http://www.muse-official.com/

From Gothic Plague to Fixed Penalty to Rocket Baby Dolls, it wasn’t until the band decided on the moniker Muse that things started to really happen for the trio from Teignmouth, Devon (a.k.a. Bumblefuck, England).

Teignmouth was far from a cultural Mecca (seeing as it was 250 miles away from the center of London) and the lack of community support, not to mention constant heckling and hissing from audiences, caused the lads to develop a thick skin and an undying determination to score a major deal.

“Apart from the Cavern in Exeter, there’s nowhere to play [in Teignmouth]. It’s the only decent venue in the whole of Devon, but it’s empty most of the time. We played at hundreds of other places, pubs full of old people, whatever, but all they ever wanted was covers of sixties hits, so we never went down very well, I think it helped us in a way,” said vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy.

Bellamy, along with bassist Chris Wolstenhome and drummer Dominic Howard, soon ditched the dingy club scene and hooked up with Taste Media (a joint venture between Sawmills, a West Country recording studio and SJP Producer Management). After a breakthrough performance at the 1998 CMJ MusicFest, Muse was starting to get courted by numerous American labels. However, when the band returned to the states to play a showcase on the Santa Monica Pier, Madonna’s Maverick Records signed them on the spot.

-Leslie Simon