Muse in Kerrang next week!!

[deborafraga]

The Scans Here

 

MATT BELLAMY is of the opinion that the people who gather to watch Muse play “don’t see [the band] as being famous people”. He also believes that “there is no separation between the band and [its] audience,” and that he and his colleagues—bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dom Howard—are “just like them”.

 

It’s a statement that’s hard to take seriously considering that, a year ago this week, Muse’s album The Resistance topped the charts in 19 different countries, and the subsequent 12 months have seen the band headline countless festivals, stadiums and arenas the world over. Not to mention high-profile stars such as Queen’s Brian May, U2 guitarist The Edge (who joined the trio onstage at the Glastonbury festival in June), and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer (who begged them to pen a track for the film soundtrack for Eclipse) joining the band’s list of celebrity superfans. But no, even in light of all this, the frontman stands firm by his opinion.

 

As a younger man, Matt used to flail around in the mosh pit that spun in front of bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine, and he says he “learned a lot” about how to present a live show “from being a part of the energy of a crowd”.

 

“When I’m onstage I want to know what it’s like out there,” he says. “And I want to do something that will excite [the audience], something that I would have found exciting.”

 

The weekend before last, Muse put this theory to the test over two evenings at London’s Wembley Stadium. Performing in front of 80,000 people each night, the trio graced a stage that may have had older fans wondering if perhaps they were experiencing some kind of acid flashback.

 

In the warm, late summer evening, prior to showtime the platform erected at one end of the stadium field looked like a monstrosity of brutalist architecture, perhaps a municipal car park somewhere deep in Eastern Europe. But as Muse kicked into opening track Uprising, this grey and oddly unsettling structure charged into life: what minutes before had resembled breeze blocks above a lighting rig became scores of television screens, and then one giant screen, and then something that looked like a space-age Rubik’s Cube. And then back to the television sets.

 

This was just the start of it. From the rafters of the Wembley roof hung a glitter ball, onto which was projected a human eye. Midway through the set, the headliners stepped aboard a platform that carried them out over the crowd in a manner that suggested levitation. During Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture), a giant, helium-filled balloon fashioned into the shape of a flying saucer (something so large that, in June, it forced MTV Germany off air during a live broad-cast of Slayer from the Rock am Ring festival) floated above the heads of the people on the field, a dancer or gymnast or contortionist gyrating at its base.

 

“The reason I think the bond between us and our audience is so strong is because what we give them is exactly what I’d want to see if I were watching the show,” says Matt.

 

When people in other bands speak of Muse they do so with a sense of breathless admiration that suggests that this is a group of people possessed of otherworldly powers. And watching them play in the middle of a stage that looks as if it had been beamed in from the future, or from another world entirely, one wonders, what kind of egos, what kind of madmen, could possibly conceive of something like this?

 

But then consider this: three weeks ago Muse found themselves in Manchester. Two days prior to performing to almost 40,000 people at Manchester’s Lancashire County Cricket Club, they played a football match against a local Salford side. Needing to make up numbers for their team, Chris sought players by posting an invitation on social networking site Twitter. He seems surprised that “quite a lot of people” turned up. Muse United got their tails spanked, but Chris—a mad-keen Rotherham United fan—did score a 40-yard screamer.

 

Dom claims that he could walk the streets of London with only “a possibility” that anyone would stop him for an autograph, and then he wouldn’t mind because “they’re always so nice about it”.

 

“I’ve never been chased by the paparazzi or anything like that,” he says. The drummer even manages to come pretty close to guessing the correct cost of four pints of milk—”Two quid?”. (Had he guessed “500 quid?” Kerrang! would have offered to have popped down the shops for him…)

 

Matt Bellamy, surely the most recognisable of the three musicians, says that “it’s rare” that he’s ever approached by strangers (again, though, he doesn’t mind these advances “because they tend to be fans of the band, and nice people”) and that he’s “glad that [Muse] have escaped the trappings of mainstream fame”.

 

“I’m not that famous,” he says. “I’m anonymous. I just blend in.”

 

So what are they like, then, the members of arguably the most adventurous and pioneering band on the planet? Well, they’re like guys you might know, like friends, lads, men. In other words, they’re the exact opposite of the people they appear to be for the two hours they stand onstage.

 

And of all the tricks Muse have up their sleeves, this is the most impressive.

 

“We’re the biggest band in the world that no-one’s ever heard of,” says Dom Howard.

 

MATT BELLAMY says that were it not for music, in the last 12 months he “would have probably gone off the deep end”.

 

“It’s been a strange year, an up and down year,” he says. “It’s been a weird time for me. I’ve been moving around a lot. I broke up with a long-term girlfriend, and that happened pretty much when [The Resistance] was released. I suppose it was probably the most successful period for the band with regard to how the album was received around the world. But for me I was kind of caught up with other stuff. For the band, it’s been great, but for me personally it’s been a bit strange.”

 

Were you able to appreciate the success, given everything else that was going on?

 

“This year I’ve been able to,” Matt says. “This year I’ve been able to look around and go, ‘Wow, this is great’. But not so much last year. Playing live is always fantastic, but that’s the only thing I really enjoyed. My good memories from last year are all from the times when I was onstage.”

 

Matt is presently homeless. Not homeless as in he drinks White Lightning from the bottle beneath Waterloo Bridge, but homeless in the sense that he doesn’t have a bed he can call his own. Muse work as hard as any band you might care to nominate—by the time the tour in support of The Resistance draws to a close in December the trio will have toured Europe and America twice—but even allowing for time off, the 32-year-old singer, guitarist and pianist has been living in hotels for one full year. Previous to this Matt lived in Italy, but his erstwhile girlfriend retained that property when the pair separated. Presently Muse’s principal songwriter is stepping out with actress Kate Hudson, a development that might just nudge him into the realm of celebrity that to date he has so effortlessly avoided. As such Matt seems about as comfortable discussing this subject as he would be lending a stranger his credit card for the day.

 

“It’s all great, it’s all going fine,” he says of the fledgling relationship. “We’re having a great time together just getting to know one another.” And then silence.

 

What advice would you give to readers hoping to pull a Hollywood A-lister?

 

“Er, God, be a perfect English gentleman.” More silence. Not rude silence, just ‘move on, please’ silence.

 

But if recent times have heralded a period of change for Matt Bellamy, at least he’s not the only one. During the recording of The Resistance in Italy in 2009, the drinking habits of bandmate Chris reached chronic levels. He took the view that if he himself wasn’t recording that day then he could better use his time getting pissed. This he did, and his absence from the sessions altered the dynamic of the group. Without his presence and input into the larger details of Muse’s fifth studio album, Matt and Dom—a man who at the time worried that the follow-up to 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations might not be a success—were left alone to bicker over the direction of the music that was being made. Today Chris will describe his relationship with Muse’s 2009 release as being “distant”.

 

“It was just becoming such a problem,” he says of his drinking. “I’d stop going out with [his bandmates] because I was drinking three pints to their every one. It’s difficult to explain to people why it is you’re doing that. So on tour I’d stay in my hotel room just so I could drink more. I look at photos of myself from that time—and obviously in this business you have your picture taken a lot—and I can’t believe what I looked like.

 

“Since I gave up drinking [18 months ago],” he adds, “I’ve lost two-and-a-half stone and I feel much, much better. Obviously it was the smart thing to do.”

 

Chris may be Muse’s most overlooked member, but in journalistic terms he is an unearthed gem. The son of a South Yorkshire steelworker, this father of four (soon to be five) remains married to Kelly, his teenage sweetheart, and appears so down to earth that it’s something of a surprise that he doesn’t show up for this interview wearing grease-stained overalls. He sits with the fans at Rotherham matches, but also speaks (in the most unassuming manner) of being friends with former England goalkeeper David James, and having the footballer round to his house to watch games on television. At one point during our conversation, one of the band’s representatives walks over to ask whether Rio Ferdinand is still coming to the second of the two Wembley Stadium shows.

 

As both a friend of the stars and a man of the people, Chris is the unlikeliest rock star you’ll meet in a month of Friday nights.

 

“I’m very happy with that [perception],” he says. “I’m able to have this amazing job—if you could call it a job—and to make music and play for so many people. But then away from it all I’m able just to live my life. For me, it’s perfect.”

 

Thanks

[cherry lips]

also, Soaked, that was the most personal of all, I guess TOO personal for Matt

 

I read that Adam Lambert said that it's a song about drunkin' one night stands ,even though,we haven't heard it from Matt himself but still...

[the_invincible_dude]

http://www.kerrang.com/blog/newissue/

 

this is the link to the site. you can see the cover, for now.

 

Thanks for this too...I'm definitely off to buy this tonight.

[a-museing]

New album talk! So excited.

[beeSides]

thanks for posting that Tofu

 

matt's still deluded. it's nice to know that hasn't changed.

 

shut up carrieb -- don't even argue with me

[Vespertine]

hm, i'd really like to get this magazine somehow. i wander if one can find kerrang at the newspaper shops in rouen city

 

Unfortunately, I don't think so.

 

The Scans Here

 

MATT BELLAMY is of the opinion that the people who gather to watch Muse play “don’t see [the band] as being famous people”. He also believes that “there is no separation between the band and [its] audience,” and that he and his colleagues—bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dom Howard—are “just like them”.

 

It’s a statement that’s hard to take seriously considering that, a year ago this week, Muse’s album The Resistance topped the charts in 19 different countries, and the subsequent 12 months have seen the band headline countless festivals, stadiums and arenas the world over. Not to mention high-profile stars such as Queen’s Brian May, U2 guitarist The Edge (who joined the trio onstage at the Glastonbury festival in June), and Twilight author Stephenie Meyer (who begged them to pen a track for the film soundtrack for Eclipse) joining the band’s list of celebrity superfans. But no, even in light of all this, the frontman stands firm by his opinion.

 

As a younger man, Matt used to flail around in the mosh pit that spun in front of bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine, and he says he “learned a lot” about how to present a live show “from being a part of the energy of a crowd”.

 

“When I’m onstage I want to know what it’s like out there,” he says. “And I want to do something that will excite [the audience], something that I would have found exciting.”

 

The weekend before last, Muse put this theory to the test over two evenings at London’s Wembley Stadium. Performing in front of 80,000 people each night, the trio graced a stage that may have had older fans wondering if perhaps they were experiencing some kind of acid flashback.

 

In the warm, late summer evening, prior to showtime the platform erected at one end of the stadium field looked like a monstrosity of brutalist architecture, perhaps a municipal car park somewhere deep in Eastern Europe. But as Muse kicked into opening track Uprising, this grey and oddly unsettling structure charged into life: what minutes before had resembled breeze blocks above a lighting rig became scores of television screens, and then one giant screen, and then something that looked like a space-age Rubik’s Cube. And then back to the television sets.

 

This was just the start of it. From the rafters of the Wembley roof hung a glitter ball, onto which was projected a human eye. Midway through the set, the headliners stepped aboard a platform that carried them out over the crowd in a manner that suggested levitation. During Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture), a giant, helium-filled balloon fashioned into the shape of a flying saucer (something so large that, in June, it forced MTV Germany off air during a live broad-cast of Slayer from the Rock am Ring festival) floated above the heads of the people on the field, a dancer or gymnast or contortionist gyrating at its base.

 

“The reason I think the bond between us and our audience is so strong is because what we give them is exactly what I’d want to see if I were watching the show,” says Matt.

 

When people in other bands speak of Muse they do so with a sense of breathless admiration that suggests that this is a group of people possessed of otherworldly powers. And watching them play in the middle of a stage that looks as if it had been beamed in from the future, or from another world entirely, one wonders, what kind of egos, what kind of madmen, could possibly conceive of something like this?

 

But then consider this: three weeks ago Muse found themselves in Manchester. Two days prior to performing to almost 40,000 people at Manchester’s Lancashire County Cricket Club, they played a football match against a local Salford side. Needing to make up numbers for their team, Chris sought players by posting an invitation on social networking site Twitter. He seems surprised that “quite a lot of people” turned up. Muse United got their tails spanked, but Chris—a mad-keen Rotherham United fan—did score a 40-yard screamer.

 

Dom claims that he could walk the streets of London with only “a possibility” that anyone would stop him for an autograph, and then he wouldn’t mind because “they’re always so nice about it”.

 

“I’ve never been chased by the paparazzi or anything like that,” he says. The drummer even manages to come pretty close to guessing the correct cost of four pints of milk—”Two quid?”. (Had he guessed “500 quid?” Kerrang! would have offered to have popped down the shops for him…)

 

Matt Bellamy, surely the most recognisable of the three musicians, says that “it’s rare” that he’s ever approached by strangers (again, though, he doesn’t mind these advances “because they tend to be fans of the band, and nice people”) and that he’s “glad that [Muse] have escaped the trappings of mainstream fame”.

 

“I’m not that famous,” he says. “I’m anonymous. I just blend in.”

 

So what are they like, then, the members of arguably the most adventurous and pioneering band on the planet? Well, they’re like guys you might know, like friends, lads, men. In other words, they’re the exact opposite of the people they appear to be for the two hours they stand onstage.

 

And of all the tricks Muse have up their sleeves, this is the most impressive.

 

“We’re the biggest band in the world that no-one’s ever heard of,” says Dom Howard.

 

MATT BELLAMY says that were it not for music, in the last 12 months he “would have probably gone off the deep end”.

 

“It’s been a strange year, an up and down year,” he says. “It’s been a weird time for me. I’ve been moving around a lot. I broke up with a long-term girlfriend, and that happened pretty much when [The Resistance] was released. I suppose it was probably the most successful period for the band with regard to how the album was received around the world. But for me I was kind of caught up with other stuff. For the band, it’s been great, but for me personally it’s been a bit strange.”

 

Were you able to appreciate the success, given everything else that was going on?

 

“This year I’ve been able to,” Matt says. “This year I’ve been able to look around and go, ‘Wow, this is great’. But not so much last year. Playing live is always fantastic, but that’s the only thing I really enjoyed. My good memories from last year are all from the times when I was onstage.”

 

Matt is presently homeless. Not homeless as in he drinks White Lightning from the bottle beneath Waterloo Bridge, but homeless in the sense that he doesn’t have a bed he can call his own. Muse work as hard as any band you might care to nominate—by the time the tour in support of The Resistance draws to a close in December the trio will have toured Europe and America twice—but even allowing for time off, the 32-year-old singer, guitarist and pianist has been living in hotels for one full year. Previous to this Matt lived in Italy, but his erstwhile girlfriend retained that property when the pair separated. Presently Muse’s principal songwriter is stepping out with actress Kate Hudson, a development that might just nudge him into the realm of celebrity that to date he has so effortlessly avoided. As such Matt seems about as comfortable discussing this subject as he would be lending a stranger his credit card for the day.

 

“It’s all great, it’s all going fine,” he says of the fledgling relationship. “We’re having a great time together just getting to know one another.” And then silence.

 

What advice would you give to readers hoping to pull a Hollywood A-lister?

 

“Er, God, be a perfect English gentleman.” More silence. Not rude silence, just ‘move on, please’ silence.

 

But if recent times have heralded a period of change for Matt Bellamy, at least he’s not the only one. During the recording of The Resistance in Italy in 2009, the drinking habits of bandmate Chris reached chronic levels. He took the view that if he himself wasn’t recording that day then he could better use his time getting pissed. This he did, and his absence from the sessions altered the dynamic of the group. Without his presence and input into the larger details of Muse’s fifth studio album, Matt and Dom—a man who at the time worried that the follow-up to 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations might not be a success—were left alone to bicker over the direction of the music that was being made. Today Chris will describe his relationship with Muse’s 2009 release as being “distant”.

 

“It was just becoming such a problem,” he says of his drinking. “I’d stop going out with [his bandmates] because I was drinking three pints to their every one. It’s difficult to explain to people why it is you’re doing that. So on tour I’d stay in my hotel room just so I could drink more. I look at photos of myself from that time—and obviously in this business you have your picture taken a lot—and I can’t believe what I looked like.

 

“Since I gave up drinking [18 months ago],” he adds, “I’ve lost two-and-a-half stone and I feel much, much better. Obviously it was the smart thing to do.”

 

Chris may be Muse’s most overlooked member, but in journalistic terms he is an unearthed gem. The son of a South Yorkshire steelworker, this father of four (soon to be five) remains married to Kelly, his teenage sweetheart, and appears so down to earth that it’s something of a surprise that he doesn’t show up for this interview wearing grease-stained overalls. He sits with the fans at Rotherham matches, but also speaks (in the most unassuming manner) of being friends with former England goalkeeper David James, and having the footballer round to his house to watch games on television. At one point during our conversation, one of the band’s representatives walks over to ask whether Rio Ferdinand is still coming to the second of the two Wembley Stadium shows.

 

As both a friend of the stars and a man of the people, Chris is the unlikeliest rock star you’ll meet in a month of Friday nights.

 

“I’m very happy with that [perception],” he says. “I’m able to have this amazing job—if you could call it a job—and to make music and play for so many people. But then away from it all I’m able just to live my life. For me, it’s perfect.”

 

 

 

 

Thank you

[Emmnic]

Just came on to post the scans and saw someone already had....I'm a fail

I loved this interview sooo much!! Massively overexcited about the next album though and it could be years away:(

[magicalcombatboots]

The Scans Here

 

Thank you so much!

This wasn't so bad... I'm usually not a fan of Kerrang interviews... mostly just bought it for the posters. But this was a pretty good read methinks.

[Tofu]

You're welcome.

 

The idea of them all moving to London or at least closer to each other makes me happy... I'm really looking forward to the next album! (Though... Chris just moved to Ireland, so.... I'm wondering about that!) Who knows what the music will actually sound like, but I do think at least a few tracks will be more personal than before. Like Matt said, his life was shaken up and it's good for creativity.

[magicalcombatboots]

You're welcome.

 

The idea of them all moving to London or at least closer to each other makes me happy... I'm really looking forward to the next album! (Though... Chris just moved to Ireland, so.... I'm wondering about that!) Who knows what the music will actually sound like, but I do think at least a few tracks will be more personal than before. Like Matt said, his life was shaken up and it's good for creativity.

 

Yeah, I was wondering about that too.... maybe he's not relocating the whole family? Maybe he's just going for an extended business trip or something.... or there was a misunderstanding.

Oh well, I'm just way excited for the next album... even though the excitement is way premature.

[ExogenesisP1]

“I think the next album will be more like the first album,” reckons Matt. “[it’ll be] more emotional and more personal. I think there’s been a personal side to our music that’s been neglected for a long period of time...”

 

I don’t think this means material like NSC at all. Showbiz is pretty personal but still remains rocky and powerful. I would be unhappy if they came out with just stuff like Unintended. More Showbiz or Cave and I would be a VERY happy person .

[eyduh]

This is a really great interview! I love that they're going to be back together and actually have time to hang out, just having fun, they deserved it.

[donmorgan]

The Scans Here

 

Thankyou!! great read

[adds]

“I think the next album will be more like the first album,” reckons Matt. “[it’ll be] more emotional and more personal. I think there’s been a personal side to our music that’s been neglected for a long period of time...”

 

I don’t think this means material like NSC at all. Showbiz is pretty personal but still remains rocky and powerful. I would be unhappy if they came out with just stuff like Unintended. More Showbiz or Cave and I would be a VERY happy person .

 

that made me :D another Showbiz/OoS would be wonderful.

 

great article too

[UnintendedFan]

The Scans Here

 

Thank you for the headsup and thanks dekza for the scans.

 

What a fine interview! I must try to find a copy to support the magazine's great job.

[pritijes]

Thank you Tofu!

[dekza]

Thank you for the headsup and thanks dekza for the scans.

 

What a fine interview! I must try to find a copy to support the magazine's great job.

 

The scans are not from me. Credit goes to the guy from musesetlist on twitter. Thanks to him!

[Niall]

Really good article it was. I guess this means after Australia they'll stop touring if they're aiming to start writing music in Summer next year. I would have guessed they'd take more time off than that after such a long tour.

 

Matt saying the new album will be like Showbiz is really interesting from a musical side of things.

[mjarre]

These kinds of articles make me love this band even more:D I am really looking forward to their next album. I'm curious as to how they will rekindle their original (more personal, yet rebellious and youthful) sound now that they have matured and experienced such a chart topping year with the Resistance CD:happy: I don't know how they will do it, but they some how always manage to accomplish the unthinkable. I know I will love whatever they produce, I just hope they don't make us wait too long:(

[laurenn1]

I'm really excited to see how this album turns out

[CarrieB]

These kinds of articles make me love this band even more:D I am really looking forward to their next album. I'm curious as to how they will rekindle their original (more personal, yet rebellious and youthful) sound now that they have matured and experienced such a chart topping year with the Resistance CD:happy: I don't know how they will do it, but they some how always manage to accomplish the unthinkable. I know I will love whatever they produce, I just hope they don't make us wait too long:(

 

I'm not sure whether they will attempt to rekindle a rebellious and youthful sound. My impression from the interview was that Matt was simply referring to the personal, more emotionally full on, aspect. I assume he intends to reflect how he, or they, have felt recently.

 

PS I think there may be several songs already written. I seem to remember reading that with Showbiz, it was a matter of working with songs they already had, which I imagine is how they can manage to capture a time which may be actually in the past by the time they come to recording. I would also think that if you already have the material, there's more incentive to get on and start working on it, rather than taking an extended break.

[L.]

Really good article it was. I guess this means after Australia they'll stop touring if they're aiming to start writing music in Summer next year. I would have guessed they'd take more time off than that after such a long tour.

 

Matt saying the new album will be like Showbiz is really interesting from a musical side of things.

 

I wish they would take a longer break to and take the time to recharge their batteries before starting to work on the new album.

 

makes me wonder as well whether they will go back to using a producer this time around or continue down the self-produced route.

[crazydays]

Is it mad to be excited about the 6th album already? cause I basically just peed myself reading all the stuff about chris being a bigger contributor on the album, the whole moving to london thing, and matt's "Having your life shaken up is good for creativity"

 

Plus, dom sounds really enthusiastic about the next album and a few changes being made, seems like he wants to bring some rock back

[kindakooky]

So buying this.

[CarrieB]

Is it mad to be excited about the 6th album already? cause I basically just peed myself reading all the stuff about chris being a bigger contributor on the album, the whole moving to london thing, and matt's "Having your life shaken up is good for creativity"

 

 

Actually I was just thinking about that "having your life shaken up" bit, that he could be talking about having new experiences as well. If you're pretty settled and there hasn't been much change in your personal circumstances for years, there's not going to be too much to write about is there.