Matt Bellamy's How To Stay Sane As A Rock Star

Q Magazine
August 2011

DON'T READ YOUR OWN FAN SITES
Reading blogs and wild stuff, that's crazy-making. You can't start responding to people that are obsessed. When we did the first album, the internet was just getting going and I remember going onto a forum and everyone just hated everything we did. That can drive you insane. 

DON'T BELIEVE YOUR OWN HYPE
You have to balance it out with people who slag you off. That'll keep your sanity together. Someone reviewed Plug In Baby and said, "It sounds like Elvis Presley swallowing asteroids." I loved that. But, on the other side, someone wrote about our second EP and said it was unlistenable. It just ended with the words, "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Five times. 

AVOID GROUPIES
Oh, definitely. When a band first gets known, it seems like there's one group of girls that just follows all new bands. So you've got to watch out for those ones. They can be fun to hang out with, but you don't want to be exchanging bodily fluids. 

DON'T DO COCAINE 
I've managed to avoid it. Not everyone else has. Not the band so much, but just everyone around us. There was a time when there was a lot of that going on. I enjoyed being around the party vibe that it created, but I'm glad that I never actually partook in it. When I was younger I was drawn towards things like hallucinogenics, things that make you see things differently. I don't like things that play with confidence. 

DON'T PUNCH PHOTOGRAPHERS 
I've come close to that. I came out of a restaurant in LA and there was a group of guys with video cameras. These days its not all paps, you've got things like TMZ and Perez Hilton. I had my pregnant girlfriend and her son there and we couldn't even get in the car. Ooh, it took everything not to push someone out of the way.  

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