Placebo (band)
Placebo is an alternative rock band that started in London in 1994. The band currently has Brian Molko (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, saxophone), Stefan Olsdal (bass, guitar, keyboards, back-up vocals) and Steve Forrest (drums, percussion, back-up vocals) as members. A Kate Bush cover, "Running Up That Hill" is one of their most popular songs.
Placebo | |
|---|---|
 Placebo in Cracow, Poland, 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Ashtray Heart |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | Alternative rock |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | PIAS, Vagrant, EMI, Virgin, Hut, Caroline, Deceptive |
| Website | www |
| Members | Brian Molko Stefan Olsdal Steve Forrest |
| Past members | Robert Schultzberg Steve Hewitt |
Placebo’s sixth studio album, Battle for the Sun, was released on June 8th, 2009.
Recorded over three months at Metal Works Studios in Toronto with producer David Bottrill and mixed in London by My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails producer Alan Moulder, Battle for the Sun is a startling, alive, vital and boundary-vaulting Placebo record.
It is, according to Brian Molko, “not hard rock and it’s not pop, it’s probably hard pop. I think we’ve made a record which is almost the flipside of ‘Meds’. We’ve made a record about choosing life, about choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light. Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because it’s there, it’s essential; it’s a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead.”
Placebo (band) Media
Placebo in concert at MEO Sudoeste, 2001. Left: Brian Molko. Right: Stefan Olsdal.
Molko and Olsdal at the Coachella Festival in April 2007. Steve Hewitt and most of his drum kit are out of view.
Former drummer Steve Hewitt left the band in 2008 due to personal and musical differences.
Stefan Olsdal performing in 2014, using a rainbow bass guitar; the rainbow is a well-known LGBT symbol.
Steve Forrest, shown here during a concert with Placebo in 2009, left the band in 2015 to pursue his own musical career.
