PLACEBO frontman BRIAN MOLKO reveals in a radio interview to be broadcast tonight how the May Day riots influenced the song ‘SPITE AND MALICE’, their collaboration with rapper JUSTIN WARFIELD on the band’s new album ‘BLACK MARKET MUSIC’.
He makes the revelations in an interview to be broadcast tonight (October 10) on Gary Crowley‘s show on radio station London Live.
“It started off a song more about homophobia, but it took on more of a political bent when the May Day riots happened and people started smashing stuff up. Those events directly influenced that song, and I think the band has taken on more of a political edge,” he explains.
Speaking about the collaboration, Brian describes Warfield as “your anti-gangsta rapper” and says: “He can rap about William Burroughs, like he does on ‘Bug Powder Dust’, he can rap about Shakespeare, like he does on the ‘Romeo And Juliet’ soundtrack, so he fits in very well with our philosophy. We were introduced to each other when One Inch Punch were still on Hut Recordings. I think we were introduced to each other because we both wore make-up!
“There was a big hole in this song, and we really did want to put it on the album, but I couldn’t come up with a huge rousing chorus, and the idea to try some rap just dropped on my head like an anvil in an old cartoon. And we got very excited about it, as we’d been listening to Public Enemy for years – the kind of stuff that has more of a message, as opposed to ‘pay my bills’/’let me see that thong’ sort of rapping. We knew that Justin would fit in with us, we flew him over, gave him an open brief, and as soon as he opened his mouth, bang – there it was.”
The interview can be heard tonight at www.bbc.co.uk/londonlive at 10pm GMT.