Muse’s Matt Bellamy says ‘The 2nd Law’ was inspired by Jeremy Paxman and ‘Newsnight”

Frontman admits debts of gratitude to notorious TV presenter

Muse‘s Matt Bellamy has revealed that his band’s forthcoming new album, ‘The 2nd Law’, was inspired by watching Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight.

Speaking to the Huffington Post, Bellamy said that the LP’s wide-ranging political themes regarding systems of sustainability and consumption of resources had been influenced by watching the notorious TV presenter on the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme.

“I was sitting watching Newsnight, with Jeremy Paxman going on about the Euro crisis,” he said. “It was late 2011, and one bloke on the panel linked the economic crisis to unsustainability. He said it was just how energy functioned, and it’s part of human evolution that there’s a conflict in ourselves we can’t yet overcome. It was so simple.”

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Discussing the thought process behind the album in general, meanwhile, Bellamy said: “I think it was just incredibly diverse. Reminding ourselves that songs could be simple again, writing intuitively with no concept to try to explain, undramatic, our version of unplugged. There are some blues in there, too. And then at the other end, there is this preoccupation with unsustainability, so there’s a lot going on.”

‘The 2nd Law’ is released on Monday (October 1) and the following day in the US. It includes new singles ‘Madness’ and ‘Survival’ as well as dubstep-influenced track ‘The 2nd Law: Unsustainable’. The 13-track album is the follow-up to 2009’s ‘The Resistance’ and has been recorded in London.

The Devon trio will also tour the UK in October, playing five shows. The gigs begin at Glasgow’s SECC on October 24, before the band move onto London’s O2 Arena for two shows on October 26 and 27. They then play Birmingham LG Arena on October 30 before finishing up at Manchester Arena on November 1.

The band will also play the iTunes Festival this month, headlining London’s Roundhouse on Sunday (September 30).

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