U2NEWS: December 27, 1998 Part II
Who needs bathrooms? ([email protected])
Sun, 27 Dec 1998 08:55:11 -0700
Bono: 'Thats where you hit off Rob Rowland because he's so spare, so
streamlined. That's what we want on the label. But it's Reggie's show. We
are the bouncers but he has to open and close the doors and get the show on
the road. We've known him for years and years. He has no experience really
of how to deal with the music business but he brought us Rob Rowland and he
brought us Pete Reddy from Paintbox to do the design and he finds these
people and it all adds up. Reggie knows his turf. I'd like to see the sounds
on the label be a bit broader but that will happen. And some people will be
very confused by it all!'
Especially when they can't hear any lyrics because dance music can seem to
get on dandy without the words, thank you very much. You're out of a job,
mate. 'Well, you can live with or without hectoring. depending on the point
of view that is been expressed' Bono smiles. 'I remember being in Dun
Laoghaire a while back in a club full of people off their faces and I
remember being asked was I a lyricist (laughs). I said I didn't know. The
guy said (puts on convincing thick Dublin skanger accent) "We don't want any
of them here and we don't want youse telling us what to do because we know
too much already. Lyrics aren't worth a fuck, we just want the groove. Do
you get that man?" And I said "I get that, man". 'And that's fine. With U2,
I always try to put into words the feelings that I have at any one time but
often, it's just vowel sounds filling my mouth which build into words or I
might find a title or an idea to hold the music around. I don't have to have
the testimony or the story when I listen to dance music
Edge: 'But no-one listens to your lyrics anyway (laughs)' Bono grins and
decides he's hungry. He goes on the prowl for food while Edge talks hip-hop
and Public Enemy. 'With Public Enemy in the US, there were certain venues
where we couldn't tell the owner that they were on the bill or else they
would cancel the show. Certain arenas would not allow them to play because
the owners could forsee racial tensions rising to the surface. It was
something we had to think hard about. We were delighted that Public Enemy
wanted to play with us and we got a lot out of it and they got a lot out of
it. That's one of the fun things about being in a big band, you do have the
power to do shit like that. The only thing we didn't want to do was to treat
our audience like we were giving them lessons in current music. If something
was really turning us on and we really thought it was going to ignite the
crowd, we were going to put them on. If that meant Kraftwerk or Public Enemy
or even the Velvet Underground, we'd have them on. That's one of the big
privileges I've had from being in U2, having these groups accepting our
invitation to play with us.'
For Bono, who has returned with a plate of red meat and a bowl of chips
ideal for chip butties - hip-hop was an insight into another way of doing
things. 'Hip-hop artists are just geniuses at self-promotion' he enthuses
with his mouth full. 'It's so different to that indie mindset which so
castrated the UK scene for so long. Black music wants to communicate, it
wants to shout, it wants to be loud and be large. Sometimes, this can be
crass when you had the whole gold chains and bragging about the size of
their dicks but by and large, they have a sense of their own value and they
try to communicate this in their music. They're advertising themselves and
their work. And their mates. They have a network and they want to big up
everyone in that network. So you have Snoop Dogg or whoever and he's
bringing the next Snoop Dogg into the system and into the chain.'
He sees this as a possible template for Dublin. 'We've got to co-operate.
We've been tagged as white niggers so lets wear it well, lets be black in
that sense. We've got to start to break each other as well as ourselves. It
has to be a community in all sense of the word. It's against our nature but
it might just happen and that's where dance music comes in. Like Donal
Scannell has his Quadraphonic drum & bass label and he's been onto Reggie
saying whatever help he can give, he'll give it. And Nick at Pussyfoot has
said he'll do whatever he can. Club culture is much more democratic than
rock & roll ever was. It is much more about a community.' So what do you
reckon dance music has done for U2?
'It made us jealous' Edge says quietly. 'It's wonderful to be in a rock &
roll band but it is limiting in so many ways. There are so many more
possibilities with dance music as a form. And of course you have the rhythm.
It's also hard for a rock & roll band to match just the sheer excitement of
being in a club and hearing really good dance music.' Bono is not quite so
sure. 'But what we do is not off the shelf. We have something that dance
music will never have. That's one of the things we realised when we were
making Pop. We could be like archeologists digging for some really rare
sticky groove but whv should we do that when we have Larry Mullen? Larry can
do beats like no-one else. And we have a bass player called Adam Clayton who
is the only bass player you would miss if he wasn't there. What I learnt
from dance music is the value of what we do. At first, there was jealousy
but then we realised what we had ourselves. There's no point competing on a
direct level, there's no point in us trying to be dance musicians. You can
aspire to that but we're a rock & roll band at the end of the day.'
You seem very definite about it. 'Yeah because at the end of the day, what
we're about is a much different thing than club culture. Sure, we're going
to work with beats and we're going to work with beatmasters like Howie B and
sure we have a club with a beautiful sewer running through the bottom of
this posh hotel! But you're not going to walk in there and hear a lyric
(laughs)! That's not going to happen and I don't want it either.'
This has also helped Bono appreciate that sometimes the two beasts are
better off in different fields. 'Up to recently, I thought one of the most
exciting things was going to be when rock & roll hit club culture. Right at
that point, that was where it was going to be for the future. Now, I'm not
so sure. Now, I'm actually enjoying the difference. Speeding up and slowing
down is quite cool, we're digging the friction.'
We're back on the dancefloor again. Let's talk clubs. Tell us about some
really cool clubs that have turned you on. 'Tokyo!' Bono exclaims with
enthusiasm. 'In Tokyo, I learned about one really important innovation -
girl's music. Girls always play the best party music, always. They know what
to put on, they're intuitive, they know what's going on in the room, they
know where people need to go and they have no rules about particular tracks
or styles. They play what works and they play what inspires. There was this
ciub in Tokyo....
Bono shouts across the room at Howie B who's enjoying a quiet pint. 'Howie,
what was the club called in Tokyo that played girls music? Like melodies and
hip-hop beats? The freestyle thing?' Howie shouts back. 'Asia? The big one?
Asia, that was it.' 'The people were just joyful' Bono continues 'because
the music was so up, so melodic, so right. You were just lifted by these
beautiful melodies, these amazing soulful strings, soulful singing, hard-on
grooves. Yeah, it was a sexual experience. All this mixing and matching, it
was post-modernism running amok. That was something else.' 'In New York on
Puerto Rican Day' Edge recalls, 'there was this club and I had never been in
a club like it. Everybody was dressed in the most incredible exotic clothing
but what was really cool was that people were dancing sexily to Puerto Rican
beats. The whole place was just charged. I was thinking could I ever imagine
this on St Patrick's Day in a Dublin club? The vibe was just something else'
Bono is now on one. 'The thing with clubs like that one Edge is talking
about is that you'll find three generations there. It's people hanging out,
from the mamas to the kids. Funnily enough, I used to see that with the
Pogues. What I loved about Shane McGowan was that he brought three
generations together. You'd have some old geezer holding onto these young
kids who were at their first gig in some GAA hall or other. That's our
difference, that's what separates us from everyone else, that's our
identity. We're not really North Europeans. The roots of our music are
Celtic, Middle-Eastern, Abyissian, that's where it all comes from. We are
not Europeans so we shouldn't try to be. Let's not be intimidated by it.'
Edge smiles wryly at Bono's wired flow. 'I love Bono's theories about the
idea that it came from North Africa, Bob Quinn had similar theories about
where art and music came from to get to this country. it's a very compelling
argument but it's still a mystery. Black music is a bit easier to trace
because the journey is pretty well documented. African music came to
America, got mixed up with gospel and now, it's gone back full circle to
rhythm again. I remember when we were recording in LA and on Fridays, these
amazing lowriders would be driving up and down Hollywood Boulevard pumping
out this massive hip-hop. The whole thing was display and it was pure
rhythm. Like it or not, we're playing black music, rock & roll is black
music and sometimes I feel we're not that good at it."
All this talk about club culture and we forgot to talk about the
disco-jockeys themselves. Ever fancy becoming DJ Edge, Edge? 'I stood next
to David Morales for his whole set in a club in Tokyo one night. It was the
only time that I felt that I'd love to do this. Seeing the relationship
between a DJ and his audience up close for the first time and the whole vibe
to what he was doing...
Edge looks away with a wistful look in his eye and Bono keeps munching, his
eyes darting around the room in search of the next topic or next person to
hug. In a few hours time, we will find these two rock & rollers tripping the
light fantastic around that beautiful sewer in their own swanky basement
club as their new dance label gets a taste of the limelight. While your Noel
Gallaghers hang out in houses called Supernova Heights polishing their
mopeds and your Thom Yorkes go to bed early with the weight of the world on
their shoulders, the man they call The Edge and the man they call Bono will
stay up late in a dance club and talk shite about techno and a lot of other
things too to anyone who will listen. I don't know about you but I think the
old-skool are having far more fun...
-------------
From: Deseree Stukes, [email protected] of
Interference.com:
This is from a magazine in Dublin. Sorry, don't have the name yet as it
wasn't on the scan.
A Good Gig in Heaven
Rev. Steve Stockman, a Presbyterian minister, is currently Dean of Residence
at Derryvolgie Hall at Queen's University, Belfast. He is the host of the
Rhythm and Soul Programme on BBC Radio Ulster broadcast on Sunday nights at
10pm.
U2 are back on our Billboards, back in our magazines, back on our radios,
back on MTV. The release of a greatest hits album (The Best of U2 1980-90)
and a live video (Pop Mart) means that there will be a lot of talk about
this band over the next few months. The Christian community are never absent
from the discussion. Since their explosion on to the rock scene from a
charismatic Dublin-based house Fellowship called Shalom, Christendom has
always been opinionated on U2's spiritual state. Prophets or Christian boys
who lost their way? Can the Church claim the best rock band in the world as
their own? Can we look forward to quite a gig up there in glory or are we
going to have to settle for less than what's best? Did U2, who started off
so zealously and evangelical, lose their way? Or did they just grow up? In a
recent interview with a Belfast journalist (sadly not this one) guitarist
The Edge said that their faith had changed very little over the past 20
years. So what is the problem? Why the intrigue? A strong clue to the heart
of U2's entire career lies it seems to me in the lines of a song that is
tucked away, track 10, on the limited edition B-sides compilation available
with the Best Of. It is a song called "Luminous Times" and though not as
catchy as other out-takes from their Joshua Tree period, such as "Spanish
Eyes" or "Sweetest Thing, this lyric deserves a little bit of work. This
song is a yearning prayer and call of allegiance by someone struggling with
the pressures of life closing in. Hold on to love is the advice to himself
and his audience. Near the end of a meandering, moody and haunting track
Bono allows us to squint into his soul:
I love you because I understand / God has given me your hand / He holds me
in his tiny fist / Still I need your kiss / Hold on to love.
And there for me is the key that unlocks the seeming confusion. Here are a
band, three of whom are Christians, who are very much aware of God's hold
upon their lives but even though that vertical relationship is assured they
are still wrestling with the insecurities of the world in which they live.
Knowing God loves us is pivotal to any life of faith but it does not make us
exempt to the pushes and pulls of a life living as a fallen human being
within a world of fallen people. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For" has a similar theme based on the foundational doctrine treasures of You
broke the bonds / Loosed the chains / Carried the cross / And my shame l You
know I believe l But I still haven't found what I am looking for.
After a decade of songs about faith in a God who holds them in their tiny
fist as heard in songs like "I Will Follow", "Tomorrow", "Gloria" "40" (the
latter three, sad omissions from the The Best 0f and "I Still Haven't Found
What I'm Looking For", U2 felt it was time to look at it all from a
different angle. They are artists and artists need to always be imaginative
and re-invent themselves. At the Point Theatre in Dublin on New Year's Eve
1989 Bono had said they were going away to dream it up again. That is what
they did and the next decade was spent looking at that need for the girl's
kiss.
thanks to anthony
-------------
>From Irish news:
Omagh is buoyed by goodwill
By Steven McCaffery
Well-wishers in show of support
ORDINARY people from across Ireland have been praised for
brightening the Christmas season in the beleaguered town of Omagh.
The co-ordinator of the Give a Day to Omagh campaign, which
appealed for people to visit Omagh town centre during the
Christmas period, yesterday said it had been an "unparalleled"
success.
Omagh retailer Patrick Bogues said the project � aimed at
rejuvenating the town centre in the wake of the devastating
August bomb blast � had succeeded in drawing the support
of wellwishers from across Ireland.
"The campaign has been very successful and it has really
helped the town get back to some semblance of normality �
though it is difficult to say if it has yet gone completely back to
normal," he said.
"The object of the campaign was to give people something
practical to do to help Omagh and the response has been
incredible"
"We have had coach-loads from throughout the north of Ireland
and others from Dublin, Malahide, Galway,Ennis, Shannon,
Limerick � and those are just the ones I can remember right now"
"There have been many more people who have come along to give
expression to their wish to help"
"They have been able to come here, to see the bomb scene, to
speak to local people and express their concern and it has been
of great benefit to what is a small tight-knit community."
Mr Bogues said the response had been unparalleled and
surpassed expectations held out for the town centre in
advance of the Christmas season.
He stressed, however, that Christmas would be a difficult time
for many in Omagh and for those across Northern Ireland who
had lost loved ones.
"We remember that there are many other areas which have
suffered in a similar way to Omagh. There will be many homes
where people will be looking at an empty chair this Christmas."
The huge level of goodwill directed towards the Omagh community
has also been demonstrated by sales of the Across the Bridge of
Hope CD.
Sales are said to be brisk, with proceeds from the recording, which
includes tracks from U2 and Sinead O�Connor, set to go to the
Omagh Fund.
-------------
A few Island Contest Winners:
Sherry ([email protected]) Runner-Up
Melissa ([email protected]) Runner-Up
Congratulations to both of You!
-------------
Large U2 Collection For Sale -- asking $2000 - $2500 US
Contact Jerry Winkel, [email protected]
-------------
This is the original article written about U2 fan David Harth,
[email protected], of New York City by Christina Valhouli, before
the editor of New York Magazine got to it:
Possible titles: The Buck Stops Here, The Color of Money, or You're
Money, Baby.
Artist David Greg Harth knows that if the medium is the message, then
money talks. This 23-year old Parsons grad has chosen an unusual canvas
for his art-the almighty dollar. Back in July, Harth started stamping
bills with the moniker "I Am America," and circulating them around New
York. Bank tellers must hate him; he routinely withdraws about
$3,000-in ones. So far, he has stamped over 10,000 bills and received
phone calls from people in Canada, Colorado and Germany who send him
checks to have money stamped. The bills are a huge hit at Viacom, where
Harth works as a graphic designer. "It's cool to spend it and watch
people's reactions," says one Viacom employee. "And this project doesn't
involve meat." Harth's previous exhibits, in Florida and New York, were
titled "Nine Preserved Cats" and "Ten Jars of Fat." Harth says he always
carries a huge wad cash with him so that he's ready to make an exchange,
which he doesn't charge for. "If someone is going to rob me, at least
it's with 'I Am America' bills," he says.
-------------
A quick note on the Cher article below -- a few people have noted
that it's more likely that Cher dedicated her book to SONNY
BONO, not Bono :)...
-------------
>From CNN:
Bergin Becomes a TV Talent Scout
World Entertainment News Network
20-DEC-98
(DEC. 20) WENN/P - BERGIN BECOMES A TV TALENT SCOUT
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY star PATRICK BERGIN has
swapped the glitz and glamour of Hollywood for a new role as a
talent- spotter.
The Irish actor has signed up with TV station RTE to give his
judgement on a string of TV hopefuls.His new show LET ME
ENTERTAIN YOU kicks off early in the New Year (99).
More than 50 performers from all over the country will battle it out
over ten weeks for a chance to impress the Hollywood star and
win their first big break in the entertainment world.
During the run, Bergin will be joined by star panellists RONAN
KEATING of BOYZONE and funnyman PATRICK KIELTY.
A spokesman for the show says, "The contestants are nothing
short of fantastic. Don't be surprised if we discover the next
Boyzone or U2."
Bergin is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood and
currently divides his time between his native Dublin and Los
Angeles. (RXT/NOW/GS)
--
Prarit....
[email protected]
U2 news: http://www.members.home.net/u2-news/u2.html
U2 NEWS is MOVING -- AGAIN!!!!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2
on Sun Dec 27 1998 - 07:55:31 PST