(MUSE) Matt Bellamy Interview - Pinkpop 2004 (Transcription)
(MATTHEW is seated cross-legged on a flight case in what appears to be a storage area/rudimentary green room)
Q: Hello Matthew.
MATTHEW: Hello
Q: You have been on Pinkpop before, but this year you are headlining. I guess you could say that you have reached the top. Is that something you set out to do, right from the start of your band?
MATTHEW: Erm...I remember watching Red Hot Chili Peppers headline a festival in England, Reading Festival. I must have been about fifteen/sixteen years old, and I remember thinking headlining a festival is definitely the top of being a live band, I think, you know...so I'm very happy to be...I think this is our first...I think this is our headline in any major festival you know...this summer we are doing about, I think, five or six big festivals that we are headlining, and a few other festivals that we are playing in different sections of the stage. Erm, but this is uh, quite an important gig for us, I think yeah.
Q: What is it you are trying to get out in your music, what part of your personality, or your world, or your thoughts?
MATTHEW: Well, I think it is everything really. I think it's like a form of communication, that is beyond...I think it's beyond words, obviously. I think people who choose to make art or music in some way, are people who maybe find a normal ways of communication a little bit frustrating in some way, or they feel they want to say something that is more complex than just conversation, you know. I think making music for me is like erm...it's just a way to get everything outside...that is inside me...getting it all outside, and erm, I think that's just a nice feeling to get things out, and other people to respond in some way, whether it is good or bad. I think it's interesting.
Q: One of the songs on your new album is called Thoughts of a Dying Atheist.
MATTHEW (chuckles): Yeah
Q: Is that...well, that's a horrible question I know...well, of course you are not dying, but are you an atheist?
MATTHEW: No, I'm not dying. Am I atheist? I don't know. I think generally I'd be regarded as an atheist, yeah, but I'm not against religion at all. I think I'm just like um...I've not decided, you know, of any particular God you know, whatever it might be, so I think I wrote...I think I wrote a few songs on the album that are kind of dealing with um, the idea of how a person who doesn't have a theory of life after death, like how you accept the idea of death. You know I think it's a very difficult thing, you know I think it's something I never really thought about it in my life really until recently. I'm not sure why. Um, but I think it's something that I think comes out in the songs. It's not like um...I think it's important for some people to see a separation between what is expressed in the songs, and what a person is in their everyday life, you know. I think...I think in every day life I'm a very normal person, but I think in the music, certain things which are very...um like deep fears, and deep hopes and dreams, all that kind of stuff, I think it comes out in music you know, and sometimes uh people maybe think that I'm that kind of person all the time. But obviously the songs represent uh moments of my life, not the whole life, you know.
Q: Now, but it has been a theme in your work in general, I think maybe religion or spirituality.
MATTHEW: Yeah, definitely, I think it's more...I think...I think making songs for me has been exploring...exploring unanswered questions in my own life. Not just about big things like religion, but very small things as well, like problems you had in a relationship, or with your friends, or with your parents. Or things on a much grander scale like things about religion, or whatever it might be. I think...I think making songs for me is all about, trying...trying to find the answers to those questions if possible, but I never do find the answers. I think the songs is always the expression of the question, and not the answer. I think a lot of songwriters do songs which are based around the answers, like trying to give some kind of moral message, um but I try to avoid that, and I try to just express the question and not the conclusion.
Q: To me, that sounds like religion as well you know, because I do thing some religions are also about asking questions, so I was wondering whether your music is trying to fill the lack of religion?
MATTHEW: Uh...well I don't know...I'm not...it's a difficult one...uh, I mean for me...for me, music is definitely some kind of replacement for probably for something, you know, but it's difficult to say what that would be. Um, as I said, I'm not a devoted religious person, so maybe my dedication to the music is in someway a replacement for that.
Q: Well, now when I see Muse, what strikes me is that, I mean, you are never worried about going over the top I guess, right?
MATTHEW: Well, you know, I think that um...I think there is definitely moments in our music where we've gone over the top on purpose you know, or not on purpose, I think that we've had no, we've had no shame of showing different sides of personality. Whether it be something that's a little bit hysterical, or something that is a little bit over emotional. Um, I think we've not been afraid to show those things, so I think that probably comes across in our live concerts as well.
Q: How come then, I mean, because a lot of people would find it embarrassing, you know?
MATTHEW: Um, I don't think um...I think...I think uh it's quite a pleasurable experience to have no shame, of yourself you know, and I think it's uh...I think it's nice to just expose yourself, and not be embarrassed, you know. I think it's a good thing, you know. Let's all just get naked!
(LAUGHTER)
Q (laughing): Good idea! Thank you!
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