[Timeout interview] Dom admits he's always dreamt of being in a stadium band

[Bells]

Interview with Dom before tonight's show in Barcelona.

 

Those who have been in a band and have dreamt of playing not for thousands, but tens of thousands of people: raise your hands. Dom Howard would raise his without any hesitation: the drummer of Muse has flirted with the idea of being in a stadium band since he, Matt Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme were kids and would rehearse in the basement of Bellamy's grandma's house.

 

"We became adults and started going to festivals like Glastonbury and Reading, and that was what inspired us, showed us how far we could get in the future - Howard recalls. I've dreamt of playing in big stadiums, and I remember, very specifically, seeing Rage Against the Machine at Reading and thinking, Wow, I want to play on the main stage." Muse played for the first time on the main stage of Reading Festival in 2006, the year in which they released their fourth album, 'Black Holes and Revelations'.

 

"It was an amazing experience," he says, and since then playing in front of tens of thousands of people has become for them such a routine that in February, when they had to perform at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, with a capacity for 2,000 people, for them it was like playing at a minuscule venue. Now the British trio are facing the challenge of filling the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, ​​something that not even the ambitious Madonna has accomplished yet. But if Muse were ambitious when they started playing, almost twenty years ago, imagine how they are now.

 

Sonic ambition:

 

"The 2nd law ', released in 2012, is another evidence of the ambition of the trio, in this case sonic. While the early comparisons to Radiohead can be annoying, Thom Yorke's band and Muse have taken opposite directions: the former is considered more of a minimalistic electronica band, whereas the latter goes from symphonic rock and electro-house to influences of artists like Skrillex.

 

"I think we took a lot of risks with this album, Howard explains, and as a band we felt that we found some music branches that we had not dealt with before. We've made a very diverse album, exploring many different musical directions, so we maximized, tried lots of different ideas. Just listen to the first three songs: It almost seems we are three different bands! It's opened many doors and gave us many options for the future " .

 

That they took some risks, we cannot argue: Survival, for instance, perhaps the Olympic anthem of London 2012 - the most excessive song of history: his most insane air to Queen Freddie Mercury would fade, and the hearts of soprano Montserrat Caballe. At some point you thought they were going too far? "With the music I like to take things to the limit, says Howard. Limit Survival wanted to take the idea of ​​an epic song, and when we finished it we just really could not go further."

 

I have peaked? "Maybe for the next album we make back-grant. Or maybe find a way to go even further. This is the kind of music we do, with insane progressions, instruments, heavy hearts massive, massive harmonies ... are the things that excite the music. "

 

Click here to read the original article/interview in catalan.

[Jujubean]

Anybody else tired of comparisons? Also don't know why reporters are always surprised the band can fill a stadium. Perhaps, it is due to the fact that they go bravely where other bands do not.

 

As usual, Mr. Howard expresses himself very well.

[FabriPav]

Anybody else tired of comparisons?

 

Well, as long as Muse show their influences so bluntly, they're bound to get comparisons.