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To have witnessed Muse frontman Matt Bellamy perform his particularly liberating form of Martian metal music at Madison's Dane County Coliseum is never to suspect this same man could hardly exhale a whisper when he first sung in public six years ago. Offstage Matt reverts back to his quiet nature, but crawls out of his shell long enough to relate the strange tale of how Muse came to be. Three friends with diverse musical tastes and no formal training form a band. Important studio offers them shelter, hit singles and world tours ensue.
With their musical tastes ranging from Spanish guitar to Rage Against the Machine, the Beach Boys, Primus and choral composers of the twentieth century, Muse follow a crooked path to create their original sound. Honed over the years of playing whatever they fancied to small town crowds, they experimented with noise rock, punk and jazz inflected instrumentals before settling into a sound much like they had when they started. Their own muse took the form of Sawmill Studio, a recording studio housed in a quaint setting far from the hustling bustle of London and conveniently located near the resort town of Teignmouth that the boys call home.
Sawmill has overseen production with The Stone Roses, Oasis, Supergrass and XTC's side project, the Dukes of Stratosphere. Obviously they have a knack for noticing talent. When future guitarist-frontman Matt first came to the attention of Sawmill studio head Dennis Smith, he was fourteen and playing blues piano at the local pubs. Muse's bassist, Chris Wolstenholme, had never picked up the instrument before joining the band, having played drums and guitar instead. True to form, drummer Dominic Howard had little more than a killer instinct to guide his percussive efforts.
While their fearless leader attempts to scale the transmitter outside WMAD studios, his cohorts admit that time on the road affords little time for private consultation. Four days in Japan yields an afternoon of sightseeing, their tour of Australia gave them only a half-day at the beach. But at the mention of the beach, Chris' eyes light up in remembrance of their seaside hometown and you remember they are young men away from home. They all agree that their friendship is pivotal to coping with their sometime relentless touring schedule.
Craftily keeping their musical output autonomous, a half a dozen different labels represent Muse around the world. Consequently, Muse did not have to prove themselves in England before establishing themselves in France, Japan and the United States. Owing allegiance to no one but themselves, they maintain an independence that started early on when Matt took a sound engineering course in order to produce their first demos. Level-headed and fiercely independent, Muse have come a long way since their days playing pubs and living out of vans. If their thirty solid minutes of electric, ecstatic, grand rock rage in Madison is any indication, they will be around for many more years.
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