You can forget about Frost/Nixon, because it’s all about Muscles versus Ben Lee. You’d assume that it would be a match made in heaven – the latter was once upon a time the ‘bad boy’ of Aussie popular music (read: mouthed off a lot to the press) who transformed himself into an enduring prince of earnest indie/pop. The former on the other hand notoriously began his path of self destruction in the public domain last year, falling out with his ultra-hip record label Modular while keeping us updated via his blog the whole time. Put them in a room together, and you’d assume Ben would be able to teach lil’ Muscles a thing or two about negotiating an existence under the spotlight.

However, when online indie bible Mess+Noise somehow managed to do exactly that, they discovered that it was a volatile combination. Ben Lee was out to pimp his upcoming new album The Rebirth of Venus, but it wasn’t long before the cranky child of Australian electro/pop maneuvered to make it all about him.

“I’ve got 10,000 other things to do at the moment,” Muscles tells his new buddy. “That includes relaxing and watching America’s Next Top Model... That’s the number one priority at the moment. I’ve done my work for the year. I’m doing a show with Tim Rogers next Monday. That’s my last gig.” As much as Ben tries to wrestle back control, Muscles cuts in again to share his (mis)adventures. “I’m self managed, self booked as of two weeks ago. I don’t have a publishing agreement so I guess you could say I’m self-published… All I wanna do now is party. Stuff all this, I don’t care, the music industry is dying. Whatever, let them die.”

One thing that Muscles is particular worked up about is his recent remix of Ben’s tune I Love Pop Music, which the record label had the nerve to knock back and request changes. This gives him another chance to lay the stick into that horrible ‘music industry’, who are trying to take all his money, destroy his livelihood and probably eat his family too. “Then I realise that all these people who work at record labels are failed musicians. They’re wannabe rock stars. And I’m like, ‘We’re the rock stars. Maybe you should listen to us!’” And so it goes on.

The interview’s funniest moment comes when Muscles has a crack at one of 2008’s favourite acts MGMT, who he recently shared the stage with at the Meredith Festival. “Er, they’re okay. I wouldn’t say they’re great. They played and pretty much dampened [the vibe]. Everyone sang along to their three big hits and the rest of the set was so boring. Their entourage were the rudest people backstage.”

Not to mention the overwhelming pressures of being a performer; people just don’t understand what Muscles is going through. “I’ve only been doing it for two years and I feel like I’ve aged 20 years… The amount of pressure, emotional stress and the physical aspect of playing live, most people don’t realise how hard it is to do that everyday non-stop and then going back to being a normal person.”

It concludes with an uplifting affirmation from Muscles, that’s both positive and inspirational. “I believe there’s good in everyone and some people have lost their way right now, but there’s hope that they can change as long as they’re not stubborn. We can all move forward together and there’s place for every kind of artist and every genre in every distribution channel in the world. And we can all coexist peacefully and happily in this musical utopia.”

That’s only scratching the tip of the iceberg. As Mess+Noise succinctly puts it, “The ‘precocious little cunt’ baton has officially been passed.”

Wanna know the whole sordid story? Check out the full interview on Mess & Noise.