IT HAS BEEN a very satisfactory week for Muse. Not only have they snaffled their first No 1 with their third album,
Absolution, they won the first Innovation in Music Award at the
Q Magazine Awards.
And what does this mean? According to Q, innovators “make mould-breaking surround sound mixes, marry diverse musical styles to an inspired choice of old and new instrumentation.” If so, Q’s panel of judges could not have made a better choice than Muse. The threepiece from Devon make wildly ambitious music that incorporates elements of rock, funk, jazz and, increasingly, classical music. Often in the same song.
That the product of such rampant miscegenation does not sound like an orchestra falling down a flight of stairs is remarkable. The fact that it sounds so good and is so popular is nothing short of extraordinary. Not that the trio appear to care very much about the semantics of their music as the post-awards party rages on. According to the lead singer, Matt Bellamy, “Dom (Howard, Muse drummer) has spilt a glass of red wine over Dexys Midnight Runners and Lemmy from Motörhead has invited us to a gig at the Hammersmith Apollo.”
The day before the awards they had been in Milan to play an hour-long live set which provided the climax to MTV’s Muse Day. Yes — Muse, an oft-derided band who celebrate their tenth birthday next January and who have lived through Britpop, nu-metal, garage rock and any number of musical fads, are now big enough to warrant their own day on MTV.
You would expect the band to be rather surprised that instead of having to settle for minor cult status they’ve mounted a very spirited assault on the barricades of rock stardom. But not a bit of it.
The diminutive Bellamy, 25, is obviously thrilled but he’s hardly jumping up and down, punching the air. “It is great, obviously, but this is hardly an overnight success. We’ve worked hard for this and we deserve it. This album’s more diverse, more mature and just better. I’ve been listening to a lot of Berlioz and Debussy and I think it’s perfectly possible to incorporate the incredible feeling they achieve into rock music. In fact I think we’ve proved it can be done.”
Howard, also 25, is similarly unfazed about being No 1. “Yeah, it’s pretty good, but it won’t last. We sold 71,000 copies of our album in a week. Dido’s new record sold more than that on the first day of release.”
Still, I suggest, playing skyscraping music to stadiums full of obsessed fans and having No 1 albums is a far cry from their days in the sleepy Devon coastal village of Teignmouth where all three band members (bassist Chris Wolstenholme, 24, completes the line-up) were brought up.
Bellamy chuckles. “Yeah, I guess worrying about which pair of trousers to wear before playing to 20,000 people is a bit of a step up from worrying if that flash bloke in the Ford Capri will nick the girl that I fancy.
“And — no offence to the noble art of painting and decorating of which I was once a less-than-able practitioner — this knocks the socks off having a normal job. Because, to be honest, that’s why all three of us have stuck at this game and persevered and worked so hard. We were horrified at the prospect of a proper job.”
Muse’s idiosyncratic brand of grand, operatic pop does not brook indifference. People either love or loathe them. You cannot listen to Bellamy’s melodramatic glissando vocals swooping over the music’s complex constructs without either laughing out loud at Muse’s preposterous ambition or being enthralled by their daring.
To be honest, until the majestic many-layered rock cake that is Absolution I was in the former camp. But Absolution, unlike much of their previous output, is riddled with great tunes and juicy hooks.
Whereas before the band seemed to think that epic ambition and multi-part songs were enough to carry the day, Absolution sees them marry that operatic splendour (previously attempted by Queen, a not unfair comparison) with the dynamic savagery and melodic nous of Nirvana. Still, back in January 1994, when Muse formed, attempting a marriage between Queen and Nirvana was less important than avoiding those who thought having long hair was provocation enough for a good old-fashioned beating.
“In the summer, Teignmouth is lovely,” Bellamy says. “The beaches are great and there’s plenty to do. Come the winter it’s tumbleweed town, where the only things to do are to get drunk and maybe find someone with piercings to have a fight with. We shut ourselves away and practised and practised and practised.”
Eventually, after a chance meeting with studio owner Dennis Smith, Muse recorded an EP, Muscle Museum. According to Wolstenholme, Smith’s generosity was invaluable. “He gave us free time in his fabulous studio, paid for the EP and told us to pay him back if we ever got signed.”
The EP, released at the start of 1999, became a word-of-mouth phenomenon and was latched on to by Radio 1. Soon the band were signed by Mushroom Records and they were on their way. Four years later they find themselves at the top of their game: big in the UK and even more popular on the Continent, as evidenced by sell-out 20,000 capacity shows in France, Belgium and Italy.
And it’s only going to get bigger and better for them. The new album has reportedly excited a great deal of interest in America and they’re steeling themselves for an assault on the world’s biggest music market.
Even Bellamy, who can usually fit more words into a minute than a millipede has legs, is silenced by the suggestion that American success could be imminent. But then he regains his dry demeanour. “I would like to think we could cope with America,” he says.
Whether America can cope with Muse is another matter entirely.
4 MORE INNOVATORS FOR Q'S LIST
1930s Robert Johnson met the Devil who took Johnson’s guitar and tuned it. Thus, in exchange for his soul, Johnson was able to play, sing and create the greatest blues anyone had ever heard.
1950s Elvis Presley’s swiveling hips caused enormous controversy. Television directors were instructed to only film Elvis from the waist up.
1960s The Beatles grabbed hold of the international mass consciousness in 1964 and did not let go for the next six years, always staying ahead of the pack in terms of creativity.
1970s Punk convinced many kids who did not think it was possible to be a musician to pick up a guitar and start a band. It was the beginning of indie music as we know it.
