🎊🎈𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑷𝒀 𝑩𝑰𝑹𝑻𝑯𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝑷𝑱 𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑽𝑬𝒀!🎊🎈

✨"𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑷.𝑱. 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 … 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 - 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕." – 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑙𝑘𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑄 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐹𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑦 1997✨
One of the most influential women in rock celebrates her birthday today.

Photo credits unknown / edit by Olga

PJ Harvey massively impressed Brian when he did his first steps in music and stayed one of his favourite artists forever.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Music is about expressing things you can’t in everyday life. A lot of what has pushed me forward is desire and I have expressed that in my songwriting – perhaps because it’s safer! I’ve always found music that is carnal very attractive but not in the most obvious way. [...] A lot of Polly Harvey’s early work was tapped into a sense of yearning and desire which I understood.”
(𝑁𝑀𝐸, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2009)

⭐️𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐘 is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist whose mythically pitched, fanatically intense recordings and concerts set new standards for women in rock.
Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, PJ Harvey is also proficient with a wide range of instruments. She possesses an expansive contralto vocal range.
✨Born on October 9th, 1969, in Bridport, Dorset, Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band 𝑨𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑫𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊 as a vocalist, guitarist and saxophonist. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio called PJ Harvey that released two studio albums called 𝑫𝒓𝒚 (1992) and 𝑹𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒆 (1993). Since 1995, Harvey has released seven studio albums as solo artist and did a significant number of collaborations with various musicians such as 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑪𝒂𝒗𝒆, 𝑻𝒐𝒎 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 (𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅), 𝑩𝒋𝒐̈𝒓𝒌, 𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒉 𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆 (𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝑶𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑨𝒈𝒆), 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉 (former member of Automatic Dlamini).

📢"When I'm working on a new record, the most important thing is to not repeat myself ... that's always my aim: to try and cover new ground and really to challenge myself. Because I'm in this for learning."
(𝑅𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2004)

Photo credit: Maria Mochnacz

✨In both 2001 and 2011, PJ Harvey received 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞 for 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒂 (2000) and 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆 (2011), that made her the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice. She has also garnered eight 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 nominations, seven 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 nominations, three 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 accolades. In 2013, she was appointed a 𝑴𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑬𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆 for services to music and also received an 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑫𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 at 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝑼𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏 in 2014.


Not everyone’s cup of tea, Polly suggests she is often grossly misunderstood:
📢“People have a very specific idea of what I am – some kind of axe-wielding, man-eating Vampira – and I’m not that at all. I’m almost the complete opposite.” (𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠ℎ, 2011)

✨Outside her better-known music career, Harvey is also an occasional artist and actress. In 1998, she appeared in Hal Hartley's film 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 as Magdalena—a modern-day character based on the Biblical Mary Magdalene—and had a cameo role as a Playboy Bunny in 𝐀 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥'𝐬 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞, a short film directed by Sarah Miles, in which she also performs "Nina in Ecstasy". Harvey also collaborated with Miles on another film, 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐞𝐫𝐮 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟏𝟗𝟕𝟐, which includes Harvey performing a cover of "When Will I See You Again".

✨Harvey is also an accomplished 𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒓 who has had several pieces exhibited at the Lamont Gallery and the Bridport Arts Centre.
✨In October 2015, Harvey published her first collection of poetry entitled 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒅. In April 2022, she presented a book-length narrative poem titled 𝑶𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒎.

Photo credit unknown

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 often mentioned how PJ Harvey influenced his songwriting.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “After I moved to London, I heard PJ Harvey for the first time and the emotional intensity and depth of the album “Dry” also had a very, very big effect on me. I guess when I went into the idea of a band I kind of wanted to marry the kind of dissonant, atonal beauty of Sonic Youth's experimentalism with a kind of pained confessional and highly emotional quality that PJ Harvey's music has."
(𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 1999)

📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: "Steve [Hewitt, drums] introduced me to PJ Harvey when we were at university. Her songwriting instantly became a big influence on me. I was struck by how individual her voice was and then by how taut and nervous the instrumentation was. It was so expressive of internal torment, desire, lust and rejection. She’s always been very brave, she’s not afraid to make a record that sounds like someone bleeding on you."
(𝐾𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔! 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 2006)

⭐️Brian mentioned 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒂-𝑵𝒂-𝑮𝒊𝒈 from Harvey’s album 𝑫𝒓𝒚 in some interviews, particularly, as one of the “𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆” (𝐾𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔! 2006) and “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎” (𝑁𝑀𝐸, 𝑂𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑒𝑟 2017).

Photo credit: Universal Music

𝐏𝐉 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 - 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐚-𝐍𝐚-𝐆𝐢𝐠, 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥, 𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟐𝟖𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐
➡ https://bit.ly/3D3F1GE

⭐️In 2001, at the 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑾𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 in Belgium, Brian dedicated 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐨 to PJ Harvey.
➡ https://bit.ly/3DgEVsh

⭐️Placebo had a chance to meet Polly Harvey in Australia when they both headlined 𝑩𝒊𝒈 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝑶𝒖𝒕 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍. We can get to know some more details from Stefan’s tour diary.

𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚 - 𝟐𝟐𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒂𝒏
📢Me, Steve and Bill feel like death warmed up and moan all the way to Sydney. We invite PJ Harvey and her band to come on a Sydney harbour cruise organised by Virgin. They accept and we spend a beautiful evening seeing the sunset behind the Opera house. Fruit bats fly above us and we can see people walk the arch of the Sydney bridge. If I thought the tower in Tokyo was bad, that walk would definitely bring on my heart attack. I can hardly string a sentence together and go to bed. Bri's over the moon as he got a chance to properly talk to Polly and feels there is a connection. Maybe time to ask about a duet? He goes for dinner with Mick Harvey and some of the PJ crew.
The hotel's in Coogee bay just by the beach and the temp is around 35 all week. Inevitable sunburns.
(𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑇𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑦 2001)

⭐️Brian admitted he would like to collaborate with 𝑷𝑱 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚 but was too shy to ask her directly.
𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒖𝒆𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝑱 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈? 𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒐?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Well, no, she's one of my favorite singers so I think I would need to have the guts to ask her, you know? (Laughs)".
(𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 2010)

Photo credit unknown

So, this Brian’s dream hasn’t come true yet but… who knows🙂
⭐️However, Placebo didn’t wait for this collaboration and covered PJ Harvey’s song 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓. It was used as B-side on their single 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓-𝑬𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒉𝒚 released as Limited Edition picture disc (limited to 500 copies) and download in September 2009.

⭐️Brian included Placebo’s rendition of the song into the playlist he prepared for 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚, his takeover show on 𝑿𝑭𝑴 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒐 in December 2009.
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: “…It is a Placebo cover. This is available as B-side on The Never-Ending Why, and we decided to go with one of my favourite artists of all time. This song in fact has only ever been released by this artist as a demo. The artist is PJ Harvey and the song from her 4-Track – Demos album, played by Placebo, is Hardly Wait, enjoy!”
(𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦, 𝑋𝐹𝑀, 𝐷𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 13𝑡ℎ, 2009)

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭
➡ https://bit.ly/3oylebd

𝐏𝐉 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲 - 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐢𝐭
➡ https://bit.ly/3RD7pU6

Post by Olga