Beats 1 Radio 2022-03-17 - Zane Lowe
An interview with Matt Bellamy after the release of Compliance and the announcement of Will of the People
Zane Lowe: I mean it's just the sound, it's the sound that is like part of my DNA now, man! Like this band, like I feel like I've known you for more than 20 years.
Matt: Didn't we start at the same time pretty much?
Zane: Pretty much the same time.
Matt: Same age...
Zane: Same age.
Matt: Yeah, whole thing, yeah.
Zane: It's totally true, I feel like...
Matt: We both come from Sheep countries.
Zane: We both understand farming. And uh, it's true man, I think back to when I was trying to find my feet and figure out what I had to say, you were 100% with your friends, developing Muse's voice, and I needed Muse, like I...
Matt: Look, look, we needed you a lot more, trust me.
Zane: No it was very mutual. I needed you because I needed to find bands and artists that hopefully I could grow with, and that's what's happened man and so...
Matt: Ah, that's amazing.
Zane: ...when I hear a new Muse song it hits different for me, it hits somewhere very deep inside where I'm like, drawn to all those experiences, and reminded how noone can do it, like you can do it, so it's good to see you bro!
Matt: Good man, thanks for having us back, it's been too long!
Zane: It's been too long, and I mean, are you having a few moments right now, where it still seems a little bit surreal, given that for the last couple of years - And we don't wanna get too locked into pandemic talk , cause we're desperate to move on - But just that reflection of like, you know, "what was that life I used to live"? And now you get to get back into it a little bit more...
Matt: Yeah, I've literally forgotten how to play a show, it's like, apparently I'm a rockstar, okay, right, so...That's what people tell me, I've seen videos...
Zane: I was gonna say, you're watching your own live videos like "Wow I got some moves!".
Matt: My son is showing me videos being like "Is that you?", and I'm like "Yeah I think so, I don't know", it's like, I can't remember how to do it, so I'm literally getting back in the gym now, like...
Zane: Well that just speaks to the conspiracy theorists amongst the Muse fanbase that you've been holograming it for the last 15 years anyway.
Matt: Exactly, it might be true, cause I kind of remember doing that stuff, so that's how far away it seems to me, so.
Zane: You know this guy's a real-life Magneto, right, like, he literally...We're talking to an actually X Man right now. I mean I'm serious.
Matt: Ah I wouldn't go that far, come on, come on, give me a break. Maybe, maybe.
Zane: I mean, you're a futurist and a very talented musician, you've always put the two things together, and you've never rested on, what I would say is, society's expectations. You're willing to push society's ideas of what is acceptable or not, and Compliance is another example of that.
Matt: Is it acceptable though, that's the question?
Zane: What, Compliance, or Defiance, or Self-reliance?
Matt: Or Self-reliance yeah, well, this last thing's gonna be very needed in the future, but I'd say, yeah, you're right. We've always tried to think outside the box, we've never really been one particular genre, we've tried so much different stuff. This album...You haven't heard the whole album yet, but it goes from like, metal, all the way to like, pop, to, I don't know, like, my first version of like Adele song, kind of like, on the piano, like...And then like, lots of electronica. So it's like a full...
Zane: Woah, woah, woah. Did you just, like slip that in at the bottom of the bell? This guy is in congress trying to get something passed and he's like "By the way I just, uh, I've done a song, just with me and the piano, and it's, uh, my version of Adele.". It's gonna be fucking crazy!
Matt: You hit the bomb at the right moment. Am I allowed to swear on this show, or not? You're not allowed, are you? Can we say the F- word?
Zane: You're absolutely not allowed to swear, absolutely not.
Matt: Okay, the last song on the album is called "We Are Fucking Fucked".
Zane: Fantastic! Fantastic!
Matt: So I mean, that's gotta be the best finale to any album right there. It's like the weirdest, darkest, like, lost B-side of Muse's life. It's at the end of the album yeah.
TBD