Matt Bellamy

Matt Bellamy

Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English musician and composer, best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band Muse.

Early life

Bellamy's father, George, was the rhythm guitarist in the 1960s rock group The Tornados, who were the first British band to have a United States number one song, with "Telstar". "Knights of Cydonia", a single from Muse's fourth album Black Holes & Revelations, is often cited as a tribute to that song, with its space rock sound and accompanying video depicting a cowboy's quest through an alien landscape. Bellamy's mother, Marilyn, was born in Belfast, and moved to England in the 1970s. On her first day in England she met George, who was at the time working as a taxi driver in London. They moved to Cambridge, where Matthew's older brother Paul was born, followed a couple of years later by Matthew himself. Bellamy started playing the piano at age 10 according to Kerrang.

In the mid-1980s the family moved to Teignmouth, Devon. After the divorce of Bellamy's parents he moved in with his grandmother, who pushed him towards learning to play the guitar at the age of fourteen.

Muse

Main article: Muse

Muse formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994 under the name of Rocket Baby Dolls. Still using the name Rocket Baby Dolls they won the school's battle of the bands which led them to take the band seriously, and decided to change their name to a more "professional" name, Muse. The band is composed of Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Dominic Howard (drums and percussion). Muse met at Teignmouth Community College where Bellamy had been in a number of bands previously including Carnage Mayhem and Gothic Plague with drummer Dominic Howard. When members of Gothic Plague left due to other interests, Bellamy and Howard asked Wolstenholme to join. Muse struggled to establish themselves during their early years but have since gone on to enjoy worldwide commercial success.

Muse blend alternative, hard rock, progressive rock, classical music and electronica and are well known for their energetic and visually dazzling live performances. On 16–17 June 2007 became the first band to sell out the newly built Wembley Stadium in London. Muse has released five studio albums, Showbiz (1999), Origin of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes & Revelations (2006) and The Resistance (2009). Muse have also released one live album, HAARP (2008) and one compilation album Hullabaloo (2002). The first disc contains a collection of B-sides recorded between March 1999 and October 2001. The second disc features 11 live songs recorded on 28–29 October 2001 at 'le Zenith' in Paris. Bellamy also makes an appearance as a playable character in Guitar Hero 5 which features the playable song Plug In Baby.

Achievements

Bellamy performing live at the Virgin Festival in Toronto using the Manson guitar; Bomber Manson.

Total Guitar readers voted Bellamy #29 on a list of the Top 100 Guitarists of all time. Bellamy's riff from "Plug In Baby" was #13 in Total Guitar's poll of the Top 100 Riffs of all time.

In April 2005, Kerrang! magazine ranked him #28 in their 50 Sexiest People In Rock poll but following an influx of letters to Kerrang!, the magazine changed their decision and ranked him #1 in their unofficial 2008 poll. Cosmopolitan also chose him as the sexiest rocker of 2003 and 2004. NME Magazine voted him the 14th Greatest Rock'n'roll Hero of all time, beating John Lennon, Bob Dylan. Bellamy also won the Sexiest Male Award at the 2007 NME Awards, He won again in 2009. Bellamy, however, declared himself "too short to be sexy" (Bellamy is 5'7"), and said the award should have gone to Dom Howard, Muse' drummer.

On 26 September 2008, the University of Plymouth awarded Bellamy an honorary doctorate degree in arts for his work in the field of music.

In the January 2010 edition of Total Guitar magazine, Bellamy was named Guitarist of the Decade and was proclaimed to be "the Hendrix of his generation". In the Guinness Book of World Records 2010 Bellamy is credited as holding the world record for most guitars smashed on a tour. His record, 140, was set during the Absolution Tour.

Musical equipment

Bellamy performing in December 2009

Bellamy uses custom guitars designed by himself and Hugh Manson made in Exeter, Devon. He currently has a number of Manson guitars, as well as instruments by other manufacturers including a Fender 'Aloha' Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul DC Lite, a Gibson SG, Jackson Randy Rhoads (custom), a Parker Fly, a Peavey EVH Wolfgang, a Jay Turser JT-res Resonator and finally a Yamaha Pacifica. Bellamy's famous Manson shape has been compared to a Yamaha Pacifica, a Fender Telecaster, a Schecter and a Godin Triumph. Bellamy stated that he loved the classic guitar that Jimi Hendrix used.

The first and most famous is his silver Manson (Named Delorean). Bellamy came up with the basic concept for this guitar and Hugh Manson helped him realize it. It has a built-in Z.Vex Fuzz Factory which gives Bellamy his distinctive sound and the ability to manipulate the pedals oscillation sounds without bending down. In addition, it has an MXR Phase 90 phaser, a Roland midi pickup and uses Bare Knuckle and Kent Armstrong pickups. All of his other Mansons follow this same basic design (apart from Bellamy's 7 string which was not originally built for him but for a local jazz guitarist) with some just having different pickups and finishes, as with his mirrored Manson. Bellamy's black Manson has a MIDI strip that controls a Digitech Whammy IV, when it is connected, a Z.Vex Wah Probe and a number of other built in effects.

For the 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations, he bought a new guitar, the "Black Kaoss Manson". The guitar features two Bare Knuckle Humbuckers, a Fernandes Sustainer System on the neck and a touch pad which connects to a Korg Kaoss Pad. He also bought the M1D1, which is similar to the Black Kaoss Manson but has a Bare Knuckle Nail Bomb humbucker in the bridge position and a Fernandes Sustainer System (FSK-101 model, which is the humbucker version of the latter one) on the neck. He is also known to use an Ibanez Destroyer on stage (Hullabaloo). Bellamy uses Diezel amp heads, along with Marshall Mode Four cabinets, Soldano Cabinets and Line 6 digital effects. In September 2009, Bellamy has mentioned the extensive use of Dickinson amplifiers on their album The Resistance. Most of Bellamy's rack effects are made with Line 6 modules. On 14 April 2009, Manson Guitars announced on their website that they had brought out a line of Matthew Bellamy signature guitars, based on the Seattle, Glitterati and Delorean models. They all have the option of MIDI touch pads.

Vocal Style

Bellamy is known for his use of falsetto and vibrato. His vocal range spans from an A2 to B♭4 and to A5 with falsetto.

Political views

Bellamy has expressed passionate views on the ideas of Georgism. Many of his songs display revolutionary and sometimes Marxist views as well as a dislike of political corruption. "Assassin" and "Uprising" are two notable songs with obvious revolutionary sentiments.

17th of September 2009. Matthew discussed being politically influenced by reading “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins. He explains the book helped inspire the song "Uprising". Matthew expressed his views that he feels lobbyists have undue influence on politicians and the polictical system. He states that “when people become powerful they often have a disregard for public opinion[2].”

Other appearances

Bellamy also wrote the end credits for the 2009 film The International.

He wrote the song "Soaked", which appears on Adam Lambert's début album, For Your Entertainment.

Bellamy appears as a playable character in the video game Guitar Hero 5, along with the song Plug In Baby.

External links

• Media related to Matt Bellamy at Wikimedia Commons