Muse - A History

Before starting Muse, the members played in several different bands during their days at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s.
The formation of Muse was soon to come, Mat Bellamy, the lead singer and guitarist, succsessfully auditioned for Domonic Howards band.
They both asked Chris Wolstenholme, who played drums at the time, to play bass, he agreed and took up lessons as been playing bass ever since.

After a couple of name changes the band, consisting of Mat on guitar and vocals, Domonic on drums and Chris the band entered a battle of the bands competition, they won the competition and then smashed their equiptment. "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement," Bellamy said, "so, when we actually won, it was a real shock, a massive shock. After that, we started taking ourselves seriously.

Shortly after the competition the band decided to quit college, quit their jobs and change the band name to Muse, the reason for the name was a member of their previous college suggested it as they suggested the town of Teignmouth had a 'Muse' ((lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.) hovering over it as there were several famous bands from the area, that, and Muse looks good on a poster.

After several years building a fan base, the band. The band had a meeting with Dennis Smith and later with Dennis' record label released 'Muse EP' of which only 999 copies were made and had only four songs. "Overdue", "Coma", "Cave", "Escape".
The bands second EP, "Muscle Museum EP" reached number 3 in the indie singles chart, it was at this time that the band joined Taste Media, they released three albums under this recording label.

John Leckie was brought in under the Taste Media record label and they released their first studio album, Showbiz. The album shows the diversity, softness and variety of the band. The lyrics also showed the difficulties faced when trying to make a name for themselves in their hometown.

On the bands second studio album, "Origin Of Symmetry" the band experimented with several different instruments including a church organ, mellatron and an expanded drum set.
Bellamy cites Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello as influences for this album, with high and low solo swings with several effects rarely seen before.
The album features a remake of a classic "Feeling Good", Muse Succsessfully sued Nestle for using the song in a TV advertisement, the money wno went to Oxfam.

Celine Dion was also threatened with legal action after wanting to name her tour "Muse", despite the band owning the worldwide performing rights to the name. Celine Dion offered $50,000 for the rights but Muse rejected this with Bellamy stating that "We don't want to turn up there with people thinking we're Celine Dion's backing band." Eventually Dion was forced to back down.

Roger Morton, of New Musical Express compated the lead singer, Mat Bellamy to late, great Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain. He gave the album a 9/10.

Muse' record company did not like the way that Mat Bellamy portrayed his voice, stating that it was not "radio friendly", I personally agree with this however because of this, Mat and the band decided to leave the company as they would not release the album to the U.S, it was not until 2005 when their new record company, Warner, released the album.

In 2003, Absolution was released and held praise worldwide. It debuted at number one in the UK and "Time Is Running Out" was a top ten hit. Later on the album produced three more top twenty hits, "Hysteria", "Sing For Absolution", and "Butterflies and Hurricanes"
Along with the release of Absolution, Muse had their first world tour visiting countries such as Australia, New Zealand and France.
At the start of the 2004 US leg of the tour, Bellamy injured himself and had to get several stitches.

In June of 2004, the band played what is hailed as the best concert the band has ever done. Glastonbury Festival. After the festival the band was quoted as saying it was "the best gig of our lives". However the drummer, Dominic Howard's father passed away shortly after the gig due to a heart attack.
"It was the biggest feeling of achievement we've ever had after coming offstage", Bellamy said. "It was almost surreal that an hour later his dad died. It was almost not believable. We spent about a week sort of just with Dom trying to support him. I think he was happy that at least his dad got to see him at probably what was the finest moment so far of the band's life"

Muse later continued the tour and went on to win two MTV Europe awards, one for best alternative act and another, unsuprisingly, for best live act. They also won best live act at the 2005 BRIT awards.

The band, in late 2005, released an official DVD entitled Absolution Tour, which had remastered and reedited versions of the songs performed at the famous Glastonbury Festival. The only song on the dvd from the Absolution album that was not shown on the DVD is "Falling Away From You" which has yet to be performed live.

2006 saw the band release their fourth studio album, Black Holes and Revelations. The songs, themes and even the title of the album reflect the interest held by the band members to science, fiction and politics. The album reached number one in Australia, UK, and much of Europe. The album recieved platinum status after selling one million copies in the UK.

The third single off the album, "Knights Of Cyadonia" was met with praise throughout the world and was voted #1 on the Triple J's hottest 100 of 2007 and #18 on Triple J's hottest 100 of all time the following year.
Another song, "Map of the Problematique" was realeased for download only in June of 2007 following a performance at Wembley Stadium in the same year.

The band spent the later part of 2006 touring several countries including Australia , New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Of the tour, the biggest performance to date was the two gigs performed at Wembley stadium. Both Wembley gigs were recorded to CD/DVD entitled HAARP released 17th March 2008.
Muse finished their Black Holes and Revelations tour playing at the KROQ Almost Accoustic Chritmas after playing sold out shows across the world.

There were several individual performances in 2008, none relating directly to an album release.
On the 12th of April 2008 they played a one off concert at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
In 2008 the band also performed along side other famous named including Linkin Park, The Offspring and Kaiser Chiefs.
On the 25th September 2008, the three members, Bellamy, Howard and Wolstenholme recieved an Honoury Docterate of Arts for their contrabution to music.

The bands fifth and most recent album, The Resistance was the first to be produced soley by the band. Upon the release of the album, it went number one in 19 countries.
Critics praised the album, mostly due to the classic traits, ambition and the thirteen minute, three part "Exogenesis: Symphony".
In the first week of release, 148,000 copies were sold in UK alone.

The Resistance Tour started in October 2009 in Finland. The band supported U2 in their U2 360' tour.
In the 'Breakfast With Muse Tour' KROQ held, Mat Bellamy was asked just how long the band intended on being on tour. He responded "We will probably be touring until the end of next year. We will be doing this U2 and European tour and ship off to Australia and Asia and return for an extensive US tour. It will actually be our longest US tour to date. Starting at about the end of February or March.".

In January of 2010, along side Dizzy Rascal and the likes, Muse played at both the Austrlian and New Zealand Big Day Out.
Muse will be hosting the 2010 Glastonbury tour, which if previous years are any insight, should be a sight to see.

The main genres that Muse use in their music are progressive rock, glam rock, and space rock. They also use electronica, indie, and metal.

Guitarist and frontman Mat Bellamy's guitar influences include Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine).
Mat Bellamy has been compared to Jeff Buckley with the way he uses his voice.

Muse's album "Black Holes and Revelations" was influenced by both European and Asian music. "I've been listening to quite a lot of music from the south of Italy on this album", Bellamy admits. "I've been living in Italy for a while, and I discovered this music from Naples, which sounds like a mix of music from Africa, Croatia, Turkey, and Italy. It kind of gives it a mystical sound, so I think that's one thing that influenced the album. I like being influenced by things that have a mixed style".

Queen is also a major influence in the bands musical productions. Brian May, the lead guitarist for Queen has been quoted in saying this; "(Muse are) extraordinary musicians" who "let their madness show through, always a good thing in an artist."

With regards to the bands progressive rock traits, Domonic Howard has been quoted as saying "I associate it with 10-minute guitar solos, but I guess we kind of come into the category. A lot of bands are quite ambitious with their music, mixing lots of different styles — and when I see that I think it's great. I've noticed that kind of thing becoming a bit more mainstream."

The current band members are;

Matthew Bellamy - vocals, lead guitar, keyboard
Chris Wolstenholme - bass guitar, backing vocals
Domonic Howard - drums, backing vocals

In the bands history they have made a total of five studio albums.

Showbiz - 1999
Origin of Symmetry - 2001
Absolution - 2003
Black Holes and Revelations - 2006
The Resistance - 2009

Muse are currently promoting the release of their new song Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever) which is set for release in three days (18th May 2010) and will feature on the new Twilight movie, Eclipse.

Cheers
Joseph Rigby
0407 782 058

Alien Ant Farm - A History

Alien Ant Farm is a Californian Alternative Rock band that formed in the Californian town of Riverside in 1995.

The name comes from now ex-guitarist Terry Corso who said "I was daydreaming at my dull desk job with my feet up, and I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be cool if the human species were placed on earth and cultivated by alien intelligence?' Maybe the aliens added us to an atmosphere that was suitable for us, and they've been watching us develop and colonize, kind of like what a kid does with an ant farm."

Although they began in 1995, fame wasn't achieved until 1999 when after many years of playing in pubs and clubs they released there debut album, humorously titled, Greatest Hits. which was released independently on there own record label.
Some of the more notable songs on the album include "Movies", "Doll Roll", and "Universe".
There was also a song on the album called "Slick Thief" which will later go on to big things.
The album went on to win Best Independent Album at the L.A Music Awards of 1999.

A year later, the band signed, along with Papa Roach, a record deal with DreamWorks SKG and produced there first studio album, "Anthology".Several songs including "Movies" and "Universe" were brought on this album from there first independent album, Greatest Hits.
Due to this and the fact they had record label support the album was a huge success.

As mentioned previously with "Slick Thief", this song went on to number 1 in multiple country's and was re-released under the name "Smooth Criminal" which was a remake of a classic Michael Jackson song. This album went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S alone and brought popularity to the band.

During 2002, whilst touring Spain there was an horrific bus crash in which the driver was killed and the lead singer, Dryden Mitchell was paralyzed in a "Christofer Reeve" like injury.
The band had hired two drivers, each who did 10 hour shifts whilst the band was touring in Spain. the first driver did his 10 hours, then the second driver. Chris, took over in Madrid.

As the double-decker tour bus passed through Caceres, Spain, Mitchell picked up a guitar and started fiddling around near the steps to the upper level. David Zajic, a friend from the Czech Republic who worked as the band's head of security, played video games. Corso and Zamora were in their bunks.

"You can't really see out a window or see anything coming; you're kind of just in a dark box," said Corso, who had dozed off, phone in hand, after leaving a message for his girlfriend back home. Zamora was chatting on his own cell phone with his fiancee.

For reasons still unknown to this day, the bus slammed into the back of a truck.

As stated, the driver, Chris, perished in the crash. The lead singer Dryden Mitchell suffered severe back and neck injuries.

"The pain was so strong, I was scared. I just didn't want them to touch me," Mitchell said. "I knew it was just a mess with 10 people trying to crawl over me 'cause I'm in the space that they're trying to get out of. It was just not fun."

Ambulance workers arrived, but few of them spoke English. They lifted Mitchell up and strapped him onto a board. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was misdiagnosed, before he was eventually sent to London for surgery.

"The doctor said I could have been paralyzed by the way I was treated [in Spain]," said Mitchell, still in disbelief. "[The way they] pulled [me] up and whatnot, because my bone was resting on the spinal cord, which isn't good. And as a result I have nerve damage from my chest up, [which] just feels like a bad sunburn all the time."

In London doctors put a halo brace on the singer that left two small circular scars on his forehead.

Because of this brace, Mitchell found it next to impossible to sleep and is quoted as saying "I think the word 'insomnia,' people use it loosely," he said. "I had no idea what it was until now."

Over the next few months Alien Ant Farm gradually started recording together. A new, unreleased song "Spain In The Neck" wad created to pay homage to the crash earlier that year however was never released, only as a B-side.

In early 2003 with the help of Stone Temple Pilots, Alien Ant Farm released there second studio album, Truant. With this album release came a very contraversial move by the band, weeks after the Truant album was released the band recorded the video for "These Days" live on a rooftop overlooking the 2003 BET (Black Entertainment) awards, which lead to them being arrested, however released without charge.
Weeks after the release of this album, there record label closed the doors.

In October of 2003, the guitarist Terry Corso split from the band sighting "inreconsilable differences" as a reason. He went on to join Powerman 5000.
Victor Camacho (a long time friend of the band and guitar player) immediately joined the band and completed the remainder of the Truant tour until the band returned home. Joe Hill was named the new guitarist in 2005 (formerly of Spiderworks)

In 2004, the band recorded "Dark In Here" which was featured on "The Punisher" video game sound track, however because the bands owner, Geffen, held the rights to the bands releases (due to the closure of there previous record label) this song was not released as a single.

In 2005, the band recorded with the producer, Jim Wirt (Who worked on the debut release, Greatest Hits) and planned to release an album to the public however once again, they were denied by Geffen who still owned the rights to the bands music.
The band defied Geffen and hit the road for the purpose of making bootleg copies of this 'non-released- album, which was dubbed by fans as "3rd Draft"

In late 2005 Geffen finally gave rights to the band for them to release the album and to pay respect to the fans, they named it 3rd Draft.

In April of 2006 bassist, Tye Zamora decided to leave the band to follow his dream of going to college, he was quickly replaced with Alex Baretto

In July of 2006, the band released "Up In The Attic" and along with it came a dvd, BUSted: The Definitive DVD on which three music videos were included, "Forgive & Forget", "Around The Block" and "She's Only Evil" of which only the two original band members were featured.

Since the July 2006 release of Up in the Attic, very little has happened. Their website remained unchanged from November 2006 until April 2007 when an update promoting the Alien Ant Fans website, created by a long time Polish fan, Bartek, was added.

In february of 2008, the band announced the return of Tye Zamora and Terry Corso who had previously left the band. In the same month the band announced that they had "unnoficially broken up" in 2007 due to the unpopular "Up In The Attic" album of 2006.

It seemed the band had broken up again due to the fact the lead singer, Dryden Mitchell formed the band Send The Sages. Guitarist Terry Corso and drummer Mike Cosgrove also have been putting in time with there own band.
However in mid 2009 the band, on the official website, announced a few shows around the U.S including one which was at Vans Warped Tour to pay homage to Michael Jacksons "Smooth Criminal" which put Alien Ant Farm on the map.

The band's MySpace profile was redesigned with a new layout, featuring a blog posting that featured the June 27th show in HD, and an announcement that new material was being worked on. As of then, three new songs have been put on their setlist for concerts. It is believed that these songs will be on the upcoming album.

On February 9th, 2010, Alien Ant Farm posted on their official website that the original line up (Dryden Mitchell, Terry Corso, Tye Zamora and Mike Cosgrove) is back together for the first time since 2003. They have also hinted a new album is being worked on and scheduling a tour.

Along with Papa Roach, the band recently signed with 10th Street Entertainment and are working on there new album, several songs have been played at live shows and leaked to YouTube.

One of the things Alien Ant Farm are famous for are quirky videos including the Michael Jackson tributes in "Smooth Criminal", Movie references (Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters) in the song "Movies" Crashing the BET awards for "These Days"

The current members are;

Dryden Mitchell - Lead Singer/Rhythym Guitar/Accoustic Guitar (1995 - Present)
Terry Corso - Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals (1995 - 2003, 2008 - Present)
Tye Zamora - Bass/Piano (1995 - 2006, 2008 - Present)
Mike Cosgrove - Drums (1995 - Present)

Cheers
Joseph Rigby
0407 782 058