New interviews from Muse are on the latest issue of
Rockin' On, Japanese rock magazine. It covered full 10 pages long including photos.
This is my first attempt to translate the brief summary of their interviews.
I’m not good at English so I’m afraid there might be a lot of mistakes
I hope you understood what I wrote here, and I would be very glad if this could be of some help
-interview with Matt
'Supremacy' is a theatrical song which expands the pomp and splendor of the sound to the extreme.
On the contrary, 'Madness' is a minimal and simple one which is stripped down to the limit.
This kind of sound contrast is based on all of the laws of the universe that repeats the cycle of expanding and shrinking.
About 'Follow Me', we transformed a rock sound into an entirely electronic sound.
But about 'Unsustainable', we tried a backward way of doing.
We recorded an electronic sound at first, and re-recorded it by actual musical instruments.
This was the biggest challenge for us.
'Panic station' is almost a funk track which introduced the brass section, originally inspired by Stevie Wonder’s performance at Glastonbury Festival.
This song also has a disco groove. (The interviewer said the song reminded her of 'Miss You' by The Rolling Stones in the late 70s.)
In pre-Muse period, we would play funk rock because at that time we were drawn to bands like Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
And we also would enjoy listening to the ‘80s music like Prince, INXS etc.
I wrote this song remembering our early days when we were just enjoying music innocently.
'Madness' is influenced by blues and R&B, 'Follow me' gets closer to the beat of classical dance music.
In this album, there is bigger emphasis on groove and swing than ever before.
About my guitar playing, I tried to let my personality express naturally in more organic style.
As for vocals, I attempted to change my singing styles per song, because each of the tracks has its own strong character.
'Panic Station' is a bouncy song so I wanted to express a pure joy there.
'Supremacy' and 'Survival' are so serious that I tried to sing in a dramatic and operatic way.
In the songs called 'Madness', 'Follow Me' and 'Big Freeze', I focused on singing like a little bit arrogant pop star.
(And Matt talked enthusiastically and sincerely about decreasing energy resource, nuclear fusion power energy, Helium-3, etc. It almost covered full one page!)
-interview with Dom
New album makes a clear departure from any other previous ones, and it's the most diverse album in the band's history.
The relationship in the band has changed for the better, more friendly and relaxed.
During The Resistance's making process, Chris hardly came to the studio because of his problems with alcohol, so I and Matt were always working by ourselves. That making experience was really tough for us.
But this time, there was a very good environment where three of us could talk about anything with each other because Chris overcame his alcoholism.
Dubstep has been a perfect music for my workout and I invited Matt and Chris to see Skrillex and Nero last autumn, then it filliped them to renew their views towards dubstep.
Funk sound had been a taboo in the band for many years until we made 'Panic Station', because it always brought back our various teenage memories. But this song unsealed it.
-interview with Chris
I was really lucky enough to manage to survive my difficult situation. I was very close to the point where I almost forgot how important music was for me.
The bond of our friendship is stronger and deeper than before. I really enjoyed working in the studio this time.
Each of the songs in this album has a completely different face, so every track will bring you new surprises.
We felt more natural confidence in producing album by ourselves, so we decided that we had to stand on our feet completely.
I honestly expressed my feelings for my family and band mates in a song called 'Save me'.
They didn’t abandon me and always loved me patiently in spite of me causing trouble for years.
Friends have no blood ties so they could have left me, but Matt and Dom were always staying close by and cared about me with gentle patience. I was deeply touched when I woke up to the fact.
My dear, this love is dead
Somehow, someway, you will come away
