As Muse’s new album “Will Of The People” is out today, August 26, we see a new chapter in frontman Matt Bellamy’s political discourse and dystopian paranoia.
Muse had always flirted with bigger-than-life themes of autocracies, technological revolution, and cyber dominance, these topics became really front-and-center with their 2015 album “Drones”.
While many fans were not expecting it until a full listen of the album, the record exposed Bellamy’s political anxieties to their fullest, and even though the response to it was a very mixed bag, it inspired the singer and guitarist to follow the topic.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe, Bellamy discussed the role that Rage Against the Machine’s political fire played on Muse’s lyrical style. The frontman said that Zack de la Rocha’s penmanship was a direct influence on “Will Of The People”, due to his take on “the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world”.
Bellamy revealed himself as a devoted fan of RATM and shared his opinion on the group’s recent reunion shows (via NME): “We’ve learned from, in my opinion, the best. I’ve seen Rage Against the Machine 15 times. I just saw them twice this weekend. It was unbelievable. I even got a look from Morello. I was very happy with that.”
There has always been some very faint ideas of Rage Against The Machine in Muse’s music, but it wasn’t blatant enough to be able to say that without someone disagreeing.
He continued: “He gave me a little wave and a look because our seats were kind of just to the side of the stage. He was playing ‘Calm Like a Bomb’, and I think he might know it’s my favorite song, and I was like, ‘Yeah!’ Just going through it. And he gave me a wave. I was like, ‘Tom Morello waved at me!'”
Discussing which bands influenced Muse’s heavier side, Bellamy “blamed” Red Hot Chili Peppers:
“I do think that actually changed the way we played. I think before that, it was shoegazey, indie, shy. And then after that, after seeing Flea doing his thing and the energy he puts out there, it was like, you know, ‘We need to up our game massively.'”
