Archivo de septiembre 18th, 2006

Posted Sunday, Sep. 17, 2006
His name is Dave Evans, but everyone from roadies to relatives calls him the Edge. As U2′s guitarist, he’s one of the world’s most famous rock stars. As co-founder of Music Rising, he has taken a lead role in getting New Orleans musicians back on their feet. TIME’s Josh Tyrangiel spoke with the Edge about the beginnings of U2′s next album, a couple of songs he wishes his band had written, and what it was like to be a young man with a large head.

You’re speaking from a London recording studio. Does that mean there’s a new U2 album around the bend?

Noooo. Nowhere near. We’re here with [producer] Rick Rubin and enjoying the chemistry, but we’re nowhere near a timetable or anything. I will say that we’re having a good time. And I have a feeling that because of Rick’s presence it’s going to sound very different. But really, it’s early days. And we are messing about with other stuff too.

Messing about meaning …?

Well, right now we’re recording a duet with Green Day that we’ll perform on Monday Night Football [Sept. 25] for the re-opening of the Superdome.

When you record with another band, who plays lead guitar?

Times Online September 16, 2006

Once upon a time in Dublin
30 years ago four schoolboys in Dublin decided to form a band. The fact that most of them could’nt play a note didn’t hold them back: a spark ignited and the U2 family was born. Here, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr tell the story of how the world’s biggest band began

U2 on U2

BONO

Sometimes it comes across as if I got into U2 to save the world. I got into U2 to save myself. I meet people out on the street who approach me like Iím Mahatma Gandhi.

And when someone says, “Hail, man of peace,” I can hear Larry laughing under his breath: “Youíre lucky he didnít nut you.” The band are very bemused by my attraction to non-violence, because they know you couldnít get further from the songs than the singer. They understand the reason I have been so attracted to these characters, the subjects of my songs ñ because in life and temperament I am so far from them. There is a rage in me, and it is not all injustice. I have developed good manners to disguise it.

Your nature is a very hard thing to change; it takes time. One of the extraordinary transferences that happens in your spiritual life is not that your character flaws go away, but that they start to work for you. A negative becomes a positive. Youíve got a big mouth: you end up a singer. Youíre insecure: you end up a performer who needs applause. I have heard of people set free from addiction after a single prayer. But it was not like that for me. For all that “I was lost, I am found”, it is probably more accurate to say, “I was really lost, I am a little less so at the moment.” And then a little less and a little less again. That to me is the spiritual life. The slow reworking and rebooting of a computer at regular intervals. It has slowly rebuilt me in a better image. It has taken years, though, and it is not over yet.

THE EDGE

It seems impossible now to contemplate an existence outside of music, but I honestly donít know if I would have become a professional musician if U2 hadnít made me believe it was possible. We have been together all our adult lives, which demonstrates an incredible level of commitment and solidarity between four people who decided to form a band in 1975.

The chemistry of the personalities is a big factor. Bono is chairman and founding member of Over-Achievers Anonymous. He has an irrepressible drive to be great. He wants to achieve it all, which actually makes him very vulnerable. I am driven in different ways. I might have to take the 12 steps at Workaholics Anonymous. I have a curiosity that compels me to find ways to make music that are fresh and new. Adam and Larry are the counterparts to Bono and myself. Adam has incredible soul, the unlikely conscience of the band. Larry is the nuts and bolts, a practical, solid and deeply cautious person who is always going to rein us in when we get too excited. We grew up together, we learnt how to play music together. In many respects the way we think is almost telepathic.

ADAM CLAYTON

I always wanted to be a rock star. When I got my first bass guitar at the age of 15, that was it for me. I didnít have a whole lot else going on in my life. If U2 hadnít worked out, God knows where I would have ended up.
I wouldnít describe it as fun recording with U2; it is work. Sessions are not exactly filled with laughter and joviality. Frequently, weíre being told how crap we are by Bono ñ and he includes himself in that assessment. Without a doubt, Bono is the driving force. No matter how you might try to describe him, the words would be inadequate, because thereís so much more to him. He has what you might describe as classic Alpha Male programming. He doesnít see limitations, he only sees possibilities. In some ways, he is the psyche of U2, he represents things that are very much a part of all of us.
Edge is also very ambitious and driven, but you might not see that unless you know him well because it is slightly obscured by his humanity and kindness. Larry is a very sensitive guy and a loyal friend. He thinks about the world the same way he thinks about drumming: something is either in time or out of time. I canít say what I bring to U2. It is not necessarily my bass playing. But something takes place when the band gets together. It is unquantifiable but it has always been the thing that excites me the most. Itís the thing that we built U2 on.

LARRY MULLEN JR