“Back To The Future” – Matt Bellamy On The Cover Of Australian Guitar Magazine, 2010

[Kati]

Eh?

 

I thought MK had a tricky part in it and Haze explained to me that actually as a song it isn't and there is more complicated song. I have no idea what your rant is all about.

 

And nobody is moaning about the setlist we are discussing a point of the interview where matt mentioned that mistakes doesn't bother him.

 

 

You don't? Ignorance is bliss, or something (sorry for my English )

 

Hi Katey.

 

You've just made yourself look very stupid. Well done.

 

With love, Haze.

 

Oh dear, did I miss a joke or something? You're Matt Bellamy taking piss of the stupid boardies defending Bellamy/(yourself..)? Sorry it must have been obvious for everyone else... I feel so stupid now.

 

BTW Haze/Humphrey/Matt: can you tell me where did Q magazine get this interview?

 

http://erato1.wordpress.com/matthew-bellamy/2010-q-mag-interviews-matt-bellamy-paris-bercy-november-17th-2009-gig-review-february-edition/

 

"Fans have been requesting it on message boards, but we weren’t physically capable of playing it earlier in the tour as the guitar part is pretty tricky for me to pull off when I’m singing,” admits Bellamy later. “We’ve been practicing and practicing in soundchecks to pull it off.”

 

Seriously Haze, I'm quite curious about your competence as a guitar player and live performer. Mr. Bellamy is a) nearly ten years older than you b) a world-known professional musician having performed on stadiums for years now c) claimed by several reviewers to be a virtuoso musician, or something along those lines (no I don't have exact quotes). What makes you think you know better than him whether a song he composed is tricky to play? Are you maybe thinking that he is lying or that the interview is fake or what?

 

Actually I've appreciated your views as a musician yourself on Muse songs. But by saying that a song is easy to play when Bellamy says the contrary, you imply he is actually a rather poor player, and for that you should have some good record.

 

Regards,

Kati (it's Kati, not Katey... your name spelling doesn't really convince me of your musical skills)

 

// end of bitching. I think I've made my point clear.

[Hat]

Kati (it's Kati, not Katey... your name spelling doesn't really convince me of your musical skills)

Amazing.

 

If Haze can play it without any big problems, isn't that enough proof that it doesn't require some guitar virtuoso? (No offence Haze)

 

Like Matt said, they had problems with it during soundchecks, therefore it has nothing to do with being nervous when they play in from of thousands of people.

[CarrieB]

I don't believe him when he says he isn't bothered about making mistakes. If that was the case Assassin would still be around.

 

I have to agree! I reckon he's pretending here! I reckon in reality he's very tense about making mistakes. That doesn't make him a lesser artist though however, just a less confident one which, in my mind, contributes to, rather than detracts from, the overall brilliance because it's part of the personality of the music.

[Hat]

I have to agree! I reckon he's pretending here! I reckon in reality he's very tense about making mistakes. That doesn't make him a lesser artist though however, just a less confident one which, in my mind, contributes to, rather than detracts from, the overall brilliance.

He did say in an interview not too long ago that he didn't want to play Exo 2 because of fear of making mistakes, so yeah, he's lying (pretending is a nice word for it)

[CarrieB]

He did say in an interview not too long ago that he didn't want to play Exo 2 because of fear of making mistakes, so yeah, he's lying (pretending is a nice word for it)

 

Does it matter? Doesn't everyone bullshit a bit.? Basically there's the rock star persona to any band and then there's the real people. It's not like he consistently fabricates, otherwise we wouldn't have any idea of his confidence issue. Personally the fact that he has that makes me respect him more. Though he could be fabricating about the confidence issue! I doubt it though tbh.

[L.]

You don't? Ignorance is bliss, or something (sorry for my English )

 

 

No I don't understand what your rant towards haze is all about. We were having a perfectly nice and civilised conversation about a point of the article until you came storming in out of nowhere attacking haze who had done nothing to directly provoke you and then mentioning setlist which had nothing to do with the conversation.

 

He did say in an interview not too long ago that he didn't want to play Exo 2 because of fear of making mistakes, so yeah, he's lying (pretending is a nice word for it)

 

and then people wonder why some people take what matt says with a pinch of salt... clear case of contradiction between 2 interviews there!

[dead-duck]

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

[Hat]

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

I'm pretty sure that he has said that he's more nervous about playing the piano, yeah.

[Hat]

Does it matter? Doesn't everyone bullshit a bit.? Basically there's the rock star persona to any band and then there's the real people. It's not like he consistently fabricates, otherwise we wouldn't have any idea of his confidence issue. Personally the fact that he has that makes me respect him more. Though he could be fabricating about the confidence issue! I doubt it though tbh.

It matters in the discussion since we are discussing why he isn't playing some songs, and the fact that he most definitely lied about it in this interview.

[dead-duck]

It matters in the discussion since we are discussing why he isn't playing some songs, and the fact that he most definitely lied about it in this interview.

What did he "most definitely lie" about here? He said he's not afraid to make mistakes on guitar, and you pointed to an interview where he said he was afraid to play a song on piano for fear that he'd mess it up. That's not a contradiction....

[CarrieB]

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

 

Or it could be that he answers questions in accordance with how comfortable he feels in particular interview situations.

 

You are making a good point though, thinking about it. He could care less about what he does on guitar than piano as his inspirations in relation to piano are classical composers, so he may feel the need to be on a par with classical pianists at which he's at a disadvantage since he doesn't read music very quickly. What he doesn't take into account though is that those classical pianists aren't writing music and playing other instruments and singing like he is.

[L.]

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

 

yes you could be right on that one that he is more nervous about piano mistake than the guitar...

 

I don't know about Assassin but I would love to hear that song live for the drumming and the bridge.

 

What did he "most definitely lie" about here? He said he's not afraid to make mistakes on guitar, and you pointed to an interview where he said he was afraid to play a song on piano for fear that he'd mess it up. That's not a contradiction....

 

but he is afraid of making mistakes on the guitar too from other things that were said, he might just be more afraid of the piano than the guitar.

[spark_]

 

I have no idea where you pull this stuff from but keep going, please. It's entertaining.

 

---

 

I'm inclined to believe that there is something WRT to difficulty that is stopping many piano songs being played live (CP, AP, SD etc.) - all the current songs are comparatively very easy (chords, basically, or their broken variety).

 

Issue with piano is there is not a whole lot of room for experimentation/error. It's very difficult to hide a mistake and even harder to not make it sound awful.

[Hat]

What did he "most definitely lie" about here? He said he's not afraid to make mistakes on guitar, and you pointed to an interview where he said he was afraid to play a song on piano for fear that he'd mess it up. That's not a contradiction....

Ah, my mistake. I didn't bother to read the whole thing, but went after what I read in the posts here, which was "I don't believe him when he says he isn't bothered about making mistakes".

[Zaphod Chizzlebrox]

I remember early in Muse's career Bellamy wasn't at all confident about playing the piano and singing at the same time. And yes, I know it doesn't apply to Collateral Damage, but it can affect overall confidence and maybe that's why he doesn't even play the New Born intro any more.

[dead-duck]

yes you could be right on that one that he is more nervous about piano mistake than the guitar...

 

I don't know about Assassin but I would love to hear that song live for the drumming and the bridge.

I'd like to hear it too I'd also like to hear it with the vocals in the bridge

[Hat]

I'd like to hear it too I'd also like to hear it with the vocals in the bridge

I'm always disappointed when he doesn't sing that part

[haze015]

Oh dear, did I miss a joke or something? You're Matt Bellamy taking piss of the stupid boardies defending Bellamy/(yourself..)? Sorry it must have been obvious for everyone else... I feel so stupid now.

 

BTW Haze/Humphrey/Matt: can you tell me where did Q magazine get this interview?

 

http://erato1.wordpress.com/matthew-bellamy/2010-q-mag-interviews-matt-bellamy-paris-bercy-november-17th-2009-gig-review-february-edition/

 

"Fans have been requesting it on message boards, but we weren’t physically capable of playing it earlier in the tour as the guitar part is pretty tricky for me to pull off when I’m singing,” admits Bellamy later. “We’ve been practicing and practicing in soundchecks to pull it off.”

 

Seriously Haze, I'm quite curious about your competence as a guitar player and live performer. Mr. Bellamy is a) nearly ten years older than you b) a world-known professional musician having performed on stadiums for years now c) claimed by several reviewers to be a virtuoso musician, or something along those lines (no I don't have exact quotes). What makes you think you know better than him whether a song he composed is tricky to play? Are you maybe thinking that he is lying or that the interview is fake or what?

 

Actually I've appreciated your views as a musician yourself on Muse songs. But by saying that a song is easy to play when Bellamy says the contrary, you imply he is actually a rather poor player, and for that you should have some good record.

 

Regards,

Kati (it's Kati, not Katey... your name spelling doesn't really convince me of your musical skills)

 

// end of bitching. I think I've made my point clear.

 

I never said he was a poor player, just answering a suggestion made by someone and you're making ridiculous assumptions from that.

 

The tab for the verses of MK Ultra is this:

 

VERSE 1: x2
                        x5
e|-------------------------|                                                 
B|-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-|                                                   
G|-------------------------|                                                   
D|-------------------------|                                                   
A|-------------------------|                                                   
D|-------------------------|                                                   

e|-------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|     
B|-10b11-11-11-11-11-11-11-|-11r10-10-10-10-10-10-10-|-10-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|      
G|-------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|      
D|-------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|    
A|-------------------------|-------------------------|------------------|      
D|-------------------------|-------------------------|------------------| 

 

Not difficult at all. What you're saying as a non-guitarist to one of 9 years, is that they don't know what they are talking about, when in fact they may know more of you.

 

Here's me playing guitar:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR1VH-fi9FM

 

Amazing.

 

If Haze can play it without any big problems, isn't that enough proof that it doesn't require some guitar virtuoso? (No offence Haze)

 

Like Matt said, they had problems with it during soundchecks, therefore it has nothing to do with being nervous when they play in from of thousands of people.

 

I've never learnt to play it, but it's on the beat, at a not too fast pace and not all over the fret board.

 

Compared to songs like Screenager, which almost goes into shredding and has some fairly odd chords in it, it's very, very basic.

 

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

 

You can get away with mistakes easier on electric guitar compared to a piano. Genres like Delta Blues is all about being sloppy.

[CarrieB]

I remember early in Muse's career Bellamy wasn't at all confident about playing the piano and singing at the same time. And yes, I know it doesn't apply to Collateral Damage, but it can affect overall confidence and maybe that's why he doesn't even play the New Born intro any more.

 

Point is though it's all about confidence not about ability. No one can make him more confident just by telling him he has to be, or putting him down for not having it. Tbh I think he's actually done pretty well on that score considering.

[dead-duck]

Just thinking about the piano vs guitar thing, judging by Matt's reaction to the mistake on CD at Teignmouth, if Matt was as nervous about his guitar skills as his piano skills we'd never have heard MKU again after those first couple of performances - wrong notes everywhere, wrong lyrics lol i remember hearing one early recording of it and thinking "whoa, this is kinda awful" but he's gotten the hang of it now

[haze015]

Point is though it's all about confidence not about ability. No one can make him more confident just by telling him he has to be, or putting him down for not having it. Tbh I think he's actually done pretty well on that score considering.

 

No one would ever get on stage if they didn't have any confidence in their own ability to play.

 

 

Do remember hearing they don't ever rehearse, which I'd imagine is the issue.

[funkadelic]

It could be that he's more nervous about mistakes in piano songs than guitar for some reason... the only things I can think of that aren't being played because of mistakes are the piano-heavy exogenesis parts and collateral damage... has he ever explicitly mentioned being worried about messing up a guitar part?

 

Also, I thought the reason they didn't play Assassin was because the drumming was so intense, and when coupled with other songs they play regularly it's too tiring for Dom?

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

 

From what I've seen/heard, Matt is usually able to laugh it off when he makes a mistake on the guitar.

[Hat]

He's afraid that his mistakes will show, we get that. But it's not like he has a serious problem with it, otherwise 100+ concerts a year be a living hell, and he would end up depressed after a few months.

[CarrieB]

No one would ever get on stage if they didn't have any confidence in their own ability to play.

 

 

 

 

Yes I agree. Of course he has confidence, but nothing is ever black and white. People on here do tend to talk about absolutes, but in reality that's rarely the case.

 

I think they do rehearse btw. Maybe they are a bit uncommitted re rehearsing, I don't know. I got the impression from what they said about making The Resistance that whereas Matt wants perfection, he hasn't actually got much patience when it comes to getting to that point - Dom was aiming at perfection and Matt was getting irritated and like "that will do" but, in the end they haven't done too bad.

 

PS I get the impression that Matt's not straightforward, he's complex so it's pointless taking everything he says as read. That certainly doesn't mean, however, that he lies.

[Ross]

Yes I agree. Of course he has confidence, but nothing is ever black and white. People on here do tend to talk about absolutes, but in reality that's rarely the case.

 

I think they do rehearse btw. Maybe they are a bit uncommitted re rehearsing, I don't know (I got the impression from what they said about making The Resistance that whereas Matt wants perfection, he hasn't actually got much patience when it comes to getting to that point - Dom was aiming at perfection and Matt was getting irritated and like "that will do" but, in the end they haven't done too bad.

I think in light of what's been discovered in recent times about the making of it, some of the rehearsal time might've been taken getting Chris up to speed with everything in a way. just throwing it out there (although if that was they case, then they absolutely shouldn't have taken the support dates for U2, but that's now neither here nor there)