When life was loud

Modern Drummer January 2008 England's Muse soars into rock's upper echelon on the strength of their biggest-selling album to date: Black Holes And Revelations. Buoyed by major airplay and touring, the band has moved beyond early comparisons with Radiohead and Queen to forge their own musical identity. For his part, drummer Dominic Howard gives the band whatever it requires, from delicate brush work to explosive progtype fills. Though he can play simply when called upon, Howard has enough cool grooves and complicated riffs to warrant a good look in this month's Off The Record. "Take A Bow" The album's opening track is a scathing political indictment that builds to an explosive climax. When Dominic's groove enters, the slow 12/8 tempo allows the drummer to drop in 64th-note rolls and energetic snare/kick tradeoffs.  As the song nears its finish, Howard adds more bass drum and snare notes to his splashy ride beat, building intensity right to the end.  "M...

Modern Drummer January 2007 (Four stars out of five) Muse's Black Holes And Revelations is, in fact, a revelation.  The English trio plays to packed arenas in Europe, but their name has always elicited a response akin to "Don't they kinda sound like Radiohead?" when dropped in the States. No more. Black Holes. .. is explosive, bordering on schizophrenic. That's not a bad thing when man (drummer DOMINIC HOWARD) and machine can meld for alt-disco pulses ("Map Of The Problematique," "Knights Of Cydonia") that are powerfully delivered and sonically flawless. Even when the intensity level drops, like in the delicate ballad "Soldier's Poem" (with solid, subtle brushwork from Howard), the originality doesn't suffer. Link to article Index of all Muse articles

Favourite current song  "'Hyper Chondriac Music’ by Muse, it’s on the ‘Hullabaloo’ compilation. It's a slowed-down version of ‘Hyper Music’ and it blows my mind, man. It’s one of the greatest recordings.” (The Vines Craig Nicholls, NME 2002)

The Scotsman  Friday 28th June 2002 With their third album not due until sometime next year, Muse, a band who don't seem to be able to take time off, keep their hand in with the simultaneous release of a DVD, video and this double CD set. CD1 is a selection of B-sides which confirms that Muse can palm off their unfinished ideas as well as the next band.  You can hear where the early derisive Radiohead and Jeff Buckley comparisons came from in the meandering mood pieces with ambient keening from Matt Bellamy. But the eerie paranoia of expansive instrumental The Gallery shows how far they've come, while some monumental pomp powerhouses reflect their new-found rock Rottweiler status. CD2 is where you really hear Muse in flight, playing to thousands of hysterical Parisians last autumn. Three years of almost constant touring, far from breaking those spindly lads, has made them the band they are now - a ferocious power trio with a voracious appetite for loud guitars, ambitious song...

c. 2008 MATTHEW: I suppose the real thing that made me pick up the guitar in the beginning, was seeing Jimi Hendrix, I think. I think I was probably about eleven or something. I remember seeing him set fire to his guitar, and I thought 'Well come on, you know, that's got to be the way forward hasn't it', you know?'. Any instrument that you are allowed to set fire to, when people actually cheer you on, that's got to be an instrument worth playing. (Footage of Muse walking backstage to the stage) MATTHEW (cont): My dad was in a band called 'The Tornado's'. He did mostly instrumental music in the late 50s, and he had like a big hit with a song called 'Telstar', which was produced by Joe Meek. And my dad was a guitarist in that band.   (Footage cont) MATTHEW: I would hear stories of what my dad was like. I think he did a gig with when it was him, Rolf Harris and like The Beatles were playing in some venue in Manchester, and there were so many gi...

Modern Drummer  April 2008 "I've been wanting to see some of Dominic Howard's work with Muse in Modern Drummer for years, and your January Off The Record answered my prayers! I've found that some things are hard to play along with on Muse CDs, and I'm so glad to have at least some of it written out for me. (I'm only thirteen; give me time.) Keep up the great work. (That goes for you too, Mr. Howard!)" Peter Campbell Index of all Muse articles