(MUSE) Rock Werchter 2006: Matthew Bellamy & Dominic Howard answer your questions
(Please note that although the video says this is 2007, the dates on the sign behind Dominic point to it being in 2006)
MATTHEW: Hi, how's it going? We're called Muse.
DOMINIC: My name is Dominic
MATTHEW: I'm called Matt, and we're here to answer some questions that you guys have put together for us. Let's see what we have...
(Opens a box which is lying on the table, produces a card)
MATTHEW: This is from Jordi van Payamal, "In which way is this album different from previous work?"
DOMINIC: It sounds very different, I think, to anything we're done in the past. We really wanted to um, make some music this time in an environment that was very kind of secluded, and detached away from anything, so it gave us a chance to really experiment and discover a lot of new musical ideas, and I think that's exactly what we did, you know, and uh, it always feels great to kind of push your musical boundaries in the studio, and try out a lot of new things.
MATTHEW: Yeah, I think there are...some of the things are different, there's a bit more...a little bit more electronic presence on this album I think, compared to previous albums. There's also..,there's kind of less. I think there is less of the kind of classical thing that was associated with some of our previous albums. I think that's been replaced with some kind of South European folk music ideas like a bit of flamenco guitar, a little bit of South Italian, a bit of Moricone In there. So I think really we just kind of explored some, uh, some some different influences to what we normally would put in our albums.
(DOMINIC picks up the next card)
MATTHEW: Who is it from?
DOMINIC: Eleanor Becker. Ummm, "Do you sometimes listen to groups of the countries where you are playing?"....Yes (laughs)
MATTHEW: Yeah, for example, today we are playing in Belgium, and I think we've got quite a....we've always been quite influenced by bands from Belgium, maybe from the mid 90s. We got into bands like DEUS, Evil Superstars, and uh, I always thought there was some great innovative ideas coming out of guitar music in Belgium. It seemed...it seemed to be more forward thinking than bands coming out of England at that time. Also obviously bands like Soulwax, Millionaire as well. Um, you can probably hear those influences more on the current album. Um, any other countries?
DOMINIC: Umm...Sweden, yeah again, you know we...when we're in Sweden there's a lot. There's a great music scene up there, and um, seen...I mean, I never got to see Refused, but I saw The (International) Noise Conspiracy up there. We saw The Cardigans the other day. Um, so you know, wherever you are it's good to just kind of check out a bit of local culture, and see what's going on.
(MATTHEW takes the next question)
MATTHEW: And this is from Leticia Letcrinya or something...uh..."Do you believe in UFOS, ETs? Don't you think your music comes somehow from outer space, compared to the rest?"
MATTHEW: Yeah...I think, I think, yeah I do yeah. I think it's quite possible that um, maybe we came from somewhere else, you know? I like that idea. But in terms of our music, you know, we come from uh...you told...the question was uh...
DOMINIC: 'It comes from out of space..."
MATTHEW:...'Do you think your music comes from out of space?'...well, it could do. But I think...I think, you know, we've always had this...I think because we come from a small town in the middle of nowhere, we've always been kind of outsiders. Both musically and personally. We've never really fitted in with any particular musical genre or scene. I mean, like when we started it was BritPop, then you had kind of NuMetal, garage revival stuff, and uh yeah, I don't think we really fit with any of this. I think...you know, maybe...because we come from a small town, but I think we've always been outsiders, you know, musically. And I think that's maybe why it could sound like music has come from somewhere very far away.
DOMINIC (reading next question): Okay, from Lars DeVoss, "Writing a new song - first the lyrics, or first the riff?"
MATTHEW: Well I'd say it depends on the song I think. I'd say most songs, most songs, it's the music that comes first. Um, occasionally the riff comes first, but generally the music comes first. I think...I think the music sort of helps...helps me get into an atmosphere or sort frame of mind that...that where characters start to grow out of you, and lyrics start to come quite naturally. Um, I think it's only very occasionally that lyrics come first. I think maybe 'Soldiers Poem' lyrics came first, maybe a little bit of invincible, but generally the music comes first I think.
MATTHEW (reading the next question): This is from Kelly Renson, "This album is different from the others, why have you changed?"
DOMINIC (laughs): I think 'changed'...well, you know, we've evolved in some ways, which I think is a really healthy thing to do, but that's a very natural process I think. Um, you learn more, you know the more years you are alive on this earth, you learn more about everything, and you know, music is one of those things. And um, and I think, you know, we've kind of said before, you know, really feeling like we're pushing our musical boundaries in the studio is a healthy thing to do.
MATTHEW (reading the next question): So this one is from Julian Masown? Massoine? Julian Massoine. "Which one of your songs gives you the biggest chill when you play live, or when you are playing it?"
DOMINIC: Ummm, I would say...well recently, we just started playing 'Soldiers Poem', which is, you know, is really soft and kind of delicate, particularly when it seems emphasized when you're on a big stage at a festival, so I think we might play that tonight. Uh, that can be quite chilling because you feel very exposed when you play that song. But um, you know, that chorus of 'Time Is Running Out' always works, and also the riff at the end of 'Knights Of Cydonia'.
MATTHEW: Yeah, I agree with the riff at the end of 'Knights Of Cydonia', I think that's the bit that's getting me going at the moment....(reads the next question)…This is from Lars DeVoss..
VOICE OFF: Same geezer
MATTHEW: He's very popular, "Dom, do you still have your Slipknot mask?"
DOMINIC: Got it somewhere yeah. I think it's in a box hidden underneath my bed somewhere. I haven't seen it for a long time. But I know its around. I certainly...
MATTHEW: How did you get hold of it?
DOMINIC:...I certainly haven't worn it for a long time. I got hold of it because we did a gig with Slipknot in Spain at some Metal-Fest quite a few years ago, and this girl got hold of the mask, I think from the singer, and uh, she gave it to us. And um, and that was it, and as soon as I put it on, you kind of, you change your personality quite quickly, and I started doing impressions of the singer. But um, I'll dig it out these days and put it on again (laughs).
(Next question)
DOMINIC: Okay...Matthias Poreae...'Poret' maybe..."What album struck you the most throughout your entire life?" Ohhh, that's a bit heavy. Back off.
MATTHEW: Well, um, actually, I'll go for something by Tom Waits maybe. Tom Waits as an artist has always been very...I think he shocked me....I think I heard him first after the first....after he made the first album, and I think I changed my approach to music a little bit after that, cuz he kind of creates such extreme characters in his music, and he has no fear to kind of do something that's very on the fringe of his imagination. I kind of like that, so I'd maybe say an album by him would be something like Mule Variations maybe. I think that had quite a big impact on me just before we made the second album.
(Matthew choses the next question)
MATTHEW: This is from Tinnie Locks..."Do you have a special routine before you go on stage?"
DOMINIC (thinks): Uhhhh… (this turns into a high pitched sound/shriek): I think before we go on stage we kind of, you know, pace around. I think there's no particular routine, but we get quite nervous as most people do before we get on stage, so we kind of...it's about...it's a process of trying to channel that nervousness into some kind of energy, which normally happens as soon as you walk on stage and start playing the first song, but we generally just try and you know, focus, and think about what you're going to do, and uh, kind of jump up and down.
MATTHEW (reading the next question): "Chris" (Chris isn't here actually)..uh, this is from Marleise Van HerBergen…"Chris, did you get your wedding ring back from the Japanese fans?" Well, Chris isn't here.
DOMINIC: Uhh, but Chris did, actually. We did a gig in uh, Nagoya, maybe? Was it? Maybe it was Tokyo? And he put his hand in the audience or something, or tried to give a pineapple, and uh and someone nicked his wedding ring, which is quite sad. But he did actually get it back. I think we put a post on the message board, and then some fan wrote in saying I'd found it on the floor, and he got it, and sent it back. So whoever did send it back, thank you very much, and uh, that was lucky.
MATTHEW (reading the next question): There's one from Philip Noits, "Would you like to do a Muse Symphny" or a rock musical opera?
DOMINIC: We've talked about evolving the stage show at different points in time, and about kind of maybe kind of incorporate a cast, and kind of maybe making a bit more kind of theatrical or something like that. Not entirely sure how we would do that yet, but erm, that does suggest that it could be a kind of rock ioera vibe. I saw the Queen musical in London, and it's good. It works. You know they're kind of singing a lot of Queen tracks with a kind of a story, a narrative, attached to it, and that was quite inspiring, so we've definitely thought about it, but maybe in the future.
(MATTHEW holds up the next question for DOMINIC to read out)
DOMINIC: This is from Matthew Gilligillain..."Who snores the most in the band?"
DOMINIC: Um, that's Chris.
MATTHEW: That's you.
DOMINIC: Is it?
MATTHEW: It's definitely you.
DOMINIC: Maybe it's me then. The old loose larynx. You see.
MATTHEW: I think it's definitely you.
DOMINIC: I know. Sleeping opposite Chris is tough sometimes.
MATTHEW (reads the next question): This is from Joe Jeri Vervloit. Erm, "What do you have in mind when you are listening to your album critics?". Erm... (pause). I dunno really. It's difficult to say, because every album we have done has had slightly good reviews and bad reviews. It depends you know. This album's getting a lot of good reviews which is quite nice, but um, I don't think you should take it all too seriously 'cos it's, you know, everyone's got their own opinion, you know. I think you have to respect people's opinions, you know. You have to respect if someone thinks it's not very good, or someone things it's very very great, you know. Um, I don't really have anything particular in mind when I'm reading them, I think that I'm just kind of sometimes interested to see what people think, but at the same time I don't think that like when you're reading anything that's critical about the band, I don't think you really let it affect you as musicians. You know, I don't think we've ever been influenced by any...any critics...but it's certainly interesting to read, yeah?
(MATTHEW reads the next question)
From Letitia Roche. "How did you choose the band name?"
(MATTHEW hands the mic to Dominic)
DOMINIC: Ummm, we come from a very small town where nothing happens. A place called Teignmouth. It didn't feel like anything was happening when we were kids, and um, there was a little spurt of creativity and bands hanging around the town, and uh, at this point in time we were one of those bands. Some wise old man who used to walk around town with a cane, he got very inspired himself by all this kind of young creativity and the arts that were kind of descending on his town, and he came up with this...he, he just said this phrase once that we overheard, that how some kind of inspiration, or some kind of muse had descended over this town of Teignmouth, to inspire all this kind of creativity in these young kids. And uh, I think it stemmed from that. We heard the name, and went 'That will work'.
MATTHEW (reads the next question): Dmitri DePorter, "What's the story behind Knights of Cydonia?". Well, 'Knights of Cydonia', that's the last song on the album, that was erm, musically quite inspired by some sci-fi music from the 50's, maybe a little bit of Morricone as well, some South Italian music has crept in there. My dad was in a band called The Tornadoes, which played kind of, sort of, slightly sci-fish music from the 50's, and I wanted to try and make something add a little bit of a wink towards that, and uh, well the song is kind of like...I think it's kind of like a conclusion to the whole album really, it's kind of like uh, talking about history, and how things have always been. The first verse says, 'Oh, things have always been pretty bad', blah blah blah blah, but towards the end it's kind of saying, 'doesn't matter how bad things get, there's a strength'. There's a human spirit that will fight to uh, to kind of uh, to get through it all. And uh, it's kind of like a comparison to...well, there's this idea that Mars was once in the same...I've heard...I've heard this rumour that Mars was once in the same climate...climate region as the Earth, you know, it's the same distance from the Sun that the Earth was about a billion, billion, billion years ago, and there was once oceans there and potentially we used to live there, so I like the idea of discovering that there was once a civilisation on Mars years and years, well millions of millions, well, billions of years ago, and I think it would change our perspective a little bit of our own future.
DOMINIC (reading the next question): Michael Flament, says "What's your biggest Spinal Tap moment?"
(Silence)
DOMINIC: What's your biggest 'Spinal Tap Moment'?
(Holds the mic to MATTHEW)
(DOMINIC laughs)
MATTHEW: I think it was our second or third gig. Uh, we were booked to play a...supposed to be a rock gig, you know like a venue, but for some reason we turned up and it was a roller skating, you know, party with children. You know, doing roller skates around in circles. And we were on the stage playing kind of, you know, emotional rock music, whilst children were sort of having some kind of party on roller skates, and it was a pretty um...it was a pretty strong combination I have to say. It was a powerful performance...
(MATTHEW reads the next question)
Betty Becker..."What celebrity, dead or alive, would you like to meet?"
DOMINIC: Ummm...I'd like to meet Jimi Hendrix you know...
MATTHEW: Yes
DOMINIC: He seems like a cool guy, and a short career really. But um cuz he died very young, which is a shame, but um, he just seemed like cool, you know, pioneering...set fire to guitars where no one else had done it, you know? He was just uh...he was such a pioneering guy, but a very kind of cool cat at the same time.
MATTHEW: I'd like to meet Jesus Christ. Just because I would be interested to know how he did it all, you know what I mean? Just like the old...you know...making fish out of bushes and stuff, and walking on water. I'd like to meet someone who can do that. I think that would certainly...certainly be probably one of the most interesting people to meet I'd say. Okay, that was our last question there, so, uh thank you very much for your questions, it's been a...great to be here, and hope to see you all soon on tour.
DOMINIC: Cheers.
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