The nostalgia cycle perpetually irradiates a halcyon time gone by; 30 years ago seems to be the sweet spot. But mid-90s Britain does seem to have been an especially abundant cultural moment. London, particularly, was a hotbed of activity – a moment when it seemed for once that the misfits and the weirdos were steering the ship. The YBA movement was still redefining the artworld, designers such as Alexander McQueen were emerging, swathes of independent bands dominated the mainstream, and a magazine called Dazed & Confused launched its first issue.

Among the alternative music encroaching on the conservative mainstream, Placebo were one of the most provocative bands of the moment. They debuted in 1995 but had their big breakthrough in 1997 with their single, “Nancy Boy”, with lyrics evoking an irresistible series of fragmented images of cross-dressing and gender ambiguity, promiscuity and drug-taking. Singer Brian Molko – an androgynous, chain-smoking doll with a transatlantic sneer – was the perfect poster-child for a mid-90s rockstar who took their cues from Ziggy Stardust and Iggy Pop rather than the machismo classic rock gods.

Photographer Scarlet Page first saw the band play live in 1996 at student union venues in London. “Brian was wearing leopard print and mini dresses, with candy bracelets wrapped around the mic stand,” she recalls. “They were completely arresting from the start.” Shortly after, she was commissioned by music magazine Kerrang! to photograph them. She would continue to document their rise over the next three years, amassing an archive of intimate pictures of life in recording studios and on the road. Now, a new photo book, Exposed: 3 Years With Placebo, brings together Page’s most striking and revealing images from her time up close and personal with the band, including never-before-seen portraits and candid, reportage images shot on film and presented in black and white (to coincide with the book’s release, Page will be in conversation at Gibson Garage London on Monday 23 February as part of Garage Fest – RSVP here for free entry).

From the start, the photographer was drawn to Placebo for their energy. “It was raw, sexy, slightly seedy and completely reflective of the mid-90s. I’d never seen anyone like Brian before. He could look incredibly beautiful, that drawl in his voice, strumming furiously on his guitar, completely unapologetic. There was a real ‘I don’t care what you think’ attitude about him,” she reflects. “Stefan [on bass] was tall and elegant and brought a different kind of presence. Together, they stood out instantly. Looking back, they were spearheading something that felt genuinely new.”

With unfettered access, Page was in a unique position to observe the band’s life both onstage and behind closed doors. There’s always something compelling about the slippage between public persona and private life. Were they as wild and louche offstage as their songs suggested? Page insists it wasn’t all “champagne and chaos”.

“It was an exciting time – things were moving fast and the rise was intense,” she tells Dazed, recalling huge hangovers after attending the premiere of Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine film premiere – a fictionalised history of the inception of glam rock in the 1970s, replete with thinly-veiled avatars of Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed et al – in which Placebo featured. It was a star-studded moment. Their major album Without You I’m Nothing was on the verge of being released, “everything was starting to tip into another level”. It was a heady time. Exposed shows the highs but also the lows that fans didn’t get to see. “What I love is the contrast,” she tells us, “the grimy backstage dressing rooms, service station stops for burgers, a hotel on a roundabout on the outskirts of Walsall with admin and bills spread across the dressing room floor. The book captures something more human – survival on the road, the in-between moments. It’s a flip side to the glossy press images; more honest, more gritty.”

This was a time before social media; a time before celebrities were adept at performing their “real” selves for promotional purposes. There was still a veil between public persona and backstage; still a sense of impermeability between gazing at a band onstage or on television and being able to access them. The internet has dissolved that barrier somewhat, and it’s hard to locate a sense of mystery. “There was no constant behind-the-scenes content,” Page explains. “What I had sitting in boxes and filing cabinets were real, unfiltered analogue glimpses into that world.” Which is what makes this archive even more valuable and fascinating – it’s a vestige of the last big cultural moment before the internet changed fandom, the currency of images, and the enigma of fame.

Exposed: 3 Years With Placebo by Scarlet Page is available to order here.

Scarlet Page will be in conversation at Gibson Garage London on Monday 23 February as part of Garage Fest. RSVP here for free entry.