Matt and Dom from Muse (20071020 Topshelf Radio feature)

An interview on Triple J's Topshelf Radio, hosted by Robbie "The Buckwit" Sebastian Buck.

B - Matthew Bellamy
H - Dominic Howard
R - Robbie Buck

R: It's a kind of irony actually Matt, because uh, I think the last time I sat in this building, this massive entertainment centre, with you, was many years ago, um, when you were here for the Arias, the Australian [...]

B: Oh yes, yes, I knew I recognised it around...

H: All day going 'I'm sure I've been here before, I'm sure I have' and I thought maybe it was that. Exactly what it is.

R: That's exactly what it was. It was many years ago and at that stage, no one really recognised you at all and you fast forward...

B: [laughs]

R: ...a number of years and here you are headlining at this venue. Back in that day, did you know that you were gonna be as big as you are now?

B [laughs]

R: Were you, were you pretty sure?

B: Um, I don't know. I think uh, I think our ambitions have always been pretty uh, short term really, I think, I think, you know, or simplistic maybe. I think when we, when we were in school and stuff, it was just like, you know, 'I just want to go on tour'. You know, that was like a dream come true, just to, you know, stepping foot on your first tour tour bus or something and just getting out and not having to paint and decorate for money, you know that was like uh [laughs] That was like uh, a dream come true so really, um, it's all been a bit of a laugh since we were about eighteen really, so it's, I think everything's really been a, been a pleasure and has, haven't really um, um, been a careerist if you know what I mean, I think we just taken it all as it, as it, comes. I think we've adjusted to playing these larger venues um, through, through fluke really. First we weren't really that comfortable with playing larger arenas um, 'cause, 'cause it was just three of us, and 'cause we didn't have a sort of traditional, sort of front man running around uh, doing all the, you know, getting everyone clapping and everything. So um, we kind of accidentally found ourselves into, in this position but it's a, it's a, you know, lovely place to be.

[Music break]

R: I read an article about you in a, it was in an English music press so it might be complete rubbish, but they were talking about your staging actually, drawn from some, secret government site of some sort in North America, is that true, that uh, their harmonic...

B: Uh, yeah the HAARP, yeah.

R: The HAARP.

B: Yeah, High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program yeah, it's some um, it's [laughs], that was the stage we used for Wembley, yeah, it was like a, all these kind of uh, antennas that they use for, I can't remember what it's used for, no-one really knows what it's used for but it's like some mysterious thing happened in Alaska, they think is some kind of new, weapon that can control the weather, you know, they think it can manipulate the weather.

H: But they say it's just a communications device. [laughs]

B: They say it's a communications device for communicated with submarines but, it's based on some, bunch of patents by Tesla, you know that guy called Nicholas Tesla, who invented a bunch of ways of manipulating the weather and super heating the ionosphere to create like uh, you know, mind control and this kind of stuff you know, but no-one knows if it's true or not, but I mean, you know, I don't, I'm interested in those kind of um, those kind of mysterious areas, the unknown, you know what I mean, I mean I don't actually believe it all, but, I'm interested.

R: 'Cause you do have a reputation for being, into it, you know, how far into it do you go?

B: Um...

R: Do you do a lot of research?

B: Yeah, I sup..., I think I got into it just 'cause, a kind of books I like to read. I like to read books written by people that are a bit on the edge, you know, I like reading sort of like, people David Ike, you know, these kind of people.

H: He's the alien guy...

B: Yeah yeah yeah.

H: ...that believes there are all these lizards amongst us.

B: Lizards yeah. I like trying uh, I [laughs] like trying to sort of, get inside these people's minds and see if I actually do believe their mad or not, or whether they're just like, you know, whether they might be onto something, you know. I think a lot of these people, they're, half of them is actually, they've got a lot to say you know, a lot of really good points and then half of it's a little bit, on the edge you know, a bit of madness. I'm not sure why, I just find myself reading like those kind of books and I think that's the reason I've got into it really.

R: How do you react to it Dominic? Are you into it as well?

H: Um, sure yeah, but um, I haven't read as much as Matt about this kind of thing you know and, I guess you know, the furthest he's ever gone is, the Queen's a lizard. [laughs]

R: [laughs]

B: She is.

H: Or something like that. But you know, in our, in our private time, you know behind closed doors you know, we can probably take it very far between us.

[Music break]

B: You start to realise that everything you know you've learnt from, you know, from school and from the media and from various books and you can to an extent say that everything you know is actually, you know, could be false. You don't really know, so, so I think um, it is, it is possible to be too open minded, definitely.

R: I mean, I know that you have a, uh, a great suspicion about control, in terms of you know, societal control and stuff, but do you guys actually resist in any ways, you know the control that is, is placed on you?

B: From who?

R: Well, I, well, you know what I mean. I've read you talking about the government basically.

B: Oh, yeah yeah.

R: You know, uh, maintaining control in terms of having ID cards and all those sort of things. I mean, do you have any sorts of like, passive resistance or anything that you, that you like to throw in?

B: Well,

H: Refusing the iris tests

B: Yeah

H: We've been to the airport where you get the iris tests

B: yeah yeah, they brought these iris things now.

H: You can't

B: Yeah, and uh, yeah. Unfortunately, I think what they gonna do is, they're gonna make it so that everything you have to do becomes, you have to, you have a choice whether to queue up for an hour, or like uh, get an ID card and an iris scan and you'll go straight through you know. I think, I think that they'll, they'll get us to conform in that way, but, I think it's uh, I think, we should be afraid of those kind of things 'cause of uh, it depends on whether you trust the police, if you trust the government, you trust the army, you trust the politicians. If you trust them all 100%, you think there's no bent people in those, in those organisations then, then go ahead with it but

R: [laughs]

B: All it takes is

R: What an offer.

B: Yeah, all it takes is one sort of dodgy copper, do you know what I mean? Do you call them coppers over here? Yeah, it only takes one dodgy copper to have access to all that kind of information, they can just frame anyone they want for any crime you know, just to make themselves look better and I think it's, it's something to be worried about and also, it's a, it's just a further ways of sort of, marginalising and controlling people and keep, keeping us living in fear. I mean, the news is just, you know, you've probably heard it all before, but the news just like, constantly bombarding everyone with, with like uh, you know, being scared of like, things that are really ridiculous like terrorism I mean, you know, you're far more likely to get knocked over by a car than you are to get blown up by a terrorist you know what I mean, but everyone you know, in the modern world, everyone's sort of walking around thinking are we gonna get attacked by this that and the other and it's all just bollocks, you know what I mean.

[Music break]

Incomplete

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