FullonEdge2 said:
Please share where you got that from.
"My favourite track is "Crumbs From Your Table," which has a majestic, rolling feel, a little bit reminiscent of "One," with quite an angry lyric about how aid agencies and the third world have to go cap in hand to the governments of wealthy nations and beg for the smallest things, when we could solve their problems without even affecting our over inflated standard of living one bit."
http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=3551
Five Questions: Neil McCormick
@U2, October 17, 2004
Sherry Lawrence
On the eve of the North American release of his book Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelganger, we check in with U2's Mount Temple schoolmate Neil McCormick to see what's new. His first album, Mortal Coil is now available under the name of McCormick's alter ego, The Ghost Who Walks. It's amazing what happens in just two months time since we last spoke with Neil.
1) Are you surprised by the sales figures in the U.K., and do you anticipate a similar interest in the U.S. for your book? At Amazon.co.uk, the sales ranking is higher than any other U2 book out there currently.
I have surrendered my book to the fates. My philosophy now is: if you keep your expectations low, then you'll never be disappointed. But the word of mouth response has been so fantastic and the reviews have generally been great, so I am not particularly surprised that it seems to be doing quite well. For U2 fans, I would guess it offers a level of insight into the actuality of Bono's existence, a sense of spending time with him, that you are not going to get from a more focused rock tome.
2) Your CD, Mortal Coil, was just recently released. How excited are you to finally have your music out there for folks to listen to? Are you planning any gigs in support? Speaking of support -- you could open for U2 on their tour with this.
I am naturally delighted to have a record in the shops and to have my music out there in the wider world at last but in a strange way it has all been curiously anti-climactic. In my book, Bono talks about all the effort that goes into getting a deal "and then you get to the end of this struggle and find out it's only the beginning. The real work starts now." And that is what I am finding out for myself. I've been too busy with my own book, my column, the new U2 By U2 book and my baby to give it the focus it needs. And then my dad died, suddenly and unexpectedly, the week before the album's release, which threw everything into chaos but also put it into perspective. There are more important things in life than music. The plan at the moment is more or less to let the record fend for itself until next year, when I will release a single and do some gigs. As for supporting U2 on tour, don't think it hasn't crossed my mind. I'm just waiting for the right moment to ask!
3) Last time we spoke, Edge was in the year 1987 and Bono was stuck in 1982 with the U2 by U2 book. Has there been any additional progress made with the interviews, and is there anything you can share with @U2 readers about the book in general? Has Bono confessed about other items besides the infamous missing notebook with the lyrics to the 2nd album that probably didn't exist?
Not enough progress. Edge has made it to about '88, Bono is up to '84 but Adam is leading the pack, streaking ahead into '90s. Larry, unfortunately, is still in New York on the first American tour. The trouble with Larry is that he remembers everything, so it takes forever to get through any given year. Adam, on the other hand, claims not to remember anything, which might explain the speed with which he is advancing. U2 are so busy with the upcoming album release and I have been so occupied with life in general that the interview schedule has drifted somewhat. I am sure we will bring back on track soon.
I think the book is going to be really compelling. I am really enjoying working on it. They are all very intelligent, articulate individuals and they are being extremely candid. I have certainly learned a lot writing it. I have been sworn to secrecy however. When the advance CD of U2's new album was stolen at a photo shoot in France, Bono told me that if it turned up on the internet they had come up with a plan to release the whole album as a paid download on iTunes. I mentioned this in my column, whereupon I received a rather discombobulated phone call from Principle Management, grumbling: "I see our secret plan is all over the Daily Telegraph!"
4) I'll understand if you do not want to talk about this: you've said that the true hero in your book is your father and the stories in the book go through how supportive he has been of you. Are you glad that you've given him this tribute, and was he excited about Mortal Coil's public release -- something you've been striving for since you were at Mount Temple.
I'm very glad my father got to read my book and hear my album. The book is a love letter to a few people and he is certainly one of them. And I know he was very proud that the album was being released, because when I was back in Ireland for the funeral, all his friends told me! All the members of U2 sent flowers and Bono and Ali came down to pay their respects, which was very touching. I know it would have impressed my dad! He wouldn't have been able to stop telling the neighbours about that. But, you know, the McCormick family have been very involved in Bono's life: my brother Ivan was at the early U2 rehearsals, my elder sister Stella sang with U2 at their second gig and my little sister Louise worked as an engineer with U2 and did a lot of Bono's solo stuff. And obviously, Bono has lost his own father in recent years, and had some idea what we were all going through. He told me, "the pain doesn't go away. It just changes temperature." Well, we will see.
I borrowed a couple of semi acoustic guitars from Bono and Edge, the nicest guitars I have ever played actually, and my brother and I performed a song that I had only written a couple of weeks before, called "Daddy's Getting Old." It was about how hard it is to watch your father aging, but it was also written from the perspective that I am a father and that one day I am going to die and leave my own son behind.
5) We're all excited about the new U2 release, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. As you said, it is a challenging title for an album. What type of a review do you plan on giving it, and was the album's creation as heated as the Achtung Baby sessions or felt rushed like the Pop sessions?
There was a lot of debate about that title in the U2 camp but I liked it the moment Bono tried it out on me. It is kind of "how do you get the toothpaste back in the tube" conundrum, but with the wider ramifications of the appalling situation we find ourselves in today, faced by the spread of war and terrorism in the world. It is a big idea for a big album. I only heard the tracks a few times, and not in the order they are going on the album, but I think it is going to be one of their truly great albums. It evokes most periods of U2. But also sets out a few new markers ("Love and Peace or Else" is kind of a distorted glam rock stomp, for example). My favourite track is "Crumbs From Your Table," which has a majestic, rolling feel, a little bit reminiscent of "One," with quite an angry lyric about how aid agencies and the third world have to go cap in hand to the governments of wealthy nations and beg for the smallest things, when we could solve their problems without even affecting our over inflated standard of living one bit. And, of course, "Vertigo" is great. I especially like the fact that Bono roars my name at the end. He would claim that he is singing the word "Kneel!" but I know better! Actually, he and Edge performed the song for video cameras while I was in the studio, and when they got the part where Bono is supposed to sing "Kneel!" they looked at me with surprise and he went "Hey Neil!"
The recording was certainly not as rushed as Pop. They took over two years and went through a couple of production teams to get it together. But they were still recording up to the last minute. I was around in the studio a couple of days before the end, and Edge was laying down keyboards and Bono was doing vocals and changing lyrics. In fact, Bono is such an inclusive individual, he kept asking me what I thought of this lyric and that lyric, and which verse should go before which, so I feel as if I have contributed in some small way to this record. Indeed, there a couple of lines on "A Man and a Woman" that may have gone in a different direction if I hadn't been in the room. But that is U2's way. They really want the best and, in search of it, they cast the net wide and listen to a lot of opinions. By the time I was around, the mood in the U2 camp was verging on the triumphant. They knew they had a great record on their hands. But I gather there were heated moments along the way. Indeed, from my research for their autobiography, I can assure you that U2 sessions have never been for the faint hearted. It is a bloody process of attrition, but the results speak for themselves.
Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelganger is released this week in North America. Mortal Coil is currently available through online orders only. Visit
www.theghostwhowalks.com for ordering details. U2 by U2 is scheduled to be released in 2005.
� @U2/Lawrence, 2004.
