Enregistrer

Enregistrer

 Kerrang !

pays magazine: Grande Bretagne
date 29 mai 1999

Couverture "Hot Syle"
article de 6 pages "Miss World"
Photographs by Naoki Ishizaka

> article
 

Enregistrer

Enregistrer

Strange Little Birds Promo

 12 avril 2016
Web Interview Music Waves - Paris, France
Interview Shirley Manson

> captures

Garbage (12 avril 2016)
Article publié le 06 juin 2016 - interview de Adrianstork
> en ligne sur musicwaves

Music Waves a rencontré un drôle de petit oiseau en la personne d'une icone du rock, Shirley Manson !

Et c'est une charmante et charmeuse Shirley que nous avons eu l'honneur de rencontrer pour une interview naturelle pour évoquer la carrière du groupe, son image et enfin ce dernier super opus témoignant que Garbage est plus que jamais de retour aux affaires...

Quelle est la question que l'on t'a trop souvent posée ?
Shirley Manson : Est-ce que tu es seulement contente quand il pleut? (Rires) (en référence à la chanson de Garbage​'Only Happy When It Rains')

Et bien, nous ne te poserons pas cette question météorologique !
Merci beaucoup! (Rires)

En revanche, tu n'en as pas assez que les gens résument ta carrière à 'Stupid Girl' ou la bande-originale du film ''Le Monde Ne Suffit Pas'' ?
Pas vraiment. Au contraire, c'est un privilège que les gens se souviennent de nos chansons.

Et puis si vous n'aviez pas eu de tubes, vous continueriez à en chercher un au lieu d'évoluer...
Si nous pouvions écrire une bonne chanson qui puisse connecter les gens ensemble, ce serait merveilleux. Nous avons fait des compromis par le passé, et avons eu des chansons à la radio. Mais ça ne nous intéresse plus maintenant.
 
Comme d'habitude, Garbage a pris son temps avant de sortir un nouvel album, ´´Strange Little Birds.´´ Qu'avez-vous fait pendant tout ce temps ?
Il n'y avait pas d'urgence. Après avoir pris un break, nous avons appris qu'il fallait profiter de la vie, nous recentrer sur nos proches.

Lorsque le groupe a été connu mondialement, nous n'avions plus de vie normale

​Ce n'était pas le cas avant ?
Lorsque le groupe a été connu mondialement, nous n'avions plus de vie normale. Nous n'avions rien dans le frigo, plus de routine. Pour nous tous, c'était devenu une quête vide de sens à la fin.
Oui, notre succès était merveilleux, c'était un privilège qui n'est pas donné à tous. Merci Dieu pour avoir permis cela (Rires). Mais en même temps, nous ne voulons pas considérer cela comme plus important que les gens que nous aimons, promener le chien, aller dans un musée, lire des livres...

​Mais alors maintenant, est-ce que la vie est redevenue normale ?
Comme nous savons fait des tournées à travers le monde, il y a toujours des gens pour nous reconnaître aux quatre coins du globe. Mais moi, j'essaie en priorité d'avoir une vie normale.

Mais c'est plutôt paradoxal, car...
... (elle coupe) Je suis un paradoxe (Rires) !

Je veux seulement être moi-même et pas pour attirer l'attention

​Tu dis vouloir une vie normale, mais tu as des cheveux roses et les gens intrigués finissent par te reconnaître...
Je pense que je m´habille ainsi parce que je veux être créative. J'aime ce qui sort du quotidien. Je veux vivre ma vie comme une artiste. Je me suis rendu compte que je ne voulais plus divertir les gens. Je voulais plutôt être une artiste. Je me suis rendu compte que je n'avais pas besoin de jouer le jeu comme une popstar et me laisser dicter mes conditions. J'ai des cheveux roses parce que je les aime bien et je peux m'habiller comme je veux. Je veux seulement être moi-même et pas pour attirer l'attention.

Avec "Strange Little Birds", on dirait que Garbage voulait revenir au son de ses origines, avec plus de guitares, de claviers et d'expérimentation. Après un premier album marqué par l'éclectisme, qu'est-ce qui vous a donné le sentiment de retrouver vos racines ?
Pour être honnête, je pense que ce n'était pas conscient. Nous voulions seulement nous concentrer sur les choses que nous aimions quand nous avions commencé. Je pense que c´était un instantané de ce que nous sommes, où nous sommes, comment est le monde qui nous entoure.

Sur la première piste 'Sometimes', vous surprenez les fans en installant une atmosphère claustrophobique et en la gardant,  alors que par le passé les guitares auraient déjà explosé. C´était délibéré ?
Non. C´est notre guitariste Steve Marker qui a apporté ce morceau le premier jour de l´enregistrement. Il nous l´a joué et nous avons tous ressenti de la tension. Le bassiste Duke Erikson a dit qu´il fallait commencer l´album par ce morceau. Nous étions très excités parce que c´était fantastique de débuter sur des chapeaux de roue. Nous étions tous en compétition contre Steve ensuite parce que nous savions que c´était très spécial et que nous voulions faire mieux que lui (Rires). Il a capturé une sensation assez spéciale, mais authentique, une atmosphère unique.

Le son de l'album est plus atmosphérique, froid, distant, mais en même temps catchy comme ´Empty´ ou ´We Never Tell´. Etait-ce important de trouver une balance ?
Je pense que c´est définitivement important. Nous voulons créer une certaine atmosphère, raconter une histoire en évitant d´être ennuyeux. Nous voulons faire voyager l´auditeur. Je pense que nous travaillons toujours ainsi, car nous sommes tous sur la même longueur d´onde.

Nous avons essayé de rester le plus ouvert possible, même si nous parlons beaucoup de la folie.

​Pour nous qui sommes un site spécialisé dans le rock progressif, le terme voyage est important. Cela veut dire qu´il y a une ligne directrice, peut-on considérer cet album comme un concept album ?
Non, je perds ma joie lorsque les lignes sont trop rigides. Nous avons essayé de rester le plus ouvert possible, même si nous parlons beaucoup de la folie. Nous avons essayé de comprendre quelles chansons pouvaient fonctionner ensemble.

Le travail sur les paroles est plutôt remarquable, avec par exemple les paroles crues de cette chanson, qui expose des vérités désespérées, mais qui en même temps, trouve  la force pour ne pas sombrer dans le désespoir, avec le puissant crescendo final. Ce n'est jamais gratuitement sombre.
Nous sommes ténébreux, les ténèbres peuvent nous apprendre beaucoup de choses, en particulier sur la mort. Nous allons tous mourir, nous sommes tous maudits. Nous aimons regarder du côté des ténèbres, dans les abysses. Cela nous permet de rebondir : faisons tout de suite quelque chose pour être heureux. Prenons un verre, faisons une balade. La vie est courte.

Est-ce que cet album est une exploration des ténèbres à la recherche de la guérison ?
Oui !

Ta voix semble plus directe, et froide comme sur 'Blackout', mais elle est capable d'être lumineuse comme sur ´Magnetized´, voire érotique comme sur ´Teaching The Little Fingers´? C´est quelque chose que tu cherchais ?
Oui, je voulais être une bonne étudiante. Je voulais toujours apprendre. Je voulais essayer différentes approches. Nous voulons tous être entendus, alors je voulais être entendue avec différentes voix.

J´ai l´impression que je n´ai plus rien à prouver et que par conséquent je peux faire ce que je veux.

​Es-tu satisfaite sur la session d´enregistrement ?
Oui, je m´en sens très fière. J´ai l´impression que je n´ai plus rien à prouver et que par conséquent je peux faire ce que je veux. Des gens apprécieront, d´autres non. Mais notre futur ne dépend plus des opinions des gens. Nous pouvons alors nous concentrer pour faire du meilleur travail et essayer de dire quelque chose sur le monde.

​L'introduction de 'Teaching The Little Fingers' est assez atypique et la chanson ressemble à une séance d'hypnose.
Oui, ça me fait penser à une musique de films. On pourrait entendre cette chanson dans un film de David Lynch. Nous voulions créer une atmosphère, commencer avec la pluie et les voitures pour laisser penser que nous étions en voyage. C'était très excitant.

​Tu as dit que cet album était romantique. Peux-tu expliquer ta définition de ce mot ?
C'est un album fragile qui reflète vraiment ma personnalité.

[Par le passé] je pense que je me protégeais. Je jouais à être plus forte, plus agressive.

Ce n'était pas le cas par le passé ?
Non, je pense que je me protégeais. Je jouais à être plus forte, plus agressive.

​Cela veut-il dire que tu te sens mieux maintenant ?
Oui. Je pense que j'ai mûri. J'ai envie d'être vulnérable. Quand je dis romantique, c'est parce que je suis aussi vulnérable, nue, quand je suis amoureuse.

Nous ne voulons plus être un groupe de pop. Nous voulons être considérés comme des artistes.

​Est-ce que tu considères cette orientation comme une nouvelle étape pour le groupe, que tu as ouvert un nouveau chapitre ?
Je pense que nous avons fermé une porte. Nous ne voulons plus être un groupe de pop. Nous voulons être considérés comme des artistes.

​Comment s'est déroulé l'enregistrement ? Tu as dit en interview que la carrière du groupe était miraculeuse tant le groupe était mentalement lent...
Oui, nous sommes lents. Et je ne sais pas pourquoi, mais peut-être est-ce parce que nous ne sommes pas obsédés par la célébrité à tout prix. Nous n'avons pas de plan de carrière tout en étant ambitieux. D'autres personnes voudraient avoir encore plus de succès, mais nous n'avons pas cet appétit. Ce qui est le plus difficile c'est de trouver du temps ensemble, car nous ne vivons pas dans les mêmes villes, donc chacun doit faire beaucoup d'efforts. Et je suis chanceuse d'être avec d'autres personnes qui partagent la même philosophie que moi et qui feront toujours un jour ou l'autre l'effort nécessaire pour enregistrer.
​
Tu as dit que le groupe était lent, alors pouvons-nous déjà annoncer le prochain album de Garbage pour 2020 ?
(Rires) On ne sait jamais, on peut toujours changer nos habitudes.

​Le titre de cet album était inspiré par une lettre d'un fan, mais comment ces mots ont-ils eu une répercussion sur toi et sur l'album ?
Une jeune fille de 19 ans m'a donné cette lettre extraordinaire après un concert à Niji-Novgorod. C'était un essai sur ses combats, sa solitude, ses tourments. Cela a attiré mon imagination. Je pouvais sentir sa peine en lisant sa lettre sur le chemin de l'hôtel. Cela m'a inspiré pour écrire une chanson sur mes tourments. C'est le thème de la chanson éponyme.

Après avoir enregistré la chanson titre du James Bond, ''Le Monde ne suffit pas'', et joué dans ''Terminator'' et ''Knife Fight'', as-tu décidé de  poursuivre ton aventure avec le cinéma ?
Cet album est déjà très cinématographique. La première chanson n'est pas une chanson, elle est destructurée, c'est juste une sensation. J'aime le cinéma.

​Quelles sont tes attentes pour cet album ?
Je n'ai aucune attente. Sinon, je serais déçue (Rires).

Quel est ton meilleur souvenir en tant qu'artiste ?
J'en ai beaucoup. Mais peut-être la première fois que j'ai entendu une chanson de Garbage à la radio.

​Et a contrario le pire ?
Quand un producteur nous a dit qu'avec seulement un million d'albums vendu, ce n'était pas suffisant. Ce jour-là, nous avions compris que nous couchions avec le diable.

​Nous avons commencé par la question qu'on t'avait toujours posée. Mais maintenant, quelle est la question que tu voudrais que je te pose ?
J'ai l'impression que si les gens ne me posent pas certaines questions c´est parce qu´ ils ne veulent pas connaître certaines réponses.

​Où une chose que nous n'aurions pas abordé dans cette interview?
Il y en a des millions alors (Rires). 

Merci beaucoup, Shirley
(En français) "Merci beaucoup"

© All images are copyright and protected by their respective owners, assignees or others.
copyright text by GinieLand.

Enregistrer

Shirley Manson fête ces 50 ans en ce 26 août 2016
Happy Birthday Miss Manson

Sur sa page Facebook, Shirley a posté ce message:
 

Enregistrer

Sur la page Twitter du groupe Garbage, Shirley Manson a posté le 9 juin 2016:

> source: picslyrics.net

Enregistrer

  Elle
n°1608
pays magazine: USA
paru le 30 juillet 2016
édition août 2016
prix: 7,80 Euros
article sur Shirley Manson

Shirley Manson Is Turning 50 and DGAF About What You Think
( source article elle.com )
 By Lyndsey Parker - JUL 12, 2016

​With a gritty, aggressive new album and a transatlantic tour, Garbage's frontwoman takes her alt-rock revolution into its next phase.​

This article originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of ELLE.

"I don't know what propelled me," says founding Garbage front woman Shirley Manson of her new, chic, candy-pink dye job. "I woke up one day and thought, I cannot stay red-haired for one second longer! My hairdresser didn't want to do it. But I needed a break from myself. When she pulled the towel from my head and I saw my pink hair, I burst into this huge grin and gasped: 'I look amazing!' And I've never said that about myself in my entire life."

This is a woman who, since Garbage's first electro-tinged, trip-hop-traced, self-titled album in 1995, has challenged what it means to rock hard and—with her punky mix of combat boots, acid-bright clothes, and iconic black eyeliner—looked great doing it. She's the hard-core fighter pilot Queen Astarte in Garbage's sci-fi hit video "Special." She has seven Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist in 1997 and Album of the Year in 1999. She's sold more than 17 million records. She's kicked open doors for every modern-day pop-rock heroine, from Charli XCX to Karen O. She's even recorded a Bond theme (1999's "The World Is Not Enough")!

But what would Garbage be if Manson—who somehow turns 50 this month—weren't still tapping into the insecurities that have fueled the group's most iconically angst-ridden hits? "Sometimes I look in the mirror, feel my shoulders slump, and am disappointed with what I see," Manson says. "And I have imaginary voices about what people might say about me having pink hair at 50. But I'm at that point where I don't give a fuck if you think it's appropriate or not. Go fuck yourself and be boring! I want to be free to explore the person I want to be."

You'll find that person on Garbage's sixth studio album, Strange Little Birds, which, after an early-summer release and a European tour, the band is taking on the road in the U.S. Recorded with bandmates Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker, mostly in Vig's basement studio, it's the second release on Garbage's own indie imprint, STUNVOLUME, formed in 2012 when the band ended a rocky seven-year stretch of breakups and makeups that was initiated by the troubled production of 2005's Bleed Like Me.

Their newest effort is Garbage's darkest, most raw, and most immediate album since that 1995 debut, with Birds' 11 tracks thriving on Manson's seductive but sorrowful voice—high, dry, and confrontational—amid crashing-and-slashing guitars, slinky bass lines, and rumbling buzz-saw beats. It's a bold production choice that enhances Manson's unflinching ruminations on self-loathing and aging ("Youth and beauty don't remain," she sings on "Teaching Little Fingers to Play"), which stand to strike a nerve among the grown-up Gen-X girls she once inspired to stockpile up-to-there shiftdresses and Manic Panic Wildfire hair color.

But while Strange Little Birds is reminiscent of Garbage (which the band played in its entirety on last year's twentieth anniversary tour, 20 Years Queer; reports say a similar celebration of 1998's Version 2.0 is in the works), Manson isn't living her life in the rearview. "I don't believe in nostalgia," she says. "Nostalgia connotes a desire to return to a moment in time. And I don't want to go back. I want to see what's next! That, to me, is much more interesting."

"I hate being constricted by clothing. Fuck that. Life's too short."​

Her fashion choices, too, point forward. Gone is the woman who went braless under a halterdress emblazoned with Version 2.0 album art to the 1999 Grammys, and, a year later at the same awards, rocked a Britney-baiting schoolgirl skirt. These days, she takes the stage in, say, an MSGM satin smock with side pockets and an abstract print (still pink, though). According to Manson, it's all about a wardrobe that's "simple and I can move in. I've always wanted to be more dominant than what I was wearing. I hate being constricted by clothing. Fuck that. Life's too short. My comfort's more important."

Manson, though, is no less a rebel. In fact, as an icon fearlessly following legends who have come before her in earning the rock-won right to flip the finger to ageism—Annie Lennox, Patti Smith, Mick Jagger—she may be more of a rebel than she's ever been. "People write to me on social media and say, 'Shut the fuck up! Give it up! You're too old!' But it doesn't mess with my head too much. That's other people's problem, how they view my age. Sure, I'll be compared to Taylor Swift or Sky Ferreira. I get that. But age is information. Age is empowerment. I'm tired of being told I must infantilize myself and pretend I'm younger than I am. I'm 50, and I have lived an incredible life."

Dazed
n° ?
2 couvertures au choix (Léa Seydoux / Soko)
pays magazine: Angleterre
parution: août 2016
édition automne 2016
 £4.50 / 5,31 €
article sur Shirley Manson: "The alt-rock iconoclast inspires a new generation of females to explore their deepest fantasies".
> site web dazeddigital

Shirley Manson: sex, straight-talking & strange little birds
( source article dazeddigital.com )

On a high following Garbage’s triumphant new album, the unapologetic frontwoman talks pricking pomposity, Rihanna and the insanity of sexual double standards.
    Text Isabella Burley
    Styling Emma Wyman
    Photography Michael Hauptman
    Fashion Editor/Stylist Emma Wyman
    Hair Stylist Nikki Providence
    Makeup Artist Elie Maalouf

If you believe what you read in the 90s, Shirley Manson enjoys golden showers, is ‘sex on a stick’ and looks like Tina Turner on rhino tranquilisers when she lip-syncs. She’s also not the kind of girl you’d want to take home to your mother, more the kind of woman who’d serve cold rat to her crippled and imprisoned sister for a laugh.

“It wasn’t even slightly undermining terminology,” laughs Shirley Manson, recalling the obscenity of what the press (read: middle-aged music schlubs) have written about her. “Looking back, I didn’t say or do anything particularly wild or crazy. I’m actually pretty fucking together. It was just a way for people to undermine me, but that’s life.”

People tend to be intimidated by icons. The crazier the rumour, the greater the icon – and the bigger the threat. There’s no doubt that Manson is both. For three decades, the (formerly) flame-haired Garbage frontwoman has refused to compromise, subverting stereotypes and writing her own narrative in an industry still dominated by men. Manson, who began as an alternative voice for a generation of disaffected kids, has emerged as a true role model, speaking out against sexism and ageism while articulating the change she wants to see.

“I’ve always felt that the truth is powerful, even though it’s sometimes difficult to stomach,” says Manson. Today, the Edinburgh-born musician is back in her adopted hometown of LA (“I just love the dark, seedy underbelly of Tinseltown”) for a few days before heading out on tour with Garbage to promote their new album, Strange Little Birds. Here, she talks orgasms, Marilyn Manson, and giving as good as she gets.

You’ve always spoken so openly about sex. I remember reading that you bought a bright orange Fender guitar because you wanted it to match your pubic hair, which is amazing.
Shirley Manson: That’s true, I liked the colour of it. (laughs) I think I’m a truth-seeker, I’ve spent my entire life that way and I’m not entirely sure why. I think that when you’re seeking the truth, you want to explode all the bubbles. You see them and you just want to take a pin and burst them. I think I was probably bright and realised that sex was being used in an exploitative fashion – it was being appropriated and used in power-play. I didn’t like the power it had over me, so I decided to destroy it.

Did growing up in a ‘nice girls don’t talk about sex’ type of environment impact that ?
Shirley Manson: Yes, I think it’s only recently that I’ve become more and more outraged about the inequality regarding female sexuality. I guess it was spurred by the onslaught of celebrities who were posting photographs of their bums on social media. I wanted to examine what that meant. As ape-like as it was, it did make me very aware of how we weren’t encouraged to think of ourselves as sexual in any way, shape or form in my generation. In the 70s and 80s, it was seen as shameful that women had any kind of sex drive. If we did, we were called ‘sluts’ and ‘whores’, and really, really frightening terminology was used to describe any woman who had any sexual desire whatsoever. I’m grateful that I was rebellious as a young person and fought back against that.

“I realised that sex was being used in
an exploitative fashion.
I didn’t like the power that it had over me,
so I decided to destroy it”
— Shirley Manson

Totally.
Shirley Manson: Now I’m really angry about it. Why is it that the entire sexual experience is couched in completely patriarchal terms? Why are we not expecting to have orgasms every time that we step up to the plate? Why is it a joke among women that we are somehow expected to fake an orgasm? I think women really need to start redrawing the playground in that regard. It’s important that we are sexually fulfilled – why should we be ashamed of our sex drives? Why shouldn’t the sexual act be pleasurable? It’s taken me a long time to get to this point where I’m truly outraged by it. I think of my teenage self and how we were almost conditioned by the idea that if we got into bed with somebody, as long as the male orgasm was achieved, there was success! It’s insanity. I’m grateful, particularly to Rihanna, who I think has changed the game in terms of how we view sexual women. To me, she feels completely equal with a male counterpart on a sexual level. She’s not being coy, she’s not playing power games, she’s not titillating and she’s not using her feminine wiles in a dangerous, dishonest way. I wish I’d had somebody like that when I was growing up.

  
Lace dress Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini,
laser cut dress worn underneath Anthony Vaccarello, tights UK Tights

What was your introduction to feminism?
Shirley Manson: Well, I read the Shere Hite Report (on female sexuality) when I was 14. My best friend Jane gave it to me and that’s where I discovered the female orgasm. I’d never, ever heard of it before and my mind and body were literally blown by this discovery. (laughs)

What happened next?
Shirley Manson: I became very loud. We had a teacher who was very much like Miss Jean Brodie, who had a clique of girls. It really was like that movie, where she sort of developed our confidence and our curiosity and introduced us to sex in literature. It was crazy. I got involved in a drama group and a band and became a professional show-off. I was quite insufferable, truth be told. I wanted to embarrass people with my body. I would be in rooms constantly showing my tits off… I’m so grateful that social media didn’t exist back then.

There’s one thing that I have to ask because I’ve heard rumours and wasn’t sure if it was true – about your boyfriend’s cornflakes? (Manson reportedly shit on an ex-boyfriend’s cereal. If someone treats you like shit…)
Shirley Manson: That is true.

“I’m grateful, particularly to Rihanna,
who I think has changed the game in terms of
how we view sexual women”
— Shirley Manson

Amazing! What’s the craziest rumour you’ve ever heard about yourself?
Shirley Manson: My favourite one is that I’m related to Marilyn Manson. It’s amazing because I’d love for him to be my brother! There’s always a myriad of things written about anybody in the press. Things get exaggerated, completely taken out of context or people get it wrong and write it down and then it’s fact. Welcome to the new world of Wikipedia.

Recently, you’ve said that you felt sexism was your generation’s problem. Why?
Shirley Manson: I don’t think that sexism is my generation’s problem, it’s a humanistic issue that has gone on since time began. But I do believe that the lack of desire to really stand up as a feminist has fallen out of vote and that is my generation’s fault. When my generation first emerged and broke out into the alternative music scene, we really pushed. We were vocal. We were passionate and we really fought to be heard. And we succeeded, but we just took our eye off the ball and a whole generation of young women came up behind us, thinking they didn’t have to be alert. I’m always saying to young women, ‘It would be wonderful if we lived in the Garden of Eden, but we don’t – so stay alert and fucking wake up.’ You cannot walk down the street naked and there not be consequences. I’m sorry, I’d love to tell you that you can, but you can’t. Be aware of what’s out there, be smart, learn what’s in the shadows and try to protect yourself at all costs against people who don’t want you to have equal rights. There are people who will look at you salaciously; people will objectify you. The thing is, I don’t entirely know what the answer to it is, either.

 
Wool coat BOSS, tights UK Tights

I think it’s about including both sexes.
Shirley Manson: Yes… I really do believe more and more that feminism is not a female subject. It’s a human issue that we all need to work towards, together: the faster we get that message across, the better. There are so many men who feel threatened by so-called ‘feminism’, and feminism isn’t about threatening anyone. It certainly isn’t about stealing anyone else’s power, it’s about sharing. The entire word has been obfuscated, deliberately so. I’m convinced that it’s deliberate.

When I read the way male music journalists described you in the 90s, you came under so much criticism, it’s crazy! You must have always felt so misrepresented?
Shirley Manson: Yes, life isn’t easy so you have to hone your skills and figure out how you’re going to survive, and I did. They didn’t hold me back in the end, but there are so many women who are not as articulate as I am, or not as well-versed in how to push it, and that’s what concerns me. Again, just the influence on women’s currency is so skewed towards beauty and youth. People might say, ‘Of course she says that, she’s not young any more.’ And that’s right, but what’s happening to me is going to happen to all of you – every single one of you, male or female! I don’t think what I’m talking about is any less relevant as a consequence of me being older. I want to make it better for all of y’all because it’s too late for me! (laughs)

“I want all women to bloom,
to be unapologetic and have confidence in their skills,
intelligence and integrity”
— Shirley Manson

You’re just trying to help prepare the next generation.
Shirley Manson: Doing the press for this record, I’ve spoken about the importance of women understanding that they have more value than just the way they look. I really believe in it passionately and a lot of people say, ‘Oh, she’s just moaning,’ but I’m not just moaning – I’m protesting. It’s for you. It’s not for me because I’ve had a great career and actually, I’ve got a number-one fucking rock record in America right now (Strange Little Birds topped the Billboard rock album chart on release in June). I’m speaking out for you because I want all women to bloom, to be unapologetic and have confidence in their skills, intelligence and integrity – all the things that they can’t see inside, which are important. They’re tools at their disposal. Your appearance? You have no control over it, you can’t even take credit for it because it had nothing to do with you! (laughs)

Let’s talk about the new album. You’ve said that vulnerability has played a big role in shaping it?
Shirley Manson: I think anyone with half a brain is aware that we’re living in treacherous times. I mean, I really, genuinely feel that. It’s the most tumultuous time that I can remember. I’ve grown up through the 70s, which were not easy in the UK, but I feel somewhat scared – particularly by the level of denial which seems to be in operation right now about what’s actually happening. When we went to make this record, there were a lot of things at play. Obviously, I’m not the only person in the band so there were a lot of other agendas too, but my agenda was certainly that I wanted to be truthful about the world I found myself in and what that meant. It was an exploration of that, rather than a focus on just making people feel good. There are enough artists doing that. Now we need to really step up and start speaking out. If we don’t do it, who will? Unfortunately, the business side of music has distracted musicians from their task, and has only allowed those who play the game, conform and play happy-go-lucky pop music, to survive. I think you see fewer and fewer musicians willing to speak up. We just live in a cowed society right now, across the board – you probably see it in your world.

It will be interesting to see what happens to people like Rihanna and Beyoncé over the course of time.
Shirley Manson: For me, Rihanna has the voice of a generation. She’s like a Billie Holiday to me. She can sing until she’s an old woman like Aretha Franklin, she’s got something magical inside her. Beyoncé’s been very smart, and that incredible record that she’s just released has elevated her game. It’s taken her out of being just a pop entertainer and into the role of an artist. She’s like, ‘I can’t just keep being cute and pretty and dance for everyone,’ she’s been able to have a second act and that’s why I find those two women so exciting. Beyoncé’s Lemonade, to my mind, is unquestionably a masterpiece. Everyone says it’s this and that – it’s ‘calculated’. So fucking what if it is? She’s done a great job. Is she just supposed to be accidentally great? Like, she just stumbled into it? She fucking worked her ass off to get there, to get this smart, to know where to go. Meanwhile, someone like Jack White is called a genius. Well, they’re playing the same game but somehow, for a man, it’s cool to be a genius but for Beyoncé, she’s just got to be the cute little honey over there with a nice outfit, dancing all day for everybody. God forbid she think of herself in a more elevated way than just an entertainer. Fuck off! Everyone can fuck themselves.

Strange Little Birds is out now
Hair Nikki Providence at Forward Artists using Bumble and bumble., make-up Elie Maalouf at Jed Root using M.A.C, photographic assistants Adam Torgerson, Jake Schmidt, fashion assistants Ioana Ivan, Megan King

--Bonus--

Sur le compte Instagram de Garbage,
Shirley a publié le 06 août 2016:

Thankyou Dazed Magazine
for featuring me in your pages this month
and for sending me this angel to love.
@emmawyman ⭐️

Enregistrer

Enregistrer