Old hands Muse scoop NME's best band gong

By Louise Jury
Friday, 2 March 2007

Muse were named Best British Band at the 2007 NME Awards

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In an otherwise night of victories for the latest hot young things, comparative old-timers Muse were named best British band at the 2007 NME Awards.

The trio from Devon, who have played together since 1992, beat the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and Oasis to take the highly prized gong after a year in which they turned in storming festival performances and won acclaim for their latest album, Black Holes and Revelations.

Matt Bellamy, the Muse frontman, also had the honour of being named sexiest man in a list including the former Libertines band-mates Carl Barât and Pete Doherty and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance.

However, Muse lost out in the best live band award to Kasabian.

Arctic Monkeys, triple winners at last year's NME Awards at a time when they were riding the wave of fan-driven internet fame, had to content themselves with two awards this time. But these included the best album prize for Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history.

However, the cocksure Sheffield outfit found young rivals now hogging the limelight as they themselves did last year.

Jamie T, the 21-year-old from Wimbledon, saw off competition from Jarvis Cocker, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and the north London chanteuse Lily Allen to be voted best solo artist.

Klaxons, who headlined the NME indie rave tour that started in February, were named best new band over the likes of the Fratellis and the View, whose chart success may have made them look too established for the title.

Conor McNicholas, who edits NME whose readers vote for the awards, said the Klaxons' success was one of the surprises of the night.

"You really would have expected the View to have walked away with best new band, but timing has become more important than ever before at these awards and the View feel almost like established artists," he said.

The other surprise was best solo artist, Mr McNicholas added. "I thought Thom Yorke was going to walk it. It was an amazing album, critically acclaimed and, though it wasn't a big seller, it's still Thom Yorke.

"But it's a testament to the quality of what Jamie T has done that he's got it. It just goes to show how quickly music fans are embracing new artists now."

Muse's victory as best band proved, however, that there was still room for groups with a track record. "This is a band that is genuinely growing," Mr McNicholas said.

"They put out a great album that surprised people, with a sexy song in "Supermassive Black Hole" and a proper ballad in "Starlight" . They have always been an awesome live band and they became a band of the people at the Reading and Leeds festival gigs. They still feel fresh."

Other winners at last night's ceremony in London included My Chemical Romance, the American purveyors of songs of adolescent unhappiness, who were named best international band. Gerard Way, the frontman, was named hero of the year.

The Killers, who performed live as did Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs and the View, also upheld American honour by taking best video for "Bones". The View's "Wasted Little DJs" was hailed best track.

The annual long-service award for "godlike genius" went to Primal Scream, but there were brickbats for the likes of Robbie Williams, whose Rudebox was named worst album.

However, none of the "worst of" awards, which also included Lily Allen for dress sense, were presented last night. The stress was on the victories. Mr McNicholas said: "It's a reflection of how strong the British music scene is that there's so much to be celebrated."

The cream of Devon rock

By Elisa Bray

The Rumble Strips: Soulful indie-pop band from Tavistock that supported The Young Knives and are now signed to Universal. This month they release their first commercial single "Alarm Clock" which is currently Radio 1's drive-time single of the week.

Seth Lakeman: The folk singer songwriter and 2005 Mercury Music Prize nominee is from Yelverton on the edge of Dartmoor which was a major source of inspiration for his latest album Freedom Fields. Won Singer of the Year and Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards last month.

Hey Molly: The south Devon four-piece supported were chosen from more than 80 hopeful unsigned acts to support Muse at their Eden Session concert in August. They also supported The Automatic at Lamacq in the City for BBC Radio 6.

Chris Martin: The singer was born in Devon and educated at Sherbourne School. His band, Coldplay, has since been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, picked up Brit and Grammy Awards, and sold more than 28 million copies of their three albums in total.

Joss Stone: The 19-year-old Brit Award and Grammy-winning R'n'B and soul singer spent her teenage years in Ashill, Devon. She has sold more than nine million albums worldwide