Rocksound (july 2000)

After playing the toilets of Devon for most of their early career, Muse are finally reaping the rewards of their hard work, determination and great records. On the eve of the release of their single 'Unintended' and sell-our shows at London's Astoria, rock sound caught up with Matt, Dom and Chris to talk about success, pressure and the American dream. The sun's blistering down over Camden Town, in North London. The pubs are bristling with people enjoying the brief break in the rain, celebrating or commiserating the choice of Mayor that the city has just elected. Some bloke over the road seems quite content with smashing bottles on the kerb as Muse pull up in their car, Matt at the wheel. Currently rehearsing for a Swedish TV show appearance, they're in a relaxed and jovial mood as we order a few drinks, Matt plumping for a good old cup of cha - he's driving after all. Finally, Muse seem to be making some headway with the British public their last tour singles have successively gained higher chart placings and with the release of fifth single 'Unintended' the band could finally achieve a top 10 hit so full of mediocrity. A good feat for a UK rock band. Muse's popularity has spread further than UK shores though, thanks to the help of having seven different record labels in territories through the world. They've already headlined a tour of neighbouring France as well as playing in Australia, Japan, Germany and in the States with the Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters. There's no stopping them now... Muse are one of the best new British exports for a long, long while and they're enjoying every moment. Why do you think it's taken longer for Muse to make it in Britain, when in places like France, they lapped you up immediately? Dom: That was the only sorta place that it happened pretty quickly, now England's on the move pretty fast. We're doing better here than a few other countries. Matt: I think it's maybe to do with the fact that we're influenced by some international artists. There's some classical music I'm into and I've been listening to for a long time but I only just actually realised that it was French. Especially Burliose, I love the chords he uses and the vocals lots of choirs and stuff. It's really sort of epic and over the top. I think the evolution of rock in England was very different to the rest of the world. What happened was like, when Kurt Cobain killed himself, Nirvana and grunge died. England reacted as a excuse to invent their own thing, you know? Whereas most other countries drifted pretty much with the metal - the Korns, the Lives and those sorta things, England just went off on one and invented Britpop. All the bands that were becoming really popular in the last five years in England are really retro and that's why they all look like monkeys. It's like Devolved rock, that's what England did to try and reinvent itself - de-evolve and go [Matt makes a half decent monkey impression]. The rest of the world moved on a bit. I think the only band in England are maybe Radiohead who distanced themselves from all that and that's why we get massive comparisons to them; because we were also distanced from that. There's quite a few bands coming through now who were distanced from that but very, very few were uninfluenced by Britpop. Speaking of Radiohead are the comparisons you received initially beginning to die down now? M: It's fading away the more our presence is felt live and the more that our new songs are being played. I think the new single 'Unintended', which is a really mellow song, will be the last time we're gonna get it. I think as soon as we move into the next couple of singles after that, from the next album or whatever, I think that'll be the time people will be more interesting in comparing it to the first album we did. Your singles have been slowly creeping up the charts. Could Unintended be your first number 1? M: I hope it doesn't jump too far ahead of 'Sunburn'. It would be nice if it did a little bit better than 'Sunburn' - that would be my ideal. If it went less than 'Sunburn' then that might be seen as a bit of a decline. If it goes straight to number one I'd be a little bit worried that people would come to our gigs expecting a load of mellow stuff. Have you started work on the new album yet? D: Yeah, there's new songs hanging around. We're just bringing them into the set now. M: I've had no problem with writing but in terms of working out arrangements between the three of us it's been slower than normal. The last few months it's really picked up, we've been deliberately making the time. We've been bringing instruments on to the bus and just working things out. The last couple of months it's really started to feel like we're moving into the new album period. Are you gonna take time off after the festivals, this year, to devote time to it? Chris: We're gonna go to Japan and Australia in October... D: I think we're just gonna tour. We might get a space at the end of this year to maybe think about doing the new album, which would be nice to do, but it depends. We might go back to America and spend another month so out there. M: I think what we'll do - I think a lot of bands do this cos' the record companies just don't approve of you taking time off and the management don't approve - is pretend you're having trouble making the second album so that you can spend three week in some nice location; in a studio. I think with the next album - I'm not quite sure yet, but i wouldn't mind taking a bit more time over it. You've not got seven different record labels. How are you coping with the pressure and demands put upon the band? M: Demands on time are always full, there's never a reason to have time off. If we're not touring England there's always some- where like Japan who'll go 'come over here then'. D: It's just setting everything up. Everything's been different in every country but its all controlled by our own production company. With the next album I think the whole world will tie together a bit more. M: We decide when we're gonna tour, when we're gonna record - it's a good way of doing things. It means we've made a few bodge-ups in terms of like, we've made a few shit videos - I won't name which ones. I think the video for 'Unintended' is pretty good though. You've recently returned from touring the States. How did they take to you on the other side of the Atlantic? M: We went down really well over there - it's not really happenin' (laughs). It is, but not on the scale of Korn or bands like that. Compared to other English bands we're doing very well but in terms of American bands we've got a lot above us. You were supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters by their request. How was that? D: Touring with those sorts of band, you know? it was like these were bands we watched when we were younger at festivals and Jesus, all of a sudden we're playing with them. Watching the Chili Peppers I think they're a really great band - they're all out there. I think we learnt a lot, the amount of time they've been in the band, the way they work and the way they have fun on stage... M: They just seem really relaxed. Even though they're playing massive arenas there was no fixed show, they were very loose and there was lots of improvisation. I like that a lot 'cos we do a lot of that in rehearsals but we haven't really done much live. On the tour you were playing some massive auditoriums and stadiums. Were you nervous? M: The first couple of gigs, yeah... D: There were a few moments where you just lose it and go 'Jesus, you're watching these bands and they're hanging around'. M: They're watching your as well. I was playing this song and i was playing this song and I was walking over to the side. There's a bit in this track where it gets heavy and I stood on the speaker and I was getting down and turned to face away from the crowd and I could sense some being there. I looked up and there was John Fruscinate, he was hiding down behind the speaker so nobody could see him - cos he's famous - I had no idea he was there and I look up and he was inches away from my face going 'Heeeeh'. I was like 'Fuckin' hell what's he doing there.' So yeah it was good, it was good to know that there was some rapport there. I think that's one of the main things we had which has been lucky with us cos we had fuckin' years of no luck - like Pavement. We did Pavement's last tour over Europe, bands like bush, Live and especially the Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters, Skunk Anansie and Feeder. Have you supported any bands you're not that keen on? M: I'm not a big fan of Live to be honest but that was like a convenience type tour and we didn't really talk to them on the entire tour. D: It really makes a difference whether you're supporting a band or a band's supporting you that you really like. It really makes a difference to the whole vibe of the tour What did you get up to with the Chilis and Foos during your days off? M: The Foo Fighters are like party animals. The Chili Peppers, I think a lot of them are living it really cleanly, Chad the drummer's still very rock 'n' roll but the other member are really mellow, Flee spends a lot of time meditating... C: They all do yoga and stuff... D: We went to a Karaoke Bar one night, MTV were doing this sorta tour diary thing on the Foo Fighter and the Chili Peppers. They were outside with cameras and in the bar they started playing a Foo Fighters track and the band ran into this club and started singing their own song. M: Everyone knew who they are - it was insane. People in the bar were like 'What the fuck?' D: Suddenly seeing Dave Grohl singin' it and messing around and then Taylor having a go. Then they were playing Chili Peppers tracks and Taylor was singin' it... M: Taylor was singing Guns 'N Roses songs, they wouldn't get off the mike and by the end of it they were on the floor - pissed! D: Taylor does a good David Bowie impression. M: There's talk about doing another leg of the tour in the USA but we had to come back here cos we've got stuff to do that's really important. What about your experiences in Japan? D: They're renowned for being pretty crazy - but they actually are. We turned up, got off the plane, got in a bar, went to the hotel and there were two people waiting for autographs and it was like 'How the fuck did you know we were here?' We did the gig and then got in the van and went to a restaurant and they were chasing us down the road. M: Have you heard that song by Tom Waits 'Big in Japan'? It's off the 'Mute Variations'. It's all about how everything's going shit in his life, his wife left him and everything's bollocks, his band's going downhill but the chorus is like "But I'm big in Japan, I'm big in Japan". That sums it up. Are there any other British bands you admire at the moment? M: It's a difficult one, I mean Radiohead are turning differently, they're going more into experimental stuff, really dark and moody. I don't really know any good rock bands. There's a few good punk bands, like My Vitriol, who are really good. C: And stuff... D: I think the best new band I've heard in a while is Soulwax - but they're Belgian. M: Everything in the really heavy rock genre is overshadowed by Slipknot, Korn and Limp Bizkit... D: I think there's loads of good English nu-metal bands but they don't really get to see the light of day. I saw Kill II This the other night, they were pretty good, but they do get overshadowed by American bands. M: I think the whole thing with Korn is the image they have. All those bands like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot - it's the image. Korn I really liked in the early days, I mean the first album was good, in fact the first two albums were good. I think Korn took metal and took it to a new audience that'd never had it before and I think Limp Bizkit's is like... pop! I can't explain it, but it's like metal turned into pop. I think that's the reason why there's no many English bands that have got a rock sound that is purely English - apart from us. (laughs) And what do you think about your US label mates, the Deftones? M: I've heard rumours about it and apparently it sounds like they're doing what we're doing - joking. It sounds like they're definitely drying to take rock into a different direction to where the Limp Bizkits and Korns aren't. The Success you've had must have taken its toll on you in some form. After all, you're only human? M: We've had moments... shall I mention the moment. (Consults with Dom and Chris) Erm... what moment? M: This is gonna sound cheesy and lame like we're old-school rock 'n' roll - but we're lost it the other day in Munich. We went all that way to play a gig and we got pulled at the last minute. The reason we couldn't play was because the PA system turned up too late. All the crowd were in there, it was a really important gig - we were really fuckin' psyched up and looking forward to it. We were supporting No Doubt, they played and we were just sat in the dressing room for 12 hours, the crowd were getting pissed off, they were suppose to be there at 7:30 but they didn't get in until 10. It was a real shambles, the whole gig, and we just trashed the place. There's a bill for £3000 pounds. Bascially there were fridges, tables, chairs and bottles of wine but the damage we really did was throwing the fridge against the wall a few times and the wall sort of... broke. We got thrown out of the venue and I found out something really bad the other day - we're gonna be playing there again. So what have been the highlights of your career so far? M: There's been highlights and lowlights but I don't think there's any particular one that stands out. Generally, the American tour with the Chili Peppers was a highlight. C: Things like the Bataclan gig in Paris... D: Yeah, the first headline tour we did around France... M: ULU in London cos we totally didn't think we could playing a venue that size in London and it sold out. D: Finding out that the Astoria shows sold out - that was a highlight. Darren Taylor

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