Brian Molko

Brian Molko (born December 10, 1972 in Brussels) is vocalist, bassist and guitarist with the band Placebo.

Career

Born to an American international banker father and a Scottish born-again Christian mother, the Molko family moved frequently during his childhood, including spells in Scotland, Liberia, Lebanon and Luxembourg. Brian has referred to his mother's home town of Dundee, Scotland as "where I grew up".. In 1990, 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 and glam rock. In his late teens, he came out as bisexual.

Molko and Stefan Olsdal both attended The American International School of Luxembourg (now known as 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 Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Nick Drake, Joy Division and Pixies. Molko taught himself to play guitar. At the age of 16 he got a fake Telecaster as a present from his parents. He soon bought a real guitar, with actual strings. He plays other instruments such as bass, harmonica, keyboard, saxophone, drums and turntables. Occasionally, Molko works as a disc jockey at clubs, but he admits he's not very good at it. Nowadays Molko listens to Peaches, Ladytron, At the Drive-In, Jane's Addiction and many more. He likes to experiment with electronic sounds.

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."

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 2005.

Trivia

Molko is friends with David Bowie - with whom he sang Placebo's 'Without You I'm Nothing' and the cover "20th Century Boy" live - Marilyn Manson, and Nicola Sirkis from Indochine. He was also close to the late Simon Hobart.

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, but some other people says it is because of the Come On Die Young Album. Although there has been some rumours about the status of their relationship, Molko has confirmed several times they're in a quite stable status, "more or less married".

He speaks French.

He is lactose intolerant

Filmography

(2001) Sue's Last Ride (Executive Producer)
(1998) Velvet Goldmine as Malcolm of the Flaming Creatures

Appearances

T in the Park (8th July 2006)
The Friday Night Project (2006)
Greenfield Festival (2006)
Isle of Wight Festival (2006)
Rock im Park (2006)
Rock am Ring (2006)
4Music (2006)
Live 8 (2005)
Placebo: Androgyny (2005)
"Grand journal de Canal+, Le"
- Episode dated 13 October 2004
- Episode dated 13 September 2004
Placebo: Soulmates Never Die - Live in Paris 2003
Tout le monde en parle
- Episode dated 14 February 2004
- Episode dated 3 May 2003
Double je
- Episode dated 26 June 2003
V Graham Norton
- Episode #4.21 (2003)
Rive droite - rive gauche
- Episode dated 21 March 2003
The Kerrang Awards (2002)
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
- Episode #9.06 (2001)
- Episode #8.01 (2001)
- Episode #2.06 (1997)
Paskvil
- Episode #5.11 (2001)
"Rage"
- Placebo Guest Program Rage (1999)
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Episode dated 27 March 1999 (1999)
Brit Awards 1999

References

External links