BBC 2006-08-31 – Radio 1's Entertainment News
Muse were interviewed around Reading Festival 2006, along with the Kaiser Chiefs, The Streets and the Arctic Monkeys.
Radio 1's Entertainment News
Dominic Howard: Hi, my name's Dominic.
Matthew Bellamy: And I'm Matt and we're from Muse. The nerves haven't kicked in yet - I'm pretty relaxed at the moment, and I'm sure like an hour before I'm going to start cacking myself, you know?
Howard: Yeah, I'm sure we'll be very nervous, but right now it's cool. I've just been watching some bands, so that maybe helps me try and relax, you know, and say "Oh yeah, it's all fine, isn't it? Stage is fine." It's gonna be good.
Interviewer: So who have you seen so far that's impressed?
Howard: I've seen ... a bit of the Futureheads, which was good. And Dirty Pretty Things. Those two. And I missed Wolfmother, which gutted me because apparently it was absolutely genius. But I think we arrived just as they were coming offstage, damn shame.
Interviewer: And you are in bright yellow jeans. Uh ... is this your stage getup?
Howard: Um, I don't know whether I'll wear these on stage. I might do.
Interviewer: I'm making you self-conscious now, are you going to change your mind?
Howard: Eh, I'll see. It depends on... what Matt thinks.
Bellamy: Uh. I'm not sure. It's behind the drum kits, you can't really see them, d'you know what I mean? So-
Howard: But my drum kit is clear.
Bellamy: Oh yeah. You should definitely wear them.
Interviewer: Is this like the old Drummer-Vying-For-More-Attention again?
Bellamy: I like that, that's good.
Howard: I missed it.
Bellamy: She goes, "It's the old classic Drummer-Vying-For-More-Attention." That's brilliant. That's great. You know we're touring way excessively these days, we've got five buses. I've got one, Chris has got one and Dom's got three. He's got one for his clothes and wardrobe, one for himself and one for his ego. *giggles*
Interviewer: But you are headlining Reading, which is quite an achievement really.
Bellamy: Oh, yeah, it's great, it's a dream come true really. I remember I came to this gig probably... was it ten years ago? We saw Rage Against the Machine, '96?
Howard: Yeah, it was.
Bellamy: Yeah, and I also came to '94 as well, and I remember looking at the stage and going, "Yeah, that's it, isn't it? If I get up there, it means I've done well." And I think it's safe to say... we've done well. [giggles]
Interviewer: And eh, how elaborate are you planning on being? I've heard various rumours, from UFOs to balloons.
Bellamy: Well some of the real excessive stuff we couldn't get away with here because of- because of a lot of restrictions on a public event like this, you know. At the end of the year we're doing a European tour, at the end of the year, where we're gonna, you know, there'll be a UFO coming down with us playing on it...
Howard: [starts laughing]
Bellamy: ... maybe a giant satellite dish that shoots lasers out, and try- the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, that's what we're gonna go for onstage, you know? At the end of the year it's going to be a bit more full-on. What we've got tonight is pretty much what you can get- as much as we can get on to a quick-changer. You've only got an hour to get your gear on so it's going to be a pretty chaotic up there, just a lot of flashing lights. And there might be some sparks, a little bit of fire here and there, y'know?
Interviewer: With all your UFO stuff, would you say there's a fine line between being really rawk and being a bit Spinal Tap?
Bellamy: [laughs] I don't think that line should be- you should never have any fear of crossing that line, you know? I think, I think to me Spinal Tap's a great band. [giggling] I've got a lot of respect for them.
Interviewer: And obviously you've got a new single coming out soon too, which is brilliant, what was the inspiration behind that?
Bellamy: It's a pretty simple love song really. You know, well - love song - sort of missing your girlfriend type of song, you know when you've been on the road for a while and you start to feel a bit like "Cor blimey, where am I going?" It's real cheesy really, kind of like... it;s from the heart. It's honest, heart-on-sleeve vibe.
Interviewer: And was it based on real experiences?
Bellamy: I've never had a girlfriend, so I dunno. [laughs] No, no, yeah of course it is. [laughs]
Interviewer: Okayyyy. Is it- how are your lives in that kind of area at the moment, because obviously touring is very disrupting to that kind of normal existence, so are you gonna try to stop that soon and settle down, or...
Howard: Touring's tough on personal lives, and family, and friends, cos it's hard to see them all and keep that connection really seamless, like you would do when you're not travelling around the world.
Bellamy: The last couple of weeks we've actually taken a lot of people with us on tour, we've had like a ridiculous entourage of family and girlfriends and kids and stuff, just the last- cos we did a little tour of European festivals. That's actually what the five buses are for. It's not all for Dom actually, yeah. No, cos we've actually managed to sort of bring our homes with us for the first time, which is quite nice, you know, it's a nice little... different kind of experience, you know?
Interviewer: Actually, I spoke to Grant from Feeder earlier and he was saying that there were so many kids running around Muse.
Bellamy: Yeah, we've got kids, and nannies, and all sorts, yeah. All mainly hovering around Chris. [laughs]
Interviewer: What's kind of next for you after this weekend?
Bellamy: Then we... I think we've got a bit of time, we're doing some random gig in Turkey-
Howard: Then we go back to the States pretty soon and start touring over there. We're doing one gig with the Strokes, we're doing like a double ...pack... gig. Whatever it's called. Er, and we're also doing a few festivals over there as well. We've got the V festival now in Toronto. We're touring, touring, touring, touring, touring.
Interviewer: I've been staying with Jo Whiley on a tour bus actually with competition winners last night, which is interesting, so any advice for sort of 'tourbus etiquette'?
Bellamy: Well I mean, there's the old classic, isn't there? And that is, you know, no Number Twos. [laughs] That one is generally a good direction. Try and keep as many fresh socks in circulation as possible.
Howard: Don't leave your dirty socks in the gangway along where the bunks are, you know? Cos it gets kicked around and ends up in someone else's bunk and then you've got a dirty little surprise when you finally make it to bed.
Interviewer: I've spoken to you a few times, you do just seem so happy and comfortable right now, which is really nice and refreshing really, cos some bands are- disappear up their backsides, but that hasn't happened.
Bellamy: No, no, you know... we're safe from our backsides. We do all the disappearing-up-backsides when we're making the album, so when we finish the album we've done enough of it, you know.
Interviewer: So do you get a bit precious round then?
Bellamy: The album-making process is quite, you have to get quite, you know, full-on in detail sometimes, and sometimes you get to go over things over and over again. Everything seems like the end of the world, like you know, quite literally: musically and also personally as well. So I think once you've done the album, there's like a sigh of relief and everything else is a laugh, you know.