Muse biography

You’ve got to watch the quiet ones. And maybe we should add to that adage, the quiet places too. Not much goes on in Teignmouth, Devon so when three school kids decide to get together and make some noise in their garage, pay attention. Especially when the spirit of Nirvana and Soundgarden is evoked at all times. Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard decided to forego university after winning a local Battle of the Bands contest in the mid 90s. Their success seemed to stem from breaking everything on stage and being louder than the other entrants.

The then Rocket Baby Dolls (Gothic Plague and Fixed Penalty had already been discarded) would change their name to Muse and received attention from the NME and Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills studios. He was so smitten by what he heard that he set up a publishing house – Taste Media - exclusively for them (he already had an in-house record label) and managed to snag them record deals in America (Maverick) and across Europe and Australia. This ‘pinch yourself’ story continued with acclaimed producer John Leckie (Radiohead, The Verve) working on their debut album ‘Showbiz’. The late 90s record was heavy and couldn’t be considered a huge success; nevertheless, their prolific touring made them a hit with rock fans and ensured further studio output. 2001s ‘Origin Of Symmetry’, once again produced by Leckie, hit more of the right notes with ‘Plug In Baby’ and ‘New Born’ bringing them to the attention of the masses. And third album, 2003s ‘Absolution’, was their most well rounded effort to date: it went to Number One in the UK album charts, gave them a veritable anthem in ‘Time Is Running Out’ and won them MTV Europe and Q Music awards. A Live 8 performance in July of 2005 cemented their place among rock’s premier performers and a fourth album is scheduled for release in April 2006.