KROQ Interview

Matt Pinfield (DJ): We're sitting here with U2 right now. We're here with Bono, the Edge, Adam, and Larry. Guys, good to have you in New York. It's good to be here?

Edge: It is. It's very good.

Bono: And the robbers like us here.

Kain (DJ): Really? (laughing)

Bono: It feels like Dublin...this weather.

Matt: Yeah, it's very cold.

Kain: It's actually very warm.

Bono: This is warm?

Kain: This is very warm. Yeah, you should have been here last week.

Bono: Really? (laughing)

Matt: Now the album had a great, congratulations by the way, the album had a great first week. Really exited to see it. Sold almost 1/2 million copies in the U.S. alone. Was that a great surprise to you guys when you got that news?

Edge: Eh, well, you never really know what's going to happen when an album goes in the shops. You know you can't actually think too much about it. If it goes well, it's like a bonus. But you gotta believe that eventually if its a good record, it's gonna surface and it'll do okay long term.

Kain: Did you think maybe you'd been too like away for too long and maybe were you worried about the sound of this record maybe making it in today's market? You know, with the rap-?

Bono: Not the sound of it, the attitude of it. We were a little concerned that the attitude of it might enjail, you know, like writing your own words, playing your own instruments, and the lack of choreography-

Kain: This seems to be the thing today.

Bono: Yeah, I wasn't sure if that would go down, you know, but it is and it is the job of rock to bite the arse of pop charts and here we go.

Matt: Speaking of recording the album, you did the album at home in Dublin. Did you enjoy actually being able to be home and around family and friends while you did this record?

Edge: Sometimes, its not a great idea to be at home because to reallymake music that's got a lot going on, it's good to get away sometimes and really get lost in it. But for this record, I think maybe because we really didn't have a clear kind of concept we were going towards, it was the right place to make it. You know, we wrote a lot of songs for the album. If we had been awar, I think we would have really started to go crazy.

Bono: We would have gone too far and not play them.

Edge: Yeah, that's true. (laughing) But it turned out okay in the end. You know, once in a while it's good to make a record in Dublin. And this was the right time.

Matt: I wanna mention, I'm Matt Pinfield. I'm here with Kain.

Kain: Is it exciting for you guys to get back down to this sort of- cuz this is if people are listening in some other, like Des Moines, they have no idea how big this place is. It seats, well you know, it holds 1000 people tops. Exciting for you guys to be in this sort of or is it scary? Cuz they're gonna be able to hear everything little thing now probably.

Adam: Well, it's a little scary but at the same time, you know, we had a great time, you know, in the early days when we came to America, playing smaller places so they're great places for music so I don't think it should be too much of a problem. I think there will be a lot of excitement. It's great to have people standing up cuz they can move around and-

Bono: They can get out. (Laughter)

Adam: I don't know. In stadiums in this country, you put seats in them and that's really kind of-

Kain: You don't in your country? There's no seats?

Adam: Nope. We have people standing up.

Matt: Is it something coming back? Does it remind you of some of the earlier shows you did here in New York City where you used to play old venues like The Ritz a few years ago. I mean, I was at some of those shows and you guys were just...you were able to do it at the big stadiums, too, you're able to make an intimate connection with people through the music. But here, it really is an intimate connection because they're really gonna be right up in front of you.

Bono: If there's a reason that we're in a band, it's probably close to the Ramones and that music that came out of New York City. We didn't actually feel as close to the British punk music thing. Although the Clash in their manifesto was interesting. It was actually American bands, Patti Smith Group and the Ramones were very handy for us becuase we only knew 4 chords and they had written the most beautiful evolved melodies. Again, I guess it was pop music but in the garage. And they got us, you know, they gave us courage. We were only 15, 14 even, perhaps at the time to take the thing all the way. In fact, the very first time we were lookimh for a break, a producer, a film producer, came to our school, we were a high school band, and he had heard that we wrote our own tunes, and he said he wanted to go down and see uis play. He was a big hollywood guy, he was doing a movie on James Joyce in Ireland so he came down to our school and we were kicking the shit out of each other during rehearsals. We couldn't agree on the beginnings, the endings, even the middle of any of our tunes (laughter) so when he knocked on the door and came in, we played him 2 Ramones songs. And he said "You wrote them yourselves?" We said "Yes". (laughter) And he said "I'm gonna help you. You guys are really-you have something. I can feel it." and he got in touch with a tv and we got on television and we played. We switched our songs and nobody noticed.

Kain: You're listening to U2's live performance at World Wide Broadcast from Irving Plaza in New York Cirt.

Matt: I'm Matt Pinfield here with Kain.

Kain: Oh' yeah, the name's Kain.

Matt: And we're here with Bono, the Edge, Adam, and Larry.

Kain: Let's talk about all these causes you tend to be getting into now like Jubilee 2000.

Bono: That's where we came from. It's like, that's it, in the end Rock 'n Roll is politics. When Elvis went on Ed Sullivan show and started jiggling his willie, it was political. And it's always political if your making music that attempts. you know, change your, you know, the way you live your life or what's going on in your head, outside you head, out on the streets, you know. It's pop music that tells you to lay back, everything's ok. But Rock 'n Roll music is never happy with the way things are. And so that's where you start letting people like myself bore your arse off.

Kain: How was the MTV rooftop thing? Let's change the subject. Was that spontaneous?

Bono: No starving people there at all.

Kain: No, not at all. Cold maybe.

Bono: Overfed.

Edge: Yeah, we're getting back to our roofs on this album.

Matt: Going back to Where the Streets Have No Name again, right?

Kain: So will the band's (clears throat) fans I should say like in Kansas City who are maybe listening to this broadcast, you're gonna play these kinda venues in other cities or is this a one shot deal?

Bono: This is a one off. We might find out why, you know, tomorrow. It's a very interesting thing to be able to do this for us. Because i spent my...I've certainly...I spent my whole life trying to get out of clubs. And even though we had some amazing nights around this country, right around the U.S. we traveled, you know, buses and planes and trains, playing club gigs all over here but I was just dying to get out of them. I remember feeling sick, wondering how many people are going to turn up. "How many?" I used to say to our manager Paul. I'd say, "How many's here tonight?" He'd say, "There's 70, Bono." And I say "Phew,... wow!" And we'd be sitting there and you go out and whether t=it was 7,70 you played, you know, these songs could only be played at full tilt, unfortunately, and but I never glamorized the club thing.

Matt: What can people expect here of this, this is not going to be one of the full fleged shows that you're gonna actually do during the tour. It's gonna be a little under an hour. Will they hear a lot of the new records, couple old things, surprises?

Edge: Well ,you know, when you're playing in a small venue like this and on a little stage like we're gonna play on, it's about finding the material that makes sense in that context. The album was made mostly with the band playing in a tiny space, like about 12 ft square so this album of any album we've made over the last maybe 10 years is gonna make more sense in the small venue. But, you know, we're not doing a big show. W're doing whatever, 45 minutes of a mixture of new album and some old songs we think are going to connect in this context.

Matt: Do you ever feel like just a need to remember trying to throw your arms around the world and you ran all the way out in the middle of Giants Stadium. It's so great when you did that.

Bono: I love stadiums. I love stadiums. i think they're the most amazing venues.

Kain: You're one of the few peple that I've interviewed that actually says that. Most people say they don't like them.

Bono: Why do they play them then?

Matt: That's because you connect with the audience.

Kain: Money...ticket sales for them.

Matt: Groundbreaking shows that you had for ZooTv, Zooropa, and the last one for Pop. I thought it was great. And I was gonna say that when you're running out all the way across trying to throw your arms around the world, how much fun that was and how much it meant to people in different parts of the stadium. Do you ever feel like tonight, you'll have that urge to just jump out over the crowd because of the small space on stage?

Kain: Yeah, who's stage diving? (laughter)

Edge: Larry, what about stage diving?

Larry: I have to...I'm just panicking and it's getting worse as the interview goes on. It's starting to dawn on me exactly what's gonna happen tomorrow.

Edge: Yeah, who's idea was this?

Larry: Yeah, the whole idea, you know, you're gonna see the whites of people's eyes and they're gonna see the whites of your eyes. And when you screw up, they're gonna know about it and start all laughing and having the kit and being behind it, all that's no longer relevant. And I was thinking of Bono there with the sunglasses on and basicalled you can run and can do shit and you have the sunglasses. People will be able to see through the sunglasses. So I'm panicking on your behalf (inaudible)...

Bono: In my heart, I'm not wearing any sunglasses, baby. (laughter)