44 Years Matthew Bellamy; Get To Know The Guitarist Who Adheres To The Modern Era Of Auto-destructive Understanding

Matthew Bellamy (Instagram @muse)

JAKARTA - Who doesn't know Matthew Bellamy with his distinctive guitar sound? Well, today, June 9, the main character behind the lyrics and music of the British rock band Muse has a birthday.

Born in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England 44 years ago, Bellamy is also known as a vocalist, guitarist and pianist who has an eccentric stage appearance and often uses vibrato and falsetto techniques when singing.

The musical blood that runs through Bellamy's body was inherited by his father, George Bellamy, who was the guitarist for the '60s pop band The Tornados. It was the first British band to successfully place their song, Telstar, in the United States.

Quoted from various sources, Knights of Cydonia, single from Muse's fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations (2006) is often considered as Bellamy's tribute to his father's song.

Bellamy and his family moved to Teignmouth, Devon in the mid-'80s. However, after his parents divorced, he lived with his mother and older brother, Paul, and began his musical adventure by learning the piano at the age of 6 and starting to touch the guitar five years later.

Bellamy's first appearance on stage was in June 1991, when she played the piano at a school event at Teignmouth Community College.

Bellamy then formed a band with school friends, Christopher Wolstenholme (bass) and Dominic Howard (drums) in 1994 with the name Rocket Baby Dolls. The band won first place in a competition at their school, "Battle of the Bands", and made the members motivated to continue their musical career by changing the name Rocket Baby Dolls to Muse.

Until now, Muse has released nine studio albums, namely Showbiz (1999), Origin of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes and Revelations (2006), The Resistance (2009), The 2nd Law (2012), Drones (2015), Simulation Theory (2018), and Will of the People (2022).

Characteristic

Prior to appearing on stage with Muse, Bellamy was known to have unique habits such as using an electric foot massager to control nervousness, bubble bathing and eating bananas. And once on stage, this musician often shows the habits that are his trademark. Just say it; running back and forth, looping over and over during the instrumental ending on Plug In Baby, and smashing the guitar.

This last-mentioned stage act belongs to the category of 'auto-destructive' art. Although not the first to do so, Bellamy has been asked to be the world record holder for the guitarist who destroyed 140 guitars on the Absolution Tour 2004. Yes, long before Bellamy, there were already names like Pete Townshend (The Who), Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). ) and Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day).

Not only that. As a guitarist, Bellamy has also received a number of awards. These include 19th in Gigwise's "The 50 Greatest Guitarists Ever", 29th on Total Guitar's "Top 100 Guitarists of All Time" list, and 28th in the "50 Sexiest People in Rock" list. Kerrang magazine! (2005).

Then, "The Sexiest Rocker" version of Cosmopolitan magazine 2003 and 2004, positioned 14th "Greatest Rock n' Roll Hero of All Time" by NME magazine and won the title of "Sexiest Male Award" at the NME Awards 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 , 2013 and 2014.

Gear

Since the early 2000s, Bellamy has worked with Manson Guitar Works, based in Devon, to make his electric guitars. They have released several "M-series" signature models. In 2019, Bellamy bought a majority stake in Manson.

In 2014, luthiers Hugh Manson and Bellamy designed this guitar for a wider market. In collaboration with a guitar manufacturer from Mojokerto, Indonesia, they released the Cort MBC-1 guitar at an affordable price.

As we know, Hugh Manson is one of the most famous guitar makers and he has worked with many world famous musicians. His work is unquestionable and has a very high standard of quality and a very detailed process for every guitar he makes.

It's something to be very proud of if finally a guitar factory in Indonesia is trusted to produce guitars used by guitarist Bellamy.

In 2020, Bellamy purchased the Fender Telecaster used by Jeff Buckley for his only studio album, Grace (1994). Bellamy used this guitar to record songs with Jaded Hearts Club, and said he plans to use it on his next recording with Muse.

Bellamy uses the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, which he uses to achieve his signature feed back sound, as in the introduction to Plug in Baby. He said that the heart of the tone was the Vox AC30.

The guitarist also often uses live Kawai piano and keyboards. One of its most used keyboards is the Kawai MP-8, in both upright and large cases.

Both Bellamy and bassist Wolstenholme always use a touchscreen controller when performing on stage. These are often attached to their instruments, to control synthesizers and effects including Korg Kaoss pads or Digitech Whammy pedals.

Happy birthday, Matthew James Bellamy!