Teignmouth

Content

Introduction 3

Teignmouth 4

Group members 4

A) Matthew Bellamy 4

B) Dominic Howard 5

C) Christopher Wolstenholme 5

Rocket Baby Dolls 6

Origin of Symmetry 7

First gigs 7

First EP, the record deal and Showbiz 8

Recording Absolution 8

Black Holes and Revelations and HAARP 10

The Resistance 10

The 2nd Law 11

Musical style 13

The Future 16

Bibliography 18

Additional material 19

Introduction

Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, which formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards, keytar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, sampling).

Since the release of their 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations, keyboardist and percussionist Morgan Nicholls has performed live with the band. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances and their fusion of many music genres, including space rock, progressive rock, alternative rock, heavy metal, classical music and electronica.

Muse have released six studio albums: Showbiz (1999), Origin of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes and Revelations (2006), The Resistance (2009) and The 2nd Law (2012). They have also issued three live albums, Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002), which is also a compilation of B-sides, Absolution Tour (2005), and HAARP (2008), which documents the band's performances at Wembley Stadium in 2007.

Black Holes and Revelations earned the band a Mercury Prize nomination and a third place finish in the NME Albums of the Year list for 2006. Muse have also won a collection of music awards throughout their history, including five MTV Europe Music Awards, six Q Awards, eight NME Awards, two Brit Awards—winning " Best British Live Act" twice, an MTV Video Music Award, four Kerrang! Awards and an American Music Award. They were also nominated for five Grammy Awards, of which they won Best Rock Album, for their fifth studio album The Resistance (2009). Muse have sold over 15 million albums worldwide.

Teignmouth

Teignmouth wasn’t a particularly good town to live in for the band as Matthew explains. " The only time the town came to life was during the summer when it turned into a vacation spot for visiting Londoners. When the summer ended they left and took all the life with them. I felt so trapped there. My friends were either getting into drugs or music, but I gravitated towards the latter and eventually learned how to play. That became my escape. If it weren't for the band, I would probably have turned to drugs myself."