The Edge has revealed that U2 have an “awful lot of material” for their next album.
The ‘Beautiful Day’ rockers are planning their next studio record and the guitarist has revealed that the band are currently condensing down ideas they came up with during the coronavirus lockdown.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, The Edge said: “We’re working on so many different things. During the whole Covid lockdown, I just went crazy into creating tracks and song ideas. So we’re starting to go through some of those, and we’ve got an awful lot of material to wade through to see what it is.
“And I guess we’re at that great honeymoon period of a lot of experimentation, and looking at all kinds of possible themes musically.”
The Edge thinks that the guitar will be featured heavily on the next album, although he insists that it won’t be a “heavy rock” LP.
The 63-year-old musician said: “I think the guitar will be a big part of the next record, but I don’t think it’s going to be a heavy rock album. I think it’s going to be a very different kind of use of the guitar, not a straight-up rock thing.
“We’ve never done that. It’s just not who we are. We’ve always tried to avoid using the instrument in a way that’s too mainstream and kind of normal. We’ve always tried to find ways to use the guitar that has never been heard before, and it seems that’s an important part of what gets us excited.”
The Edge is hoping that he and bandmates Bono, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. can go on tour again in a way that is environmentally conscious following their residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas that finished earlier this year.
He said: “We’re looking forward to getting out and seeing our fans and going to where they are. I think that would be an important thing rather than them travelling to us.
“That helps on some levels cutting out some sort of the carbon emissions of touring, but I think we can find a way to cut back on carbon and still manage to get on the road and see our fans where they are.”