Xfm online 2008-04-15 – Xfm Meets Muse at TCT
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An interview with Christopher Wolstenholme at the Royal Albert Hall, published as a webcast 2008-04-15. This transcription may be inaccurate.
Christopher Wolstenholme: My name is Chris and I'm the bass player for Muse.
Interviewer: Um, so. Exciting gig tonight,...
W: Mm.
I ...are you looking forward to it?
W: Yeah, yeah, I was saying earlier it's the first time we've uh, played in, in here an' it's uh, yeah, it's a beautiful venue, it's really really nice an' uh, yeah obviously it's all for a good cause as well so uh, yeah I'm looking forward to it an' like it's the first time we've played in England since, since we did Wembley last year, so uh, yeah, should be, should be good.
I: It's quite a lot smaller size, smaller scale...
W: Yeah. [laughs]
I: ...than your Wembley gig. Um, do, do you like getting back to kind of, I mean it's not exactly an intimate gig, but...
W: Mm.
I: ...for you guys, a much smaller audience, is that something that you enjoy doing as well?
W: Yeah definitely. I mean I, I think over the last few years the gigs sort of, sort of got bigger and bigger and bigger pretty much everywhere we've been, so uh, I think it's the first time where we've like taken a massive step down in terms of size an', you know, there's, you know everyone kind of says it but there's definitely some'in' that's lost when you, when you go into bigger venues. Arenas in particular, you know, they're, they're such cold rooms an', you know every arena you go to, you could be in the same place every night. You know, as much as it...
I: Yeah.
W: ...still breaks, there's a lot of people watching, but there's definitely something cold about them but, you know venues like this that have got, got a bit of a history an', obviously they're a bit more intimate an' you can see everybody in the crowd. They definitely feel a little bit more special.
I: In the company of kings and queens, it is the Royal Albert Hall.
W: Yeah. Absolutely, yeah.
I: If anyone is built for massive stadium gigs though, it is you guys I mean your show seems, born to play on stages...
W: [laughs]
I: ...like Wembley. Um, do you have to adapt your show when you come to places like this an', turn it down a little bit? Or are you still gonna go out guns blazing?
W: Um, well, I think, I think in terms of the way we play, you know, I think, I think we play the same wherever we are and, the, the whole sort of st... the whole production side of things, you know big screens an' like, we've, we've scaled down for this show, purely because, we felt that you know, the money'd be better going towards the chari'y rather than us spending a shitload of money on...
I: Yeah.
W: ...getting big screens in an' stuff like that, so uh, so yeah, but you know, you know sometimes you have to adapt, you know for the stage that you're on, you know if you're, obviously if you're on a small stage you can't put big screens up an', an' have all that kind of...
I: Mm.
W: ...malarkey going on, but, I think in the way that we play, you know we, we tend to, just go out there and give it everything every night anyway, regardless of whether we're in a three hundred capacity or a, you know,...
I: Yeah.
W: ...seventy five thousand capacity.
I: So, so what are your plans for tonight, have you got anything special planned for, for the live shows or any special guests coming in? [2:00] W: Uh, no special guests. I think uh, I think there's talk of maybe getting uh, getting Matt on church organ that they've got in here an' um,...
I: Wow.
W: ...yeah. See, see how that goes but we're, we're a bit worried, we, we thought it'd be too quiet an' it wouldn't be able to compete with the PA an' we've just been in a minute ago an' just, just had a little go on it an', I think it's the other way 'round, I think the PA's gonna be struggling to compete with the, the organ. It's pretty, pretty bloody loud. [laughs]
I: I think I heard it. [?]
W: [laughs]
I: Is that the same as playing piano, or do you have to have actual organ training? You know, to....
W: Um, well I'd... I only had a little look at it an' it just, you know you've got like four different keyboards on the thing an' uh, I mean I struggle just to play one, I mean I'm not, I'm not really a pianist or a keyboard player, I can, I can just about get by but, but yeah, Matt was sort of like... an' you've got all these like; weird little things you have to pull in an' out and just like a whole load of pedals an'
I: Yeah.
W: ... stu... yeah, it looked, it looked extremely complicated. I was just expecting one keyboard and you just press the thing an' it works an', nah it's, there's a lot more to it than that.
I: You'll leave that one to Matt then.
W: Yeah. [laughs]
I: So why did you guys decide to get involved with in this particular charity? A band like yourselves, you must get quite a lot of, people...
W: Mm.
I: ...asking you to get involved with various causes. Um, why, why Teenage Cancer Trust?
W: Um, well, I was reading a fair bit about it an', I think obviously you know, in your teenage years, you know cancer's probably one of the last things that's on most, most teenager's minds...
I: Mm.
W: ...an' uh, uh you know, I was sort of reading I thi... about it on the Internet and there's sort of saying about the whole, the whole cancer unit thing works where, you know it's either young kids or old people an' there's and there's not really a lot of facilities for, for kids between the age of like, you know...
I: Yeah.
W: ...ten an' sixteen. Uh, an' you know, I've, I've got a mate back in, in Devon who, who lost his brother at, you know twelve or thirteen years old to, to leukemia as well, so uh an' I, I sort of saw how it, you know just affected him and ripped his family apart basically...
I: Mm.
W: ...an' uh, you know I don't think anyone ever expects to, to to lose a, a child at that kind of age, so uh you know, I think it's something... whether you've been through it or not, I think it's something that, that is pretty close to most people's heart I think.
I: And of course when Roger Daltrey calls you as well an' asks
W: Yeah.
I: whether you're gonna do it, it's probably hard to say no as well, isn't it. [?]
W: Yeah, you know, we're, we're big, big fans of The Who you know, I think, I think they've, they've influenced, from a live side, uh point, live side of things I think they've influenced a hell of a lot of rock n' roll bands in the last, in forty years so uh, so yeah, it's nice to, to be asked by someone, someone like that definitely.
I: He was quoted in the press this week, saying um, that the band he's got has always been amazing but he's, he's always tried to get some newer bands as well, some sort of um,...
W: Mm.
I: ...young pop bands coming through an' actually he, he's found a few of them have turned him down...
W: Right.
I: ...an' he was a bit like, you know; 'What's going on with all you new bands, come on'.
W: Mm.
I: Um, do you think there is something amongst the new bands, I mean you guys are still young but, you know the kind of, coming up at the moment there's a bit of apathy when it comes to, getting involved in causes and sort of...
W: Mm.
I: ...looking beyond the music?
W: I don't know, I mean it... I think the, the whole charity thing can be weird sometimes because.... I don't know, I mean, I don't want to say too much because I don't, I can't really comment on what, why people turn it down an' things like that, but... an' I know it's difficult logistically sometimes to, to fit stuff in because, you know, the schedules that bands have sometimes are so ridiculous,
I: Yeah.
W: ...um, you know, someone turns around and says; can you do this one gig for charity, it, by the time that you've been asked it could, you know, just be impossible to do so, you know, I think, I think there's been things we've been asked to do where we just physically haven't been able to get there or, or whatever for whatever reason so, you know, I think, I think you know, it'd be nice to see more people getting involved in things like this but, you know, like I said, I can't really comment on other band's...
I: Yeah.
W: ...situations.
I: Are there any new bands that you're into at the moment, that've got you listening, that've got you a bit excited?
W: Um, yeah, Glasvegas I think, we're all sort of generally into them. There's, wait...waiting for... I don't know if the albums out yet, or whether they've, I don't....
I: Not quite yet.
W: Yeah, um yeah, I've sort of heard a few tracks of that, I think they're gonna be pretty, pretty huge, I think they're wicked.
I: Mm. You guys obviously, kings of the live stage, uh...
W: [laughs]
I: Have you seen anyone an' kind of gone; 'They, they could be coming up, taking our crowns' or someth... not taking the crowns but, you know really pu...putting that kind of live emphasis on it, is there anyone that's really impressed you?
W: I don't know, I've not really been to many live gigs in the last... I dunno, three, four years I gue... I, I think since we've been off, I've sort of stayed away from music completely, I've not been to any gigs or anything like that, so uh, yeah I've not really seen anything. The last gig I went to was Mars Volta in uh, Italy, in Milan, they, they were good, they were, I mean brilliant, amazing players.
I: Mm.
W: Um, but other than that,... I don't know, I've not really seen enough,...
I: [laughs]
W: ...yeah. Well, you know I'm sure, I'm sure there are other bands out there that are, that are a lot better than us but I've, yeah I've just not been to enough gigs.
I: Um, you've been spending a bit of time in Italy,...
W: Mm.
I: ...recently it's that right, Lake Como?
W: Yeah, yeah well we've got a studio out there now an' uh, we've been doing a bit of rehearsals an', that's where we're hopefully gonna record the album. So uh, it's nice, it's a really nice environment to be in an', obviously being our own studio, there's no sort of time restraints or...
I: Mm.
W: ...anything like that, so we're sort of come and go when we please an' an' it's, you know it's a beautiful location right on the lake, you know, go out on the boat an', that's the only problem, you probably end up...
I: [laughs]
W: ...spending more time on the boat than within the studio, so you know. Expect the album in 2013. [laughs]
I: [laughs] It's absolutely stunning out there, I've been out a few times...
W: Mm.
I: ...my friend's got a house. You must have a few, a few A list neighbours as well. Do you ever sort of bump into, George Clooney's out in the bar, an...?
W: Not, net yet I mean we've not spent an awful lot... I mean Matt's been living out there for a while but we've, we've only really rehearsed there for two or three times an' uh... an' when we've been rehearsing we've not really been out all that much an' uh, I think with Como, it's, it's a lot bigger than most people think as well, I mean it's, you know, the whole radius of the lake is,...
I: Yeah.
W: ...is pretty ridiculous so uh, you know where, where Cloony liv... I don't even know where Clooney lives. It's prob... it's probably like twen'y miles away or some'in'. [laughs]
I: So how is the, the new album coming along, have you guys started putting anything down, or is it all in the....
W: Not, not really no I mean we've, the only rehearsals we've done have been for, we did a gig in Dubai and a couple gigs in South Africa an' obviously this gig...
I: Mm.
W: ...uh an' we've just been out there rehearsing for the live stuff really, because we've had, like three or four months off without playing live so, you know we needed to sort of get, get that back, back together again an' uh, on... I think once we've done this show we'll probably take a couple of weeks off an' then start, start the new album.
I: Have you, have you had any thought..., have you sort of been talking about what, what you're thinking about; might be the direction or anything.
W: Not really, no I mean I think it, it could go anywhere an' uh, I think, I think with all the albums we've done, especially the last two albums there's been, so many directions on the album that, that, you know, we, we could go anywhere with it.
I: Mm.
W: Uh, I don't think it's gonna go on one particular direction, it'll probably go in four or five directions, just like the last one did, but they'll be different directions...
I: Yeah.
W: ...to what the last album was.
I: I read something, I know 'Supermassive Black Hole' is obviously a massive, you know big track for you guys an' a big floor filler as well.
W: Mm.
I: One that really gets you know, play it in a club an' everyone just starts,...
W: [laughs]
I: ...raving. Um an' I think Matt was saying that you know, for this new album there might be more, more of them, more kind of big...
W: Mm.
I: ...floor filler, dancey tunes. Maybe a bit of electronica in there as well,...
W: Yeah,....
I: ...is that...?
W: Maybe, I mean with, we tried it on the, on the third album with, with songs like 'Endlessly' an'... an' even Time Is Running Out to a point, you know with the whole synthy kind of baseline thing going on an' uh... an' then obviously, I think 'Supermassive Black Hole' was the first time we actually, did something like that where it was, full on kind of electronic. Uh an' it worked an' I think that was the reason we chose it as the first, first single because it was such a departure from anything we'd...
I: Yeah.
W: ...done before. Uh, an' I know that when that first came out a lot of people were like, 'Woah, what the hell is this' an' then when they listened to it for the second or third time, people got really really into it an', then kind of open...opened up a whole new bunch of fans I guess.
I: Mm.
W: Um and, I think, I think we feel a bit more confident now in, in doin' more stuff like that because that was the first time we ever really got involved with all the gear ourselves. Beforehand we used to sit in the studio an' wait for some producer to turn up an', you know go; 'We want some kind of synth thing or some electronic drum sound' and they'd do it all for us an'... an' with Black Holes it was the first time we'd got involved in all that ourselves. Eh an', we've got even more so now, so we, we're much more involved in the gear side of things an' an' how things work an', getting the sounds ourself [sic]... an' I think that's good because it just opens up a whole more, you know, a load more of experimental stuff that we can do, so....
I: So are you gonna be producing a lot of it yourself do you reckon?
W: Well, we're not really sure, I mean I think we're gonna try and start it ourselves, uh an' if it all goes tits up then we'll get someone else in. [laughs]
I: Sort it all out.
W: Yeah.
I: Are you gonna be taking a bit of a break then from live stuff?
W: Yeah, I mean we've, we've got a few little bits and pieces, we're doing um, we're doing V Festival, a couple of gigs in Ireland beforehand an' an' hopefully going to South America as well this year.
I: Yeah what can we expect from V as well actually?
W: V, I dunno. We're still working on it, I mean, I think that's gonna be the one big show we'll do this year so I'm, I'm sure it'll be pretty, pretty spectacular but, I'm not sure what yet, I mean it's still quite a long off an' we're still sort of working on all of that, so.
I: Any themes been thrown around,...
W: Not....
I: ...even just loo...loose conversation?
W: Not, not really no, not yet, not yet. [laughs]
I: We'll have to wait and see. Not giving anything away! Well it's lovely to talk to you, thank you
W: [?]
I: ...and I hope it's a fantastic night tonight. I'm sure it will be. I can't wait!
W: [?]
I: Thank you.
W: Cheers.