Tag Archives: Placebo

Under The Covers

  By Lisa McInerney | July 26, 2010 - 10:00 am | Featured Post, Music, Random Whimsy
15 Comments

Like all drunken Irish balladeers, myself and my friends love a good yowling session of a Saturday night. At our most recent Singstar marathon, my cousin and I got up to sing Erasure’s A Little Respect, and were surprised (really, because we’re terrific singers) to get relatively low scores, until it occurred to us that we’d instead been belting our way through the version by American ridicu-rockers Wheatus. We’d been emphasising the wrong words, rushing through the wrong lines, because we were rocking out to synthpop. Funny thing how a good cover version can nibble its way through your beloved original. It’s not the custom for a cover version to outshine the original (fear not, Erasure fans! I’m not strictly referring to the Wheatus usurpers!), so when you do come across a particularly wonderful cover, it’s a real treat. There are those, like Wheatus’ version of A Little Respect, that … There’s more →

Placebo Gig Review and Interview with Steve Forrest

  By Darren Byrne | December 23, 2009 - 9:10 am | Music, The Culch
1 Comment

Earlier this year, a fresh looking, fresh sounding Placebo returned to the charts with their first album since 2006′s Meds. Battle For the Sun was critically well received and a hit with fans, while also drawing in new listeners. One of the reasons Placebo may have a fresh sound is the introduction of their newest member, Steve Forrest. Last week before the final gig of their current tour, I spoke to Steve and asked him how he felt about joining an established band who had been playing together for over 15 years. The pressure to sort of perform like a 15 year professionally veteran is so intense that you don’t have time to make mistakes. It’s heads down and get focussed, because I haven’t been performing professionally for 15 years. I got everything in the world to lose.

Competition: Win a Placebo Goodybag

  By Darren Byrne | June 11, 2009 - 7:00 am | Competitions, Music, Site News, The Culch
19 Comments

*** Competiton closed – winner announced *** Thank you to everyone who entered this competition. Through the modern highly technological means of……pulling names from a hat, the three winners of the Placebo Goodybags are Diarmuid, Candy Picknmix and Thaedydal. Winners will also be notified by email. To coincide with the release of Placebo’s new album, Battle for the Sun, we have some Placebo Merchandise to give away. Along with a rather fetching T-Shirt, badges, stickers and some kind of blow-up item, is a special edition copy of the new album, including a bonus making-of DVD. ‘Tis all rather fancy. To win, all you need do is leave a comment below. Tell us what your favourite Placebo song is, tell us about a time you saw the band live or even just tell us how much you like t-shirts… Click here for Culch.ie’s review of Battle for the Sun and check … There’s more →

Placebo – Battle for the Sun

  By Darren Byrne | May 28, 2009 - 10:02 pm | Featured Post, Music, The Culch
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Many moons ago, I think I first embraced Placebo because a girl I liked was into the band. My dear, I thank you for the introduction. Over the years, I’ve revisited the band a number of times, each time discovering something new from their back catalogue. Battle for the Sun is their first studio album since 2006′s hit and miss Meds, which was also produced by Battle’s David Bottril. On first listen, the album washed over me. I heard much of the old Placebo and a hint of some more modern goth post-punk revival incarnations (such as My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco or even Fall Out Boy). With the exception of the title track, nothing immediately jumped out at me as classic or particularly memorable. I need a change of skin I returned to the album two days later and whether my mood had changed or the album … There’s more →