Flipside - It's a Wonderful Life - November 1999

Muse are that rare thing: a rock band that combine power and passion in equal measure. Flipside asked: "What's that sound? " So here come the young men, brows furrowed, tortured souls all, Muse have made a debut album, Showbiz, that's easily as black-hearted and theatrical as anything on The Contino Sessions, twelve slabs of Grand Guignol rock n' roll that make Radiohead seem well-adjusted, thank you. Muse, then, are surly, humourless, weighed down with angst, Muse are ummm, fannying about on a pier, actually. The photographer's got them throwing shapes on kid's rides, and they're loving it. For three people who've just recorded a debut of supreme self-assurance, full of open-soul surgery and (whisper it) maturity, diminutive singer Matt Bellamy, effusive drummer Dominic Howard, and towering bassist Chris Wolstenholme are three guys, hardly in their twenties, without a care in the world. We're talking on the Devonshire seafront in blazing sunshine, the pain seems a long way off. "It's harder to write happy songs and deliver them like you mean it," explains Matt. "We can knock the darker songs out like that." "It's easier to be negative," adds Dom. "No," Matt interjects, "it's easier for people who are negative to be negative, Anyway, the emotions in the songs aren't negative, they're just not shallow. It's uplifting to hear music like this, it's reassuring to know that other people feel as you do. It's a celebration of what humans are. We're not exactly a happy-go-lucky race." Sure enough, songs like 'Sunburn' where ominous piano runs get unceremoniously obliterated by furious squalls of noise, are dark-hearted howls of rage, adrenalised, hairs-on-end slices of blistering psychodrama - My Bloody Valentine orchestrated by Beethoven, or sonic Youth playing Andrew Lloyd-Webber... we're a long way from Charlatansworld. When just about every other meat-and-potatoes indie band looks back to the sixties and seventies (Stooges, Byrds, Beatles, Big Star), Muse's field of vision roams just that little bit further. "I love Renaissance music," affirms Matt. "Bach, Palestrina, amazing choral music... all those harmonies moving within each other. It's really sacred music. Godlike music." While they readily admit to being influenced by American bands like The Deftones ("Mainly the sense of energy they have," says Chris), their sound is more immense, more elemental. "If you see performances of Berlioz (French composer who wrote 'Symphonie Fantastique') with a 300 piece orchestra, it's way more intense than any band. We've tried to approximate that power through amplification." The sound of massed voiced in unison can sound far more powerful than a guitar. "That's why we've used so many instruments, like mellotrons instead of guitars, just to get that huge sound." Showbiz is stuffed with overdubs and details, but Muse are also the perfect live band, as enthralled crowds at Reading and Glastonbury will attest. Which do you prefer, recording or the live experience? "Direct communication with other people is unbeatable. It's why we started playing in bands," says Chris. Matt continues, "It's two different forms of art. Making an album is like making a sculpture - it's there to communicate on its own terms - whereas playing live is performance art. It's direct expression." Muse grew up in Devon, a region not exactly steeped in rock mythology. Did it figure in creating the Muse sound? "A lot of people where we grew up would hang around on the seafront drinking beer," recalls Chris, "whereas we'd go round each other's houses and practise." Matt: "School didn't really cater for people like us. The system is there to make the country a stronger place, that 'make money, make money' mentality, and there's always going to be people who don't fit into that. There was a time when I was doing menial jobs, painting and decorating, and I thought, 'I could be doing this for a long time'. We were very lucky." Muse have been together for some years, but things are only now beginning to kick off. They're signed to Madonna's Maverick label in the States, where they recently played the ill-fated Woodstock ("Awful, just awful. It must have been about 40 degrees in the shade, you weren't allowed to bring your own drinks, and water cost about $4. No wonder there was a riot!"), and they've been attracting attention throughout Europe. Will they let the attention go to their heads? "Do you mean, 'Will we turn into shallow people if fame comes our way?" asks Matt. "I'm sure if it did, I wouldn't care, I'd just be shallow and happy. Seriously, we've experienced a hell of a lot already, especially outside this country. It's so surreal it makes you laugh - being treated like we're famous when we're not. It's a joke." Says Dom, "You have to ignore it, put the expectations to the back of your mind - else we'd never do anything decent again." Unlikely, boys, unlikely! Flipside magazine

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