U2 New Zooland

Rog: We’ve got a copy here of the ‘Boy’ album, 1980… umm, it’s a long, long time ago – does it seem a long, long time ago… and what’s sorta stayed the same, and what’s changed since then?

Edge: I mean, a lot has changed obviously. Ya know, the band has matured and grown up as artists and songwriters and performers enormously since the first record, but, I think, more remarkably, is the fact that certain things have changed so little. And, I think the band at that moment in time, y’know, we set out with a certain idea in mind about where we wanted to go as songwriters and artists, and I don’t think there’s very much [that] has changed in the intervening years in terms of the vision and the kind of scope of our ambition. We’re still, in many ways, y’know, chasing the same ideals that we were chasing back then, which is to make music as good as the music that we first heard as young kids and got so kind of excited about, the albums that meant so much to us as fans. And, umm, whenever we go into make an album, that’s kind of in the back of our mind, is, y’know, can we... can we approach making music that will mean as much to our fans as the music of other bands that we loved meant to us. So, we’re really approaching music pretty much always from that fan perspective. And, uh, it makes it very simple, because it’s either... it’s either great or it’s not – ya know, it’s either connecting with you, it’s either... it either means a hell of a lot to you or it doesn’t. But, what that also means is that, if that’s your main reason to be in it, you can’t, uh... you can’t kind of coast, you can’t persuade yourself that, y’know, you’ve hit on something great if it’s really not great.

And there’s no kind of rules, y’know, we don’t have a stuck approach to writing songs or a stuck approach to arranging out songs. Every time we go into the studio, it’s like our first album, y’know, in real terms, because, y’know, we can’t rely on a particular approach to writing or arranging – it has to be a very instinctive thing that, like… from your gut. And, I think that’s probably true for lyrics, as well, y’know, they-- In the end, I think, when Bono gets on the microphone and is singing a song, it connects. If you feel that he means it, and, y’know, he’s passionate about what he’s singing, umm, y’know, that’s really the only time that, y’know, we would kind of sign off on it. Even if it’s the best lyric going, if it doesn’t sound like he means it, y’know, everyone’s gonna notice and... and, in that sense, it’s kinda frustrating for him, umm--... Ya know, he might write great words but, in the end, that’s not really what it’s about – it’s about some quite hard-to-define quality, y’know, and that’s the mystery of words and music combined, and why some songs just [??] you, and why other songs that might be great on paper just kinda leave ya cold. So, in some ways, it’s always been the same.

(Ad break)

Nick: What does Christmas Day mean to you, and what do you-- how do you spend it?

Edge: Well, you know, Ireland is a country where Christmas, y’know, is a huge deal, and people get very excited about it and, y’know, there’s a... obviously a long tradition of Christmas and celebrating it here. The weather is normally at its worst, and, umm, it’s more astute to be kind of indoors, and... ‘round the fire!

Nick: Smoking!

Edge: Umm, unlike down there, where it’s probably at its best! So, we, uh... we tend to kind of, basically, stick around family and friends, and uh-- It’d be fair to say now that we might take a wee little drink!

Nick: Just a wee one!

Edge: But, just a little wee drink, y’know, nothing... nothing to excess – y’know, we have here the... what I call the “three-drink rule”...

Rog: Yes.

Edge: ...I try and stick to that – that means, no more than three drinks in front of you at any given time!

(Laughter)

Rog: Oh, nice! Edge, if you could jam with one other guitarist, who and why?

Edge: Wow! Well, obviously - well not obviously - but, for me, umm, if there was anyone from any era of music, it would have to be Jimi Hendrix.

Rog: Yeah.

Edge: Umm, just to be in the room… I mean, forget about, like, jamming with him – but just to be in the room when he’s playing, it just would be... such an incredible thrill.

Ya know, we’re not a great band for the... the sort of the jam sessions. Ya know, I still don’t know if it’s a strength or a weakness, but we never really grew up doing the cover-version circuit, which, ya know, even the best bands did – The Beatles being the prime example... uh, in Hamburg, spent... y’know, months and months, umm, just learning and playing other people’s songs. We didn’t go through that phase, but, in fact, so bad were we early on as players and as a band that, in fact, we had to write our own songs cos we couldn’t play anyone else’s!

(Laughter)

So, as a result, umm, we don’t really... none of us really function particularly well in that kind of free-form, uhh, “Do you know this one?”, you know what... uh, y’know, “I’ll start the verse, you join in for the chorus!” So, umm, y’know the few times we’ve tried it, y’know, it’s kind of either been spectacularly great or spectacularly bad, and umm... so we tend to avoid those sessions if at all possible.

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