Muse get down to the bare bones (20001219 NME article)
This transcription may be inaccurate as we have not seen an original copy.
What seems to be a preview to the 2000-12-19 issue of NME, on the NME website.
Muse get down to the bare bones
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy wants to use human skulls as percussion instruments for his new album, now being written and demoed with Stone Roses producer John Leckie and Tool producer David Botrill. Speaking exclusively to Nme.com last week, Bellamy said he got the idea after seeing a Tom Waits concert in New York where the singer's percussion player was using animal bones.
He explained: "The new stuff that's mellow is a lot more moody and darker and uses percussion of a voodoo nature. I saw a Tom Waits concert and they were using the bones of dead animals and I really liked the sound of that.
"I want to get human bones, I really want to get them, but John Leckie's not sure. Ideally, I want to get a set of human skulls but I think everybody thinks that that's a bit too on the dark side, but to hear that percussion on the record, and to know that it?s produced by dead beings, that will make it sound much more powerful, more vibey."
Muse have written 16 new songs for the follow-up to their 'Showbiz' debut and release the first of these, 'Plug In Baby', on February 26 through Mushroom. The song will be backed by new songs titled 'Tesseract' and 'Policing The Jackson Funk'.
For the rest of this interview, see the Christmas/New Year double issue of NME, in UK shops today (Tuesday).