112th RSOC Meeting

[Edgette]

Once again it is Adam Day! YAY!

Happy Day!!

 

[adamswildhoney]

Happy Adam Day!!

 

[smk1379]

Happy Adam Day!!!

 

[smk1379]

 

[adamswildhoney]

Adam Clayton Says...


"I don't know what will happen to Hanson when their voices break."

"Bono would search for that higher state, improvising lyrics on the microphone, allowing the words, the feeling -- at it's best the ecstasy -- take hold."

"It's taken us fifteen years to get an image together, or indeed to realize that image is important. And not important."

"Part of the attraction of the band is that there is an integrity there, an honesty that comes over, and I also think there is an understanding that U2 are inevitably going to strive for the best thing they can possibly do when they make a record, that are made essentially for us with the belief that the audience will enjoy them as much as we ultimately will."

"Rock 'n' roll is a term that's been heavily abused. It's not something you can buy in a record shop. It's an attitude."

"Every band needs someone like Bono in it. When you join a band you don't know who's good at what. I'm really pleased that Bono took the job that he took and that I took the job that I took."

"I think bootlegs are something that's very difficult to stop. There are fans out there that want to buy them. I don't like overpriced bootlegs that are ripping the fans off. If they're good quality recordings of a show then I'm happy enough that people have access to those things."

"How many people really have friendships that have survived 20 years. I value it and think it's an amazing achievement."

"I certainly like looking at the Spice Girls."

"Be careful what you set your sights upon because it just might happen."

"In America, Bill Clinton represents the changing generations. I think it's very important coming at the end of this century, people who have control over our lives are people you'd actually like to sit down and talk to."

"I would say POP is based on my musical style."

"You know, one or two members of the band could've said, 'Look, guys, I'm happy to do the record, but I don't wanna tour. I wanna stay home and get on with my stamp collection' or whatever, and then we'd have had to look at the record in a different way."

"Men should not be forced to wear pants when it's not cold."

"We're a bunch of noisy, rough Irishmen that are arrogant enough to drag their tails all the way around the world, and I think that's something to be proud of."

"Individually we probably wouldn't have gone anywhere musically. Without any one of us, the fragile uniqueness and special quality of U2 would be gone forever."

"What happens is like you get so big that you can't write a diary. So you hire a film-crew to remind you of where you've been and what you've done."

"And if it doesn't work, we'll just blame Eno."

"I think women are the stronger sex. I don't think it's necessarily putting women on a pedestal, but I think it's acknowledging that women are stronger and you need their support and companionship to help you realise your potential as a man. That's an unusual theme in rock & roll. Rock & Roll is usually....[very macho]..yeah"

"I think if you're going to get into rock and roll you've got to be perfectly sure that from that day you start doing it, you know what you want and where you're going."

"Nobody knows how it works. You turn the music up as loud as you can and hope people like it."

"I just wasn't prepared for the establishment to write me off just because I didn't fit into their academic concept."

"Y?know, we go to night clubs, we?re always hearing and seeing the best everywhere around the world and you kind of bring that home with you and we just sorta felt that y?know we could do a club that was exciting and interesting to people and had a--had a broad music policy. I suppose it?s just because we want to go to our own place rather than roam around the city."

 

[adamswildhoney]

"It's taken us fifteen years to get an image together,
or indeed torealize that image is important.
And not important."



BP: What's your real-life dream?
Adam: To play bass.





"... and then i saw adam, and he just looked so cool. and i said, 'i
want to be in a rock n' roll band with him.'"
-Larry (achtung video)





"I find it amusing that people think I'm together [because] I'm
the most untogether person I know. In the band, they just say, 'here comes chaos.'
Oh, I want to be together - it's my ambition to one day get my own life in order and tie it up with string
and be as organized as somebody like Adam....Clayton's unbelievable. Field Marshal Clayton!
For a guy who can stay out all night, if he needs to be up at 8am, he'll be there at 8am on the button."
-Bono, from U2: a Road to Pop





"Adam is taking the temperature more stoically--
he is simply adding another item of clothing every ten or fifteen minutes,
like the Madonna of the Bizzaro World."
-U2 At The End Of The World





"It's not adapting to the times. It's kind of reacting to the times.
In the eighties, our stance was very much the music. We wanted a clean stage
and didn't want anything in the way, anything to clutter our relationship with the audience.
But we did that for ten years, and when it came to this tour and trying to present this album in a live context, we said, "let's forget what we've done in the past. We want to change from that.
That has become boring for us."
-Adam, as told to the Boston Globe in August 1992 about U2's new look






Rock 'n' roll is a term that's been heavily abused.
It's not something you can buy in a record shop. It's an attitude. - Adam





"In a live situation, there's really no such thing as perfection...
You can't deal in perfection.
You can only deal in emotion."
-Adam






When you start out, you make one or two records that put you solidly in debt with the record company. Then, if your third record makes some money, you have to pay back at the record company, and if you're lucky, you have enough money to live for a year. Then, after that, the band is bigger, you have to expand your organization and do more professional shows, so you're sort of back in debt again. You never really catch up; for those first five years you're probably better off on the dole. - Adam











"I don't think U2 should be in the business of providing any answers. I like to think that our job is to get people thinking about issues in novel ways." --Adam Clayton











"I think there is a process of recommitment for each record, though. I think when we do get back together there is that initial month or two of dreaming up the kind of record you want to make. Then the history of the band comes into play, and you get fired up and inspired. You kind of follow your lead singer into the sunset." -- Adam Clayton, 1997






"I simulate love-making by beating a piece of wood with a metal wire on which it vibrates"
-Adam Clayton, on what he does for a living.





"To this day I can't really figure it out."- on how U2 won the St. Patrick's Day talent contest in 1978






"We definitely went in saying we're not going to make heavy weather out of this. If a song is happening, we're not going to mess with it too much and we're going to try to get it down on tape as fast as possible." - on recording The Joshua Tree











"Adam used to pretend he could play bass.
He came round and started using words like 'action' and 'fret' and he had us baffled." -Bono











"There are four members of U2. If there is a fifth, non-musical member it is Paul McGuiness.
Either that or Adam's willie!" - Bono






"I could tell stories of the times each of the others has been there for me. I mean there have been periods when Adam and I didn't particularly get along, overthe years. Yet when I left Aislinn I moved into Adam's." - Edge







"Some artists become dull when they stop drinking or drugging, but Adam's not one of them. He's his old self. He loses none of his rubber-band-shooting,water-gun-squirting, public-disrobing spirit when he doesn't drink." - Bono







"Adam was just getting people to do him up in the back and swapping makeup tips with any girl that passed. You know suddenly he could own up to being interested in their underwear!"
Bono, regarding the making of the One video








"I'll tell you, you learn a lot about women from dressing up in women's clothes! You learn that when a woman asks you "Do I look alright?" what she's reallysaying is "I have just spent alot of time making myself uncomfortable. If I go out in this condition will I look foolish, or is it worth it?". When you ask a woman to go out to dinnerit's not like asking one of your mates. She has to stop and think, "Hmm, dinner. That will be four hours of being uncomfortable." And if she says yes and then after four hours you say,"Lets go dancing, let's go to a club," and she says "No, I want to go home," it's because she has figured on four hours and now those four hours are up and she can only think of getting home and out of those clothes!"






"Men should not be forced to wear pants when it's not cold."





"I like the anonymity of being able to seek out things and reel them back to my life,
and then be able to create from that."





"What happens is like you get so big that you can't write a diary.
So you hire a film-crew to remind you of where you've been and what you've done."





"There was a brief moment when it (Achtung Baby) might have been called Adam (laughs) .
Depending on the photography (laughs again)
there might have been a much larger 5th member on the album sleeve"
-Cameos, Videos & All The Interference






"You see Larry, you let an outsider taste your food for you.
I'm not jealous, but if you need someone to eat off your plate you should always go to your bassplayer."











"I suppose we've always felt very uncomfortable around men who are part of that rock & roll culture, that macho thing. A lot of men in rock & roll tend tobe over-dramatic. They act like queens, regardless of their heterosexuality.
They seem to be hysterical, rather than just happy to work away at something.
And I think it's a need for female contact within our world.
It's a very male dominated world and we don't feel comfortable with that."









At 2am everyone's settled in and had a shower, and U2 congregates on a high piazza from which they can look down on the crowd, who are finally dispersing, and drink wine. There's Edge and Aislinn, Larry and Ann, Adam and Naomi, Ned and Maurice, Christy, Chanty - a Dublin friend of Edge's - Sheila, Eileen, Dennis, and Bono. Naomi decides she's going to get some food and goes off to find the hotel kitchen. Officially it's shut down, but she implies that if she can get at a stove she'll whip up something herself. Maybe that's a threat designed to stir sleeping chefs to action, maybe it's sincere. I don't know, I don't care. Everone here is just enjoying the moon and the night and company. After a while, though, Adam begins to wonder where his fiancee's gone. Christy (who often seems to act as Naomi's conscience - or at least social governor) says she'll go check. She comes back a few minutes later with news that Naomi is in the middle of a full-pitched screaming battle downstairs. Adam looks half concerned. "Is she fighting with anyone employed by me?" "No," Christy says. "She fighting with the chef." "Oh." Adam relaxes. "That's fine." ......Naomi's no-nonsense air of entitlement rubs some of these people the wrong way. Adam's fiancee is graceful and full of style, but she occasionally seems to think employee is another name for servant. One spoiled crew member whispered to me that Naomi was the person on the tour most likely to have a flight case dropped on her head. Naomi returns to our company, stretches languidly across the back of Adam's chair, and pouts that the chef, who refused to cook, would not stand aside and let her at the stove. She is upset and she is going to bed. She kisses Adam goodnight, kisses Christy goodnight, waves to everone else, and then walks straight into the glass door with a shuddering crash. Everyone jumps up, but Naomi just reels back, laughs, and tries again, this time passing through the open side and back into the hotel. "That'll straighten her out," says the gallant Adam. -Bill Flanagan's Until The End Of The World









"Sometimes when I am playing, I get to a place where the bass seems to find its own rhythm, and then it becomes just a matter of which notes to push and which ones to hold back on. It's a discipline, really." -Adam






"We've got great fans. They follow us through all sorts of changes,
and in many ways they encourage us to continue pursuing music that excites us."-Adam





Making love involves two people, having sex only involves one."
-Adam, during a TV special for the Love Town Tour, 1989





"All the women are gorgeous and all the men are gay.
If you can't pull tonight, you're hopeless."
-Adam, on the set of the One video
*thanks Antje!






"Adam is a very melodic bass player. He doesn't play the usual lines." -Bono, February 1982






"Adam literally got me by the scruff of the neck and roped me into U2. I didn't really want to be in a band. I was only into it for the sake of the sound of electric guitar, drums, bass and singing. So when he started talking about actually playing gigs I thought,'What, y' mean playing gigs in front of other people?' The thought had never dawned on me. But Adam believed in the band before anyone did - he'd made up his mind at 15 or 16 that rock 'n' roll was what he was going to do. -Bono







'Sometimes I wish I was as gifted as Edge on his guitar or Bono on his lyrics or Adam is on other things.' -Larry







"I think women are the stronger sex. I don't think it's necessarily putting women on a pedestal, but I think it's acknowledging that women are stronger and you need their support and companionship to help you realise your potential as a man. That's an unusual theme in rock & roll. Rock & Roll is usually...(very macho) yeah" -Adam

 

[adamswildhoney]

"Yeah, I think I'd be a much better woman than I am a man.
I think my talents are more in that direction. I don't mind dressing up, I don't think it makes much difference, not really. I'd love to wear women's underwear if the sizes were right but they don't really support you, you just tend to flop one way or the other."
- Adam


"At school he stuck out like a sore thumb. He used to drink coffee in class and the teachers got used to it. He wore a kilt. He also took off his clothes at one rehearsal when he got very excited." - Bono, on Adam


"It was a bit of a shock, because we'd psyched ourselves up into finally doing something where'd there be sunshine and there was lots of buying of different lotions before we left, to make sure our nosesdidn't go red, and in fact our noses did go red-but from the cold!"-Adam, on the shoots for the Joshua Tree


In the early days our ambition was just to end the song together!" - Adam


"It was a pretty special couple of years. I mean it was a pretty mad couple of years where reality and fantasy and everything got kinda mixed up big time." Adam describes the atmosphere of the ZooTV tour, 1993. "


"Adam had the only amplifier so we never argued with him.
We thought this guy must be a musician, he knows what he's talking about. Adam pretended he could play and used words like 'gig' and talked about things like 'action' on the bass and we thought 'this is a guy who can play!' He was a liar. He actually couldn't play a note. Dave was just playing away on the acoustic and people just kept on coming up and saying 'there's something wrong' and we couldn't figure out what it was until suddenly we thought - It's Adam! Adam can't play. He had his own distinctive style from the start - at first it was called BLUFF, but then it began to work." Bono describing Adam's early musical ability, October 1979.


"I had to be talked into it, I have to say. I was very nervous and apprehensive about revealing myself in such a way. But I got into the spirit of wickness, I suppose. I really objected to the censorship that happened in certain countries, like I think in America they put a nasty black X over it or something. I think nude photography is absolutely appropriate and it shouldn't embarrass anyone. I think the pictures that Robert Mapplethorpe took of male nudes- those portraits- helped me to look at myself as a man and to get used to looking at penises. It's a hard thing to overcome to begin with but I think it's good. I only wish I had an erection at the time." -Adam, in an online chat, in reponse to being asked "Was it a pleasant experience hanging your willy out for all on Achtung Baby?"


"I think the psychology of the bass player is interesting.If you've chosen that instrument you've decided in a way that your role is to support, to make everyone else feel confident"


BP: IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL WHAT ANIMAL WOULD YOU BE?
Adam: "A giraffe. Why? 'Cos then you'd meet other giraffes."


Bono: It gets boring to say U2 are great, and in Ireland they have had this rammed down their throats for years and they're fed up. I also think it's a very healthy thing to be cynical about rock 'n roll groups. And I think it's particularly good to be cynical about rock 'n roll groups that aspire to the sort of things U2 do.


Edge: Go on! Be horrible to us, be horrible to us!
Bono: I do understand it, I would obviously prefer praise ...
Adam: Listen ... we're not a packet of cornflakes, you know what I mean?
Bono: That's very deep, Adam, could you explain that?
Adam: Well, do you buy cornflakes depending on where the money's going?
Edge (after thoughtful pause): Well I buy Rice Krispies anyway ...


"I have a very vivid memory of what it was like.
I remember opening iwth Mofo and just being so aware of....
extreme fear, something I'd never experienced before.
My whole body was caked with sweat. I was running with sweat
to the degree where it made it difficult to play. And there was this feeling
of having no strength in any part of my body....
It was like being on a magic carpet that part of you expected to fly,
and part of you knew there was no way it could."
-Adam, Q magazine, on the begining of the PopMart tour



Q: What do you do with the money you would have spent on drink?
Adam: I buy socks. I'm the kind of rich that likes a familiar pair of socks.
You know, when you're on that party trip
socks and underwear are hard to keep together.




Q: Would you ever pose naked on a U2 album cover again,
like you did on Achtung Baby?
Adam: Yes. Provided my bits were looking good.
I'm not sure whether it's osmething I'd like to do past the age of...55.
But I think there should be more male nudes.
Men should be encouraged to look at each others bits.
Penises, I'm included to believe- and I'm not just talking about my own-
are good things. They needn't be hidden under a bushel."
Q magazine, 2000


"Today we're going to do something perfectly healthy," Adam announces in his curiously posh drawl, unfolding his deckchair and removing his T-shirt."We're going to watch other people exercise."
2001


"I wasn't destined for greatness in any other area.
I'd have ended up being some kind of bad landscape gardener
or something. So I much prefer this."
2001


"A Buddha."
-Bono describes Adam, 2001


"I'm famous because I know Bono."
-Adam, on fame


On one of those occassions where they were trying to thrown us out of the studio, we had to come up with something on the spot.
We came up with Party Girl, which was originally Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl, they were three characters. I was thinking of one particular character in the band. It was just something that was going on at the time.It's not really about Adam... I was just making it up as I went along."
-Bono


"I just passed Adam, I said, Adam, you're 40, do
you have anything to say? And he said, obscurely, How
long do I have to sing this song?"
- Bono, in the YahooChat, 12 March 2000


"I think bootlegs are something that's very difficult to stop.
There are fans out there that want to buy them.
I don't like overpriced bootlegs that are ripping the fans off.
If they're good quality recordings of a show then
I'm happy enough that people have access to those things."


"How many people really have friendships that have survived 20 years. I value it and think it's an amazing achievement."


"I think if you're going to get into rock and roll you've got to be perfectly sure that from that day you start doing it, you know what you want and where you're going."


"Part of the attraction of the band is that there is an integrity there, an honesty that comes over, and I also think there is an understanding that U2 are inevitably going to strive for the best thing they can possibly do when they make a record,
that are made essentially for us with the belief that the audience
will enjoy them as much as we ultimately will."


You write a song because something hurts. I mean if you look
at social change within America, that came from the Delta areas, the plantations or wherever. A lot of the change in America
is rooted in blues music; that was what people listened to.
It was the protest music of the time.


"I don't know what will happen to Hanson when their voices break."


"I think we've come up songs where there was a whole process ofmusic inspiring lyrics and lyrics then feeding back on the music andthe whole thing becoming intense. And we found that because Bono hadenough time to produce lyrics that really did work,it was much more satisfying."
2000


Q: Adam, you are, arguably, the best dressed man in rock. How do you do it?
Adam: That's definitely arguable if you talk to me other three mates.


"I don't have a problem with awards of merit going to whomever
they are deeming whatever it is worthy of recognition.
But there is so much puffing up of the chest that the Grammys are in some
way a significant artistic achievement, which I find offensive.
t's stupid to deny the effect of a good performance at the Grammys,
but you're not really going along as an artist - you're
going along as a performer, as a press item, as a piece of television.
And that's really the worst way in which to receive
something that is about the merit of your work.
For us the balance is the wrong way."
- Adam (U2 At the End of the World)


Adam: You know, there probably isnt a better gig out there, so
what else would I do? I'm not sure that I'm that into trout.
Interviewer: Golf?
Adam: No! Terrible clothes!


Q: You've been taking time off. What do you do all the time when there's no U2 to be in?
Is it like a holiday, are you doing research or what?
Adam: "...I've not been to see much at all in the way of films although one recent rainy
Sunday afternoon I made the mistake of going to see The Flintstones which was absolutely
unadulterated crap..."



"It's the latest one-the big fat one-and it's taking me ages to read.
It's just perfect for reading at the end of the night in some godforsaken hotel somewhere
- two or three pages and you're fast asleep.
I brought all of the Harry Potter books with me because I know
I can lose the ability to read when I'm touring.
I just found they were great to actually pick up instead
of flicking on the TV at two o'clock in the morining."
-Adam on reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

[adamswildhoney]

Adam talks to "Propaganda" Magazine
1994



"It's summer, U2 are in the middle of some well earned time off. Ireland is in the midst of world cup fever and U2's bass player is living anonymously on foreign shores.
Still, for 'Propaganda' Adam was persuaded to wander towards a phone and a crackling, long-distance conversation with your correspondent.Who's he been working with, what's he been listening to, how do you live life in a post-zoo world, what's the next album called, where have the rest of the band gone, how do fill a year off... few if any of these questions are answered in what follows but it's all fascinating stuff anyway.

PROPAGANDA: Where are you at the moment Adam?

ADAM: I'm in New York. I've been here since April. I've moved here for most of this year because it's much more stimulating than sitting at home in Ireland. There's more going on musically and culturally speaking? it's a much better city for someone like me to be in right now.

PROPAGANDA: In a year off like this, how often do you speak to the other members of the band, how do you keep in touch?

ADAM: It varies really. I'll speak to them every three or four weeks. If they come through here they'll ring me and we'll have a meal but generally we've all got commitments and perhaps it's a healthy thing for the four of us to see less of each other.

PROPAGANDA: When last heard of, you were finishing up with the ZOO TV in Australia, you must have been exhausted after that tour?

ADAM: It was a pretty traumatic year, certainly I was pleased when it all came to an end. With that tour, I feel we really pushed ourselves to the limit. I know that we regained a lot of critical credibility, that's nice but to be honest that wasn't something that I really thought about very much. The tour was ambitious and we pulled it off but looking back I can't put it into any kind of perspective.

PROPAGANDA: You've said in the past that there would be no more marathon tours, that you'll tour in a different way? will you do it in smaller blocks next time?

ADAM: I can't figure this out because we try to change it every time we tour, we always say that we really don't want to get burned out, we want to do what we've got to do and then get back and make some more records. But every time the tour schedule becomes something else and there's no reason to think that this will change. But much as I say this I don't want to do a tour like that again, so we'll have to wait and see?

PROPAGANDA: When the ZOO was on the road, all the talk was of you and Naomi. That seems to have gone quiet. What's the latest?

ADAM: We're friends but I don't think it'll be anything more than that. I'm pretty comfortable with this and I think she is as well.

PROPAGANDA: In your time off you've also been working with some other musicians.

ADAM: Larry and I worked on a Nanci Griffiths record together which I think is just about out. We did three tracks here, in Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix's old studio.

PROPAGANDA: Weren't you working with Little Steven as well?

ADAM: Yes, I did an album with Little Steven and Jason Bonham playing drums. I'm not sure when that will be released. It was nice to get up in the morning and have a day-job for a month. Very normal and regular and calm... nothing like U2.

PROPAGANDA: But apart from that you've been taking time off. What do you do all the time when there's no U2 to be in? is it like a holiday, are you doing research or what?

ADAM: Well, I've been taking various classes. Like any professional you've got to keep learning your trade and I've been taking classes in bass playing, also some singing lessons and some drawing classes? just generally keeping in shape. I've not been to see much at all in the way of films although one recent rainy Sunday afternoon I made the mistake of going to see The Flintstones which was absolutely unadulterated crap. I've seen bands like US3 and Urban Species recently who were good and I'm listening a lot to Chacka Demus and Pliers at the moment, one of my favourite records. I like that Jah Wobble record a lot as well.

PROPAGANDA: Is it easier being away, that you're less accessible? I remember on one break at home in Ireland you said that the phone was going all the time anyway...

ADAM: Yes, inaccessibility is one thing but I also think in New York you're less of a freak here, people aren't actually so bothered about who you are. They don't relate to you as a rock star, they tend to relate to you as a real person.

PROPAGANDA: With the band being out of the public eye is it easy enough for you to walk around without getting stopped by fans?

ADAM: In New York it is no problem, I use public transport all the time, which is really nice. You forget how much time you spend being conscious of being observed - not necessarily in a bad way. To be able to sit on a subway and see people of all types get on board? you just drift off and try and imagine where they are coming from and where they are going... it's brilliant, like theatre.

PROPAGANDA: When you are taking lessons, say on the bass, are you thinking about what comes up next for U2 or is it like a sabbatical, just relaxation?

ADAM: You've always got it at the back of your mind, you are trying to figure out better ways of doing music in U2, trying to figure out what it is because it always changes. The back of the brain is always full of U2 but at the moment it's mainly an awful lot of questions. I'm not sure that we have
an awful lot of confidence that the average 16 year old is into music in the way that we were growing up.

PROPAGANDA: Does it alarm you to acknowledge that you aren't really in touch with 16 year olds? or is it just a fact of life?

ADAM: It's just a fact of life as people grow older. That doesn't alarm me. It alarms me that I know I feel the generation gap - there is still an emotional connection with the 16 year old but the cultural connection is more difficult, that our generation grew up listening to music on radio stations and reading about it in magazines and going to gigs and in that way building up a profile of the bands you liked. Now it's all much more demystified with MTV and interactive CDs, but I don't ever think that music is at risk from that because music has been around a long time, it's part of the rhythm of life.

PROPAGANDA: But do you ask yourselves where you fit in, (in the future) whether U2 has a role to play and what it is?

ADAM: Well, there'll always be people who want to hear great music live and I expect that we'll keep just making records that we want to make... and at some point I suppose we'll decide that we don't want to do it anymore. They are the only options.

PROPAGANDA: ZOO TV broke new ground in live concerts and Edge is already experimenting with a U2 ZOO TV CDI. Would you like the band to be one of the first to cross the boundaries between the old age and the new age in music?

ADAM: Prince and others are already well down the line with things like CDI and I don't think we're going to be the pioneers. But the background work is already being done and I think we will benefit from it.

PROPAGANDA: Edge talked about the possibility of a B-sides album.

ADAM: Well it's on the back burner, it's a possibility, it's always there... but we haven't got plans for a release at present.

PROPAGANDA: And an album of dance remixes?

ADAM: There was talk of that too and again, I think the moment has passed for it but the time will come around again. It's nice for the world to have a break from U2?

PROPAGANDA: When will you all re-group?

ADAM: We thought we might get together again in November. That'll be to talk about what we might want to do and how we might do it and then perhaps begin some writing and recording in February perhaps... it'll take us probably a year to make an album.

PROPAGANDA: Spring '96 then?

ADAM: Well it depends on how long it all takes, could be Spring '96 or maybe Christmas '95 but that's unlikely, that would be a very optimistic prediction.

PROPAGANDA: And optimism and U2 recording schedules don't usually go together.

ADAM: Right.

PROPAGANDA: So there are no clues about direction of the next record?

ADAM: Not really until we get together. We're all having vastly different experiences and when we get back together it will really be a case of 'Okay, what can each person bring to the project, what can we concentrate on? We've got quite a few pieces left over from Zooropa so they will be starting
points. I'd like to see us trying to incorporate a wider use of rhythm, to see if we can stretch the sound...

PROPAGANDA: But for the moment it's lying low, buying your groceries and washing your own socks?

ADAM: Yes, that too... more or less"

 

[adamswildhoney]

"Propaganda Interview: Adam Clayton"
by Jim Carroll - 2000




"Mr Snappy Dresser. Mr Man About Town. Mr Confirmed Bachelor. Mr We've All Seen What He Looks Like Naked. Mr Posh. Ladies and gents, we give you... Mr Clayton.

The place is a mess, a real mess. Adam Clayton is standing in the middle of U2's cozy downtown Dublin studio and there seems to be a lot of stuff which U2 as a band can't leave behind. Over-run with wires, amps, guitars, spare drum-sticks, overflowing ashtrays, half-finished cups of coffee, it's a bit like the Propaganda office last thing on a Thursday night.

'They always look good in photos don't they, but in reality, they look like this. It's a bit like a Dad's workshop, all the bits, all the rubbish. In some ways, there's a school of thought who look on sound in studio as a science and they like it to be right for the machines. They seem to forget
that what they are actually doing is recording music which is a much more organic thing and which has nothing to do with whether the meters go into the red or not.'

We are here today to talk to Adam about All That You Can't Leave Behind - past, present and future. The album will be released the following week and a stream of domestic and international press have been coming down all day to have their time with the band. For Adam, this is the last appointment in a lonnnnnnnnng day.


PROPAGANDA: Do you enjoy doing press and promotion?

ADAM: Personally, I always have difficulty talking about music and celebrity culture, which is what a lot of music interviews are about and have become. At the same time, I'm not na?ve enough to think that it can be any different. That is the system by which people know that an album is coming
out and that it is available. I'm uncomfortable with it, but I accept it as part of the job.

PROPAGANDA: Many see this as U2's 'back to basics' album. Was this the intention from
the outset?

ADAM: Initially, it surprised us how strong the band sounded when it was just us in this particular room. To some extent, the term 'back to basics' is misleading. It's a minimalist U2 record with the things that we all took for granted as players. There's a maturity to realizing that actually, we do one
or two things very well. I mean, a blues band would be playing a blues riff for 40 or 50 years. In a sense, that's what we discovered with this record -- we can do simple things which, when you put them together, sound like U2.

PROPAGANDA: Having your own studio on hand must have helped that process...

ADAM: Having your own place made it a lot easier not to compromise. It made it easier for us to make the commitment to the record that you have to make. Along with that, there were days which were unnecessarily slow because you had too many phone calls but (laughs) people have to have a life. At the end of the day, the members of this band have been working for a very long time
and they do have wives and they do have children and it would be foolish to think that people could commit to this record without having to keep a balance.

PROPAGANDA: What are your favourite aspects of the record?

ADAM: What was great was hearing Edge fall in love with the guitar again, playing things which were very direct, with very little treatments, something he is more used to doing -- it was great to hear Larry just playing the drums without having to fit in with a rhythm track which was already constructed. Again, Bono, the singing was great and the lyrics were great and at some
point in the record, he had a lyric before the song was finished and that's rare and the record benefited from it.

PROPAGANDA: You missed one person...

ADAM: What I enjoyed most was I didn't feel a competitiveness to produce things which were hard for me to produce or that I hadn't done before. I found the confidence in saying 'well, I know what needs to be done here and I can do it' (smiles).

PROPAGANDA: So what tracks from the album rock your boat?

ADAM: I'm really getting into Walk On at the moment, it took me a while. I like Kite, I like In A Little While. I love the version of Wild Honey that's on the record because to me, it's early Van Morrison with all the naivete of those early records and yet, the twin vocals of Bono and Edge take me back
to a more innocent time of Simon and Garfunkel or something (grins). I think it's a great sound for U2 and I suppose it is a throwaway tune for us, which is something I love to see us doing, without the angst of some of the other stuff. The Sweetest Thing was in a similar vein. They're the ones which put smiles on people's faces. Half the world want Stuck In A Moment as the next single, the other half want Walk On. Some people say there are ten singles there. There might be six and it would be great if this time next year there's still another single there.

PROPAGANDA: So what have we here, then, is mature U2?

ADAM: Mature U2 sounds like an old cheese! I think it is a record where we've had a look at what's out there, and we've gone "maybe we still have something to offer which we're not hearing in anybody else". If not maturity, it's a kind of self-confidence. We didn't sit down and go "well, we don't have anything to offer". Instead we thought that maybe what we do is something no-one else
can do. I don't think it was a conscious decision to make that sort of record but it came from a collective idea of the music we were interested in.

PROPAGANDA: There seems to have been quite a tight production crew for the album.

ADAM: Well, it was us and Brian and Danny, primarily as producers but also as players. Then, there's Biff, a pop producer and writer who has done some stuff for the Spice Girls, for Kylie Minogue and Gabrielle and a couple of boy bands. He's sharp, he has sharp pop instincts. We also worked with Mike Hedges, who would be known for his work with the Manic Street Preachers.
They all brought something to the table, even if it was just a strong argument as to why a tune should be finished and why it should end up on the record.

PROPAGANDA: Was Brian Eno as heavily involved this time as he was on previous albums?

ADAM: Brian's contribution is in the keyboard realm. A lot of his sounds on this record were quite organic, they were not processed in the way that he normally has these odd little noises. Instead, he used quite traditional noises. When Brian and Danny said they wanted to work with us, they said
they wanted to make a record this time which sounded like the band. Everyone was in sync with that and they never wanted to get in the way of the band sounding like the band on a record. Even though there are extra drums or strings on some songs, everything is pared down to a bare minimum.

PROPAGANDA: Obviously, the next step will be a tour. How do you think the songs will play in the open air?

ADAM: I think the songs will adapt really well to a live setting. This is very much a record we want to go out and play without any over-complicated support structure. There is not going to be any jockstrap on this one (laughs). It will be us in the raw. We are talking about not having any
additional production staging but it will probably grow a little as the tour goes on. At the end of the day, it will be us playing those songs probably in smaller places than we have played for a while. We want to go back into the smaller arenas. We want to be in situations where people aren't
restricted to having to stay seated - if they want to get up and move around, they can.

PROPAGANDA: Looking back now on PopMart, how do you call it and how will it have a
bearing on the next tour?

ADAM: Funnily enough, when you listen back to live tapes from the last tour, you realize the band sound fucking good. I mean, look at the PopMart show from Mexico City, it's an amazing show. What we found was that when we took the show to Europe, and when we were in situations where it was general admission and people down the front were standing and could move around that
it was that much more fun, and it reminded us of our earlier shows, before it all got big. We felt this time that, as we could do anything we wanted, why keep going down that path? It was not producing the effect which we get off on, that of people having a good time.

PROPAGANDA: What live shows have you enjoyed in the past few months?

ADAM: I went to see Bob Dylan in Vicar Street (note: Dylan played a special show at this intimate Dublin venue, to an audience of just 800). I'm not a huge Dylan fan but I thought there was more chance of me being a fan in Vicar Street than anywhere else. I like Bob as a character, he's had a long relationship with the band, he played on Rattle and Hum and co-wrote one of the songs. It was great to see a great band with a guy who's a legend with a huge catalogue of songs. I do tend to go see smaller shows. I was in a great place in New York called Shine to see a French group Rhinocerese. I liked the album and I was interested to see how it would come across live and they
really put it across well. And they have a female bass player (laughs) - which is good.

PROPAGANDA: What music has been wowing you this year?

ADAM: It hasn't been a great year for me musically in terms of records. The main record I keep going back to is the Doves album. I really tried hard with Primal Scream but in the end, the songs weren't there, it sounds great but there is very little substance. I've been listening to Badly Drawn Boy but it doesn't quite refresh the parts that other records do. Thievery Corporation, Rhinocerese, Lemon Jelly, Bent? it's OK. There is a point where that kind of music becomes pollution. You hear it in so many places and in so many variations that you go "I don't need to hear this again". I heard
there's a new Tom Tom Club record, and I loved them when they came out first with Wordy Rappinghood -- so I'd be interested to hear that. Gavin Friday is great for finding good stuff. He gave me that St Germain record which is not necessarily something I would have picked up - and it's great.

PROPAGANDA: For many musicians and acts, U2 are an influence on what they do. Who has
that bearing on you and how do you feel about being placed on the same list?

ADAM: There is a top five and it's The Beatles at number one, the Stones at number two and after that, it can get a bit hazy. There's Zeppelin, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Van Morrison. There are records and artists you can't imagine life without having heard them. The top five or ten doesn't change or move that much. They're the records which make up who we are. Maybe for people born in the Seventies, it might be Prince rather than The Beatles, but the line-up is fairly constant. It feels odd when we are put in that list because very few people get added to the list. Maybe we have a place in a Top Ten but it's someone else's list. My list is already full!"

 

[kellyahern]

"I'll tell you, you learn a lot about women from dressing up in women's clothes! You learn that when a woman asks you "Do I look alright?" what she's reallysaying is "I have just spent alot of time making myself uncomfortable. If I go out in this condition will I look foolish, or is it worth it?". When you ask a woman to go out to dinnerit's not like asking one of your mates. She has to stop and think, "Hmm, dinner. That will be four hours of being uncomfortable." And if she says yes and then after four hours you say,"Lets go dancing, let's go to a club," and she says "No, I want to go home," it's because she has figured on four hours and now those four hours are up and she can only think of getting home and out of those clothes!"

I love the giraffe quote too

 

[kellyahern]

 

[kellyahern]

 

[kellyahern]

 

[kellyahern]

 

[kellyahern]

 

[Edgette]

Kelly!!



Those are GREAT stills!! Thank you for posting them.

 

[adamswildhoney]

Holy Is that some Adam Moobs I see? *thud

thanks Kelly

 

[kellyahern]

Holy Is that some Adam Moobs I see? *thud

thanks Kelly

moobs

Your welcome, I just like to post them in return for all the great pics you guys have posted I'm a Bono girl at heart, but I like to share

I have pics of the rest of U2 in that show (Santiago, Chile). I can post them later if you guys would like

Hope I'm not posting too many

 

[adamswildhoney]

You rule, thanks so much Kelly

In honor of those stills I will post an Adam interview from 1997!!


Transcript of the chat with Adam Clayton
August 31th '97





"Alex: Hi everyone. We're live in Dublin with U2 bassist Adam Clayton. We'll start now.

Salome269 says: Adam, what has been the weirdest experience during this tour so far?

Adam: The weirdest experience is always the moment the lemon opens. You always go, is this gonna work? Is this what it feels like to be Michael Jackson?

Patrick_M says: Did the huge success of the "Mission:Impossible theme" - The most sucesseful U2-related single on the US chatrs on this decade - give you & Larry the satisfaction of proving youtwo can survive without the "other two" ?

Adam: I don't think either of us saw it as an opportunity to give up our day jobs. We realized it was because of U2 it was received so well. It was great to do something on our own without Edge and Bono. Creatively it was easier to communicate between the two of us.

^BadCop^ says: If the Smurfs wanted to do a cover of one of U2's songs, would you let them?

Adam: I guess we would, yeah.

Upoo2 says: Have you ever noticed your bass is out of tune on Two Hearts Beat As One?

Adam: On the recording version on that it's quite possible. Back then I didn't pay attention to tuning or timing. But I've learned to count til 4 since then.

Shades says: Adam...if you had just one record to listen to for the rest of your life...which would it be?

Adam: That's very veryhard. It might be a VanMorrison record. Or a Bob Marley record. I couldn't narrow it down any clkoser than that. Could be a Miles Davis record.

LEKO says: Adam, in 1992 ZOO TV I was in front of you during the Montreal concert, and I admire your standing, you looked proud and very cool... This kind of behaviour comes from your mother or your father?

Adam: My goodness this person must know my Mum or my Dad. I don't know where the good genes come in our family - maybe from our grandparents.

Guybrush says: What exactly is the process during songwriting where you come up with those basslines? Are the songs built around your lines or is it theother way round?

Adam: Each individual case is different. Sometimes Edge will co me together with a chord sequence that justn eeds a bass part added to it. Other times we'll take a bass part that happens in a rehearsal situation or a sound check and we'll work some chords over that. Please was a case where we put some chords over that.

Deseree says: Adam, do you ever sing in the shower?

Adam: Very, very occasionally.

Godpart3 says: Adam, do you ever try on bono's stage costumes when he's not around?

Adam: Every band needs someone like Bono in it. When you join a band you don't know who's good at what - I'm really pleased that Bono took the job that he took and that I took the job that I took.

Upoo2 says: Are you happier now than in 1987?

Adam: I was pretty confused in 1987. I'm still confused, but definitely happier.

Kelly says: Adam, has Larry sold his soul to thee devil....is that why he looks so young?

Adam: It might look that way sometimes, it's just that he's actually 2 years younger than the rest of us.

Guybrush says: How do you feel when the crowd responds so wildly to the memorable basslines like in New Years Day or With or Without You?

Adam: Everytime you get that great response in your head you go I wish there were a few more where those came from. But I playdifferently now. Back then you took an idea and played it for all it's worth.

Tonster: Any truth to the tale that the lyrics to "Drowning Man" were written to you?

Adam: I don't think so. I think one of the aspects of the way Bono writes lyrics is he draws on a broad base of experience that's based on everyone he's involved with. He takes little bits and we're all the same in many ways. We each have our own tragedies or loyalties or successes and he just makes it universal.

Danie says: Do you like to sit and listen to your own records..or is it hard for you to listen to your own music?

Adam: I listen to them sometimes. Usually the record that we've just finished making I'll listen to quite a lot because we're trying to learn how to play it live and I'm still moving things around in my head with it. I goi back to older records sometimes but you tend to hear just mistakes. You realize that your initial instincts about it are absolutely true.

Arielle says: Adam, which song do you feel is most changed by a live performance vs. studio recording?

Adam: In the show that we're doing at the moment I think Velvet Dress would be a candidate for that. Discotheque is a different live version.

Cyrelle says: Adam, what profession would you be involved with were it not for U2?

Adam: I think about this one every couple of years and I always come up with somehting pretty good. Maybe a truck driver or something. I like being on the road. It's a very confusing bundle of emotions. Playing one night is bad enough in as much as it's much easier to pose in front of a mirror than in front of your friends and family. The show is the easisest part of the dayin your hometown because you come home and everything catches up with you. Playing two nights just kind of doubles trouble. But Irish audiences are fantastic and wellworth it.

JOEJOEJOE says: Any comments on Princess Diana?

Adam: I heard the news this morning at 10:00 and it kicked me sideways and I don't really know why. She represented a change within Britian and the aristocracy. And that's been swept away. it was also such a senseless thing. I understand what happened in being chased by the paparazzi. They're risk-takers. There were motobikes involved and it's quite likely someone pulled in front. It is senseless. It's a complicated issue because we all like to read the newspapers.

Omar says: Which is your favorite writer?

Adam: I haven't read a book for a while! I like the Flannery O'Connor books, things like that, they're an influence on what we were doing around the time of Joshua Tree. I really like The English Patient - it was a bewitching book. The film was great as well.

POPsickle says: Adam, U2's videos are pretty striking.. do you enjoy being involved in making music videos?

Adam: I absolutely hate being involved in the making of music videos. I abhor them. The visual presentation of music is upon us -- I never know what the videos are about, but hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Greg says: Have you ever played a porno on your awesome HUGE Popmart screen for fun?!

Adam: It's an idea that has come up a couple of times! But it hasn't been done as yet, maybe sometime in the future.

Salome269 says: Adam: how do you feel about performing for the mtv awards?

Adam: Kinda looking forward to it becvause we've never really performed at those things before. Doing TV shows can be fun. We used to do it a lot a few years back. I think it's better to be performing at these things than in the audience.

Patrick_M says: A question about remixes. Some of them are great and really take the song a step further - Lady with the spinning head being a fine example. Others, like Lemon - Version Dub - areproduced with hardly anything from U2's original encarnation of the song. What is U2's real involvement with the DJ's that remixes the song?

Adam: Our involvement with the Djs is you tell them how great the track is, and normally they only really want a vocal so you send them a DAT and then they build up the rest themselves. It's always interesting to us to get them back and see what they've done with them. It's kind of nice that they're a surprise because it's never what you expect to hear. That's the nature of a remix -- you want to be surprised.

Tonster: How do you feel about bootlegs?

Adam: I think bootlegs are something that's very difficult to stop. There are fans out there that want to buy them. I don't like overpriced bootlegs that are ripping the fans off. If they're good quality recordings of a show then I'm happy enough that people have access to those things. I know there's a culture out there that listens to these things so I sort of tolerate it, providing no one's getting ripped off.

Leia says: Who are your major influences?

Adam: Again this is a question that comes up every so often . . . I think Peter Hook who used to be in Joy Division was an influence in that he showed me something different he could do with a bass. And then James Jameson who played bass on a lot of Motown records in the early days, electric bass playing, showed me how you could funk it up with rhythm and melody. I aspire to move between those three spirits when I'm playing.

MichaelW says: What are your (as well as the band's) feelings towards 'overzealous' fans at shows? Also, do you think the Internet has made fans more overzealous, or does it just seem that way?

Adam: It depends what you mean by overzealous. I think people being excited or moved by an experience -- that's what it's all about. But there is a tendency for people to be obsessive. Certainly I don't mind meeting people who love the music and if there's an opportunity to talk about that I'm happy to take it. There was a time people were just looking for an autograph and I'm happy to do that as well. But there are people taking it to extreme - an autograph, a photo, a video recorder, and could you fill this bag up with old clothes.

Guybrush says: Was it a pleasant experience hanging your willy out for all to see on Achtung Baby?

Adam: I had to be talked into it, I have to say. I was very nervous and apprehensive about revealing myself in such a way. But I got into the spirit of wickedness, I suppose. I objected to the censorship that happened in some countries. I think nude photography is absolutely appropriate and shouldn't embaraass anyone. I think the photos Robert Mapplethorpe took of male nudes helped me look at myself as a man and looking at penises. It's a hard thing to overcome but it's good. I only wish I had an erection at the time.

CyberMoon says: What is your favorite song off Pop?

Adam: Again it kind of changes on a weekly basis. Maybe my alltime favorite is Please, which we've just rerecorded for the single. Playboy Mansion always brings a smile to my face.

Adamsgirl says: You are, arguably, the best dressed man in rock. How do you do it?

Adam: That's definitely arguable if you talk to me other three mates. I don't really operate on that level very often but I'm glad somebody notices that I'm well turned out.

Adamsgirl says: How well do you get on with your bandmates after a few months on the road?

Adam: It's not really a question of months, it's years at this stage - 20 years together. Every so often youlook at that and go 20 years, it's like being married. How many people really have friendships that have survived 20 years. I value it and think it's an amazing achievement.

Guybrush says: Do you feel you've toned downed on stage during the concerts over the years?

Adam: I certainly have. You get a little wiser. I remember being very enthusiastic and active -- a lot of that came from fighting for our lives, living hard to mouth. We didn't know if we'd get to release another record and every tour and evyer performance counted. I was fueled up on adrenalin. Now the music has become a lot more important to me - the playing of it. Listening to Larry, supporting Bono - that's important. Now my concentration is more on 1-2-3-4 were we go rather than any athletic ambitions I might have.

May says: Adam,what do you want that you don't have?

Adam: Gosh, again, one of those things you can think of something really insightful to say. I suppose nowadays I wish I didn't have to work nights, but that's not very rock 'n' roll.

POPsickle says: Adam, do you ever plan on writing an autobiography?

Adam: No I don't. I'm not sure if the world would be that interested in my inner thoughts and feelings nad if I was to write something that's what it'd be about because I would not write something that would compromise relationships and loyalties.

Gurt says: Adam, where do you think U2 will be in 2010?

Adam: I don't know. Again it's something that you think up and wonder if there's a time limit - youwonder if you can plan for that eventuality, whatever that is. I think probably U2 will be making music and performing in some stage and theatre somewhere. It's kind of the only thing we know how to do.

Rick says: Adam, tell us about your experience in Kansas with W.S: Burroughs!

Adam: William Burroughs is an amazing man. I don't really know that much about him. I've read some of his work and I know he's got a feisty attitude about some things. He seemed to have a lot of spirit and a lot of youth and we sat and talked nad he was very switched on to what was going on. It was an amazing experience and his subsequent death makes it even more precious.

Shades says: Adam...do you feel any sort of competition with the Rolling Stones new tour?

Adam: I don't think we think in terms of competition with other tours. The Rolling Stones do what they do very well and they have an amazing history. It's amazing that at this stage they want to get up on stage and is a real testament to their friendship. I think it's about more than how much they'll have in their bank account at the end.

Salome269 says: How do you feel about bands like spice girls and hanson taking over the radio waves?

Adam: There's always been pop music and pop bands and every couple of years there's a new band comes up with a different sound. I don't know what's going to happen to Hanson when their voices break. I certainly like looking at the Spice Girls. They get people into record shops and talking about music.

Mofo says: Adam,do u ever go sightseeing in the citys that you tour?

Adam: No. Very very rarely. You end up really seeing the inside of the hotel and the inside of the gig and usually we have the same furniture that travels so I don't think I've been going anywhere for the last year, I've been in the same place goiong backwards and forwards.

Deseree says: Adam, do you see U2 working with any rap artists, such as Dr. Dre?

Adam: Well, I wouldn't rule out working with Dre. We're big fans of his and we've met him a couple of times.It's a question of tempos 'cuz those guys work at slower tempos. We met up when we were mastering our album in New York with Aza because we wanted to get him to a remix of Discotheque at the time but in the end he said that the speed of this is too fast for rap or hip hop. I think we're going to give him a go with If God Would Send His Angels.

Adamsgirl says: Does being on tour tend to make one a less responsible citizen?

Adam: Yes, unfortunately. It's very corrupting. You do kind of forget the values of the real world because your values tend to reflect what you're doing which is the show is the most important thing and the show happens at roughly the same time every night and there can't be a problem that can't be gotten over. When you get back in the real world you have to negotiate a little more with the citizens.

Salome269 says: Would you rather be invisible or be able to fly?

Adam: I'd like to be able to fly.

Salome269 says: What do you wish to achieve in the coming year?

Adam: I'd like to get to the end of this tour feeling fulfilled from having accomplished something tha thas been very hard and has tkane a lot of hard work. I'd like to have my sanity. I'd like to feel creatively stimulated to kind of go back in there and make another great record.

Patrick_M says: Would U2 ever release an Anthology-like box-set?

Adam: Maybe at some point it would be interesting to people. I was there when some of that first stuff was recorded and I'm not sure how interseting it is. At the moment I'd prefer that people didn't get access to the bottom drawer.

Ai says: In one word, what is popmart to you?

Adam: It's the next century.

Ariel says: Adam, when you are being interviewed, can you tell the difference between a journalist who has simply researched your history and one that is truly a fan?

Adam: It is a contradiction. People who are truly fans ask certain kinds of questions that sometimes you haven't thought about. A journalist who's really reserached yourhistory is a lot more academic in their approach and you tend to respond more academically.

SpanishEyesU2 says: Do you think U2's music is reaching out to the younger audience?

Adam: Definitely. It wasn't so apparent in America and I guess that's because a lot of people don't really like going to stadiums. But since we've come to Europe and are playing genearl admission we've found we've gotten a younger, more aggressive audience that's ready to party. Our music has stayed relevant to people who are just getting turned on to music. If we'd stayed oding what we were dong on the Joshua Tree I think we weould've gotten older musically. We still have our Joshua Tree fans but we also have other fans who come at us different musically and every other which way,.

Cambot says: What's your favorite food?

Adam: Sushi.

Anne says: Adam, would you mind it if the band i'm in played some U2 cover tunes?

Adam: Not at all. Maybe she'd be able to figure out what i"m playing!

CyberMoon says: How was the concert tonight?

Adam: It was amazing. The audience is what the concert's all about because we're the same every night, so for us it's how the audience reacts. Concerts this size very often are about what's happening in the audience and the music is a catalyst for that to happen.

Gurt says: Adam, in the early times (1975...) did you ever think to be where you are now?

Adam: Well, back then you had to have blind faith and absolutely self-belief, which I had in those days. In reality, it's a surprise and a wonder to me that we actually have achieved the things we have achieved and there's still more to come. I never really accepted it. Be careful what you set your sights upon because it just might happen.

From_Chile says: If you were in my chair, who would you like to be asking questions?

Adam: I guess I'd be interested in asking questions to Tony Blair, this guy who just got in with the Labour government. In America, Bill Clinton represents the changing generations. I think it's very important coming at the end of this century, people who have control over our lives are people you'd actually like to sit down and talk to.

Alex: Thanks so much for talking with us, Adam. And thanks to everyone for joining the chat."

 

[Edgette]

Okay....how HOT is this picture??? Thanks to Kelly for scanning it!!

 

[adamswildhoney]

I was just going to post that in here!!!

*sits and stares at the photo, Gah I love his eyes!!

 

[adamswildhoney]

Adam Talks to Hugh Cornwall of the Stranglers U2 Magazine, No. 14, March 01, 1985 (Excerpt from Strangled magazine)

Hugh: Did you work with Steve Lillywhite before you recorded with him?

Adam: No. Our first producer was Martin Hannett who did the first two Joy Division albums and New Order. I'm not sure what he's doing now.

Did you do any demo tapes?

Yeah.

They must have got you a recording contract?

Well, I remember one night Larry came and said, "Have you seen the evening paper?" and there was a competition for the best pop band with a prize of ?5,000 and a recording deal. He said we should enter and see what happened. I said OK and applied and sent off all the bullshit. This was when I was 17 and he was 15.

Then we got the forms back, the date was arranged and we had to get the train to Limerick. We had a show the night before in the Project Arts Centre. It was St. Patrick's Day and it was a late night gig. So we didn't get off 'til 3 a.m. We got four hours' kip and had to get off to get the train.

We arrived there and had to do some kind of heats. We got through the first one and Bono's voice was completely sharp from the night before. So he said, "Sorry, I've got laryngitis and my voice is a bit rough but the songs are good," and we played three songs.

We got to the final which was in front of an audience, not just judges. We did our set, then sat and watched the other bands. They were all showbands, doing other people's songs. Really impressive -- the sort we wanted to be like. We thought, "We don't stand a hope." The results were announced in reverse order and sure enough one of the showbands, a band who sang in Irish, came second -- and we actually won it! To this very day I can't really figure it out.

Perhaps because you were playing your own stuff?

No, at the end of the day I think it's because there's a spirit in the band that comes across. I don't really know what it is. I don't think it's Bono, I think it's the band -- the combination of the four of us.

We got promised this contract by CBS Records and it was a bullshit contract. We were na?ve and young but we still weren't prepared to take it. The guy from CBS was well meaning. But the problem with CBS in Ireland is that they're there as a marketing corporation, not to sign new bands. This guy had a bit of flair and he wanted to sign bands, Irish bands. The rest of the companies weren't interested but he offered the best he could. He actually talked CBS into paying for our first demo tape. It was our first time in the studio and I think his first time as a producer. He told us to set up as we would do for a live show and play the set. It was all done on 2-track. He thought that was a good way to do a demo. Then he took the tapes off to London to try to talk them into signing us and they just laughed.

Did you get a chance to hear them beforehand?

Yeah, they were awful. We didn't know at the time, we had nothing to compare them with. We thought that was the way punk bands got signed. We were giggling and saying, "Yeah, next week, millionaires" -- and it didn't happen. So then an English A&R guy from CBS came to check us out. He was fairly interested and said they'd pay for a proper demo. He produced it. He wasn't particularly hot as a producer then. And CBS turned it down.

Then we said, "You've paid for the tapes. We need to put a single out in Ireland. Can we use the tapes?" That's what we did. We put out an EP called U2 - 3 which was three songs from that session: "Boy/Girl," "Stories for Boys" and "Out of Control."

Did you use those later?

Yes, we put "Stories for Boys" and "Out of Control" on the first album, Boy. But they were re-recorded with Steve Lillywhite. The EP was a bit crude but at that time it was the biggest local Irish single to be released. There wasn't much of a domestic market. Most of the other singles around were traditional Irish singles or showband singles. We were actually a young punk band and we had a single that did extremely well.

We'd done a small London club tour, the Hope and Anchor and all that, to try to get signed and nothing happened. So we then went back to Ireland and decided that we either had to break up or do a massive tour, and we did a tour.

 

[adamswildhoney]

 

[adamswildhoney]

 

[adamswildhoney]

 

[Jack In The Box]

great pics girls
and cool quotes adamswildhoney
thanx