Placebo released their fourth album Sleeping With Ghosts at the end of last month. Described as their "most emotionally reflective yet explosive album to date", the previous three albums have all gone top-ten the UK with worldwide sales of three million.

It's been a busy few years for the trio - Brian Molko (vocals, guitar), Stefan Olsdal (bass, guitar and keyboards) and Steve Hewitt (drums) - and there's no sign of them slowing down as they continue to make high demands of themselves. "We wanted to do it much quicker," says Brian, on producing album number four. "And we wanted to work with somebody (cue Jim Abbiss) who would give us a kick up the backside and make us do things backwards or sideways.

"I thought it would be more electronic by the time it was finished, I didn't expect it to sound as rocky as it does. But I kinda saw that as the natural progression, to have one foot in the rock camp and one foot in a more beats-orientated place. I felt we'd reached a point where we should refine ourselves, pull towards the elements we're naturally good at. We thought that Jim could put a twist on it that we ourselves would never have thought of, the benefit of the situation was that two people with very strong ideas end up somewhere where neither of you would've gone on your own. And that's kind of what we were hoping we'd achieve."

The album is dominated by a relationship theme, clearly evident in such tracks as I'll Be Yours, Protect Me From What I Want, The Bitter End, Centrefolds and the title track.

With massive sales and sell-out dates across the world, Placebo's success is undeniable. On their last tour they played to a staggering 500,000 people in 30 countries. Despite such accomplishments, they are still upping the ante. As Brian said: "I think we have to prove ourselves again to a certain degree. I think the attitude we're coming back with this time is not taking past success for granted. We're coming out fighting."

Tomorrow (Sat 19th). Tickets: £15 in advance. Box office: 023 8063 2601.