4Music 2008-03-16 – Mike Skinner Meets Muse
Mike 'The Streets' Skinner interviewed Matthew Bellamy and Dominic Howard for ten minutes. This was broadcast at 00:30 on 4Music Sunday, 2008-03-16. The ten minute interview was followed by a HAARP preview. A recording can be obtained here. This transcription is inaccurate and not yet complete.
MIKE SKINNER meets MUSE
Mike 'The Streets' Skinner: So, um, Wembley, I'm... by the way, I'm, I'm now in Muse.
Matthew Bellamy: [laughs]
S: So yeah, so, so we're supposed to talk about Wembley. So um, I've, I've read um... an interview uh, with Chris an' he was saying that he was really, nervous. Do... were you, nervous?
Dominic Howard: Uh, yeah. Very, very nervous, especially when we came up on the uh, hydraulic stage in the middle of the crowd. That was probably the most nerveracking thing, 'cause it actually uh... On uh, on the Saturday, the day that you were with us, it kinda stopped and it was kinda stuck for ten minutes, so we were like; 'Hey what the fuck's going on?'...
S: Yeah.
H: ...You know and that seemed like forever that ten minutes.
S: Yeah, yeah.
H: But we, we were always nervous I think, but that was definitely emphasised but, you know, first song in, as soon as like the riff of Knights of Cydonia kicked in, it all felt cool.
S: Yeah, yeah.
BL Yeah, when you for... when you start thinking about all the gear that, all the stuff that's going on, all the stuff that's wired together and you realise like, this one cable you could cut and the whole thing...
S: Yeah yeah.
B: I get nervous about that.
S: ...and then you've got to remember your lyrics as well, you know.
B: [laughs]
S: Although I guess, you can kind of, fluff it...
B: You've got more time, 'cause you've got eight words per song, then it drags off, it's easier for me.
S: You've been doing it for ages, you know I've been doing it for ages as well, but um and so there's nothing really, there's nothing really that sudden is there, it just gradually grows doesn't it, you know.
B: I think that's the best way. You know, I think you, you sort of learn to cope with this as they arrive,...
S: Exactly, yeah.
B: ...whereas if you're thrown in the deep end straight away, I've seen a lot of other bands, sort of come and go, you know, who sort of get massive quick and then can't handle it, do a lot of coke and shag a few bowls, get fucked, you know.
S: Which I did, you know.
B: Which is fair, fair enough.
S: [laughs]
B: Yeah, as you do you know, as everyone does at some...
S: Yeah, yeah yeah.
B: ...point but it, it's good to evolve into that position, I think...
S: But there are...
B: [?] cast upon you out of nowhere. [laughs]
S: Yeah and there are, there are moments, aren't there and I guess Wembley was one of those, where it sta...
B: Sorry, sorry, to get this straight right. I'm not saying that [?]
S: Yeah yeah.
B: I'm just saying that, you know, there's a time and a place. [laughs] Sorry.
S: Yeah an', an' it's Thailand. There's moments, there's like markers, along, along your career aren't there an' I'm guessing Wembley was one of those, where it's like; even though it is moving at a nice pace, there's just moments where you go; 'Oh fuck', you know, with it.
B: Yeah yeah, I think every album had like a gig that stands out.
H: Well, it was, it was more than just a gig and it wasn't just, it didn't feel like it was just like, us on stage doing a show, you know it felt like the crowd, the crowd made it so amazing and it kind of really felt like, from being on stage that the crowd were, equally enjoying being in a stadium, looking around at everyone else and what's going on,...
S: Yeah.
H: ...as, as opposed to just looking at us,...
S: Yeah yeah.
H: ...or just looking at a band on the stage you know, it's the whole experience that made it so special.
S: Was, was that really in terms of production, was that you know, the pinnacle?
B: Yeah, I suppose it was. We, we did it again in Paris and and Monaco, but, but yeah, I suppose Wembley was the first time we'd used it an', I'm not sure if there's any particular extras for that, but you know in that, that, there was, there were only four gigs four gigs that we did with that production you know, that was the biggest we'd ever, the biggest production we'd ever used. [...] Uh, it was, it was kind of um, uh, inside our album we've got this picture of this thing called HAARP, which is this kind of weird, um, antenna system which is in Alaska, which is supposed to communicate with uh, I don't know. There's loads of conspiracy...
H: Manipulate the ionosphere.
B: ...Yeah yeah yeah, people say it can change the weather and stuff.
S: [laughs]
B: Yeah yeah. It's supposed to be used for changing the weather and stuff and everyone's saying it's like this new weapon of the future, you know?
S: Mm.
B: So we took the design of that really and just sort of applied it to a stage show, 'cause it looked a bit like a stage show. Anyway, it's just like loads of antennas an', we were just sort of trying to create something that looks like a massive communication device you know, with a couple of satellites in there.
S: Yeah.
B: So the theme was kind of just massive communication on a kind of, you know, sort of shooting something up out into space or something.
S: Your, your music is, is a weapon.
B: [laughs]