Muse.ie interview (august 2000)

We're harbouring a bit of a grudge against Devon's Muse around these parts. It's not easy finding an appropriate name for a super-cool music mag. You hum and haw about it. You learn to live with it. The name becomes establishedS Then some pesky bunch of spiky-headed bumpkins appear on the covers of the UK music press and, next thing you know, they're causing havoc in the search engines. Of course, Muse may have come up with the name Muse before us. They've been around long enough, and suffered all the clichés: disenfranchised west country boys, no venues to play, nothing to do, shit jobs, boring music scene, yadda, yadda, yadda. "All we used to do was sit around, smoke and listen to music. There wasn't anything else to do," recalls singer/guitarist/poor lamb Matt Bellamy. But whereas we (i.e. the magazine) came up with the name on our second go, Muse (the band) took a little longer. Fixed Penalty? Nah! Rocket Baby Dolls? Try Again. Gothic Plague? Good Jesus! Muse? Oh, go on so. Ten years ago, Matt, Dominic Howard, and Chris Wolstenholme moved to the barren seaside town of Teignmouth, Devon with their respective families. The move ensured several years of teenage tedium, but it also meant that Matt and Dominic and Chris got to play, and think up stupid names for a band. Alas, no-one really wanted to hear the angst-ridden bile of Gothic Plague's original set. "Apart from the Cavern in Exeter, there's nowhere to play. It's the only decent venue in the whole of Devon, but it's empty most of the time," says Matt. "We played at hundreds of other places, pubs full of old people, whatever, but all they ever wanted was covers of Sixties hits, so we never went down very well. I think it helped us in a way." Nothing like a bit of public ridicule to get you going. Of course, the situation evolved into something decidedly more attractive for Muse (the band, that is). Several key shows saw interest sparking from all manner of parties. A whopper of a gig on the Santa Monica Pier got Madonna hot under the collar and she duly signed them to her Maverick label. Deals arose in Germany (Motor Records), the UK (Mushroom) and Naïve (France). Eventually, Muse could say stuff the abusive pensioners in the dodgy pubs, we're going to be famous. And before you could say "it'd be a very appropriate time for a band with spiky hair who sound a little like Radiohead to hit the scene", Muse were plastered all over the cover of Melody Maker. After a couple of low-key singles, the debut album, "Showbiz", emerged last year, and as much as Muse tried to evade the comparisons, the serrated guitars, Matt's rocketing falsetto, the dramatic switches from quiet to loud, and the, ahem, spiky hair, all pointed towards Thom Yorke and co. Nonetheless, for all its youthful derivation, "Showbiz" may have all the right seeds, judging by the nice piano-laden single "Cave", or "Unintended" with its awesome dreamy/floaty/arty video. Or maybe Muse will sink under the deluge of Radiohead wannabes, to make way for JJ72 or some other bunch of spiky-haired tykes. Time will tell. Muse play Slane Castle on Saturday 26 August with Bryan Adams, Moby and Macy Gray. Leagues O'Toole

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