Sounds like you may need to wait longer than anticipated for U2‘s new album (singer Bono says it will be “an unreasonable guitar record” with “big choruses”). The iconic frontman and bassist Adam Clayton were interviewed by MOJO and said progress is “somewhat tied” to drummer Larry Mullen Jr.
In case you aren’t up on what’s happened – U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. is currently recovering from neck surgery – which made him pull out of playing at the band’s Vegas Sphere residency. At the time, Clayton said, “The whole band and I’m sure the audience are going to be very sad and miss Larry. He wants to come back, he wants to be able to have a long career and continue his drumming so he’s taking care of those injuries.”
Now, Clayton says working on new music has kinda stalled, “Starting work on new songs is somewhat tied to Larry’s situation. Could he commit to an album project? I don’t know.”
Speaking to Mojo, Bono talked about the band’s decision to replace Mullen with Dutch drummer Bram van den Berg, “It’s beyond the beyond of ‘tough’.”
Bono added, “It was the late ’70s, the last time we played without Larry. I think a motorcycle fell on his foot, and he couldn’t play, and we had a drummer called Eric [Briggs]. That wasn’t a great feeling, but Eric was very good-looking and Larry hurried back – he hopped behind the kit! But it’s not just that, you know, it’s a psychic force that Larry brings.”
Bono also talked about the impact of Mullen’s injuries playing on their new track ‘Atomic City’, saying, “He played for far longer than he’d planned over the next few days. And I think if you look at the video, you can see his back is in pain.”
So, it’s a matter of time. You can bet that Larry is doing his best to get back touring condition as quickly as possible. I wonder if the band will just upload that to our itunes library, or will they make you pay for new music?