Rolling Stone Mexico 2007-04 – Unopened Spaces
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Unopened Spaces
Witches who charm them, they have played with the ouija board and their fans disguises gas employers. That's the Muse world
Matt Bellamy (singer and guitarist), Dom Howard (drummer) and Chris Wolstenholme (bassist) are having a sunbath on the terrace of an hotel in London. Their latest album, Black Holes and Revelations, impressed their most loyal fans: Matt sings like Prince about the existence of ancient civilizations in Mars ("Knights of Cydonia") and their first single, "Supermassive Black Hole" has been compared to Britney Spears' music. "I guess it has the same rhythm", says the bassist. We will know if that's true when they come to play in our country.
Q: Why that trumpet [in some songs]?
Matt: My girlfriend is Italian and I have lived in her country for some time. That is where I discovered Ennio Morricone [the famous Italian Soundtrack's composer and collaborator of the latest Morrissey's album] and Southern Italian Music.
Q: The subject of the black holes is repeated a few times in the album, what does it means for you?
Matt: Black Holes and Revelations are the two parts of the brain that are used to compose songs. The revelations are the experiences that you've lived and the black holes are the unknown zones, the mysterious elements of the mind.
Q: There's some flamenco in some of the songs, can you play it?
Matt: I took Spanish guitar lessons when I was 17. I learnt "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" [Memories from the Alambra]. I had long nails in one hand, and it was a little nasty, actually.
Q: How long do you know each other?
Dom: Since we were 13. We're from Teingmouth, a fishers' village in the South West of England. And [sic] we get together because we three hated the village. We drank next to the sea and we took drugs. We started to make music to escape from that asphyxia.
Q: Did Teingmouth [sic] have anything special which made your music so esoteric?
Matt: It's full of shadowy forests. Two girls from my school used to disguise as witches and they went to the forest to play as if they were true witches. I was in love with one of them and I got to know her because at that time I played with ouija board, which she loved. I met her again when we were 19 and she was already married, with a mechanic. I preferred her when she was a witch...
Q: You believe conspiracy theories, which one is your favourite right now?
Matt: The one that talks about how the secret services of the USA will spread the idea that aliens are going to invade us. That will give them an excuse to control the citizens.
Q: What is the most surreal thing that happened to you with a fan?
Matt: Two boys of around 18 came to my flat in London. They said me that they had to read the gas meter, but then one of them asked "did you change your hair colour?". I realised that they were fans that had invented that story to meet me.
SOME INTERESTING FACTS
- Matt Bellamy is a poker addict. While he was in Barcelona to play a gig, he went to the casino to play with professionals.
- The band has suffer lots of injuries. During the last tour, Chris broke his wrist, Dom's eyebrow was injured and Matt smashed his lip in the middle of a gig.
- Dom's father died of a heart attack just after Muse concert at Glastonbury Festival 2004. 'It was the best and worst day of my life', says the drummer.
- They signed with Maverick, the publisher of Madonna, but they never met her.
- They played when they were 17 in the contest 'The Battle of the Bands'. They wore make up and destroyed the gear on the stage. They won.