Zitat des Tages über Bono:
Fame is a curse... it was the worst phase of my life, which I thank God I'll never have to go through again.
I remember writing lyrics for 'Take Me to Church' for a long time before I even had a song in mind for. It's not that I was trying to write that song for a year, but sometimes you just kind of collect lyrical and musical ideas and don't actually complete the song until you feel like they work together and have a home.
I find lyrics can come at any time during the day, as can music.
Why me? Why did this happen? How could I be in Westlife and then have nothing to show for it financially at the end of it? But it's like, why not me? That's just life. It's tough. There's a lot more problems in the world. There are a lot of people who would wish to God they had my problem instead of having a sick child.
It's pretty weird when you are just touring all the time and you don't have a normal life. You're out of touch with reality too much.
My dad was a blues musician around Dublin when I was a baby, so the only music I would listen to growing up was John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. It's music that feels like home to me.
I think that lyrically, 'Safe' is a very positive song: it's very strong; it's about keeping somebody safe and protecting people. I think everybody anywhere in the world can relate to it. I think everybody wants to feel safe; everybody wants to feel protected.
I think there's a difference between God and religion.
Together with a team of financial and legal experts I have spent months exploring all possible alternatives to bankruptcy but to no avail.
I've been a total Tom Waits dork for a long, long time.
I never had a real job either. I sort of fell out of school and ended up playing guitar.
My life at home is super simple. My local bar with my mates, cooking for my mother, making tables, planting vegetables: It's the classic idea of the artistic existence.
I used to play the piano in the band, and so there's some horrendous scenes of me playing the keyboards.
I really like to have a bit of direction, you know?
Rarely do I finish a song lyrically before I have a musical idea there, but then again, rarely ever would I finish a song musically before starting the lyrical ideas. So a lot of the time, they come in tandem, or they just come at a glance.
I will definitely start in small venues, as I want to find my feet as a performer; the first shows that Westlife did was ten dates at Wembley, which was just crazy. We didn't have a clue what we were doing because it was so big.
I don't think rock 'n roll is necessarily a young man's game. I think Neil Young is just as rock'n'roll now as he was in his 20s. I'd like to think we can still be edgy and challenging.
I enjoy music so much; it's such a passion in my life, and I hope that comes across.
Def Leppard is a rock band that can sing.
If there is any justice in the world, then eighties rock will never again serve to blight humanity as it did in that dark decade!
Bono is chairman and founding member of Over-Achievers Anonymous. He has an irrepressible drive to be great. He wants to achieve it all, which actually makes him very vulnerable.
I was in Cannes two years ago at our 'U23D' movie premiere. I love the French.
I remember always looking forward to listening to country music in the car with my mother, and it wasn't even something I enjoyed in the sense of music, but just being around music itself was enough.
When I was drumming with Mick Fleetwood I thought I looked half mad. I thought I looked half crazy.
I think lawyers who engage in pro bono service to protect those who cannot help themselves are truly the heroes and the heroines of the legal profession.
I was so famous that I couldn't leave the hotel room. I remember looking out of the window at all these fans but just feeling so isolated.
Capitol Records were very keen for me to write and see how I got on; I think that is what defined my sound. The first session I had was with two young up-and-coming writers, Nick Atkinson and Tom Wilding, and I went into a session a bit nervous because I hadn't written that many songs before.
We all run the risk of thinking that people have common sense sometimes.
Maggie is my sister-in-law, married to my brother David. She is a defense attorney who devotes 25 percent of her practice to pro bono wrongful-incarceration cases.
I remember my first show was a live TV show in Ireland, and I was just petrified. It was horrific.
I listened to a lot of bands that were happening at the time, but no one in particular.
Control of vibrato helps your musical expression.
Writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from.
Each gig is brilliant and fun. When it becomes a routine, we'll take a break. There's no point in doing it if you don't enjoy it.
Bono is my inspiration - not only as a rock star but as a humanitarian. We aren't just put on this earth to sell records. Maybe it's because of my upbringing, but I do consider myself a moral guy.
Life takes its path and sometimes there are people to blame. Of course there are bad people in this world. Good, bad, it happens unfortunately. But in a way I think if there was more focus on the good, more good would happen.
