(MUSE) - Interview with Matthew Bellamy

Pinkpop Festival 

May 2002

Q: When did you find out that you have a good voice

MATTHEW: I'm still looking for it really, that's the truth. Um, I don't really feel that um...my voice is something that came after I was playing guitar and piano really. I didn't...didn't really sing for the first few years in the band seriously. It was more like an instrument, you know, so I think for that reason I've always treated singing like, uh, like an instrument as opposed to words you know? The words for me are secondary to that. But, um, I don't know really. I go through some days where I sing differently to other days. I never really had any lessons or anything, so I just...something that's quite natural to me really. So, I've been singing for about three...about five...about four years 

Q: Did you start singing in the bathroom or something, or...?

MATTHEW: Uhhh, actually, well, the first time...the first place I sang was with a band, this band, after about two years of being together, I started singing, and um, and it's 'cos in the band practice, the band was so loud...I never used to use a microphone, so I used to sort of try to sing over the top of the band, so that's why I sing really sort of high and stuff, 'cuz it sort of cuts over the band quite easily, you know what I mean? 

Q: Who inspired you, in your singing? 

MATTHEW: Uhh...some of my favourite singers...favourite singers...I mean, some of my favourite singers are people like Tom Waits really. Completely opposite to how I sing, but I mean, I like...I like him just for uh, because he puts so much feeling into it, and takes on...tries to take on characters you know, as uh when he's singing, also maybe Freddie Mercury a little bit, um, Jeff Buckley and...some old singers like Nina Simone, and Roberta Flack. 

Q: Muse is a three piece band, what's the advantage of that? 

MATTHEW: Uh, well, the guitar is much louder because like you have two guitars, then you got to be half as loud, and then three guitars even more. So when you got just one guitar, you can sort of make really loud noises and everything. It just sort of cuts out really big, you know. And uh, but also I think you are a bit more free to improvise maybe, you're not so locked in...and uh...and uh, I mean the disadvantages...it can be a little bit maybe...a bit loose, and maybe a little bit you know, unorganized in places, but I think it makes it a bit more raw, and a bit more something realistic, and people can really tell when it's live, you know...when as soon as you get four or five, sometimes you get the impression that something is not live, and there's backing tracks and bits of music, but when it's three, it's obvious it's just guitar, bass and drums, and you can just see exactly what it is, you know? 

Q: Was there any three piece band that inspired you?

MATTHEW: There are a lot of three piece bands that I really like. Probably, Jimmy Hendrix Experience. Jimmy Hendrix Experience, Nirvana and Primus. And The Police, I'd say they're probably some of the main influences on the band.  

Q: Isn't it more easy to get someone with you? 

MATTHEW: Um, I'm not sure. At the moment, I enjoy running around a lot. Maybe if you want to do something maybe more experimental in the future, or maybe something more different, then maybe I'll get another person in to do sort of synthesized and computer generated music to combine with what we are doing. Um...I always like playing the piano and the guitar, and I think sometimes you have too many things going on at once. Uh...I mean the reason I go between guitar and piano is to get some more contrast you know, something that maybe you would expect from a normal three-piece band, so...and I...and I do...I write a lot of music on the piano as well. I mean I wrote a lot of songs on the piano, then...then sort of translate it to the guitar, so...

Q: Were you classically trained? 

MATTHEW: No, no. Not really. No, I had six months of Flamenco, Spanish guitar lessons, that was it. I mean the piano...piano, I just sort of listened to a lot of stuff. I listen to a lot of classical music actually, and I sort of like that. I like the power of some of it. You know, I mean for it's time, it's amazing, so...and yeah, I think music for me is like...music is like uh...it's sort of communicates something that you can't say with words, and like so I think especially some old classical music, uh, it says something about that time that no books could ever say, you know? For me, music is something that is always going to... 

Q: Like what for instance?

MATTHEW: Like music from like Rachmaninoff. For me, that says a lot about that period in time because it is when really high intelligent music was combining with world music, like well, blues music as well as some other world music influences, and it was just before Jazz was coming into fashion in 1920. And for me that Rachmaninoff around that period is probably one of the best, most exciting times in live music. 

Q: Here on the record, Muse has a tendency to sound a little bombastic? Whereas live, you sound like a rock and roll band, is that on purpose, the difference? 

MATTHEW: Uh...I think um...I think uh, one of the problems we've had, well not a problem...the first and second album, is that the songs we recorded, we hadn't really played live very much before we recorded them. So, maybe...maybe something we on the next album, we'd like to maybe play the songs live a lot more first, so we can discover them as more natural before we record them. So, if you don't...if you don't play a song live before you record it, sometimes you're confused about the instrumentation. So, on the last album there's a lot of experiments with different layers and everything, and I think in some places I tried to put loads and loads of extra things on...um...um...um...but I think in particular on the last album, I really was looking to do something that was as extremely over the top as possible, cuz it was such a contrast to everything else that was going in music at that time, I think. 

Q: So, what was the reaction? 

MATTHEW: Uh, it was like something that was inside me that um, that I was not afraid to show, you know? 

Q: What's the 'inside of you'?

MATTHEW: I mean like you know, something like, uh a certain...especially...especially in English music, there's a lot of fear of expression, fear of being flamboyant. And uh, and uh...I don't think that reflects what's going on inside English people, so I wanted to show that, you know? 

Q: It wasn't always like that, I mean, uh, British music has a tendency, the art form...the art rock bands of the 70's...

MATTHEW: Exactly. I mean, some of the greatest bands in English music, I think, were probably times in like the 70s, and whenever, like 60s, 70s, and I think in the 90s, English music became very depressing, and not...not very confident you know, or something like that...and um...so I just felt different to that really? 

Q: So you wanted to bring back a kind of more pretentious or artful...?

MATTHEW: Yeah, I think...I think when you're not afraid of being pretentious, then you can get away with more things that are maybe a bit more fantastical you know, or something a bit more unusual. And...and...and if you're prepared to take on characters, then you can yeah...you can maybe explore much more different avenues than just pure earnestness.   

Q: Um, on stage, you seem to be very frantic or uh, manic, in a way? Is that because you have to lose some energy? 

MATTHEW: Um...I think...I feel the feeling you get from playing music is just really exciting, you know, it's...it's a...it's an amazing feeling playing in front of a large amount of people. It's um, yeah...it feels like you're doing something that is sort of transcending language, you know? Especially in foreign countries as well, when you realize that you're some way connecting with a large amount of people that um, you could...you couldn't talk to normally, and uh and I think that's just an amazing feeling, yeah. 

Q: How do you get charged up every time? 

MATTHEW: What's that? 

Q: How do you get charged up every time? 

MATTHEW: Sort of sit in the dressing room quite calm really, and just drink water, and pace around in circles quite a lot. And um, I sort of change about five minutes before I go on stage. Something comes over me that is difficult to explain, but I just become very uh, intensively interested in being on stage, you know? 

Q: Is it different for you, for when you are preparing to play on a festival like this on the main stage, or compared to smaller audiences? 

MATTHEW: Uh...it's...well, today...today is going to be the biggest audience we have played to this year. I mean, the last two days we played in Germany, and that was quite, um...yeah, it was much more..it was much more shocking because we did...we did a bit of touring early this year, but it's all small...quite small clubs...and um, so yeah, it's...it's quite scary playing in front of such a large audience, so if anything, I think maybe, maybe sometimes the bigger...the more nervous I am...sometimes the better, the better I think I play, or the more...the more, um...the more you have to concentrate on yourself, and...and your band, because if you look out too much, it can make you feel a bit dizzy. 

Q: Are you nervous at this moment? 

MATTHEW: Yeah, yeah. A little bit nervous.