The Band Member Biography (Chris Wolstenholme)

Christopher Wolstenholme

Background information
Birth name
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme
Born
December 2, 1978 (1978-12-02) Rotherham, England
Genre(s)
Alternative rockNew Prog
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instrument(s)
Bass Guitar, Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Years active
1992 - present
Label(s)
Warner Bros. RecordsEastwest RecordsAtlantic RecordsHelium 3
Associatedacts
Muse

Christopher Tony Wolstenholme, better known as Chris Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England) is the bassist for the rock band Muse. He also sings backing vocals to some of the band's songs, and sometimes plays guitar instead of bass. He also plays keyboard on occasions, but rarely and only at live shows.

Biography
Wolstenholme grew up in Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, Devon in 1989. While living there, he played drums for a post-punk band, while Matthew Bellamy and Dominic Howard played in another. After two years of failed bassists in Bellamy and Howard's band, Wolstenholme gave up the drums and joined with them as bassist to create The Rocket Baby Dolls (later renamed Muse).
He currently lives in Teignmouth with his wife Kelly and their three children Alfie, Frankie and Ava-Jo.

Musical equipment
Wolstenholme has used many different basses since the start of Muse's career, starting out with Warwick and Bass Collection basses, alongside an electric double bass for use in the song Unintended. He favoured the Ampeg SVT amps, with 1x18, 2x10 and 2x6 cabs.
Part of Muse's distinctive sound is produced by Wolstenholme's use of distortion. Favouring the Electro Harmonix Big Muff distortion / sustainer, this was used alongside a BOSS Bass overdrive and other effects.
In the Origin of Symmetry era, Wolstenholme had many Pedulla basses. Only using the Pedulla Rapture SB4 basses with a single humbucking pickup, the JB4 bass with two jazz pickups shown in the Plug In Baby video was sold on eBay to a lucky fan. Wolstenholme also changed to use two Marshall amplifiers (3 cabs in total counting his combo amp), he had two separate channels, one for clean bass and one for distorted bass. Chris has also been known to use his Marshall Bass State b150 which he drives to the edge because "it distorts nicely". His effects rig also expanded to include some Line6 effects and more BOSS effects.
For Muse's third album, Absolution, Wolstenholme kept the Pedulla basses but also recorded using Warwick basses (his old ones) and others. He also added a Fender Jazz Bass into his lineup for Sing for Absolution and a Zon Sonus Studio 4. For live performances of Stockholm Syndrome Wolstenholme used a beat up Pedulla Rapture SB5 - so beaten up that a tuning peg has been lost and it is only used as a four-string bass now. No surprise that Wolstenholme threw it onto the stage from the audience, then into Dominic Howard's bass drum at the UK's biggest festival, Glastonbury.
He still kept his Marshall amps, and also included more rackmount effects in the form of Line6 Bass Pods and filter modelers, and more. His effects rig became so big that Rocktron All Access MIDI controllers are used both on and off stage to control everything. Also adding in an Akai Deep Impact synth pedal for the hit single Time Is Running Out and a Digitech Synth Wah alongside more effects.
For the latest album, Black Holes and Revelations, Wolstenholme has changed his rig nearly completely. Now favouring Rickenbacker 4003 basses and Fender Jazz Basses for new and old songs alike, he also uses a pick on a few new songs, including Assassin, the beginning of Map of the Problematique, the beginning of Invincible, and the beginning and middle of Knights of Cydonia, according to Muse's August 26, 2006, performance at the Reading Festival. He also plays an upright bass in Soldier's Poem. The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is used more often in this album, nearly in every track, and his vocals are sometimes sung through a vocoder, most noticeably in Supermassive Black Hole.

The Band Member Biography (Dominic Howard)

Dominic Howard

Background information
Birth name
Dominic James Howard
Born
December 7, 1977 (1977-12-07) (age 29)Stockport, England
Genre(s)
Alternative Rock
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instrument(s)
Drums
Years active
1988 - present
Associatedacts Muse
Dominic James Howard, better known as Dom Howard (born 7 December 1977 in Stockport, England), is the drummer for the British band Muse.

Biography
Dominic was born in Stockport, not far from Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with his family to Teignmouth, a small town in Devon. He began playing drums at about the age of 11, when he was inspired by a jazz band performing at school.
Dom's first band was named 'Carnage Mayhem', which he was in at school. Meanwhile, he befriended Matt Bellamy, who played guitar but didn't have a stable band. Not long after, Matt was faced with the chance of entering Dom's band. After two years of drop-outs, only Dom and Matt remained. Chris Wolstenholme then entered the scene, who played drums in Fixed Penalty, and with a great "spirit of sacrifice" he began to play bass.
In the first months of 1994 Gothic Plague were born, followed by Rocket Baby Dolls and then finally Muse. From then on, things got more serious for Dominic and the others.
In 2004, Dominic's father William came to watch Muse's performance at Glastonbury 2004, a concert which Matt Bellamy described as "the best gig of our lives" Just after their performance finished, William Howard collapsed from a heart attack. This pushed the band to the verge of breakup, but through support from his family and fellow band members, Dominic recovered, and Muse managed to continue their tour.

Style
Dominic is inspired by drummers like Stewart Copeland, Roger Taylor, Buddy Rich, Nick Mason, Tre Cool, Tim Alexander, Dave Grohl, and many more. Grohl can be outlined as a significant influence to Dominic. He has a wide taste in music - he is known to like Jimi Hendrix, Pavement, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, dEUS, The Smashing Pumpkins, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Green Day, and Nine Inch Nails. He is also left-handed, so his drumset is "reverse", arranged for his left-handedness.

Equipment

Drum kits
Dom has an exclusivity contract with Tama. He has had several kits, many of which have been destroyed during performances. More recently he has famously used one of their transparent drum kits made from acrylic shells. Some of these drum sets include:
British racing green Starclassic Maple kit with chrome hardware.
Brown fade Starclassic Maple kit with chrome hardware.
Blue sparkle Starclassic Maple kit with chrome hardware (destroyed at the conclusion of the 2001 Origin of Symmetry / Dead Star/In Your World EP support tour, as seen on "Hullabaloo" DVD).
Grey kit (unknown composition) with chrome hardware (as seen on the "Top Of the Pops" live performance and recording of Origin Of Symmetry). Its fate is unknown.
Blue sparkle Starclassic Maple kit with chrome hardware (used during 2002 tour and Absolution recording). Its fate is unknown. At least one rack tom survived until 2003 as it was used at the Grouse Lodge sessions of the Absolution recordings.
Silver sparkle Starclassic maple kit with chrome hardware (as seen in music videos for Hyper Music, Feeling Good, Plug In Baby and Dead Star).
Custom chrome finished Starclassic Maple kit with black nickel hardware (as seen on the Absolution Tour DVD). At least four different instances of this kit have been acquired and subsequently destroyed by the band at the end of live shows, at the conclusion of the Earls Court 2004 performance, at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival and on two other occasions.
Crystal ice (transparent) Starclassic Mirage kit with white nickel hardware. This kit is still in use.
He has also played a Starclassic Bubinga kit supporting MCR in Williamsburg USA.
For recording he has used a blue DW kit.
During 3 songs (Soldier's Poem, Unintended, Blackout) at the band's performance at Wembley Stadium he used a Vintage Gretsch Jazz Kit in a Champagne Sparkle Finish.

Drum sizes
He previously used a 22x16" bass drum, 12x10" rack tom and 14x14" and 16x16" floor toms.
His new chrome kits have a 22x18 bass drum, 12x8 rack tom, 14x12 and 16x13 floor toms with the last being a custom size.
His newer still acrylic kits have a 24"x18" bass drum, 12"x8" rack tom, 14"x12" and 16"x14" floor toms. Also he uses a matching 14"x6" snare, sometimes a 14"x6.5" Tama power metal snare, a 20"x14" gong bass drum. The rack tom, and bass drum are custom sizes.

Snare drums
As well as alternating between using mainly Tama Starclassic Maple 14x6.5", to match his chrome kit and Ludwig LB417 Black Beauty 14x6.5" snare drums, he has a number of less prominent snares used for recording and video clips (for example the shallow snare used for recording Fury, the Starclassic Maple 14x5.5" that matched his silver sparkle kit used for the recording of Ruled By Secrecy, the brass snare in the Time Is Running Out video clip).

Cymbals
Dom uses a selection of Zildjian cymbals. Over the years his tastes in cymbals have changed - for example, on the Hullabaloo DVD he uses 13" A Custom Projection hi-hats, 8" A Custom splash, 11" FX Oriental "Trash" Splash, 18" and 19" A Custom Crashes, 18" FX Oriental China Trash and a 22" K Custom Ride, whereas more recent performances have seen the addition of a 20" FX Oriental Crash of Doom, hung above his hi-hats, and 14" K Custom Special Dry Hi-Hats replace - and contrast - the A Customs. Lately the A Custom splash has been changed out in favour of an 8" A Splash. He has discontinued using the Crash Of Doom as of the Black Holes period, and now uses a 22" K Custom Medium Ride in live situations (and for recording).
For recording he uses darker K or K Custom crashes while he often retains the brighter A Customs in live performances for their increased "cut" (Ks were used at Live 8).

Hardware
He uses Tama Roadpro hardware.
His drum stool is a Tama First Chair with back-rest.
Sticks
He has used Zildjian Dennis Chambers signature series drumsticks, Shaw 5BN drumsticks and Promark 5BNs, as well as many others. Currently, he uses Vater's New Orleans Jazz sticks.

Drum heads
As with most of his equipment Dom rarely sticks with any particular brand of drum head for very long. At Hullabaloo his toms have clear Remo Emperor batter heads while the Black Beauty snare has an Aquarian Hi-energy batter. His Ayotte kick has a Remo Powerstroke 3 batter and the Starclassic snare usually has either coated Emperor or coated Controlled Sound heads.

The Band Member Biogrhapy (Matthew Bellamy)

Matthew Bellamy

Background information
Birth name
Matthew James Bellamy
Born
June 9, 1978 (1978-06-09) (age 29)
Genre(s)
Alternative rockProgressive rockArt Rock
Occupation(s)
Musician
Instrument(s)
Vocals, Guitars ,Keyboards, Piano
Years active
1997-Present
Associatedacts Muse

Matthew James Bellamy (born June 9, 1978 in Cambridge, England) is the guitarist and pianist of the Alternative/Progressive Rock group Muse, known for his falsetto voice and guitar/piano playing ability.

Background
Bellamy's father, George, was the rhythm guitarist in the 1960s English rock group The Tornados, who were the first English band to have a U.S. number one, with "Telstar". Bellamy's mother, Marilyn, was born in Belfast, and moved to England in the 1970s. On her first day in England she met George Bellamy, who was at that 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. In the mid-1980s they moved to Teignmouth, Devon where Matthew was educated at Teignmouth Community College. He now lives in Como, Italy.
Musical equipment


Bellamy is known for his dynamic and energetic stage performances
Bellamy uses Hugh Manson custom guitars 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 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.
The first and most famous is his silver Manson. 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 use controlled feedback. In addition, it has a MXR Phase 90 phaser, a Roland midi pickup and uses Seymour Duncan 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) with some just having different pickups and finishes, as with his mirrored Manson, and some taking the idea even further. Matt'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 hot P-90s, a Fernandes Sustainer System on the neck and a 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 ("We use Marshall because when we jump on them they still work, and they sound good... real good!"), Soldano Cabinets and Line 6 digital effects. Most of Bellamy's rack effects are made with Line 6 modules; his studio rack set-up also includes a Nord Modular.

Achievements
In 2004, Muse won "Best Album" for Absolution at the Kerrang! Awards.
Bellamy's riff from "Plug In Baby" was 8th in Total Guitar's poll of the Top 100 Riffs. This riff was also mentioned among the best-ever riffs in Q magazine's Rock and Pop Miscellany. As well as this, the riff for "Stockholm Syndrome" was voted the greatest riff ever by Australian radio station Triple J's Top 100 Riffs of all time, above Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and other iconic riffs. "Plug In Baby" made the top 20.
In March 2007, Total Guitar published "The 100 Greatest Riffs", which included three Muse songs; "Supermassive Black Hole" at #93, "Knights of Cydonia" at #21 and "Plug In Baby" at #8.
In April 2005, Kerrang! magazine ranked him #28 in their "50 Sexiest People In Rock" poll, as well as their in-house number one guitarist. 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 Lennon, Dylan and many musical greats. Bellamy also won the Sexiest Male Award at the 2007 NME Awards, beating the likes of Carl Barât and Pete Doherty to the top spot. In 2007, he was a nominee for 'The Sexiest Vegetarian' award held by Peta 2, despite the fact that he is not a vegetarian.[citation needed]
In 2006, the Muse album Black Holes and Revelations was voted 'Album of the Year' by Planet Rock magazine. In the same year, Muse won "Best British Band" at the Kerrang! Awards.
In 2007, Total Guitar Magazine hailed Matt Bellamy as "the first guitar genius of the 21st century".[citation needed]
September 2007's issue of Q Magazine announced Matt Bellamy as a Guitar Hero. On October 1, 2007, Matthew and Muse won 2 EMA Awards in Munich for their live performance and best group in the UK and Ireland.

Interests
Bellamy's fascination with conspiracy theories has been evident since the release of Absolution, in which one song, "Ruled By Secrecy," is named after Jim Marrs' "Rule By Secrecy." The B-Side "Futurism" too deals with a possible dystopian future. Riddles relating to the Illuminati have appeared during the treasure hunt they set for fans on the 2005 mtvU Campus Invasion Tour and in a cryptic announcement about Muse's forthcoming album. Bellamy's interest in metaphysics is also evident. In an interview with Alex Jones on KLBJ-AM Radio in September 2006, Bellamy revealed his interest in terrorism, its cause and the conspiracy theories surrounding it stemmed from the death of his uncle who was murdered by the Irish Republican Army.
With the latest Muse album Black Holes and Revelations we see Bellamy taking a much more optimistic approach to earlier and perhaps more dystopian themes, while still retaining the same concepts. The track "Exo-Politics" refers to the Zeta Reticulans, and suggests that "it's just our leaders in disguise" a conspiracy theory where the government fakes an alien invasion, a theme that Steven M. Greer has been promoting as a real possibility (coming from sources such as whistleblowers like the late German NASA rocket scientist Wernher von Braun) to politicians, the media and audiences worldwide through his Disclosure Project. The opening track on the album Black Holes & Revelations, "Take a Bow", uses lyrics which refer to his view on the world leaders, although when asked in an interview, Matt stated that the song was aimed at all world leaders, and not one specific person.

Religion
Bellamy is an atheist: "Being an atheist means you have to realise that when you die, that really is it. You've got to make the most of what you've got here and spread as much influence as you can. I believe that you only live through the influence that you spread, whether that means having a kid or making music."
In a session where Matt and Dom answered questions from fans, Bellamy stated that the celebrity alive or dead he'd most like to meet is Jesus Christ (Dom answered Jimi Hendrix for this question). Matt: "I'd like to meet Jesus. Eh just because I'd be interested to know how he did it all. You know what I mean? You know... making fish out of bushes and stuff. Walking on water. I'd like to meet someone who can do that. I think that'd be uh, certainly one of the most interesting people to meet I'd say."