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Muse are an English rock band formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1997, comprising Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, keyboards, vocals) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion. More recently, Morgan Nicholls has been featured on guitar and keyboards in Black Holes and Revelations era live performances. Their sound is a blend of alternative rock, progressive rock, classical music, electronica and heavy metal. The band is known for their energetic live performances and frontman Matthew Bellamy's eccentric interests in global conspiracy, extraterrestrial life, theology and the apocalypse.
History, Formation and early years (1992-1997)
The members of Muse were in separate bands at Teignmouth Secondary School in the early 1990s. The formation of Muse began after Matthew Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Dominic Howard's band. They were left with a dilemma when their second guitarist Phys Vandit decided to leave, so they asked close friend Chris Wolstenholme to learn to play the bass guitar. The band changed names a number of times after this, cycling through names such as Gothic Plague, Carnage Mayhem, Fixed Penalty, and Rocket Baby Dolls, before adopting the name Muse (the chronology of these names is unclear, as Muse have given contradictory accounts in various interviews).
In 1994, under the name Rocket Baby Dolls and with a Gothic/glam image, the group won a local battle of the bands contest, trashing their gear in the process (they were "the only real rock band" there).Shortly after this win the band decided to forgo university and take on a living as professional musicians. They changed their name to Muse and started playing concerts in local clubs like the Cavern in Exeter.
First EPs and Showbiz (1998-2000)
After a few years building a fan base in London, Muse played their first gigs in London and Manchester The band had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills, a recording studio in a converted water mill in Cornwall, S.W. England.
This meeting led to their first proper recordings and the release of a self-titled EP, of which the front cover was designed by Muse's own drummer, Dominic Howard, on Sawmill's in-house Dangerous label. Their second EP, the Muscle Museum EP, attracted the attention of influential British music journalist Steve Lamacqand the weekly British music publication NME. Dennis Smith subsequently co-founded the music production company Taste Media especially for Muse (the band stayed with Taste Media for their first 3 albums). This was fortunate for the band, as it allowed them to preserve the individuality of their sound in the early stages of their career.
Despite the success and acclaim of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to back Muse, and many sections of the music industry were concerned that their sound was too similar to that of Radiohead (circa The Bends). However, the American Maverick Records arranged a number of gigs in the United States before signing them at the end of 1998. Upon their return from America, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia. John Leckie, who had produced the aforementioned The Bends, the Stone Roses, "Weird Al" Yankovic and The Verve, was brought in to produce the band's first record, Showbiz. The album showcased the band's aggressive style, and featured a number of lyrical references to the difficulties they had encountered while trying to establish themselves in Teignmouth.
The release of this album was followed by tour support slots for the Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers in the United States. 1999 and 2000 saw Muse playing major festivals in Europe and gigs in Australia, accumulating a considerable fan base in Western Europe.
Origin of Symmetry (2001-2002)
Their second album, Origin of Symmetry, again produced by Leckie, resulted in a heavier, darker rock sound, with Wolstenholme's bass, often overdriven, distorted or synthesized, sometimes using classical techniques on songs like "Space Dementia".
The band experimented with unorthodox instrumentation, such as a church organ, Mellotron, and an expanded drum kit. There were more of Bellamy's high-pitched vocal lines, arpeggiated guitar, and distinctive piano playing, inspired by the works of pianists of the Romanticism movement, particularly Russians such as Rachmaninovand Tchaikovsky. Also palpable is the influence of minimalists such as Philip Glass Bellamy cites guitar influences such as Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Jimi Hendrix, and Tom Morello (of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine), the latter evident in the more riff-based songs on Origin of Symmetry, and in Bellamy's extensive use of pitch-shifting effects in his solos.The album also features a reworking of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse's "Feeling Good.
The general eccentricity of Muse's fundamentally rock style has seen them likened to the rock band Queen, although this is partially due to their way of working the stage, Bellamy sharing a lot of charisma like that of Queen's Brian May. Comparisons to Radiohead were still evident, Dean Carlson of the All Music Guide commented on the album saying "if you want to sound like Radiohead when even Thom Yorke doesn't want to sound like Radiohead, you might as well take it to such preposterous, bombastic, over the top levels."
The album might have led to Muse making a significant impact on the American music scene, but Maverick had reservations about Bellamy's vocal style (considering it not to be "radio-friendly"), and asked Muse to change some of their songs prior to U.S. release. Insulted, the band declined and left Maverick altogether, preventing the release of Origin of Symmetry in the U.S. (Muse has since released the album in the U.S. on September 20 2005).
Following the album, Muse released Hullabaloo Soundtrack, a DVD featuring their live performance at Le Zenith in Paris in 2001. A double album featuring a collection of b-sides and recordings of some songs from the Le Zenith performance was released at the same time. A double A side single was released featuring new songs "In Your World" and "Dead Star", a move away from the grand opera style of Origin of Symmetry. The single was greeted with a mixed reaction from existing fans, but radio friendly song lengths and styles helped to attract many new fans. The song "Shrinking Universe" from Hullabaloo Soundtrack was used as one of the main songs for the 2007 film "28 Weeks Later."
In the February 2006 edition of Q Magazine, Origin of Symmetry was placed 74th in a fans' poll of the 100 greatest ever albums.
Absolution (2003-2005)
In 2003, a new studio album, Absolution was released. Produced by Rich Costey (who had previously produced Rage Against the Machine), the album demonstrated a continuation of the experimentation displayed in Origin of Symmetry, while maintaining a sense of the band as a three-piece. The album yielded the band the hit single "Time Is Running Out".
Muse continued to blend classical influences into their hard rock sound, the overall effect being somewhat Wagnerian in style, especially on tracks such as "Butterflies and Hurricanes", which features an entire Rachmaninoff-inspired classical piano section. The band has made reference to a theme running through the album—the end of the world, and reactions to that situation. This draws mainly from Bellamy’s interest in conspiracy theories, theology, science, futurism computing and the supernatural. Bellamy's interests in terrorism, its cause and the conspiracy theories surrounding it, stemmed from the death of his uncle who had been killed by the IRA. The song Ruled By Secrecy, for example, takes its title from the Jim Marrs novel Rule By Secrecy about the secrets behind the way major governments are run—many lyrics on this album have political references.
Finally receiving mainstream critical acclaim in Britain, and with a new American record deal, Muse undertook their first international stadium tour. It continued for about a year and saw Muse visiting Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and France Meanwhile, the band released five singles (Time Is Running Out, Hysteria, Sing for Absolution, Stockholm Syndrome, and Butterflies and Hurricanes).
The band played at the Glastonbury festival in June 2004. Bellamy described the concert as "The best gig of our lives", but very shortly after the concert, drummer Dominic Howard's father, Bill Howard, who was at the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack. "It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage," Bellamy said. "It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life."
Muse continued their tour. Their last dates were in the U.S. and at the Earls Court arena in London, where they played an extra date due to the high demand for tickets. They won two MTV Europe awards, including "Best Alternative Act," and a Q Award for "Best Live Act." At the end of 2004, Vitamin Records released The String Quartet Tribute to Muse by The Tallywood Strings, an album of instrumental string versions of some of Muse's songs. At the 2005 BRIT Awards, Muse were awarded the "Best Live Act" award.
The band finished touring in January 2005, but visited the U.S. in April and May, as their profile there was considerably higher than before. On July 2, 2005, Muse participated in the Live 8 concert in Paris, where they performed their singles "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria".
A DVD biography called Manic Depression was released in April 2005, but the band was not involved with the project and did not endorse the release. Another DVD was released on December 12, 2005, Absolution Tour, containing re-edited and re-mastered highlights from the Glastonbury Festival 2004, and previously unseen footage from London Earls Court, Wembley Arena, and the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. However, three songs were cut from the original BBC edit, "Interlude", and "Stockholm Syndrome", for reasons unknown (possibly due to lack of space on the disc) "Citizen Erased" was also taken out because it ended with the intro to "Take a Bow" which became the opening track on the band's Black Holes and Revelations" album. However, "Stockholm Syndrome" was included in the Earls Court footage. Two songs, "Endlessly" and "Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist", are hidden tracks on the DVD taken from Wembley Arena. Absolution eventually went gold in the US.[edit
Black Holes and Revelations (2006-prese)
Muse announced a new LP in May 2006, which would be produced again by Rich Costey and titled Black Holes and Revelations. Shortly afterwards, the album was leaked to the Internet. The album was released in Europe on July 3, 2006 and in North America on July 11, 2006. The album was released to the Japanese market earlier than most other countries, on June 28, 2006. It included an extra track, "Glorious," that is not present on the rest of the world's releases but was available if pre-ordered from iTunes. It charted at No. 1 in the UK, much of Europe, and Australia and also achieved American success, reaching No. 9 in the Billboard 200 album chart. Black Holes and Revelations was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, but the prize instead went to Arctic Monkeys. The album did, however, earn a Platinum Europe Award after selling one million copies in the continent, and the band received the 2006 Q Award for Best Live Act.
The album's title and themes are the work of the band's fascination with space, Mars and Cydonia, the Book of Revelation and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The artwork is designed by Storm Thorgerson and depicts a landscape of the surface of Mars with four men seated around a table and four miniature horses on it.
The first single from the album, "Supermassive Black Hole," was first released as a standalone download on May 9 2006. Reactions to the new single were diverse as it represented an extreme departure from the style of the band's previous work; later on in 2006, the band revealed the song was inspired by the work of Soulwaxand previous support band Millionaire, a thank you was posted on Millionaire's website but can no longer be found. The single was officially released online on 12 June 2006 with the CD release taking place on June 19. The CD release contained the B-side "Crying Shame." The second single, "Starlight", was released on September 4, 2006. "Knights of Cydonia" was released as a radio-only single in the U.S. on June 13, 2006 and in the UK on November 27, 2006. It charted in the Top 10 and was accompanied by a six-minute promotional video filmed in Romania. The fourth single from the album, Invincible, was released on April 9, 2007.Another single, "Map of the Problematique", was released for digital download only on June 18, 2007, following the band's performance at Wembley Stadium.
On November 2, 2006, Muse won the Best Alternate and Best Live Act awards at the 2006 MTV European Music Video Awards in Copenhagen, and performed their single "Starlight". Justin Timberlake, presenting the awards, commented that Muse was the best band there when introducing their performance of "Starlight", and lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers, mentioned Muse while receiving their Best Rock award, saying that the award belonged to Muse. The band also recently won the BRIT award for best live act in February 2007. However, they didn't win the other two awards they were up for (Best Album and Best British Band), losing both to Arctic Monkeys.
The band started performing live again on May 13 2006 at BBC Radio 1's One Big Weekend, followed by various other promotional TV appearances. The main live tour started just before the release of their album and initially consisted mostly of festival appearances, most notable of which was a headline slot at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. A tour of North America took place from late July to early August 2006, and after the last of the summer festivals, a tour of Europe began, including a large arena tour of the UK. The band spent November and much of December 2006 touring Europe with British band Noisettes as the supporting act. Since then, the tour has continued in and around Australia and Southeast Asia, and more dates around the world have been published until September 2007. Major performances included the headlining spot at the Isle of Wight Festival on June 9, and a 75,000-capacity gig at the newly-rebuilt Wembley Stadium on June 16 and June 17, 2007 Support acts included The Streets, Biffy Clyro and My Chemical Romance.The Wembley concert sold out quickly, prompting the addition of an extra show for June 17.Both of the Wembley shows were filmed for possible future DVD release. After The BRIT Awards the band announced that they were asked to play at one of the Live Earth concerts, likely to happen at Wembley Stadium on July 7, 2007. They are also confirmed to play the Oxegen festival in Ireland on the same day. Muse also played at the Big Day Out07 (NZ & Aus) alongside headlining band Tool.
Muse recently withdrew from several tour dates with My Chemical Romance because some of the crew and My Chemical Romance had food poisoning. It was announced that the band will play at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 2007, Philadelphia's Festival Pier on August 10, 2007, and the Austin City Limits Festival in September 2007.
Matthew Bellamy is reported to have stated that Muse may be playing a one-off gig with the recently reunited Rage Against the Machine in August 2007.
Six support bands played at the two concerts on June 16 and 17, 2007 at Wembley Stadium, London. These were: The Streets, Rodrigo y Gabriela , and Dirty Pretty Things on June 16, and My Chemical Romance, Biffy Clyro, and Shy Child on June 17.[20]
Though it was speculated the band would be playing at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival, Michael Eavis has since denied this by saying "We’ve already got headline acts for next year, but it’s not Muse or U2.". The organizer of the Download Festival at Donnington Park is also confirmed as being interested in having Muse headline the festival.
Muse were included in Q Magazine's "10 Most Exciting Bands On The Planet Right Now" list in the 252nd issue (July 2007). They were number nine in this list.
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