(MUSE) FaceCulture Dominic Howard Interview
4th June 2013
Q: Hi Dominic
DOMINIC: Hi. How are you doing?
Q: Fine. You?
DOMINIC: Great, thanks.
Q: Great. Good. Nice to be in Amsterdam, of course.
DOMINC: Always nice to in Amsterdam, yes.
Q: How many times have you been in Amsterdam now?
DOMINIC: Ah...I don't know....loads of times over the years. I mean...umm...I think my first time here was when I was probably about eighteen. We kind of came over for a friends eighteenth birthday party as many people do to Amsterdam, and came back a few times just for pleasure before we actually got the chance to play here with the band. But Jesus, I don't know, probably you know, ten times as a guess. Maybe more.
Q: Maybe more. Okay well, first of all start the interview with an easy question, I think, what is the first album that you bought, being a little kid?
DOMINIC: Umm I think the first album that I bought...pretty sure it was...was Del La Soul "Three Feet High and Rising". Which I think is late eighties. I think it might be 88/89 or something like that. But I had just started High School, so I was about eleven. That was the first album I bought. I loved it. I listened to it all the time. I just enjoyed that album so much, because it's kind of a concept album you know. It's kind of...aside from the songs, it's kind of a game show...I don't know whether you know the album, but there were lots of little interludes between the songs that are kind of as if this game show is happening, this kind of pretty silly game show is happening throughout the course of the album, so I think I really like it for that, and I love Del La Soul. I was really into Hip Hop I think around that kind of time when I was probably able to buy my first album.
Q: Where you always playing the drums?
DOMINIC: Uhh, that was probably before I started playing the drums because I started playing the drums when I was about twelve years old...twelve thirteen something like that, so yeah I've always loved music from a very early age. I mean when I was really really young I was into things like Adam & The Ants, you know and erm, The Police. Always loved The Police. And Queen and stuff like that. But again I suppose, starting High School and hanging around with friends. We were definitely listening to a lot of Hip Hop...and then got into Iron Maiden.
Q: Did you really? Okay. It's a nice switch from De La Soul to Iron Maiden.
DOMINIC (laughing): Yeah...
Q: What made you, well, decide to pick up drumsticks?
DOMINIC: I was just...I think, you know...again just always loving music and certainly, I suppose, really getting into the beats and stuff of some of the music I just mentioned...De La Soul, NWA and Public Enemy...I was really into all that kind of stuff, and I remember Public Enemy did that track with Anthrax. I think that was one of the first kind of combinations of like Hip-Hop, Metal and Rock Music that I had ever heard really. But I suppose it was always just kind of being into music, and I remember like being at school and definitely seeing some like jazz band come in and play at the school. I remember being really impressed and enthralled with the drummer, and just like staring at the drummer and thinking it was just like so cool, you know. I was like, 'Wow, maybe I should learn the drums'. But you know, it was also around the same kind of time that we started the band because none of us were really any kind of serious musicians before we actually got in the band. We were literally like four friends hanging around, and we were like 'Let's start a band. I'll play the drums. You play the guitar. You play the bass, and you can sing', so and then we literally just got in a room, no one knew how to play their instruments, and it was all like terrible, it sounded awful I imagine. So, we very much just learnt our instruments just by playing together and you know, I guess just wanting to be in a band and playing music.
Q: Was this the band already with Matthew? Or was it pre Matthew?
DOMINIC: This was pre Matthew. The first band I started was "Gothic Plague", which was with a bunch of other friends, but then our guitarist ended up leaving or I kicked him out I think, and I then got Matt in 'cos I knew he was good on the guitar. I didn't really know him at school too well. I knew of him, but I knew he was a good musician for his age.
Q: How did you know this? Did he play around?
DOMINIC: Yeah, because he was like...he wasn't in my class at school, but we would have like music competitions and things at school, and you know like school performances and this and that, erm, which I was really into as well, you know with my band as well, and Matt was also doing playing guitar and piano in these competitions, so I knew that he was a good musician but I didn't know him particularly well, so I asked him to join the band one day, and he said 'yes'. So yeah, that was how the relationship started with Matt, but again, it was purely about just like a connection with music I suppose was the thing that kind of made us become good friends.
Q: Did you like him at first, or did you grow on each other?
DOMINIC: Uhhh...I think so...it was a really weird meeting. We had some kind of mutual friends, and I remember like arranging a meeting with Matt which was down in Teignmouth, in the town on this piece of grass called "The Den", which was like in the middle of the town by the seafront. And like arranged this really strange meeting. And like we kind of sat down with mutual friends, and I seem to remember it being really quick. I was like 'Do you want to join my band?', and he went 'Yes'. I was like 'Cool', and that was it (laughs). Erm, but yeah, I certainly remember being (once he joined the band and we started playing)...I certainly remember being very impressed by his skill playing the guitar, and his understanding of music, and I think we just kind of connected straight away.
Q: And then Chris was asked to be in the band too?
DOMINIC: Then Chris yes..so me and Matt where in this band called "Gothic Plague", and that all eventually fizzled away, but Chris was also in a different band playing a bit of guitar, a bit of bass sometimes, even the drums sometimes. He was a bit of an all rounder. So me and Matt just wanted to start writing our own songs, as we were sick of playing cover songs, and it seemed like me and Matt were the only two people in the band that were actually interested in doing that. So erm everyone left apart from me and Matt, and then we found Chris and spoke to Chris, and asked him to join our band and he was like "Totally", because he was feeling the same thing with his original band, so and that was Muse.
Q: The first song that you wrote. Where they used on albums or EP or...?
DOMINIC: Oh no. I do remember the first song. I can't remember what it was called...something lame like, "Small Minded" (laughs)...I think it was...erm, I do remember that first song as I think me and Matt used it as some kind of piece of music for our like GCSEs, you know...but no, we were together for a good five years before, you know, we got a chance to, you know, certainly record or get a record deal and start recording, so we went through a lot of different changes I think when we first started as Muse. We kind of started off as very...well actually the first song had piano in it strangely, and then I think we went off into this weird kind of lots of strange technical odd time signature* slap bass* type stuff.
Q: Why?
DOMINIC: We loved Primus I suppose when we were young, and that might have had an influence. I don't know...I think it kind of playing weird odd time signature music was kind of for us a way of kind of like learn music, and learning how to play in a slightly more technical way, which you know we found interesting at the time. And then eventually we kind of came back round to just I suppose writing more melodic songs because there was a period there when it was like real kind of grungy metal odd time signature weirdness you know. It wasn't particularly tuneful. There was just weird riffs and stuff like that. But heavy. But then eventually you know, we kind of somewhere along the lines wrote "Muscle Museum" which must have been the first song that we wrote that ended up being on "Showbiz" our first album. I think we knew with that song straight away, it suddenly felt so different from everything we had done in the past, so that was the first song that we wrote for "Showbiz".
Q: When you wrote a song, did you know "Well this is the way we have to go" song writing wise?
DOMINIC: I think so, yeah. I think we just felt something with that song, We just felt like it was suddenly a departure from our messy background that we'd had, and weirdly that song was kind of strangely influenced by like The Fugees. Even though it doesn't sound like it (laughs), but that's kind of where we were going with it, with the kind of, I suppose the drum beat and the bass line and stuff, and um but yeah, there was a turning point. I think at that point we kind of realized that we should try a bit harder and write more songs like this and I think we were just starting to find our feet in that time period.
Q: I would like to discuss every album, but I only have limited time, so fast forward now to the recent album, "The Second Law". This must have been a really important album for Chris too, right? Because he wrote two songs, and because he was, addicted to alcohol. Did you feel that with him, that he had a problem?
DOMINIC: Uh, yeah, you know...Chris was...you know...I think struggling for many many years with booze and having an addictive personality with certain things. Erm, so we knew that for many many years, and it's always often a very difficult subject to broach with someone...a close friend, or family member, or something like that, so...I think he knew deep down as well, even though he was kind of in denial. Erm, but I suppose, you know, Chris was kind of clean throughout the recording of The Second Law period, so for that, you know, the time we spent in the studio was great, because, you know, he was like a different person in the studio.
It was more the albums previous to that when he was not there, so much, you know? So, the recording of this album was actually a really great positive experience in the studio, it seemed like we worked really well together. You know, we kind of had fun in the studio. It was, I suppose, really strangely efficient in the way that we worked. We got a lot of stuff done, we didn't find ourselves, you know, just losing our minds for months on one song. You know...it was quite...a very quick process of decision making.
Q: Because of him being sober?
DOMINIC: Yeah, the fact that he was sober certainly had something to do with the...I suppose the speed of the way that we worked in the studio. I suppose in the past it was a bit more like me and Matt being left to do certain things. And I suppose in "The Resistance", it kind of felt like he wasn't there so much in the studio, um, he was certainly under the influence when he was playing (chuckles).
Q: Were you ever close to saying to him, "Well, quit drinking, or you quit the band?"
DOMINIC: I think we crossed those...you know...we certainly thought about giving Chris some kind of ultimation with his drink...but you know...it was...he would kind of quit for a few months, or a month or something, and then start again.
So but, a lot of people who are addicted to substances do that. They go, "Yeah, I'll stop". And you can kind of stop, as long as you know when you can start again, yeah. So that kind of...that happened for ten years (laughs).
Q: Ten years is a long time, but now he has been sober for two years or so?
DOMINIC: Yes
Q: He wrote two songs on the album, "Liquid State" and "Save me". Can you describe how it was when he brought those songs to you?
DOMINIC: Umm, yeah, I mean...I think Chris just being a lot more clearheaded, just made him much more able to express his ideas. And I think, you know, he's got a little studio at home and he was just working on stuff and he showed me song songs, and ummm, I thought a few of them sounded pretty cool, maybe they could be worked on and we erm...you know...he gave me some tracks, and I filled around with them, changed them, a bit and then we were like, uh, 'Yeah, lets try them in the studio'. I think for him it was, uh...I don't know, I think it just felt really important for him to be able to kind of finish the song, sing it, and erm, try and make it believable. Because they are very important songs for him, and very kind of personal songs, so we really kind of wanted to make that happen for him as well. As much as we enjoyed working on the songs, and it felt like something very different, I think we also realized that it was quite important for him to be able to complete them and sing them.
Q: So it was some sort of gesture from you and Matt, too?
DOMINIC: Well, I think we just knew it was...we knew that Chris was going through this like this recovery process I suppose, still during the making of the album. Umm, and we knew that by working on these songs would certainly help that process as well. Umm, but it's great, because I think he's...uhh..you know, he's a different person now, and I think his...his umm...his way of expressing himself musically has changed a lot.
Q: For you this album, "The Second Law", was there a big difference for you, compared to the previous albums?
DOMINIC: Ummm (thinks) Well...I dunno, I mean many things...I think kind of like what I have said really. One of the main differences was just the fact that we all felt very equal and all present in the studio. That felt very different. That felt very different from all the previous albums, so maybe just the three of us all being there, that was a massive, massive difference. But it was certainly a fun album to make, you know like personally, all like the drumming things that I did on the album. You know, it was just lots of cool experiment...experimentation I suppose with uh, lots of different sounds, lots of different drums, and you know I think we worked a little bit more with electronics on this album as well, which is always and interesting approach in the studio.
Q: Why did you do this?
DOMINIC: Uhh, I think we are always kind of looking for new things to do in the studio, so, um, the kind of the couple more electronic sounding songs on the album just felt refreshing to be working in that kind of way. Umm, so that's the reason why we did it, you know? We wanted to kind of try and surprise ourselves in the studio and not just feel that we are churning out the same stuff that we have done in the past, or repeating ourselves. So in the case of 'Madness' and I suppose, 'Follow Me', they were just...you know...it kind of felt refreshing to work in that kind of way, so who knows what is going to happen next time? Might be more of that, or less of that. But you know, as long as it feels like we are attempting something vaguely new for ourselves, then we should hope to complete it.
Notes
Slap bass: Slap bass is a highly percussive bass guitar technique invented by funk pioneer Larry Graham. It involves striking the string with the thumb (slapping) to create a deep thump, and snapping the string with the index or middle finger (popping) to produce a sharp, high-pitched attack
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