Note the highlighted section...hint of a new direction on the next record???
How U2 Masters Music and Activism
Adam Clayton credits Bono and band's fans Rock legends in T.O. for four sold-out shows
BEN RAYNER
POP MUSIC CRITIC
It often seems these days that U2, the band, is in danger of becoming completely overshadowed by Bono, the crusader.
One will, however, find no resentment within the durable Irish quartet's ranks over its singer's headline-grabbing habit of hobnobbing with world leaders on behalf of numerous noble causes.
"It's amazing to see somebody who you basically grew up with at school and who you've been in a band with for 25 years going to the White House," says bassist Adam Clayton, nibbling on mixed nuts somewhere in the catacombs beneath the Air Canada Centre, where the band will kick off a sold-out string of four shows tonight. "That's what we all signed up for. What excited us at 16 or 17 was punk, and the reason that turned us on was because (we were) angry about wanting things to change, that frustration. And that's still a part of what we are ...
"Bono gets around. But I think it's the U2 audience that he ultimately carries to those sorts of things, and our fans are very intelligent, they're very proactive, they're very committed."
Thus far, U2 has managed to sidestep the fate that has befallen some other artists similarly juggling pop and politics, such as Bob Geldof or Peter Gabriel, whose musical careers have been notably waylaid over the years by their commitment to activism.
Yet, despite Bono's ubiquitous advocacy, the band still managed this year to produce another hit album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and to sell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets on the first leg of its current Vertigo tour.
"It's a trade and, I think, what's unique about Bono is that he's been very successful at speaking the language of politicians and knowing the numbers and knowing the arguments and making great records, as well," says Clayton, 45. For a band that has held sway at the top of the rock 'n' roll heap more or less consistently since The Joshua Tree broke large in 1987, U2 maintains a commendably rigorous work ethic summed in Clayton's statement: "If we're not in the studio, we're on tour. That's the way it's always been in this band."
The only extensive break the band has taken, he says, was a six-month layoff prior to recording 1997's Pop disc — a critically and commercially maligned album that, sadly, heralded the end of the triumphantly experimental Achtung Baby/Zooropa era and marked a return to the somewhat less interesting anthemics of classic U2 on 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind and Atomic Bomb.
"It made for an interesting record but it wasn't really a complete record," Clayton now says of Pop. "It's always nice to do those experiments, but sometimes you have to make sure you have a song there. And I think what happened with Pop was it became so abstracted that the shows didn't really shine. That was our fault — we abstracted everything out and didn't really finish the songs. I think we're a better band now and I think we would finish the songs, but I think we're also less interested now in being that abstract."
Clayton will confess a personal desire to "expand the sound of U2 a little bit" in its next recording endeavour, as the band has now issued two consecutive records with "a certain kind of sound and theme." U2, he says, is very conscious of not wanting to turn into a listless caricature of itself in old age.
"In a way, though, you can't criticize a band like the Stones for still going because there's still thousands of people out there buying tickets. That's the justification right there. As long as there people out there who will jump up and down in adulation and who are passionate about you, you're not going to turn that down. It's an amazing thing."
How U2 Masters Music and Activism
Adam Clayton credits Bono and band's fans Rock legends in T.O. for four sold-out shows
BEN RAYNER
POP MUSIC CRITIC
It often seems these days that U2, the band, is in danger of becoming completely overshadowed by Bono, the crusader.
One will, however, find no resentment within the durable Irish quartet's ranks over its singer's headline-grabbing habit of hobnobbing with world leaders on behalf of numerous noble causes.
"It's amazing to see somebody who you basically grew up with at school and who you've been in a band with for 25 years going to the White House," says bassist Adam Clayton, nibbling on mixed nuts somewhere in the catacombs beneath the Air Canada Centre, where the band will kick off a sold-out string of four shows tonight. "That's what we all signed up for. What excited us at 16 or 17 was punk, and the reason that turned us on was because (we were) angry about wanting things to change, that frustration. And that's still a part of what we are ...
"Bono gets around. But I think it's the U2 audience that he ultimately carries to those sorts of things, and our fans are very intelligent, they're very proactive, they're very committed."
Thus far, U2 has managed to sidestep the fate that has befallen some other artists similarly juggling pop and politics, such as Bob Geldof or Peter Gabriel, whose musical careers have been notably waylaid over the years by their commitment to activism.
Yet, despite Bono's ubiquitous advocacy, the band still managed this year to produce another hit album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, and to sell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets on the first leg of its current Vertigo tour.
"It's a trade and, I think, what's unique about Bono is that he's been very successful at speaking the language of politicians and knowing the numbers and knowing the arguments and making great records, as well," says Clayton, 45. For a band that has held sway at the top of the rock 'n' roll heap more or less consistently since The Joshua Tree broke large in 1987, U2 maintains a commendably rigorous work ethic summed in Clayton's statement: "If we're not in the studio, we're on tour. That's the way it's always been in this band."
The only extensive break the band has taken, he says, was a six-month layoff prior to recording 1997's Pop disc — a critically and commercially maligned album that, sadly, heralded the end of the triumphantly experimental Achtung Baby/Zooropa era and marked a return to the somewhat less interesting anthemics of classic U2 on 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind and Atomic Bomb.
"It made for an interesting record but it wasn't really a complete record," Clayton now says of Pop. "It's always nice to do those experiments, but sometimes you have to make sure you have a song there. And I think what happened with Pop was it became so abstracted that the shows didn't really shine. That was our fault — we abstracted everything out and didn't really finish the songs. I think we're a better band now and I think we would finish the songs, but I think we're also less interested now in being that abstract."
Clayton will confess a personal desire to "expand the sound of U2 a little bit" in its next recording endeavour, as the band has now issued two consecutive records with "a certain kind of sound and theme." U2, he says, is very conscious of not wanting to turn into a listless caricature of itself in old age.
"In a way, though, you can't criticize a band like the Stones for still going because there's still thousands of people out there buying tickets. That's the justification right there. As long as there people out there who will jump up and down in adulation and who are passionate about you, you're not going to turn that down. It's an amazing thing."
