Dominic Howard

Dominic Howard

Muse member
Name	Dominic James Howard
Born	7th December 1977
Hometown	Stockport, England
Plays	Drums, percussion, human bones
Band members	Matthew Bellamy and Christopher Wolstenholme
Associated acts	Carnage Mayhem, Gothic Plague, Rocket Baby Dolls, Muse, Vicky Cryer

Howard's childhood

Howard was born on December 7th 1977 in Stockport, and moved to Devon at 8 years old. He and his family had no interest in music until he went to high school where he became interested in a jazz band, and as a result started playing drums.

Previous jobs

• School canteen assistant
• Factory worker (Packing Spice Girls t-shirts)

Anecdote for Howard's singing

Recalling Re:Covered where Muse performed Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Matthew Bellamy explained how Howard wanted to do this song because he could sing the "Ba DA" bits. After performing at BBC Re:Covered and a few other performances, Howard didn't sing live again until Supermassive Black Hole became part of the band's set.

Whilst recording Absolution he demonstrated his inability to sing in tune when the whole band had to perform vocals in Blackout together (Thomas Kirk could have been singing too). The sound techs pointed out that someone was out of tune. After a couple of attempts the results were the same. To find out and solve who was singing out of tune, one person was taken out at a time and the recording was tested again, resulting in Howard not being used for vocals.

Trivia

• In 2004, Howard's father, William Howard, came to watch Muse's performance at Glastonbury 2004; a concert which Bellamy described as "the best gig of our lives". Just after their performance finished, William died from a heart attack. Through support from his family and fellow band members Dominic recovered, and Muse managed to continue their tour.

• Around the time that Absolution was released Howard was on several occasions seen sporting a black shirt with ruffles down the front. Wearing said shirt he famously stated, when questioned by Zane Lowe on MTV2's Gonzo, that his favourite type of cheese was Brie, quashing internet rumours that he likes Roulé.

• According to Howard, the song which he would like played at his funeral is 'Don't Stop me Now' by Queen, mainly due to him being a big fan of Queen.

• Howard would like to have a drink with Jimi Hendrix - "He was just such a cool guy; the way he played, how he seemed to be in his personal life or whenever he was being interviewed, he just seemed like a really cool cat", and the first thing Howard wanted to say to Hendrix is - "Good riff, man!"

• At the band's 14th November 2006 arena show at the Birmingham NEC, Howard told a fan that he disliked playing Knights of Cydonia at the end of the set because it leaves him "knackered". However he did state that the riff at the end is chilling.

• In the 2nd disc of the Hullabaloo DVD, Howard can be seen in a Slipknot mask making Bellamy laugh uncontrollably by repeatedly yelling, in a mock Slipknot 'vocal' fashion, "Sit the fuck down!". Contrary to popular belief, Howard did not steal the mask, but was given it by a female fan when Muse played with Slipknot at Metalfest in Spain some years ago. Howard says he still has the mask and thinks it is probably in a box hidden underneath his bed somewhere. He chuckles: "I'll dig it out one of these days and put it on again."

• Howard downloads music through the internet, presumably using peer to peer software.

• Bellamy once filmed Howard having sex with someone. He managed to catch the money shot during climax, and joked that he should upload it some day.
• Matthew Bellamy said in an interview that he and Chris are messy people but that Dom is a very clean person. Matthew also applauds Dom's cooking skills as well as his driving and snowboarding skills. "Great snowboarder. I wish I could snowboard. I can't snowboard at all. I'm trying to learn but I keep falling over."

• Dom often keeps all us fans up to date on everything using sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, and we love him for it.

• Dom is left handed.

• Dom lives in Nice, France.

• Dom was the last member of the band to create a twitter account. The reason for finally signing up probably has something to do with his tweet: "Hello. Tom [Kirk] decided to sign me up to Twitsville.."

• Dom past his driving test the first time. Though he thought he'd failed because he "Nearly ran over someone on a bike".[source?]

Miscellany

• Drums
• Cheers
• Brie
• Dom's love of pink
• Dom's baldness
• Dom's faff bag
• Dom fishing
• Dom's perfect girlfriend
• Dom's injuries
• Dom's fashion sense
• Dom likes Spiderman
• The Buke of Dom's Cockminster Is Sacked

See also

• Archived interviews with Dominic Howard

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