U2's The Edge: Our 1985 "Unforgettable Fire" Interview

[JasO]

During 1985's Unforgettable Fire tour, The Edge called me to talk about U2's origins, as well as his guitars, techniques, tunings, gear, and how to turn musical limitations into advantages.

There is interesting material here for guitar players. For instance, when I asked him about recording The Unforgettable Fire, Edge responded, “On this album I was using quite a lot of damped strings, using gaffer tape or stuff, a lot of bottleneck, different pickups. I have an acoustic guitar that has already got an in-built seducer-style [transducer] pickup, but I put a normal regular acoustic guitar pickup on it, and that’s had some interesting sounds.”

Asked about unusual tunings, The Edge mentioned his lap steel, which is tuned to three octaves, and this unusual one for his Telecaster: “This tuning I use for the Tele is a very odd one. It’s another one I made up. It’s – you’re gonna laugh – F, A, D, D, G, D. It’s a kind of odd tuning, but it makes a nice chord. The story is, as I was putting down some guitars on that song ‘Unforgettable Fire,’ I was having a little bit of difficulty coming out with something that I was pleased with, so I just decided as a sort of radical change of approach to just tune the guitar to the notes that seemed right, or seemed interesting. And so that was the tuning that came. It was pure chance, but it does sound a very beautiful chord in relation to the song.” He played this with an E-Bow, adding that “the only problem with E-Bow is it tends to make everything sound the same, so it’s really down to how you treat your sound after the guitar, whether or not you get a nice, pleasant effect, or whether you get that same sort of whining sound that everyone gets.”

Other highlights are when he talks about how he and the rest of U2 turned their musical limitations into a sound all their own, as well as how to break out of playing clichés. If you’re interested in seeing more, I’ve transcribed and posted the entire conversation here: U2's The Edge: The "Unforgettable Fire" Interview

 

[drewg]

This is an amazing interview! Thank you so much for posting it – reposting it so-to-say, since it took place in 1985. The Unforgettable Fire is one of my all-time favorite albums and was so original, sound wise, so to hear The Edge share his/U2’s thinking and creative process at the time is fascinating!

A couple questions and comments:
– The Edge’s call came to you, literally, while you were in your friends’ house in the desert, a week after you had requested the interview. Were you able to record it somehow? And if so, what equipment did you use and how was it set up? Or is this interview transcribed from notes you were taking, or recollection? (I don’t doubt for a moment the interview’s authenticity, just interested in how interviews like this were pulled off in 1985, before cell phones, from your experience as a magazine editor, if I understand correctly. I was a child of the 80s!)

– I loved this quote, in contrast to the rut of false hyper-perfection that the music industry is stuck in these days (paralyzing to a songwriter and beginning/intermediate guitar player like myself):

“Can you offer advice for young players as to how to break out of playing stock solos or patterns?

Yeah. Well, it’s difficult. I think one of the best ways of developing an individual style is to start writing music, to start writing songs, because it was actually in the development of a songwriting sort of style that my playing style came. I would credit the other members of the band as having quite an influence, because there was a lot of chemistry and a lot of influence internal to the band as well as the external thing of groups and people I thought were worth listening to. Being with other musicians is a very healthy thing.”

–Many interesting thoughts by The Edge that you managed to collect from him with your great questions!

–Loved your story about the random guitarist they pulled out of the audience in the SF concert!

–And this: “If somebody wanted to hear the essential Edge guitar tracks up through this latest album, which songs would you suggest?

It’s funny. This album was an experiment in staying clear of the guitar for the most part. I did an awful lot more keyboard and just general atmospheric work on the guitar rather than taking it to the forefront. Of the tracks on the album that display my playing the best, I think “Pride” and “Wire.” “Wire” is interesting because of the new techniques that are being used. I used the damped string with echo and bottleneck – you know, that intro sound. It’s quite an unusual intro guitar sound. A lot of people think it’s keyboards, but it’s actually guitar. That was a thrill for me, because it was such a great sound. I was really pleased with that in the studio.”

I know quite a few on this forum don’t particularly like The Edge as a guitarist. But his goals on this album, different from many of our favorite guitarists, show why he achieved such original sounds.

–How do you all interpret his use of “gaffer tape”? to dampen the sound? Wrapped around each string where you pluck them? Or up by the neck?

Thanks for the great read and interview!

 

[Santiago]

Tha

During 1985's Unforgettable Fire tour, The Edge called me to talk about U2's origins, as well as his guitars, techniques, tunings, gear, and how to turn musical limitations into advantages.

There is interesting material here for guitar players. For instance, when I asked him about recording The Unforgettable Fire, Edge responded, “On this album I was using quite a lot of damped strings, using gaffer tape or stuff, a lot of bottleneck, different pickups. I have an acoustic guitar that has already got an in-built seducer-style [transducer] pickup, but I put a normal regular acoustic guitar pickup on it, and that’s had some interesting sounds.”

Asked about unusual tunings, The Edge mentioned his lap steel, which is tuned to three octaves, and this unusual one for his Telecaster: “This tuning I use for the Tele is a very odd one. It’s another one I made up. It’s – you’re gonna laugh – F, A, D, D, G, D. It’s a kind of odd tuning, but it makes a nice chord. The story is, as I was putting down some guitars on that song ‘Unforgettable Fire,’ I was having a little bit of difficulty coming out with something that I was pleased with, so I just decided as a sort of radical change of approach to just tune the guitar to the notes that seemed right, or seemed interesting. And so that was the tuning that came. It was pure chance, but it does sound a very beautiful chord in relation to the song.” He played this with an E-Bow, adding that “the only problem with E-Bow is it tends to make everything sound the same, so it’s really down to how you treat your sound after the guitar, whether or not you get a nice, pleasant effect, or whether you get that same sort of whining sound that everyone gets.”

Other highlights are when he talks about how he and the rest of U2 turned their musical limitations into a sound all their own, as well as how to break out of playing clichés. If you’re interested in seeing more, I’ve transcribed and posted the entire conversation here: U2's The Edge: The "Unforgettable Fire" Interview

Thanks, essential interview!

 

[Wheelhouse]

Are you exploring any new techniques?

Well, there’s one thing I’m thinking about, which isn’t actually my idea, so I don’t know whether I should explain it fully, but it’s a guitar that plays itself. [Laughs.] It’s one that you just depress the string and you get infinite sustain having plucked the string once. I haven’t actually perfected it or finalized the physics involved, but the principle should work [laughs], so I can’t wait to try that. What else? Well, I suppose that’s about it just at the moment.

I think the Sustainiac was first released in 1987, so after the time of this interview. Just interesting to think about, reading this really old interview, thinking, well Steve Hackett's been playing that kind of thing for years. Oh yeah, this is a really old interview.

 

[Santiago]

Edge's idea was brought to fruition by Michael Brook before the Sustainiac with the name "Infinite guitar". He kept one, gave another to Edge and another to Daniel Lanois. Edge used most famously it on With or without you, but Michael Brook never got it patented and it never was mass produced. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Guitar

I think the Sustainiac was first released in 1987, so after the time of this interview. Just interesting to think about, reading this really old interview, thinking, well Steve Hackett's been playing that kind of thing for years. Oh yeah, this is a really old interview