MUSE Recreates Themselves on Black Holes and Revelations
Following seven years of near solid touring, Muse buzzed with nervous anticipation. Their escalation from being the biggest band in Teignmouth in 1997 to one of the biggest bands in Europe by 2004 was a rocket ride. Closing the Glastonbury concert was a major step-up. With a weary, mud-drenched concert crowd facing a long Sunday night trudge home even Muse doubted they could pull it off. “We got offered the headline slot which scared the shit out of us to start with because we didn’t think we were big enough to do it,” says bassist Chris Wolstenhome.
At the age of 19, the band members were swept out of decorating jobs into the private jets and limos as the A&R hunt for Muse began. They broke every rule of “proper rock”. First they released an Egyptian/funk crossover debut single (‘Muscle Museum’), and then wrote riffs so elaborate in their brilliance that they threatened to garrote anyone daring to play them (‘Plug In Baby’).
Muse has more than doubled their audience with each new album released (1999’s Showbiz shifted 500,000, Origin Of Symmetry hit the million mark in 2001 and 2003’s masterpiece of epic malevolence Absolution sold twice that). They have established themselves as the most thrilling operatic sci-fi carnival on the European arena circuit inside five years…. “I’m sure we go through cycles,” says Matt, “like having a great time then getting jaded where the vibes are just a bit dark. But with the second coming of that cycle, we were like, “oh god, we’re going downhill again, we need to go home and not book a tour for a long time”.
But, Absolution became a cult hit in the US, so with the highs of the Glastonbury concert behind them and with two sold out dates at Earls Court that Christmas to bolster their standing back home, Muse hit the Mid-West circuit, stripping away the arena flam and bluster and re-discovered the broiling, accident-prone three-piece beneath. “We went from playing these massive arenas in Europe to playing to 200 people in some pokey hole again,” Matt laughs.... But it was good to be treated like a new band over there and get that feeling of being discovered again.
Invigorated, Muse took a month off to work out where ‘home’ was - Matt relocated to a town just outside Milan, Chris and his ever-growing family remained in Teignmouth and Dom stuck about in London’s ‘trendy’ Highbury - before reconvening in summer 2005 in the bat-infested Chateau Miraval studio in a Knights Templar town in Southern France.... Most of the writing process started out there. It was a quieter place and truly cut off from the lifestyle they had.
Their previous albums, they figured, were born of necessity; hurried in the face of impending tour dates and hobbled by the need to ensure they could be played live. This time, they took a No Limits approach - no tour was booked, no studio tomfoolery was out of bounds; they were to explore the technological possibilities of the ‘studio band’.
The equipment at Chateau Miraval was, frankly, not up to the job of recording a Muse album, so the band went to New York to complete the bulk of the recording in the Electric Lady and Avatar studios and to soak the record in much-needed dance floor flavas.... “Songs like ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ would’ve been twenty minutes long. Going to New York for some reason tightened everything up and it got more groove orientated. “Songs like Starlight and Supermassive Black Hole and Hoodoo, they all had grooves that radically changed when we went to New York, I don’t know if that was the vibe of the city or what.”
If Muse sounds like a new band on Black Holes and Revelations it’s because, after Glastonbury, they expanded their mind, settled their spirit and produced anything but a sedentary sound. Some of this might come as a shock: The opener Take A Bow takes over where Absolution left off. – then Matt’s wails “You will burn in hell for your sins!”… Starlight is an Abba gig on the moon. Map of the Problematique is Depeche Mode impersonating Queen for a Bond theme and, most surprising of all, Supermassive Black Hole is a dance floor electro-metal stomper, resembling Beck giving Marilyn Manson a helium blowback in Studio 54. They close the CD in a flurry of flamenco frenetics and mariachi horns.
Fans of the apocalyptic soundbite, madcap conspiracy theory, revolutionary rabble-rousing, and weird stuff about aliens inventing all earthly religions will not be disappointed with the lyrics. “I think we’re approaching that time,” Matt says. “If you look at those protests in France, the size and level of protest doesn’t really relate to what they’re protesting about. I think there’s something underneath that people are feeling, particularly the younger generation. We feel like we’ve been born into some pre-created situation where we don’t actually have any control over anything. We’ve got an aging population as well and that control factor grates a little bit. I feel, through this album, that I’m feeling pessimistic and frustrated about it all but at the same time I’m not against revolutionary moves and I wouldn’t be ashamed to have incited a small riot, if it’s for a good cause.”
The time has come. The New Muse Order is on the rise.
Cool Quotes
“Merci beaucoup. This is our last song now, (Dom - Thankyou), Thank you very much indeed. We’re doing a tour, coming back in… ahh, get a grip. (Chris - Its Gone) Lost the plot. I’ve lost the plot, I’ve lost the fucking plot mate. what? What? Say it. You wanna say something? (Dom - No) Say something quick. I never know what to say incase you had’nt noticed. I never know what to say, just make a dick of myself everytime. (Dom - Anyway, this song is called Bliss, bye bye)”- Matthew Bellamy confusing the Paris Crowd and band mates in 2001, Saint Malo.
More…
- Knights of Cydonia (video)
- MUSE on iTunes
- MUSE on MySpace
- MUSE’s Fan Site
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