10 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know About Matt Bellamy

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http://whatculture.com/music/10-amazing-things-you-didnt-know-about-matt-bellamy.php

 

10. He Loves Monty Python

 

If Muse can seem a little bit ridiculous at times, it’s unlikely that frontman Matt Bellamy goes unaware. In a 2012 interview with NME, Matt acknowledged how eccentric the band can be.

 

“We don’t care if people don’t necessarily take songs like that 100 per cent seriously. We’re not afraid of our eccentricities, we’re not afraid of going into almost Monty Python rock. But it’s like opera. If you put a piece of opera on, it’s ridiculous unless you’ve listened to the whole thing and just go there with it.”

 

Turns out Matt is a massive fan of the British comedy troupe Monty Python (most famous for Monty Python And The Holy Grail and Monty Python’s Life Of Brian) admiring their satirization through absurdity. Perhaps that makes Muse’s overtly political shenanigans a bit easier to understand?

 

“Essentially, we approach music the same way Monty Python did comedy.”

 

9. He Holds A Guinness World Record

 

If you thought Kurt Cobain smashed a lot of guitars, you ain’t seen nothing (be utterly smashed to pieces) yet.

 

In 2010, the Guinness Book Of World Records cited Bellamy as having the record for the most guitars smashed on a single tour. How many guitars exactly? One hundred and forty. The record was set during the Absolution tour, which took place in 2004.

 

While smashing equipment may seem reckless and wasteful, the price is a flash in the pan when compared to all the other pyrotechnics and crazy special effects the band employs. A good old guitar smash is just as much a part of the show as a pillar of flame or a cannon filled with confetti, and it’s just as exhilarating to watch, too.

 

8. His Cats Are Named After Kanye West And Kim Kardashian

 

Despite not being a massive fan of Kanye’s music, Matt named his cats after the musician and his wife. In an interview with Radio.com, Matt said of Kanye:

 

“I’ve listened to bits of that new record Yeezus. I like some of the sounds, but some of the lyrics of those artists throw me off a bit. It’s very full on, in your face, it’s very ‘me, me, me’.”

 

Matt wasn’t inspired to name his cats after the musician until he came backstage following one of the band’s performances. Apparently this brief meeting was enough to leave an impression on Bellamy, who later clarified on BBC Radio One that his cats really were named after Kim and Kanye.

 

We may be some way off a Kanye West/Muse collaboration, but it’s pretty amusing to think about nevertheless.

 

7. He Owns A Jet Pack

 

 

The names Bellamy. Matt Bellamy.

 

People have been speculating about what a Muse-written Bond theme might sound like for years now (the fan favourite is Supremacy, released on the band’s divisive 2012 album The 2nd Law) but the band shares another connection to 007 that not a whole lot of people know about.

 

Matt Bellamy owns a jet pack. It’s not even that surprising, really. Most of us would have one given the capital. Oh, but technically it’s actually a paramotor.

 

In a 2008 interview, Bellamy admitted that the machine cost around ten thousand pounds and he’s only actually flown it once. Look on the bright side, though…he apparently wants to devote more time to mastering it.

 

Just how long until we see Matt fly into one of Muse’s concerts? Hopefully it’s only a matter of time.

 

6. He Watches Adventure Time

 

It’s always cool to hear people you admire talk about art that inspires them. It’s even cooler when that art is a surreal, animated television show broadcast on Cartoon Network. If you haven’t at least heard of Adventure Time, you’ve probably been living underground for the past few years. I mean, even Matt Bellamy is in to it!

 

Talking to Absolute Radio, he said:

 

“I’m getting into is this bizarre TV show called Adventure Time, it’s like a cartoon aimed at children but it looks so surreal, it’s like Monty Python meets… Monty Python meets Tom and Jerry or something, it’s really really surreal.”

 

Imagining Bellamy with his feet up in the morning watching the adventures of Jake and Finn is a brilliant image. In defiance of Lemongrab’s famous quote, it’s something that is absolutely acceptable.

 

5. He Has A Crazy Irish Stalker

 

 

It’s a sad yet practically inevitable fact that prominent figures (usually in the entertainment industry) often become the victims of obsessive fan stalking. I’m sure most household names could detail bizarre, creepy encounters with overzealous fans, and Muse’s Matt Bellamy is no different.

 

According to Matt, the man dresses in military clothing and leaves bizarre items near his house.

 

“He’s from Ireland and he keeps coming to where I live in Italy. And he keeps leaving bags full of crazy stuff, like loads of bottles with messages written on them. He’s got loads of poetry that he has written, which is all about the end of the world. He’s trying to create little bits of clues and puzzles that are supposed to lead me to some kind of journey somewhere.”

 

Apparently the man got Bellamy’s address from a neighbour after claiming to be a family member. If you’re out there, creepy Irish dude…please stop.

 

4. He Can Say The Alphabet Backwards

 

 

3. The First Song He Ever Learned Was The Dallas Theme Tune

 

 

“The theme tune from Dallas. When I was about three, my brother used to hold me in front of the TV, and then put me at the piano and make me work it out with one finger. Then he’d show his friends and say, look, he’s a machine! I remember being picked up and carried from the TV to the piano.”

 

2. He Sells Wine With His Ex-Wife

 

Matt Bellamy had a hand in creating wine. I wonder what it tastes like…freedom? The defiance of Big Brother? The uncovering of an American military conspiracy?

 

Despite the fact that Matt and his wife have now separated, their wine business is very much still alive. According to Kate Hudson in an interview with Wine Enthusiast, the two intend on continuing to sell as normal.

 

We’re family for the rest of our lives, we have a beautiful baby and we love making wine. We’ll continue doing it.

 

The two may not be drunk on love any more, but you can bet they still want to get us drunk on wine.

 

1. Matt Bellamy Is A Shepherd

 

 

Add this to the list of bizarre facts about Matt Bellamy. Though known for being a little bit out there (Bellamy has a lot to say on aliens, for example, and their role in the development of the human species through cross pollination) this one absolutely takes the…er…fleece?

 

In a 2015 interview on BBC Radio 1, Bellamy talked about his sheep and how he was getting ready to fleece them. He also confirmed he has 160 of the woolly animals.

 

Not only that, his sheep have actually been present during one of the band’s tracks, Guiding Light. In a 2009 interview about album The Resistance, Dom stated that he recorded the snare drum in the field where Matt’s sheep are kept, with microphones near a river so that it can be heard alongside the beat.

 

And if that’s not enough, Matt even responded to question on Twitter from a fan (Cottage pie or shepherds pie?) with the words “I am a Shepherd”. So then: we’ve heard it straight from the man himself. Matt Bellamy is indeed a shepherd.