Battle for the Sun

Recorded over three months by producer Dave Bottrill (chosen by the band largely because of his work with Tool) in his Toronto studio and mixed in London by My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails supremo Alan Moulder, Placebo's sixth album - Battle for the Sun - is a startling, alive, vital and boundary-vaulting record that marks a whole new era for a band that were in need of a change.

Upon completion of the Meds tour that took in stadium appearances in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, France and Germany, personal relationships within the band had become strained leading to an emotional split with Steve Hewitt, their drummer since 1996. Having made four albums that have sold over a million copies each (1998's Without You I'm Nothing, 2000's Black Market Music, 2003's Sleeping With Ghosts and Meds in 2006) and circled the globe together countless times, it was understandably an emotional split. Hewitt was replaced by 22-year old Californian Steve Forrest, who the band first spotted playing with one of their US support bands Evaline in 2006. "We were looking for somebody whose enthusiasm could rub off on us," explains Brian. "Someone who would experience all of these things that we'd already experienced for the first time and for their excitement to raise us up out of our jadedness and make us into kids again."

Musically refreshed by their new line-up, the band also set about changing their business surroundings. When their contract with Virgin Records expired, Placebo were reluctant to throw themselves back into the major label machine. They grasped the opportunity of complete artistic freedom by self-funding the recording of Battle for the Sun. They then took the brave and uncompromising step to secure licensing and distribution agreements for the record with a number of smaller labels in each territory - beginning with a distribution deal with PIAS for Europe - so as to own the record themselves.

"We've made a record about choosing life, about choosing to live, about stepping out of the darkness and into the light," explains Brian. "Not necessarily turning your back on the darkness because its there, it's essential; it's a part of who you are, but more about the choice of standing in the sunlight instead."