(MUSE) Top Of The Pops Interview


2001

"...find out about how wild are Muse's parties, and what's going on between them, and Kelly from the Stereophonic's changing opinion of them..."

Q: Matt, Dom and Chris are here from Muse. Welcome to Top Of The Pops. Now, you just finished a tour of Europe. Back for promoting the new single and the album, and then off to France. Do you ever...do you boys ever get time to rest? 
MATTHEW: No
DOMINIC: No. Never. 
Q: Do you like it that way?
DOMINIC: Uh, it's good you know. Cuz once you keep on moving like, especially when you're touring, you get used to going to a different country every day. You sort of get on a roll with that, so sometimes when you stop, you sort of feel a bit disjointed or something. 
Q: Now, your first album sold over 600,000 copies, and you're still shifting about 2,500 copies a week now. That must feel pretty good. Did you know that?
DOMINIC (as everyone shakes their head): No
(Laughter)
Q: Seriously, about two and a half thousand copies a week is still going on, and you're still getting rid of the mid week(?) with a record shop somewhere in the UK. 
DOMINIC: That's cool. Yeah.
MATTHEW: Thanks.
(Laughter)
Q: Do you think that's word of mouth, or do you think that's, you know, people hearing your new stuff, and wanting to hear the old stuff?
DOMINIC: Just did a tour of Europe, so you know, we played a lot of new songs. Maybe people sort of came to see us, and didn't have the album, and went out and bought it. 
MATTHEW: So I think we became known to be playing live a lot, touring the band, and doing a lot...because we've done touring so much, that's where a lot of people have got to know us from I think. 
Q: Tell us about the second Muse album, if you could? 
DOMINIC: Uh. I dunno. We did some. We did record it in two sections. We did some with Dave Bottrill in September last year, and then we carried on touring for a bit, and then we did some more in January with John Leckie, so it probably took about two months. All in all something. And um it sort of sounds a bit more..um...more like that we sound like as a live band, a sort of three-piece band feel about it. The way we set it up and played it, was all together like gig switch situation really.
Q: Plug In Baby got to Number 11, do you think that this is going to be the year that Muse is going to be really big?
DOMINIC: I don't know. We're just....maybe this album will sort of maybe go a little bit bigger than the first one, but you know, you don't know, do you? 
MATTHEW: It always seems to be gradual...there's...there's always talk of being bigger than it really is. There's been that from the start, when we first were getting signed it was like phwwoaah...you should see us like going out to these USA record labels, and they were like, you know, treating us like, you know, treating us like whatever, as if we were something big, and um, went back on the plane and went back home, and started painting and decorating for a few weeks. It's like, there's always talk of things bigger than they really are. It's just talk. 
Q: Which of these comparisons currently annoys you most? One. You sound like Radiohead. Two. New Born sounds a bit like Bohemian Rhapsody? 
MATTHEW: That's an insult to Bohemian Rhapsody in my opinion.
(Laughter)
MATTHEW: No, no...um, I wouldn't try and compete with those bands, you know, so...
Q: There's a thing that Kelly Jones from Stereophonics said recently... 
(MATTHEW and DOMINIC glance at each other and grin)
Q (cont) I don't want to bring this up lads, but I feel that I have to. Uh, he said that you are 'a Radiohead Tribute band'. 
(MATTHEW and DOMINIC both look at the camera) 
DOMINIC: Cheers, mate. 
MATTHEW: Cheers, mate. Nice one. We...we met in the USA, he's was a nice guy and everything, and then he went and sort of started slagging us off. 
Q: Do you think he's got a bit of a problem with you?
MATTHEW: I wouldn't know. I don't know. I'm sure he's got problems with a lot of things, you know what I mean? 
(Laughter) 
Q: See, I've read that you have fantastic parties. At home. In Devon. Where in Devon?   
(Giggles from DOMINIC and CHRISTOPHER)
MATTHEW: We had one last night, which was pretty good, wasn't it? It went a bit dark side though...
Q: Yeah
MATTHEW: Last night it was um...a couple of people...(mumbles) they got so drunk they spilled red wine everywhere...and one of them dyed my hair.
Q: I was going to say, since the last time I saw you, it's like...
MATTHEW: That's actually why I bought them back. Cuz I met these two people in a bar, and they said they did hair, and I said, 'Come on then'...and they bleached my hair and stuff, and I woke up red...
(Laughter)     
Q: What's next after the album comes out, what are you going to do next? Have you got a big summer? Busy summer? 
DOMINIC: Yeah, pretty busy. We're doing um, twenty-five festivals or something all over Europe and stuff, and then probably tour again, like another European thing at the end of the year. 
Q: Listen, good luck with whatever you are doing this summer, and also the album, and this is Muse with the Top Of The Pops performance of New Born...


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