(MUSE) Matt Bellamy: the ONLY guitar interview!
December 2003 (Issue 117)
As anthemic as it is experimental, Absolution is Muse's greatest achievement yet. Matt Bellamy tells us about taking chords apart, getting the ultimate tone, and the making of a masterpiece.
It starts with the sound of massed armies approaching, and ends with a single dying power chord. It's called "Apocalypse Please" and it's the opening track on Muse's extraordinary new album, Absolution. From here on in it's a non-stop lunatic ride through some of the grandest, most unashamedly epic guitar music ever created, taking in mournful death marches (Blackout), sound-and-fury riffing (Stockholm Syndrome), as well as thunderous end of the world anthems (Time Is Running Out).
In the months leading up to the album's release, Matt Bellamy told the press that the coming Muse record would be more 'uplifting' than previous efforts. We needn't have worried. From it's portentous opening bars to its final desolate climax, Absolution is about as 'uplifting' as a nuclear holocaust.
Unsurprisingly, given its sheer scale and scope, the album wasn't an easy one to make. Sessions began in September 2002, but after three months, the band found themselves with little to show for their efforts. It took a new producer and a change of location to finally get the creative cylinders firing.
"The first songs we started recording for Absolution were Butterflies and Hurricanes and Blackout" recalls Matt.
"We'd been working with a producer called Paul Reeve, who was the guy we worked with right back in the beginning. We tried to go for a mixture of a lot of strings and a lot of choral backing vocals, and those two songs worked really well in that way. But when we tried to use the same technique on a couple of other songs, it didn't work."
"So we decided to take a break from it over Christmas. When we came back in the New Year we opted to work with this guy Rich Costey [Rage Against The Machine, The Mars Volta] and it all took on a more minimalist approach".
Of course, what Matt Bellamy considers "minimalist" is what the rest of us would describe as "absolutely bleeding monumental" - and sure, enough, Absolution is shot through with mad effects, unorthodox scales, and jaw-droppingly inventive guitar sounds. TG caught up with Matt Bellamy during Muse's recent Australian tour and asked, "How on earth do you do it?"
"Well, in a studio environment, you can really test amps out against each other and find out what works best. I went through a lot of different cans and heads but ended up using a Diezel head with a Soldano cabinet. It was the best sound, so I used that on everything. And I'll be using that exact set up live as well. The good thing about the Diezel is that it's MIDI controllable, which means I can plug my guitar straight into the amp and have effects just going through the effects loop.
"What I use is a Line 6 Echo Pro, which is actually a studio unit. Because it's also MIDI-controllable, I can have it on a rack next to the amp, leaving the signal between the guitar and the amp completely clean. It goes straight from me into the amp, with the Echo Pro running parallel. So when I hit my MIDI foot-controller the amp brings it into the loop."
Q: How did you go about capturing those sounds in the studio?
"Basically, the cabinet had about 20 microphones in front of it! I couldn't tell you what they all were - there were so many different types. But all of the leads were going into a mixer. Obviously, the mixing deck was really big, and because we're only a three-piece band we put a lot of mics on our instruments, then mixed different microphones together to get a sound. We would just go through them all - on some songs we'd have like, four mics going at once while others would have just one. Then on other tunes we'd have a little of all of them. That approach gave us a lot of maneuverability. We actually mixed the album on the same mixing deck the Beach Boys used for Pet Sounds. That was Rich's [Costey, producer' idea".
Q: How did your approach differ from previous albums?
"In the past I used to layer the guitars quite a lot, but this time around I wanted to get just one guitar part to stand out and be just perfect. On the last album [Origin Of Symmetry] for example, on songs like Citizen Erased or Micro Cuts I did a lot of multiple guitar parts. But when I went to do it live, I found myself simplifying the guitar parts, which I then thought sounded much more powerful and more effective. So, in making Absolution, instead of recording all the songs in layers, I was working on the parts a lot more before I started to record them."
"Most of the album is in standard tuning. But there were a couple of songs where I used different ones - Stockholm Syndrome has a drop D tuning, and Blackout has standard tuning all the way through but the D string is dropped down to D, just for a couple of notes at the very end. And on Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist I have a capo on the 10th fret".
Q: Did you experiment with any guitar techniques this time around?
"I've been influenced a little bit by System Of A Down, especially on songs like Stockholm Syndrome. I was getting into that kind of fast speed metal-type riffery, which is something I've never done before. Actually, I know I'm going to completely contradict what I said before, but on Time Is Running Out, instead of recording the normal chords, I actually broke the chord down to its individual notes and recorded them all individually, then kind of built the chord up that way."
Q: You mean the same approach that Def Leppard used for Hysteria?
"Yes, exactly! I did that on a couple of songs, but I always stayed within the realm of the overall guitar part. Like, if I was doing multi-layered guitars I would break down the strings into smaller parts, so it wouldn't get too out of control."
Q: You're famous for using unique custom-made Manson guitars. Did you use anything more conventional on Absolution?
"Apart from the Mansons, I just used a Gibson SG - I think it's a 1962. It's technically a Les Paul but looks like a SG, but then back then Les Pauls used to look like a modern-day SG. It's basically an SG, but it's got this really fat neck, much fatter than a normal model, with a tremolo fitted as well. I used that guitar on Hysteria and Time Is Running Out."
"I had to completely change my amp set-up for this record. When I was starting out years ago, I used quite a lot of different amps really, often three three at the same time. I had a Matchless, a Fender Deville and a Marshall stack, all with loads of effects pedals. It was getting to be too much gear to cart around, and I also found that going through all the effects was taking away the tone of the guitar. So I ended up stripping it all down and starting from scratch. That was when I began using just the JCM 2000, which - along with a Line 6 delay (DM4) and a Digitech whammy pedal - was all I used for the past couple of years.
"But now I've completely changed my sound, because I've found this new Diezel. It's German high gain valve amp and the sound it makes is just unbelievable. They're very rare and extremely hard to find. You can only buy them hand built, but the sound you get is absolutely pristine! It's got four channels with four different valves in them that create completely different tones. I used that for virtually everything on the album."
Q: Do a lot of your riffs and guitar lines come from just the band jamming together or do you map them out ahead?
"A lot of the riffery stuff does come from jamming with the band, just kind of playing through stuff and suddenly something will happen and we kind of go with it. But at the same time I'll spend a lot of time on the piano - it creates such a different mood when I play. But then when I pick up the guitar again, it's like I can't believe how powerful it is and how much more stuff you can do with it. So the first few minutes after I pick up a guitar when I've played the piano for hours, I seem to come up with loads of ideas, simply because of the contrast".
Q: Does your fondness for the piano influence the way you play guitar?
"Actually, the first instrument I got into was the guitar. The piano was just something I would play for fun every now and again. When I was 13 or 14 it was the guitar that made me really want to get into music. I wasn't into classical music back then, I was into grunge and Jimi Hendrix and stuff. In fact, it was more this kind of loose and out of control improvisational playing, with lots of mistakes, that got me into the guitar. But then when we recorded our first album [Showbiz] I really started to become interested in the piano again. We had a song on the record called Sunburn and it didn't sound very good on the guitar, so I worked it out on the piano. It took me ages to do, because at that time I hadn't played the piano for years. But when we recorded it I was very happy with the result, and at that point decided to start working on the piano more."
Q: So it was only really once you'd got into piano playing that you embraced the more technical, classical side of things?
"Yes, I don't know why that is, but I think it could be something to do with the early 20th century piano music I was listening to. It's very emotional, but quite technical as well. I found that an interesting concept, because with the guitar it seemed you could only be either emotional or technical, but you couldn't do both. Whereas the piano helped me understand it was possible to make music that was technical and emotional at the same time. So for that reason I think the piano playing started to influence the songwriting on Origin of Symmetry, and probably a lot more on this album. It obviously has an influence on the way I'm thinking about playing chords on the guitar as well."
Q: Do you get to do much writing when you're out on the road?
"Yeah, ideas are always coming and going in soundchecks, or when you're hanging around in hotel rooms with your acoustic or whatever. I don't usually write stuff down because I believe if something is good, you'll just remember it. I think it's the same as when you hear a catchy tune or something you really love and it sticks in your mind. This approach applies when you're writing music too. You shouldn't have to write things down and make demo tapes of everything."
Q: Have you ever thought about doing a solo album?
"I don't know, I can't see a reason why I would want to work with a different drummer or a different bass player. In terms of exploration maybe other people could be added to the band - that's something I can imagine we could try. But with regards to Dom and Chris, if I was ever going to make music there's no-one else I'd want to work with."
Q: What are your thoughts on the current British rock scene and on bands like The Darkness? Do you like their music?
"I do know The Darkness very well. They have a very retro 80s sound. I find retro music very entertaining, but it doesn't really say anything to me about my life. It's not something I can relate to, but at the same time I can appreciate it from an entertainment point of view. I think it's the same with garage punk music too. It's entertaining and interesting, but nothing I can relate to. Personally, I'm more interested in music that's looking to move forward as opposed to moving backwards."
Q: What's coming up for Muse?
"The immediate future is a load of arena shows around Europe. It's the first time we're doing that kind of thing, so we're getting in a load of video screens and we're going to put on a big show. We're also planning to tour a fair bit in America with this album, as last time we didn't do much over there. Apart from that, I really can't say what's going to happen in the long-term. I can't see that far ahead."
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