Quotes from Matt Bellamy

I used to do a lot of ouija boards, and I asked if there was life after death. Some spirit replied, 'He who seeketh knowledge seeketh sorrow!'

I was going out dancing in clubs around New York, and that helped create 'Supermassive Black Hole.' Franz Ferdinand would have done it very well with that dance-type beat going on mixed with alternative guitar, and I've always wanted to find that.

I used to go and see bands like the Orb and Orbital every time they came down, and I've seen Aphex Twin a couple of times. I was really into all that stuff, but it didn't speak to me.

For the first time in evolution as a species, we're hitting an energy ceiling.

Money and success haven't really changed my beliefs or opinions over the years. When I was growing up, my mum and dad split when I was 13 or 14, during the early-Nineties recession. At that time, my dad went bankrupt, and it played a huge part in it all at home.

I think we have a lot in common with classical composers of the 19th century, although I'm not claiming to have their intelligence. They wanted to create a musical explosion, to blow the crowd away.

I never understood bands who were only influenced by a narrow era of, say, five years of music.

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.

Playing to a stadium is not for everyone because you are essentially gambling, big-time. You have to go all in on production. You can't hold back.

You have to evolve. Stagnation breeds boredom.

Bands in the Nineties seem to forget the entertainment aspect of rock music.

'Uprising' was requested by so many politicians in America for use in their rallies, and we turned them down on a regular basis.

As soon as you pick up a guitar, you're up against the legends of rock. The same goes with stadium drum kits and electric bass. Essentially, you're already in a soundscape that's very familiar and has a lot of established legendary material recorded using those instruments.

People like Nick Cave - that ridiculous, over-the-top doom, taking it to extremes - I find it uplifting because it's like someone else is feeling what you're feeling and putting it into their music. Someone expressing extreme joy is just as valuable; it's just the fact that they're expressing their soul through music.

Apple, iTunes, and streaming services have made the single a more easy thing to access. What that's done has made the album as a collection of songs almost meaningless. But an album that has a concept or story or reason to be an album, if anything, has more meaning now than it ever has.

This inner strength we have, this desire to evolve and expand and explore, I do love that about humanity. At the same time, it's scary what it does on a global scale. I'm very much caught between the two.

I've spent important times of my life in Spain and Greece, and various deep things happened there - falling in love, stuff like that.

I experienced the sharp end of a tough time, living with a single parent, my mum, and she was really struggling to get a job. These are the things that form your views in life. They are established when you are growing up and being raised. That stuff doesn't really go away; that stays with you.