  Brit rock band Muse, fronted by singer-guitarist Matt Bellamy (centre). |
Genius, Thomas Edison once mused, is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
But it doesn’t take a genius to see that Muse’s success is based on 1% Resistance and 99% persistence.
The theatrical British prog-rock trio have spent the better part of a decade slowly building a North American fanbase the old-fashioned way — by slugging it out on the road one gig at a time. And now, all that hard work is finally paying off big-time — for both the band and its audience.
“This is the first time that we’ve really been able to bring the same kind of production that we use in Europe over to North America,” says singer-guitarist Matt Bellamy over the phone from a tour stop in Washington, D.C.
Muse plays at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on Monday.
“In the past, we’ve had to downsize things to fit into theatres over here. But now we’re playing arenas here, which is great — we can let people see all the creative work and showmanship that goes into our concerts.”
Make no mistake, there’s plenty to see at a Muse show. And to hear.
Bellamy, bassist Christopher Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard routinely sell out stadiums back home on the strength of their massive and spectacular live show, which is every bit as ambitious as their grandly constructed compositions.
But with their fifth release — the self-produced concept album The Resistance — they’ve truly raised the bar. And the band.
“The album was influenced by (George Orwell’s) 1984,” explains the 31-year-old guitarist. “So when I was meeting with set designers, we were talking about making these buildings — the ministries from 1984.
So what we ended up with is a set with three miniature skyscrapers, and at the beginning of the gig, you can’t really tell where we are, until a curtain drops and reveals we’re playing halfway up this building.
“We play a few songs up there, and when we play Resistance, which is the main song on the album, the building sort of collapses. And then there’s a whole bunch of crazy lights and videos — some songs have videos specially made for them. It’s quite a big production.”
So big, in fact, that one has to wonder whether Bellamy has heard that the music business isn’t exactly a growth industry these days.
“Fortunately, that doesn’t apply to our live show,” he says, laughing. “We seem to be bucking the trend by selling tickets everywhere. Our American manager was very impressed by the fact we’re playing to 12,000 people in Detroit, which is obviously an area very badly hit by the economic downturn.”
Fittingly, Bellamy credits their North American success to Muse’s work ethic.
“We knew all the usual stories about big English bands that come over here and play to no one, and go home with their tail between their legs,” he says. “And we came over expecting that. And of course, we were playing small places at first.
“But our approach has been very old-school — touring, having people enjoy the concerts, having them pass the word along. That’s how we got to where we are. It grew organically, with people talking to their friends and on the Internet. We were never popular with critics or the media.”
In their native England, that groundswell of support has gradually turned into critical acclaim. Over the past few years, they’ve won a slew of trophies from MTV Europe, Kerrang, the Brit Awards and NME, which recently named them best British Band (along with naming Bellamy hottest man of the year).
So far, they haven’t won the same artistic respect on these shores. But Bellamy isn’t concerned.
“In England, it wasn’t until we sold out arenas that suddenly the press felt they had to take notice of us. Once we had that level of success, the media sort of decided we must be good after all,” he says, chuckling.
As he and his bandmates already know, persistence beats resistance every time.
darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca
