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Welcome to the New Music Spotlight, where we'll spotlight new bands you check out.
Anthem for the Underdog
Paul McCoy – Vocals Justin Rimer – Guitar Eric Weaver – Guitar
Aaron Gainer – Drums DJ Stange – Bass
THE BACKSTORY– After selling 500,000 copies of their first two albums (their self-titled debut and Potter’s Field) and touring relentlessly, 12 Stones decided it was time for a break from the road. The band packed up their gear and headed back to Mississippi and Louisiana. And what did these guys do on their time off? Well, as singer Paul McCoy put it, they “grew up a lot.”
All of the guys are now fathers, and they spent a good deal of their time away from music with their families. However after a few years away from touring, McCoy says, “I really just couldn’t wait to get back to making music.”
THE INSPIRATION - 12 Stones has always thought of themselves as the “underdog” in the music business. Sure, they have hundreds of thousands of fans but they fought for each and every one of them. The band has yet to have a big, break-out radio hit at pop, but active rock has embraced their sound since the release of the debut. Their fans have stuck by their side and continue to reach out to on a daily basis through their website and MySpace.com page. This support is evidence that hard work truly pays off, and even after a long absence from the scene the faithful are still by their side.
McCoy says the resolution to make the best of what you’ve got was only intensified during the 2005 hurricane season. All natives of the Gulf region, each member of the band felt the hardships of that fall. Whether it was seeing family and friends pack up and move away from their hometowns or witnessing the region’s morale drop in an instant, the band felt the effects Hurricane Katrina. “We know what it’s like to be on the losing end but be making the best of the situation at the same time,” McCoy says.
THE SONGS - 12 Stones did not set out to write an album for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Still, the loss felt in their local neighborhoods had its obvious effects on the band members, and they were compelled to write about the recovery taking place around them. “Anthem for the Underdog” spells out 12 Stones’ philosophy for those working hard to get back on top. McCoy sings, “We're here now feeling the beat of a thousand hearts coming back to life again, we can make it.” The lyrics are a testament to the spirit of those affected by this tragedy.
On the other hand, the weather is not the only thing that is uncontrollable. People prove to be just as unreliable in songs such as “Lie To Me,” “World So Cold” and “Arms of a Stranger.” McCoy sings about betrayal and loss in “Lie To Me,” as he passionately offers, “All the times I shared with you, were you even there at all? Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, you're scared of the truth; I’m tired of the lies.” Yet, through all of the loss and pain in these songs, there is still an underlying feeling of triumph in the end.
“There is a real sense of urgency to get back on top throughout the album,” McCoy explains. “We know what it’s like to be the underdog but that doesn’t mean we always will be. It’s important to show our fans that things can change, life does get better.”
THE RECORDING PROCESS - McCoy, guitar player and co-founding member Eric Weaver and drummer Aaron Gainer spent months meeting with “big time” writers and producers only to be let down over and over. McCoy says, “The big name producers made us feel like the underdogs once again, like we were lucky they agreed to meet with us.” All of that changed however when the band traveled to Memphis, TN for a meeting with Justin Rimer (former guitar player for Breaking Point) and Skidd Mills (who has worked with Skillet, Saliva, and Sister Hazel). There was an instant chemistry between 12 Stones, Rimer and Mills, and the band spent the following eight months in Memphis recording Anthem For The Underdog.
Rimer has anxiously waited to team up with 12 Stones for years. They both share the same manager, so they have kept up with each other’s work from the beginning. Rimer says, “The first song we did was ‘It Was You,’ and as soon as we played it for everybody it just clicked. I got the offer to work on the entire album right after that. I didn’t want to take them too far from where they had been as a band in the past, but this is a diverse album for them. Paul definitely wanted to kill me by the end because I had him singing in higher ranges than he had ever sung before.”
When the album was complete, the guys were not ready to say good-bye to Rimer, and invited him to join the band on the road. “We had never been so open to criticism or trying new things in the studio as we were when working with Justin. It was great to have someone working with us who really knows their way around a studio,” McCoy says of their new guitar player.
Weaver also appreciated Rimer’s contribution as the second guitarist. He says, “Justin comes from more of a metal background than I do, so it is nice to mix the different flavors of music. He is a great addition to the showmanship of the band.” Rimer calls playing with 12 Stones “like home.” “I was in Breaking Point for years, but I am just as comfortable playing with this band.”
THE FUTURE - 12 Stones has been through a great deal in the past few years, but somehow the band has made the best of what they’ve got and come out the better for it. They continue to strive for the top, and McCoy says they “are ready to step up and take the lead. This album is the best attempt we’ve got to grab new fans, and we’re ready.”
“We are really proud of this collection of songs, and think the fans are going to love it,” McCoy continues. “We’ve been gone for a while but can’t wait to get back out there – we’ve never been in a better place.”
Underdog? Not for long…
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When he was a little boy, Fall Out Boy bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz enjoyed reading “Curious George,” “Babar” and Richard Scarry books, but his favorite children’s book was “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf. The story, about a giant bull who sits under a cork tree and smells flowers instead of getting into the ring and battling a bullfighter, was so inspirational to Wentz that he titled the band’s breakthrough record From Under the Cork Tree.
“I think it’s an amazing metaphor for how people can be,” Wentz says. “There’s something really honorable about following your own path and not doing what’s expected of you.”
It’s a lesson Fall Out Boy have taken to heart. When the Chicago band finished touring for their debut album, Take This To Your Grave, they were flooded with accolades from critics and fans, which clamored for a follow-up. However, rather than jump right into writing and recording mode, as they had for their debut, Fall Out Boy took their time experimenting with different sounds and textures in order to make From Under the Cork Tree as crafty, infectious and enduring as possible.
“We could have easily regurgitated our last record which is what certain people expected us to do,” Wentz says. “But when it’s all over, we want to be remembered as a rock band that pushed limits and was sincere and totally honest to itself and its fans. When we are 90 years old and on our death beds, it will matter to us that at least we took chances.”
From Under the Cork Tree bursts with the energy of a championship sporting event, and resonates with the vibe of good party, while retaining the honesty of a confessional conversation. The first single, “Sugar, We’re Going Down” is a dynamic blend of surging guitars, slamming drums and longing vocals; “Dance, Dance” starts with a buoyant bass line reminiscent of the Cure and mutates into a stomping rocker with an undeniable refrain and “Champagne For my Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends” swells with one catchy riff after another, and is colored by transitory drum machine clatter and point/counterpoint vocals.
“When we wrote Take This to Your Grave, we were listening to Green Day and the Descendents and a lot of hardcore,” explains Wentz of the new album’s diversity. “But now we listen to a great deal more music and let it influence us without getting away from our roots. I think it's important to know your place, but there's a colossal spectrum that you can explore within that.”
Another difference between From Under the Cork Tree and its predecessor is the way the songs came together. Last time, Stump and Wentz wrote all of the songs together. This go round, the process was more collaborative, involving guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley. As a result, the music came out more smoothly, leaving Fall Out Boy with 25 songs to chose from for the album. In addition, Stump often created songs based on the feelings he got from Wentz’ words this time instead of the other way around. “It’s always a struggle to figure out how to put someone else’s lyrics into music you’ve already written because everyone’s vocals have a different cadence and that can change the whole thrust of a song,” Stump says. “So, I’ve found stuff I really like in his lyrics and made music beneath it that compliments it.”
One of the best ways to understand what Fall Out Boy are is to realize what they are not. Their music contains elements of punk and pop, but they aren’t pop-punk. Likewise, their songs are emotional and their lyrics can be poignant, but they’re certainly not emo. By tapping into elements of their favorite styles, the bandmembers are able to attain their own sound whilst standing apart from the pack.
In an effort to stamp their music with their own seal and avoid confusion with other bands, Fall Out Boy incorporate their dark sense of humor within their songs, which abound with clever, biting lines like “written on my wrist says do not open before Christmas” (“Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song So We Wouldn’t Get Sued”). Similarly, track titles like “Champagne For my Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends” and “You’re a Concrete Boy Now (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows)” are funny as hell, but just north of absurd. One of the most amusingly titled numbers is “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More ‘Touch Me’.”
“I used to get Circus magazine when I was little, and there’d always be these little ads in the back where you could order posters,” recalls Wentz. “And there’d always be this super-amazing, awesome dirty picture of [topless model turned pop singer] Samantha Fox, who sang “Touch Me.” My mom would never let me order the poster, so I’d just cut the picture out of the magazine and carry it around with me. And, we grew up near Shermerville, which is right near where all the John Hughes movies are set, so that’s where the Sixteen Candles reference came from. It’s really funny to me because nobody who hears the record probably knows who Samantha Fox is, but maybe they’ll look her up on the Internet and see all these amazing topless pictures and thank us. Either that, or they’re send us hate mail.”
Fall Out Boy formed in Chicago out of the ashes of different hardcore bands. Wentz grew up with Trohman and had previously played in a band with Hurley, so when their other groups imploded, the three got together to jam. Soon after they bumped into Stump, whose melodic, but edgy vocals were a perfect fit. But even after the ingredients were in place, the musicians had no lofty career ambitions. “We just wanted to do something different with no intention of it ever becoming anything,” Wentz says. “We didn’t even have a name until after our second show, when we played some college and asked the crowd what we should be called and someone screamed out ‘Fall Out Boy.’”
Being from the Midwest instead of somewhere like Los Angeles or New York, the odds were against them from the start, which only made them try harder. Fortunately, by being removed from any major scene, they could develop organically without outside pressure, which has helped turn them into the band they are today. With lineup and name secured, Fall Out Boy recorded a three song demo, which they sent to every record label they could think of. They attracted the attention of numerous companies, but eventually signed with fledgling label Fueled by Ramen for their debut, Take This to Your Grave, which sold over 200,000 copies. “We decided to sign to Fueled by Ramen because it was a long shot, and Fall Out Boy is a long shot,” Wentz says. “It turned out to be the best decision we’ve ever made.”
For their big break into the mainstream, they joined forces with Island Records, which will help them reconnect with their core fans while reaching an entirely new audience.
“With this record, we’ve got a bigger focus and a grander idea,” Wentz says. “We don’t want to disappoint the 200,000 people who are part of a very cult following that hangs onto our every word, and we won’t. But we wrote this record for all the people who haven't heard of Fall Out Boy before. When George Lucas did “Return of the Jedi,” he wanted it to appeal to the person who saw “Star Wars,” but at the same time, if somebody wasn't born when that came out, they can still go see the movie and have it be a very exciting thing for them. That’s the kind of thing we want to achieve.”
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It began innocently enough. Sam played bass, John played keyboards. They met in art school, where they played any kind of music they could get there hands on—from punk to country to jazz to metal. In the early ‘00s they moved to NYC, where they discovered the Electroclash scene in full swing. They loved the sound of electronic music made in the basement on piece-of-shit equipment. It sounded new and different, and they wondered if they could take that sound … and add it to a live band, creating a fusion of rock and electronic music. Sam had an iMac, John had a keyboard, and they both had guitars. They figured, what else would we need?
A band. So they looked for a singer, but couldn’t find one. So Sam thought, well, why don’t I try writing some songs, and I could sing them. Only problem was, he couldn’t sing a note. But they didn’t let that get in the way. He plugged in the guitar and wrote a song called “Tyrant,” about the girl who lived next door. It was a rock song, but John took it and remixed into a dance song. One night they played it at a house party. The girls danced. The girls demanded they play it over and over again. They realized they were on the right path.
They needed some other guys for the band, so they put an ad in the paper. Michael answered. He was a jazz-cat, a Django Reinhardt devotee; this was new music for him, and he loved it. They asked the other bands they knew about drummers. They said, well there’s a guy who’s amazing, but he just moved here from Boston last week so no one’s got him yet. This was Anthony. They grabbed him; he didn’t know any better.
They booked a show, opening for a friend’s band at tiny Stinger Club in Brooklyn. The show was in a week and they needed a bass player. So Michael enlisted his best friend, also named Michael. Only problem was, new Michael had never played a bass before. But he practiced constantly for the week, pretty much without sleeping, and played the show. They rocked.
The group hung out in John’s apartment in Chinatown, writing and recording songs. They went about it in a weird way; they made rock’n’roll the way DJs make electronic music. A DJ takes samples into the computer, chops ‘em up, edits them, manipulates the sounds, until, voila: You have a song. This is what the Bravery did, except instead of using samples, they made all the sounds themselves. Sam would write the basic song on guitar, the group would record it like a rock track, and then remix it beyond recognition. Result: something new and bold.
Lyrically, Sam writes from a strange perpective—call it that of a “hopeful misanthrope.” You get the impression he hates every person he has ever met; and sometimes he is overcome with the frustration of this. But at the last minute he refuses to give up, and you leave the song with a sense of optimism, of innocent hope. You listen to him battling his fears, his sense of negativity, and winning out in the end. As a reflection of this, they named their band The Bravery.
Eventually, they had enough songs for a whole album, so the band made a website and put the album online. They also put it on another odd site they discovered, called Myspace. (Remember, this is 2003.) They burned CDs of their music and handed them out all around town. They would stand outside of Tower Records all day handing out burned CDs. They’d play anywhere they could get a gig; the basement of Lit, TT the Bears and Middle East in Boston, etc. They would hang out all day putting up fliers, or handing out CDs outside of other shows.
Soon, the band saw that people had started coming to the shows. Then other people started playing their album. Zane Lowe at Radio One in the U.K. downloaded songs off the band’s website and started playing them on the air. Soon, Aaron Axelsen at Live 105 in San Francisco and Paul Driscoll at WFNX in Boston did the same. They booked a residency at Arlene’s Grocery in New York, every Thursday night for a month. Then a LOT of people started coming to the shows. Including record label people.
Island Records released The Bravery in 2005. For the next 18 months the band toured the world basically non-stop, enjoying much success and two international hit songs--“An Honest Mistake” and “Unconditional.” The time passed quickly.
THE SUN AND THE MOON
After touring for all this time, The Bravery were better musicians, better singers, a better band. They wanted to make an album that would reflect their growth as musicians. So they recruited producer Brendan O’Brien, well known for bringing out the best performance in a group (see: Rage Against the Machine, Neil Young etc.). The band wanted to try new textures and sounds, so they moved to Brendan’s Atlanta studio and grabbed any instrument they could get their hands on, and choked it until something good came out. That included antique pump organs (“Believe”), Mellotrons (“Time Won’t Let Me Go”), a string quartet (“The Ocean”), and a host of Pet Sounds-worthy vocal arrangements (“This is Not the End,” “Above and Below”).
Despite this newfound creativity and sense of musical exploration, the band also wanted to keep the energy that came with recording in the basement in New York. To that end, the band split its time between Atlanta and NYC. The resulting album is a hybrid of the two experiments – with a fair amount recorded in the back of tour buses as well.
This time out, they explore the same subjects of overcoming fear and negativity, but to a far greater extent, getting into territory that could be described as spiritual. Life and death, good and evil, hope and desperation—the extremes. And so came the album’s title: The Sun and the Moon.
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 The Almost is the brainchild of multitalented Under Oath drummer Aaron Gillespie. With their debut CD Southern Weather, Gillespie steps out from behind the drumset to show a melodic, tuneful side. Gillespie sings and plays most of the instruments on the Almost's debut CD, but has put together an exciting group to conquer the live stage. The Almost embark on the 2007 Vans Warped tour as its debut single "Say This Sooner" blazes its way into the top 10 modern rock chart. Pick up Southern Weather at the Best Buy on Millerville Road or the Best Buy by the Mall of Louisiana.
Peter Bjorn and John
Watch the video for "Young Folks"
-In Quicktime
-Windows Media 1
-Windows Media 2
Peter Morén from Dalarna in the North of Sweden and Björn Yttling from Västerbotten - even further to the North - had been playing music together for 8 years when they in 1999 met John - from Norrbotten - which would you believe it is yet even further to the North!
The following year they started a band and simply called it Peter, Bjorn and John - not due to lack of better names - but because it felt right. Band names are often ridiculous - so why not just go for your own name? First they thought that they would recruit a bass player but after the well known saying "3 is a crowd" thus more than enough - the keyboard player Björn began playing bass. Live the band have learned to use the little format to its advantage and in the studio well let's just say they have been known to do overdubs...!
Initially all the press they got had to do with Björn's production CV and the members different guest appearances on other more well known bands and artists records. But soon that would change.
In 2002 the home recorded self titled debut album was released and received comments from the press regarding "superior sound beds" and "upcoming classics" while songs like "Matchmaker" and "People They Know" became favourites with the indie pop crowd. Rough Trade in London even penned "nothing else sounds as good in Swedish pop right now" and were probably not completely mistaken.
2004 saw the follow up with the more complete, mature and darker "Falling Out". "It beats me everytime" became a Swedish radio hit and the album was released Stateside the following year to press acclaim. Allmusic.com gave the album 4,5 stars and wrote: "very close to the best indie rock -- no, just plain music -- being made in 2005. More punk than the Concretes, less frantic than Shout Out Louds, as catchy as the most tuneful of the UK post-post-post-punk merchants. Falling Out firmly established Peter, Bjorn and John as a group to watch out for. Strike that. They are a band that has arrived in all senses of the word".
Now in 2006 PBJ embark on the second phase of their careers. The new album "Writer's Block" (recorded in Björn's studio in Hornstull,Stockholm) is the first to showcase all three members as songwriters and taking on lead vocalist duties and sees the band take on a new musical direction.
MUTE MATH
Mute Math, from New Orleans, LA, released its debut self-titled full-length album on September 26, 2006, via a joint venture between the band’s indie label, Teleprompt, and major label Warner Bros.
Mute Math originated in 2001 as a long distance collaboration between Paul Meany in New Orleans, LA, and Darren King in Springfield, MO - growing from a sort of songwriting ping-pong match over several months to a possible project and, eventually, the core of what became Mute Math.
Working from their New Orleans home studio, Meany and King began exploring a new definition for themselves on how a rock band should sound and perform. Finding inspiration in everything that’s considered the opposite of rock music, they sought a unique template in which to place their songs. The result was a captivating soundscape of experimental rock.
With the demo completed, Meany asked manager Kevin Kookogey to play it for friend and producer Tedd T, founder of indie label Teleprompt. Tjornhom fell in love at first listen. Soon thereafter Mute Math signed with Teleprompt and began building a musical momentum, releasing their debut EP Reset in September of 2004. With the addition of guitarist Greg Hill and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas, Mute Math headlined its first national club tour thefollowing Spring.
Fueled by a strong “do-it-yourself” ethic, Teleprompt and Mute Math began an internet blitzing campaign through MySpace and similar portals, instantaneously linking fans from all over the world to the band’s engaging live performances. Word of mouth spread, and the band were soon selling out dates in markets as geographically diverse as Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Seattle, and Orlando, among others. The band continued to develop, honing their chops from the improvisational spirit that fueled their shows, consistently winning over fans left and right. Mute Math chronicled its touring and live shows through regular video blogs, which contributed to the mass accumulation of “friends” (now over 125,000) on its MySpace page.
The 13 tracks that made up the initial version (now a collector’s item) of Mute Math’s debut full-length self-titled album were recorded throughout 2005, but due to circumstances beyond their control, Mute Math decided to forgo the traditional retail route, taking the new record to where it counted most-to the fans at the live shows. What seemed to be a riskyproposition proved to be an extremely wise decision. In January 2006, Mute Math embarked on what was initially a 45-city tour, using the tour as a means to sell the record exclusively. Dubbed the “Mute Math Album Release Tour,” the band found themselves not only selling out numerous shows, butbegan moving a critical mass of albums from their table, sometimes 200 CD’s a night. Teleprompt continued working the internet fan base around the clock, the press followed, and fans, both new and old, began flocking en masse to see the band perform live. Mute Math’s debut national television appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in February 2006 put the band on the map to stay.
As for their music, the Mute Math dynamic can be viewed in parts. At its core, Mute Math is an inspired electro-alt rock band with a soaring sound that incorporates emotive vocals, hip hop styled beats, dubby soundscapes fueled by sample-like guitars and Rhodes piano flourishes, keytars, a homemade instrument (a Theremin-inspired guitar) and other random gadgets. The other is a finely tuned live act, with a highly infectious and equally energetic show, accented by occasional acrobatics, experimental jams, knob twiddling, and bouts of instrumental switcheroo.
2006 was busy - and rewarding - for Mute Math. In addition to guest hosting on Current TV and nabbing a spot on MTV’s “You Hear It First,” the band sold out larger venues around the country and made appearances at high-profile events Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, V Festival (UK), Voo Doo Music Experience, and the CMJ New Music Festival, culminating in a jaw-dropping, light-smashing performance on the Pontiac Garage (outdoor stage) at Jimmy Kimmel Live in December. To date, Mute Math has sold almost 70,000 copies, collectively, of the EP and self-titled album.
2007 has picked up where 2006 left off, with Mute Math opening for pop-sensation The Fray at U.S. colleges and theaters in January. In February, Mute Math headlines its first European tour, with sell-outs already guaranteed in London, Birmingham, and Amsterdam. The video for “Chaos” will see rotation on TV in Europe and via the internet in America, followed by a video for “Typical” at home and abroad. In March, the band kicks off yet another major US headline club tour in conjunction with the release of its debut DVD, “Flesh and Bones Electric Fun: Mute Math Live”
Matt Bellamy: vocals/guitar/keyboard
Chris Wolstenholme: bass
Dom Howard: drums
The Muse that drove out of Glastonbury 2004 was a very different one from the Muse that had arrived. Following seven years of near solid touring, buzzing with nervous anticipation; their escalation from being the biggest band in Teignmouth in 1997 to one of the biggest bands in Europe by 2004 had been a rocket ride but still, closing Glastonbury was a major step-up, a classic Eavis gamble, and with a weary, mud-drenched crowd facing a long Sunday night welly-trudge home even Muse themselves doubted they could pull it off. “We got offered the headline slot which scared the shit out of us to start with because we didn’t think we were big enough to do it,” says bassist Chris Wolstenhome. “The day was muddy and miserable, and as it was the end of the festival we thought people would be kind of jaded, but it was completely the opposite.”
Pull it off? They pulled it off, tied it down, strapped it to a space shuttle launch engine and blew it clear out of the galaxy. Glastonbury 2004 saw Muse storm troop onto the high table of classic Glastonbury headline acts and prove themselves a formidable force in British rock. It was only with that triumph fresh in their throats, they claim, that they realised they’d ‘made it’.
So the band that walked onto the Pyramid Stage that night was a phenomenon hitting its peak. A band that, at the age of 19, were swept out of decorating jobs into private jets and limos as the A&R pack-hunt hunt for Muse began, that spectacularly broke every rule of Proper Rock from releasing an Egyptian/funk crossover debut single (‘Muscle Museum’) to writing riffs so elaborate in their brilliance that they threatened to garrotte anyone daring to play them (‘Plug In Baby’) to rocking up Nina Simone (‘Feeling Good’). A band that have more than doubled their audience with each new album released (1999’s ‘Showbiz’ shifted 500,000, ‘Origin Of Symmetry’ hit the million mark in 2001 and 2003’s masterpiece of epic malevolence ‘Absolution’ sold twice that) and establishing themselves as the most thrilling operatic sci-fi carnival on the European arena circuit inside five years. A band that, by tearing up the Big Sheds of Europe, were themselves being torn up by The Road. “I’m sure we go through cycles,” says Matt, “like having a great time then getting jaded where the vibes are just a bit dark. But with the second coming of that cycle, we were like, ‘oh god, we’re going downhill again, we need to go home and not book a tour for a long time’.
But, “Absolution” was becoming a cult hit in the US so with the highs of Glastonbury behind them and with two sold out dates at Earls Court that Christmas to bolster their standing back home, Muse hit the mid West circuit, stripping away the arena flam and bluster and re-discovering the broiling, accident-prone three-piece beneath. “We went from playing these massive arenas in Europe to playing to 200 people in some pokey hole again,” Matt laughs. “That’s the price of getting too comfortable on large stages. But it was good to be treated like a new band over there and get that feeling of being discovered again.
Invigorated, Muse took a month off to work out where ‘home’ was - Matt relocated to a town just outside Milan, Chris and his ever-growing family remained in Teignmouth and Dom stuck about in London’s ‘trendy’ Highbury - before reconvening in summer 2005 in the bat-infested Chateau Miraval studio in a Knights Templar town in Southern France. Matt: “It reminded me, if anything, of Devon. Most of the writing process started out there, being a quieter place and truly cut off from the lifestyle we had.”
Their previous albums, they figured, were borne of necessity; hurried in the face of impending tour dates and hobbled by the need to ensure they could be played live. This time, they took a No Limits approach - no tour was booked, no studio tomfoolery was out of bounds; they were to explore the technological possibilities of the ‘studio band’. However, the equipment at Chateau Miraval was, frankly, not up to the job of recording a Muse album, so the band decamped to New York to complete the bulk of recording in the Electric Lady and Avatar studios and to soak the record with much-needed dance floor flavas. “Hendrix’s ghost was hanging around,” says Matt, “and Bowie came in for a day and said hello. That was good; to get the nod of approval from the old boy. If we’d stayed in France for the whole album it probably would’ve ended up real prog. Songs like ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ would’ve been twenty minutes long. Going to New York for some reason tightened everything up and it got more groove orientated. Songs like ‘Starlight’ and ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ and ‘Hoodoo’, they all had grooves that radically changed when we went to New York, I don’t know if that was the vibe of the city or what.”
If Muse sound like a new band on ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ it’s because, after Glastonbury, they are: expanded of mind, settled of spirit and anything but sedentary of sound. Still, some of this might come as a shock: after opener ‘Take A Bow’ takes over where ‘Absolution’ left off – all doomy celestial synths and Matt’s preacherish wails of “You will burn in hell for your sins!” – we suddenly rocket off into unexplored quadrants. ‘Starlight’ is an Abba gig on the moon, ‘Map of the Problematique’ is Depeche Mode impersonating Queen for a Bond theme and, most surprising of all, ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ is a dance floor electro-metal stomper, resembling Beck giving Marilyn Manson a helium blowback in Studio 54. Which is not to mention the triptych of Italian folk-influenced meta-country that closes the record in a flurry of flamenco frenetics and mariachi horns. ‘Absolution 2: Back To The Planets’, this most certainly is not.
For continuity, in fact, we must look to the lyrical themes, where fans of the apocalyptic soundbite, the madcap conspiracy theory, the revolutionary rabble-rousing, the weird stuff about aliens inventing all earthly religions and other such classic Muse concerns will not be disappointed. The idea that identity cards are the first sign of the onset of the end of the world? That’ll be ‘Take A Bow’, Matt: “There‘s definitely a connection to Revelations with that. It talks about a time when people will not be able to purchase anything without a number or exist without a number. Instead of going for a job interview they‘ll just swipe you. They‘ll get your medical history, your financial history, the lot.”. The theory that the Earth is actually an expanding sphere, being sucked towards the gigantic black hole at the centre of the universe (as emotional metaphor)? ‘Supermassive Black Hole’, mate.
The fear of our civilisation going the way of the Roman Empire? Check out surf-prog album closer ‘Knights Of Cydonia’. The loss of hope in the face of unjustifiable wars? It’s all there in the central duo of ‘Soldier’s’ Poem’ and ‘Invincible’. And as for ‘Exo-Politics’… “That’s about the possibility of an orchestrated alien invasion created by the New World Order,” Matt argues, utterly without the aid of hard drugs. “There are some people who think that in the next ten years there’ll be an orchestrated alien invasion. Not an invasion but aliens will appear. Not appear but there’ll be discussions about it. There are definitely some funny things going on. A whole load of things, which, if you add them all together, add up to the feeling that something big is going to happen in the next ten years. You can look at it all and get overwhelmed with fear or you can look at it all and say it’s all being orchestrated as a way to keep people down.”
The time has come. The New Muse Order is on the rise.
Black Holes And Revelations was released on July 11, 2006.
www.muse.mu
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