Epic songs inspire more Muse fans

[Bells]

Last time, band played Rave; now rockers headline Bradley Center

 

Rest assured, Muse fans: The name of the grandiose alt-rock band's latest album, 2009's "The Resistance," has nothing to do with Muse's seeming reluctance to play in Milwaukee.

 

Despite several world tours, the British threesome, headlining the Bradley Center on Wednesday, hasn't played locally since a gig at The Rave in 2004.

 

"Obviously, it's a shame," bass player Chris Wolstenholme said in a recent phone interview. On the bright side, "there are not many places where we've done a club gig and then the next time we come play an arena," he said. " . . . When you go to new places or places you haven't been to much before, there's more excitement (from the crowd) than you normally would have."

 

There's plenty to be excited about. Besides an elaborate new stage show (each band member plays in the center of his own stage-to-ceiling tower that doubles as a massive video screen), Muse also has plenty of new material. In the six years since Muse was in town, the band composed two albums loaded with highly unorthodox, epic songs structured for stadiums.

 

What's surprising is that the band is mainstream enough to headline arenas and stadiums. On paper, tracks such as "Knights of Cydonia," a six-minute, spaghetti western/space opera mash-up, or "Exogenis," a three-part, 13-minute classical symphony accented with drums and guitar, hardly seem populist.

 

However, inspired by muses ranging from Led Zeppelin to Queen to Chopin (whose "Nocturne in E flat major" is incorporated into Muse's "United States of Eurasia"), the group's signature sound - deep bass lines, wicked guitar solos, lush piano and singer Matthew Bellamy's theatrical vibrato - has earned it a massive audience of indie rock audiophiles, classical lovers, heavy metal hounds and even "Twilight" fans (author Stephanie Meyer credits the band for inspiring her writing).

 

"We're lucky to have fans that know we're a rock band that likes to mix things up a little bit," said Wolstenholme, 31. "Even throughout all the experimentation in our songs and the sonic layers, if you strip it down to its bare bones, there's a good chord structure and melody. If it's not something that people can sing along to, at the end of the day, it's not a song anymore, it's a demonstration."

 

Muse has demonstrated that it's possible for musicians to take risks, be it by mixing genres or crafting lengthy songs, and still become one of the biggest bands in the world.

 

But Wolstenholme said it couldn't have happened if he, Bellamy and drummer Dominic Howard hadn't remained friends.

 

"We've known each other since we were 13 years old and started this band when we were 15 or 16," he said. "We've grown through a lot of periods together and gone through a lot of personal things together.

 

"The band has been together for half of our lives now, and it's almost like a marriage in that there are ups and downs. . . . But there's so much history there that we all know if any one member wasn't in the band anymore, it just wouldn't work."

 

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Source: Jsonline

[LifeOfSydonia]

Thanks for posting

 

I've always loved how close the guys are with each other, and he's right.. I just can't see how it would work if one of them would leave the band.

[eyduh]

"We've known each other since we were 13 years old and started this band when we were 15 or 16," he said. "We've grown through a lot of periods together and gone through a lot of personal things together.

 

"The band has been together for half of our lives now, and it's almost like a marriage in that there are ups and downs. . . . But there's so much history there that we all know if any one member wasn't in the band anymore, it just wouldn't work."

 

I feel so glad that I'm a fan of the band where I actually don't have to think about them splitting up because one of the band members had an affair with the other's girlfriend, or because they fight over something. They're really special when it comes to that connection.

[Louhi]

"Exogenis"