 Muse Biography
Muse are a English rock band formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994 under the alias of Rocket Baby Dolls. The band comprises Matthew Bellamy (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass guitar, keyboards and vocals) and Dominic Howard (drums and percussion). Muse blend alternative, hard rock, progressive rock, classical music and electronica, which combine to make a new sub genre called, New Prog. Muse are known best for their energetic and visually dazzling live performances and on June 16th & 17th, 2007 became the first band to sell out the newly built Wembley Stadium in London . Muse have released four studio albums. Their first, Showbiz was released in 1999, followed by Origin of Symmetry in 2001 and Absolution in 2003. The most recent, Black Holes & Revelations (2006), was also the most critically acclaimed, garnering the band a Mercury Prize nomination and a third place finish in the NME Albums of the Year list for 2006. Muse have won various awards throughout their career including 5 MTV Europe Music Awards, 5 Q Awards, 4 NME Awards and 2 Brit Awards.
Formation and Early Years (1992-97): The members of Muse played in separate bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s. The formation of Muse began when 14 year old Matthew Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Dominic Howard's band. They asked Chris Wolstenholme, who played drums at the time, to learn to play bass guitar for the band. Chris agreed and took up lessons.
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 equipment in the process. "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement", Bellamy said, "so, when we actually won, it was a real shock. A massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously." Shortly after the contest, they decided to forego university, quit their jobs, change their name to Muse, and move away from Teignmouth, unaware of the huge success ahead of them.
First EPs and Showbiz (1998-2000): After a few years building a fan base, Muse played their first gigs in London and Manchester. The band had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall.
This meeting led to their first proper recordings and the release of an eponymous EP on Sawmills' in-house Dangerous label, with a front cover designed by Muse drummer Dominic Howard. Their second EP, the Muscle Museum EP, reached number 3 in the indie singles chart and attracted the attention of influential British radio broadcaster Steve Lamacq and the weekly British music publication NME. Dennis Smith subsequently co-founded the music production company Taste Media with Safta Jaffery especially for Muse (the band stayed with Taste Media for their first 3 albums).
Despite the minor success of their second EP, British record companies were reluctant to back Muse, and many sections of the music industry asserted that, like many of their contemporaries, their sound was too similar to that of Radiohead. However, American record labels were keen to sign them, flying Muse out to the U.S. to play showcase concerts. After a trip to New York's CMJ festival, Muse signed a deal with Maverick Records on December 24, 1998. Upon their return from America, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them to maintain control over their career in individual countries.
John Leckie, who produced the influential The Bends by Radiohead, and had produced for the Stone Roses, and The Verve, was brought in to produce the band's first record, Showbiz. The album showcased the band's soft style, and the lyrics made reference 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 Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters 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, particularly in France.
Origins of Symmetry and Hullabaloo (2001-02): During production of the band's second album, Origin of Symmetry, 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. Bellamy cites guitar influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave), the latter evident in the more riff-based songs in 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". Muse successfully sued Nescafé in 2003 when they used Muse's version of "Feeling Good" in a television advert without permission, donating the £500,000 compensation to Oxfam.
Celine Dion was also threatened with legal action in 2002 when she planned to name her Las Vegas show "Muse", despite the band owning the worldwide performing rights to the name. Celine Dion offered $50,000 for the rights but Muse rejected this with Bellamy stating that "We don't want to turn up there with people thinking we're Celine Dion's backing band." Eventually Dion was forced to back down.
The album received mixed reviews; Dean Carlson of Allmusic 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." Whereas NME gave the album 9/10 with Roger Morton writing "It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of Cobain and Kafka, Mahler and The Tiger Lillies, Cronenberg and Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album. But Muse have carried it off" .
Maverick had reservations about Bellamy's vocal style on this album (considering it not to be "radio-friendly"), and asked Muse to change some of their songs prior to U.S. release. The band refused and left Maverick, resulting in Maverick's decision not to release Origin of Symmetry in the U.S. (The album was finally released in the U.S. on September 20, 2005, after Muse signed to Warner).
Having built up a strong reputation as a live band over the course of the Origin of Symmetry tour, Muse decided to release a live CD and DVD. The DVD, Hullabaloo, featured live footage recorded during Muse's two gigs on consecutive nights at Le Zenith in Paris in 2001 and a documentary film of the band on tour. A double album, Hullabaloo Soundtrack was released at the same time, containing a compilation of B-sides and a disc of recordings of songs from the Le Zenith performances. A double-A side single was also released featuring new songs "In Your World" and "Dead Star". The song "Shrinking Universe" from Hullabaloo Soundtrack was used in trailers 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 albums ever.
Absolution (2003-05): In 2003, a new studio album, Absolution, was released. Produced by Rich Costey (who had previously produced Rage Against the Machine, Phillip Glass and Fiona Apple), 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 hit singles "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria".
The album is built around the theme of the end of the world, and reactions to that situation; despite this, Muse described it as an "uplifting" album, with a positive message coming through in songs such as "Blackout" and "Butterflies and Hurricanes". The apocalyptic theme draws from Bellamy’s interest in conspiracy theories, theology, science, and the supernatural. The song "Ruled By Secrecy", for example, takes its title from the Jim Marrs book Rule By Secrecy about the secrets behind the way major governments are run. Many lyrics on this album have political references, and the "Time Is Running Out" video takes place in an unspecified government office.
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 US leg of the 2004 tour began ominously as Bellamy injured himself on stage during the opening show in Atlanta. The tour resumed after several stitches and a couple of days.
The band played at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004. After the festival, the band 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. Muse received award for "Best Live Act" at the 2005 BRIT Awards.
The band finished touring in January 2005, then visited the U.S. in April and May. On July 2, 2005, Muse participated in the Live 8 concert in Paris, where they performed their singles "Plug In Baby", "Bliss", "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria".
An unofficial and unauthorised DVD biography containing no Muse music called Manic Depression was released in April 2005; the band was not involved with the project and did not endorse the release. Another DVD, this time official, 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. Two songs, "Endlessly" and "Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist", are hidden tracks on the DVD taken from Wembley Arena. The only song from Absolution not to appear on the live DVD is "Falling Away With You", which has never been performed live to date. Absolution eventually went Gold in the US.
Black Holes & Revelations and H.A.A.R.P. (2006-08): In July 2006, Muse released their fourth album, co-produced by Muse and by Rich Costey, titled Black Holes & Revelations. The album was released officially in Japan on June 28, 2006, Europe on July 3, 2006 and in North America on July 11, 2006. The album 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 & Revelations was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize, but lost to Arctic Monkeys. The album did, however, earn a Platinum Europe Award after selling one million copies in the continent, The album's title and themes are the result of the band's fascination with science fiction and political outrage. In August 2006, Muse recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road.
The first single from the album, "Supermassive Black Hole", was released as a download on May 9, 2006 and accompanied by a music video directed by Floria Sigismondi, followed by the general releases as a single the following month, all ahead of the main album release. The second single, "Starlight", was released on September 4, 2006. "Knights of Cydonia" was released in the U.S. as a radio-only single on June 13, 2006 and in the UK on November 27, 2006. It also had a six-minute promotional video filmed in Romania and was featured on the popular video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was also voted number 1 in the world's largest music poll Australian Radio's Triple J Hottest 100 for 2007. 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.
Prior to the release of the album, the band resumed making live performances, which had halted while recording, making a number of promotional TV appearances starting on May 13, 2006 at BBC Radio 1's One Big Weekend. The main live tour started just before the release of their album and initially consisted mostly of festival appearances, most notably a headline slot at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006. The band's main touring itinerary started with a tour of North America 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. The tour continued in Australia, New Zealand and south-east Asia in early 2007 before returning to England for the summer. Possibly their biggest performances to date were two gigs at the newly-rebuilt Wembley Stadium on June 16 and 17 2007. Both Wembley concerts were recorded for a DVD/CD release titled H.A.A.R.P, which was released on the 17th March 2008 in the UK and 1st April 2008 in the USA. The title refers to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program - a scientific research program aimed at studying the properties and behaviour of the ionosphere.
The touring continued across Europe in July 2007 before heading back to the US in August where they played to a sold out crowd at Madison Square Garden, New York. They earned a headline spot on the second night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on September 15, 2007, after The White Stripes cancelled their performance. They also performed at the October 2007 Vegoose in Las Vegas alongside bands like Rage Against the Machine, Daft Punk, and Queens of the Stone Age. Muse continued touring in Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia before moving on to Australia and New Zealand. Muse played their final show of the Black Holes & Revelations tour as headliner of the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas after playing to sell-out crowds throughout Southeast Asia, Australia, the United States and New Zealand.
A number of individual live appearances are also planned in 2008. In March they played concerts in Dubai, Johannesburg and Cape Town. On April 12th they played a one-off concert at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. In August they will be headline acts at V Festival 2008 (reportedly the only UK festival the band are appearing at this year), playing in Chelmsford on Saturday 16th August, and Staffordshire on Sunday 17th August. In several interviews they have shown interest in playing a new gig in Marlay Park, Dublin on August 13th and a gig in Belfast on August 14th. The Dublin gig was confirmed by the band, however, the Belfast date was dismissed according to The Belfast Telegraph. Kasabian and Glasvegas will support Muse on their Irish date. They also hinted at the possibility of a future stadium tour or concerts in South America.
Future Plans: After a number of rumours about Muse playing Reading and Leeds Festivals circulated around Wikipedia as well as various rumour websites, Dominic Howard said to NME "we will not be playing the Leeds and Reading festivals, and we believe this rumour to have been started by an 'anti-fan' hoping to get Muse fans' hopes up. Some people need to grow up. We apologise for any inconvenience, but we will be indeed playing more shows over the summer so stay tuned."
These "shows" took the form of an 8-date tour of Mexico and South America, as well as a performance at Marlay Park in Dublin with support from Kasabian and Glasvegas a few days before their headline slots at the English V Festival. The band have suggested that some new material will be debuted at these summer concerts.
In an interview given in May 2007 to Kerrang!, Muse stated that work on a new album and new songs, some more in line with electronic or "dance music" and others more with classical or symphonic music had begun. The band are also thinking of hiring an orchestra for some of the tracks. They also revealed that the next album should be self-produced, in order to have more freedom. In an interview in a January 2008 edition of NME, Matt Bellamy stated that he is not sure of what format the new songs are going to take, stating, "it may just be albums, but it may be a stream of singles, or it may just be one 50-minute symphony, do you know what I mean? Who knows?" The new songs will be released sometime in 2009. Bellamy also said in an NME interview that he wanted to do a "15 minute space-rock guitar solo".
In October 2007 interview with the Daily Star, Dominic Howard continued the idea of more electronic music, saying “We think it might have quite an electronic feel. Normally we need total time out from touring to sit down and reflect but this time round it feels different. We’re buzzing at the moment.”
In May 2008 interview with BBC Music6, Dominic Howard confirmed that they are recording the new album. “About a week ago we just started on some new stuff and actually started playing some new tracks and writing some new songs. So we are just getting the ball rolling again,” he told BBC 6 Music. “We’ve been off the kind of creative period for so long, being on tour, so once you get back together - you have to start thinking that kind of way. You have to kind of push that ball and get it rolling. And we did it and it sounded great so we got a few tracks together and it’s coming along so that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Asked what the new album would sound like, Howard said that it was too early to ascertain a specific sound.
“You get a whole bunch of ideas in the can and it’s not until later on that you actually decide what they should sound like and where they should go really,” he said, before adding that “it’s really exciting times.” --Courtesy of Wikipedia
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