Four years ago, Matt Bellamy appeared to be abdicating his throne as the world’s most dystopian rock star. In interviews to promote Muse’s neon-bright album Simulation Theory, the singer praised the joys of turning off the news and escaping into VR gaming. Now, though, comes a crisis-minded ninth album called Will of the People, which climaxes with the bluntly titled We Are Fucking Fucked. What happened?
Bellamy laughs loudly. The short answer is that the news came to him. He had already scheduled a low-key 2020 because his wife, Texas-born model Elle Evans, was due to give birth in June and he wanted to be at home for his daughter’s first months. Then you-know-what happened and he had no choice. During the first phase of the pandemic, Muse’s regular producer Rich Costey fled to Vermont, handing Bellamy the keys to his studio in downtown Santa Monica. “Rich was like, I want to get out of LA, and I was like, I think I want to be right here. I love being right in the middle of it.”
