Ten years ago, the parents of Matthew Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard settled in the town of Teignmouth, Devon in the south of England. It's a typical English seaside town that, if you were aged between 13 and 18, is a living hell all year round.

Says vocalist/guitarist Bellamy, "Devon was a boring little burg that had nothing to offer us. The only time the town came alive was when it turned into a summer vacation spot for visiting Londoners. But at the end of every summer, the people would leave and take all the life with them. We felt completely trapped there. All our friends were either getting into drugs or music. We gravitated toward the latter, teaching ourselves how to play so that music could become the escape."

At age 13, the three of them formed their first band, Gothic Plague. With Chris on bass, Dominic on drums, and Matthew as guitarist/reluctant lead singer, they tormented their peers with ramshackle covers of early 90's indie classics. It wasn't a massive success. So after Gothic Plague came Fixed Penalty, and after Fixed Penalty, Rocket Baby Dolls. The lack of interest didn't deter them, if anything, it just spurred them on. "It didn't discourage us at all," recalls bassist Wolstenholme. "If anything, we became more determined than ever to keep writing and performing our own songs. At first we played to a lot of empty clubs, but we swore we'd never do another cover and we never did."

Adds Bellamy, "There were moments when things got really rough. We didn't have any label interest, and our friends were all going to college and planning a safe future. Although I wasn't interested in any of that, there were times when I started to second-guess myself. But then we'd do a gig and it would feel great and I knew this is what I wanted to do."

At the same time, the advent of Britpop gave them a brand new outlet for their frustrations.

"When Britpop and Oasis came along," confessed Matthew, "it just didn't do anything for me. I don't know why. It just didn't seem passionate enough, it didn't seem to be what music should be about. That's why we started listening to American music. It just seemed cooler somehow."

With the rest of the country engrossed in the fortunes of Blur and Oasis, Bellamy, Wolstenholme, and Howard turned their attentions to the other side of the Atlantic. Nights and days were wiled away in the company of Primus and The Smashing Pumpkins, and never far from their stereos were dog-eared copies of Nirvana's Nevermind and Radiohead's The Bends - two albums that altered their entire idea of what music could mean.

With their name changed to Muse, things started to get more serious. "Music became more than just a way out," says drummer Howard. "It became a passion and a way for us to express ourselves." Rehearsals became more frequent, and they picked up gigs wherever they could - not easy when you're 250 miles away from the center of London.

As they honed their blistering sound, an impassioned blend of majestic vocals, atom-smashing guitars, and moody, seductive atmospherics, word began to spread, and the crowds began to gather. Obviously, people liked what they heard - Muse's two EPs on Dangerous Records (1997's Muse and 1998's Muscle Museum), were made available during their live shows, and both quickly sold out. Also in 1998, Muse found themselves the focus of a major U.K. talent search, a couple of U.S. labels began to show interest, and in November, Muse flew to New York to play CMJ. After a dazzling show at the Mercury Lounge, they found that U.S. interest was growing rapidly.

Two weeks later, they were flown to the U.S. again, this time to Los Angeles where they played a showcase on the Santa Monica pier. As others deliberated, Maverick Recording Co. took the opportunity to move in and sign them on the spot. The deal was clinched on Christmas Eve, 1998.

Muse are speaking volumes with their brilliant Maverick debut, Showbiz, which was produced by John Leckie (Radiohead, John Lennon, Verve). By drawing as much from Nirvana and Tom Waits as from Jeff Buckley and Deftones, Muse has created a richly textured album of dark jagged beauty and pop-savvy songcraft. Songs like "Muscle Museum," "Sunburn," and "Cave" are equal parts meat and melody, fresh, bracing arrangements complete with vivid, image-inducing wordplay and razor sharp hooks.

"It sounds strange, but I'm not sure where some of our song ideas come from," says Bellamy. "Obviously, they emanate from somewhere deep within me, but sometimes even I don't understand how I come up with them, and to be honest, I really don't want to find out. I'm afraid that if I figure out the answer, the ideas might stop flowing."

Of Muse, NME wrote, "Muse is the sort of band that both mainstream rock fans and tormented romantics will obsess over - ballroom-dancing punk poets with fire in their eyes and grit in their veins. They are going to be huge." Melody Maker named the album "Pick of the Week," writing "Turn to Muse. You'll wonder how people this young can sound so heartbreakingly lovelorn and lovely." Kerrang! might have said it best, calling Muse "A hot new band you must hear."