When life was loud

Aberdeen Evening Express Wednesday 16th February 2000 It took them five years of hard graft to sweep up four record deals in a matter of months, but for Muse all that really matters is the music. "I don't think many bands feel that strongly about their music," states frontman Matt Bellamy. "It's sad, but I think Nirvana were the last band who had that. Music should be an outlet for your emotions. If it wasn't for Muse, I think I'd probably be a nasty, violent person. It's definitely a release, and that's the way it should be."  The trio - Matt, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard - all grew up in a sea-side town in Devon.  It was at 13 that they formed their first band, playing wherever would have them.   Matt says "We played at hundreds of places, pubs full of old people, whatever, but all they ever wanted was covers of 60s hits, so we didn't go down very well. I think it helped us in a way."   Now at the average age of 20, M...

Total Guitar July 2001 - Issue No #85 Matt Bellamy goes mad, gets heavier...  Using human skulls as percussion on the new album, hanging out in karaoke bars with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the Foo Fighters, drinking to excess, claiming that his local police force were corrupt drug dealers, public rows with the Stereophonics...what's going on with Muse and, more particularly, Matt Bellamy?   The latest controversy? Muse were rumored to be supporting the Stereophonics this summer on their Day At The Races dates but allegedly turned the Stereophonics down, asking for more money than was on offer £25,000 in total, say the 'Phonics. Kelly joked that they could get a Radiohead tribute band in to take their place, and added "they just sound so much like the other band, I can't buy it". More directly he said that Matt was "a bit of a knob" and a "fucking idiot".   Sitting in a deserted Camden bar - having just been photographed with his new custom ...

Total Guitar  December 2003 - Issue no #117 You know him by his...Fright mask, boiler suit and drop-tuned riffs of doom.  Greatest moment: Coming to the TG studio and proving that he could shred after all  Having appeared on the TG cover three times now, it's probably safe to say that Slipknot's lead guitarist Mick Thomson is a 'friend of the magazine'. But it wasn't always this way, oh no.  Back in October 2001 Mick fell foul of you, dear reader, with his dismissal of grunge (" Teen Spirit basically killed guitar playing") and his decidedly non PC description of 1980s LA rockers who could, "play like motherfuckers, but looked like a bunch of faggots". And his attitude wasn't the only thing that came under your harsh scrutiny. You questioned #7's ability on the fretboard and slated his band's noise masquerading as music. Not so much a storm as a raging hurricane in a teacup.  But Mick made amends. We invited him to answer some of you...

BBC 6 Music c. September 2003 (had some replay in May 2004) Twilight Zone music plays  "You are travelling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land, whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead. Your next stop; the mind-bending world of Muse"  "You are about to meet a man, mid twenties, black hair. He could almost pass for normal. But take a closer look, that's Matt Bellamy; singer, guitarist, pianist, and the principal character of our story.  He is not alone.  Witness fellow stargazers, Dominic Howard (drums), and that's Chris Wolstenholme, (the big fella, he plays bass guitar). Together they have written the soundtrack to the end of the world"  AUDIO CLIPS  "Officials in Washington have said American forces have begun a najor air war against Iraq..." "...Forest fires are continuing to plague much of continental Europe..." "...The R...

NME 6th April 2002 Single and DVD set for June Release  “We've got a new single coming which is really fucking heavy rock" — Matt Bellamy  Muse release a brand new double A-side single this summer, and also hope to finish their third album this year, NME can reveal.  Speaking exclusively to NME , singer Matt Bellamy said that the group had started recording demos for the follow-up to their 'Origins Of Symmetry' album, and will release double A-side single, 'Dead Star'/'In Your World' on June 3. Both tracks are taken from a new DVD, Hullabaloo , which follows on June 17.   Hullabaloo is a double DVD release, with one disc featuring 18 live songs from their 2001 tour, recorded over two nights at the Paris Zenith, and the second containing documentary footage from a number of dates across the world.   Bellamy said, "We did a concert in Paris which we recorded for a DVD. One ( disc ) is the concert and the other is loads of us getting up to weird ant...

(c.2010, Michael Heatley)  Few modern day guitarists have gained more plaudits in the last decade than Matt Bellamy. The Muse frontman has tantalized the eardrums on lead guitar since the band's debut album, Showbiz , in 1999. He is known for his long association with Manson guitars; hailing from Devon, he collaborates closely with Exeter native Hugh Manson on a string of custom guitars that help him achieve his distinctive sound.  But it was Peavy EVH Wolfgang, one of the designs endorsed by U.S. guitar hero Eddie Van Halen, that Bellamy started out with when Muse debuted in 1999, he customized this in curious fashion with gray gaffa tape on its top edge, and it survived the album tour before it was launched into the crowd. A Parker Fly, made from futuristic composite materials like resin and carbon glass, has also since been seen in his hands.  When touring the second album, Origin of Symmetry , and later Absolution , Bellamy's weapon of choice was his Manson Delorean, ...

(Published 2009 - interview taken from Guitarist, February 2004)  With war and political mistrust fresh in their minds, Muse entered the studio in late 2001 to begin work on their third studio album... Q: Where did the recording process for Absolution start? "The second album, Origin of Symmetry, was made pretty much while we were on tour. We'd been on tour for around four or five years straight. After we did the Reading Festival last August we decided to take a break, at least six or seven months away from touring. That was the first chance we had to really think about what we wanted to do with this album. We had a rehearsal room down in Brighton, which used to be Winston Churchill's house, and we stayed down there for a while, getting a few song ideas together. Then we ended up getting a warehouse type place in Hackney, which we kind of converted into a flat - a rehearsal room where Chris (Wolstenholme, bass) could come up and stay (both Matt and drummer Dom Howard are b...

The Scotsman  Saturday 26th February 2000 Words Fiona Shepherd   Anyone who has been following Channel 4's deliciously sarcastic Top Ten series will have noted the intrigue created by Kiss (No 10 in the US stadium rock show) with their trademark stage make-up and the subsequent amazement when they ditched the slap in the Nineties and revealed their true identities. Get real! Did Adam Ant blow his cover when he lost his stripes? Painting your face doesn't make you an enigma. For genuine anonymity you need masks. Think Frank Sidebottom (No 5, sad novelty gits), think The Residents (No 8, art rock wierdos), and now think Slipknot (No. 1, freaky nu-metal saviours). The nine masked metal marauders from Des Moines, Iowa, have just hit these shores with intent to petrify.  Slipknot's masks are more in the tradition of slasher horror than camp theatricality. Singer Corey Taylor's mask is inspired by the Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface, percussionist Shawn Crahan evoke...

Portsmouth Evening News  Friday 30th May 2003 It's not every day a member of Slipknot calls you up and asks you to join his offshoot band, but Wednesday Thirteen took it all in his stride.   Now installed as the singer with Joey Jordison's second band, goth-glam metal outfit Murderdolls, he says he was glad to join up but was never in awe of the 'Knot's drummer.  'I wasn't a big fan of Slipknot, although I knew who they were obviously,' says Wednesday. 'But I wasn't really nervous about meeting him or anything.  'It was really easy to work on the level, we became friends because I wasn't intimidated'.  At the time, the masked men of Slipknot were nu-metal pioneers, touring the world promoting their second album, Iowa, and half the teenagers in the western world sported one of their hoodies.   'They were huge, but I never thought of Joey as this big star or anything.  'I was in a band called the Frankenstein Dragqueens and Joey hea...

2012 "I'm the typical white asshole in a horror movie that runs toward the danger" - Corey Taylor 2023 How the fuck did we get out alive?

Front Magazine 1st November 2012 THE SLIPKNOT AND STONE SOUR FRONTMAN TALKS ABOUT MEETING GHOSTS, REFUSING GHOSTWRITERS AND NEVER BECOMING GENE SIMMONS COREY? HOW ARE YOU? I'm subsisting on coffee. I've been hauling ass the last week - Stockholm, Paris, Birmingham, London... It's been fucking insane. It's a good problem to have, though. “Oh, fuck, people want to know about my projects". The adage “be careful what you wish for" definitely applies. STONE SOUR ARE DOING A DOUBLE ALBUM. LOTS OF PEOPLE (WELL, YOU, BIFFY CLYRO AND GREEN DAY) SEEM TO BE DOING THAT AT THE MOMENT - COINCIDENCE? Yeah definitely, we didn’t realise how many bands were doing that until we were in the studio recording. It knocked the cherry off the top a little because I was so fucking stoked and then it was, “Oh fuck, Biffy. You're a great band but do you have to? Can’t you just lay off for a few months? Green Day, three? Really?" But no, it's all coincidence. If House of Gold...

Modern Drummer August 2000  Depending on who you talk to around Des Moines, Iowa, people might associate Joey Jordison more with his stepfather's Dixieland outfit than with the ballistic band that has turned hardcore on its ear. But long before he laid down complex rhythms and fills for Slipknot, Jordison earned a reputation as one of Iowa's budding jazz drummers.  "I would get a lot of criticism for playing too hard and out of the context of the song," says Jordison, who developed his chops through middle and high school jazz bands. "But I won a lot of awards." Today the 5'4 Jordison wears white face paint on stage and backs a nine-piece band draped in masks and matching boiler suits. A pair of percussionists with beer kegs as the centerpieces of their setups bookend him. No band tore up more stages in 1999, and Slipknot's self-titled debut (Roadrunner Records) was an underground and retail surprise. Still, Jordison is as comfortable playing Dixie s...

2000 (c. November/December) NIELS RUF introduces the video/interview in what he appears to describe as a room "suitable for a student to rent". He is here with Slipknot. Next thing we know, one of them (take your pick - but it probably wasn't PAUL) is throwing something at the wall.  "Welcome to the show" We see CHRIS FEHN, SHAWN CRAHAN, COREY TAYLOR and PAUL GREY are somewhat awkwardly sitting around a table, which is decorated with a floral tablecloth. There also appears to be a big teapot, cups and saucers. It looks like a tea party from "Alice in Wonderland". In the background, "Mr. Everett Green the Singing Christmas Tree" plays "Jingle Bells" in a high pitched tinny way.  CHRIS and COREY (who initially waved) start holding up their middle fingers.   Quiet PAUL sits with his hands in his lap. SHAWN (seemingly irritated with "Mr. Everett Green the Singing Christmas Tree" and the tinny "Jingle Bells" coming fr...