from the U.K., and look at their MySpace page. Tickets are gone for most of the U.K. dates yet none of the U.S. dates are sold out until their appearance at the Coachella festival later this month. They play Thursday at the Larimer Lounge, and it should be a show to remember.
– Ricardo Baca
