The Edge
The Edge
David Howell Evans, better known by his stage name The Edge, is a British-born Irish musician and songwriter best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist of the rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 13 studio albums with the band as well as one solo record. As a guitarist, the Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive...
NationalityWelsh
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth8 August 1961
compels music ways
I have a curiosity that compels me to find ways to make music that are fresh and new.
among awkward childhood common experience guessing insecure interest people phase quite rock start
For me, my awkward phase corresponded to an interest in rock n' roll. From experience, I'm guessing an insecure childhood is probably quite a common thing among people who start a rock band.
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Music is such a great communicator. It breaks down linguistic barriers, cultural barriers, it basically reaches out. That's when rock n' roll succeeds, and that's what virtuosity is all about.
came european forerunner mix orleans streets
Jazz came out of New Orleans, and that was the forerunner of everything. You mix jazz with European rhythms, and that's rock n' roll, really. You can make the argument that it all started on the streets of New Orleans with the jazz funerals.
accept cheat create dishonesty expected inherent popularity potent rather work
The big cop-out would be to accept popularity rather than opting to try to create potent work. It's so easy to do the popular thing, the expected thing, and that's where you start to cheat yourself - and your fans, in the end - because there's an inherent dishonesty in pandering and dishing up what everyone's expecting.
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For me, looking back is akin to being on a tightrope and looking down. It doesn't help you in the present moment to deal with what you have to deal with in order to move forward.
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Starting a band is the easy part. Once you've formed the band, you have to tell a story, and that story requires songs. And not just good songs, but great songs. After a while, great songs won't do - they have to be the best. Success doesn't make it any easier. Each time I start a new record, it's a brand-new search.
life rock roll
You see, rock and roll isn't a career or hobby - it's a life force. It's something very essential.
forth involved organizing pleased time
This is the first time they're really being active, getting involved and communicating back and forth with us in the city. We're most pleased that they're organizing and forming.
opens
She always opens it up to questions, comments, suggestions.
first-love love-is lasts
First love is alright, as far as it goes. Last love – that’s the one I’m interested in.
months albums easy
Every album is difficult. If it was easy, we'd make one a month.
absolutely both difficult official worked
We absolutely have worked with both groups. But it's difficult to have more than one association for all the official needs.
connected directions evolved fell poem sit studio
We'd go in there without much of an idea and sit and discuss. They evolved in the studio itself. Directions would appear, and it often fell to me to write the poem that connected the dots.