1. Every month we put an U2 fan in the spotlights, the fan of the month May 2009 is user WojBhoy. Harry, as his real name is, is living in England and 18 years old. Harry has a thing for guitars and has a lot to tell us. Take your time to read more on this great fan.

    Every fan of the month has an interview with us, you can read our interview with WojBhoy in this topic:


    Tell us something about yourself, who are you and what do you do for a living?
    Hey all! My name's Harry, I'm 18 and I come from the south of Norfolk in England, where I've lived all my life. I'm coming to the end of my first year of university - I study at the University of East Anglia, taking a degree in Society, Culture & Media - and at this point would heartily recommend the student life to all and sundry if the chance is given to you! I'm very much into my sports - I play football mainly (a lifelong Norwich City fan, also follow Udinese, essentially my second team) whilst also taking a keen interest in rugby and cricket. However, my main past-time, I think it's safe to say, is music. I first learnt to play the flute and piano up until I was around 11 or so, then lost interest. However, it was when I first started listening to U2 and Runrig (my other favourite band) in earnest that I really got into music properly, and as a result I re-taught myself to play piano and took up the guitar (must be some 4-5 years ago now), and my guitars are now my pride and joy. Erm, what more to say? I generally try to live life to the full and to make the most of whatever opportunities come my way because you never know what's around the corner. As the song goes, 'it's a beautiful day - don't let it get away'.

    As a member of British student life, how do you feel U2 are perceived by the general public, particularly youths, in 2009?
    Well, from my experience, I'm only one of a few people that I know who like U2 - most of my friends from high school, 6th form and now at Uni. are into different music scenes and often are a bit sceptical of my love for U2. I couldn't be sure exactly why that is, because from my point of view U2 have been and continue to be one of the best bands around in this day and age - you don't achieve the success they have by being universally crap, as far as I'm concerned. However, if pushed, I'd put forward a couple of reasons - Bono's public image could be argued to be damning for the band, because people don't like those who use their public profile to instigate change and try to make something of it, because in our culture those who put themselves in the public eye are seen as viable to be shot down. On a musical level, they're very different to a lot of other bands - for instance, someone like the Edge is not your average or typical guitarist because he doesn't fit into the generic concept of the gunslinging lead guitarist that most people (I'd say) associate with and they often fail to look beyond the norm to see what he adds to the band, and I don't think you could say that the band fit into any particular field that people can relate to - it's almost as if they're a genre unto themselves and they've always done what they're best at and adhered to that, and that's not a stance that seems to fit into the current British music scene.

    Does anyone in your family or one of your friends like U2? If so, did they introduce you to U2, or did you "convert" them?
    I've never converted anyone (as far as I know) - I simply know people who also like the band etc. Family-wise, my dad would be the one I'd say is most compatible with U2 - he was aware of them in the late '80s and is most comfortable listening to stuff from that era, but he's not a big fan, he's just a music lover in general. I put together a playlist for my mum to listen to on her computer and again, she listens to some of the stuff (she told me the other day that Yahweh is the song of theirs she likes best) without being a big fan, whilst my brother doesn't really like them - he's more into Iron Maiden, Nightwish etc., i.e. he's one of the 'face-melting-solo' brigade. Friends-wise, I have a couple who are as into U2 as I am, but that's really it - most of my circle of friends either like them without being too bothered about them, or they just dismiss them. The main point of contention always seems to be around Vertigo, and who U2 ripped it off from, which kinda bugs me because a) how are we to know if they ripped it off anyone or what? and b) there are fair better songs than Vertigo out there in their discography in my opinion! Interestingly, I've just come back from Lincoln where I was staying with a couple of friends from Uni., and two of them (both big Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things & Oasis fans) said to me that they felt Atomic Bomb was much better than NLOTH, from which there were only a couple of songs that are apparently any good. Shows you what they know

    What would you like to ask U2 if you got the chance to?
    'Fancy paying off my student loan in a few years?'

    Can you name your favourite guitar-related U2 song, and tell us why it's your favourite?
    Not easily! Talk about putting me on the spot...hmm. There's so many things one could look at with U2's music where guitars are concerned. I mean, there are so many songs in their discography where Edge's work becomes the song, e.g. Pride (In The Name Of Love), Bad and Where The Streets Have No Name, The Fly, Until The End Of The World, In A Little While etc. or like with much of the earlier stuff, the guitar part counterparts Bono's vocals with an alternative melody, e.g. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, An Cat Dubh and Like A Song, and I won't even start on songs where the guitar plays a different role altogether, e.g. stuff like Lemon and Mofo. I would be inclined to say Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses simply because it's my all-time favourite song, but I'm actually gonna plump for I Will Follow. It's emblematic of that which I feel U2 represent above all else - the ability to put together music that is so much more than its individual components; Bono's emotive vocals, Larry's thunderous drums, Adam's driving bassline and of course, that epic stadium-sized riff ripping out of Edge's AC30s. To me, it's a timeless guitar-line, and the song itself never gets old - whether I listen to the album version or live versions from over the years of the band's career, it sends shivers down the spine and just sets off something inside. There's nothing quite like getting the Explorer out, plugging in, setting up and hammering out those notes...

    ...It's going off in the heart...

    What is your favourite U2 bootleg, and why? Do you often listen to bootlegs?
    Wow, thanks for yet another toughie...I think the top 10 on my profile has Paris 1992-05-07 at the top, but I need to update it. There are a few shows inc. Paris '92 which will always be in and around my top ten - Stockholm 1992-06-11, Boston 2005-05-28 and Cardiff 2005-06-29 to name a few - but I think Sacramento 2001-11-20 has overtaken them all. It's U2 doing what they do best - playing their music and taking people somewhere else for a few hours of their lives. It's what the Elevation 3rd leg was all about, and in recent times that has become my favourite leg from all the band's tours. The opening and acoustic sets get the place jumping (inc. one of my favourite versions of Mysterious Ways) before a great Bad/Streets segue - can't forget the Norwegian Wood & Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses snippets! - but for me, it's the terrific performance of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/Stand By Me alone that makes the bootleg worth downloading.

    You'll be attending your first U2 gigs this year. What are you most excited by for the 360 Tour?
    As the saying goes, I'm absolutely buzzing about it! For one, there's the sheer experience of finally seeing U2 after having spent over half my life being a fan of them. Two, it's just thinking about the prospective setlists, e.g. what songs they're gonna retain from previous tours, what ones they're going to play from the new album and just the general excitement that precedes going to any gig, only this time it'll be the band I've been waiting to see more than any other, and what's more I'm going to 2 shows in a week, and quite frankly I can't wait. Should also mention at this point that it will also be great to finally meet those of the U2start community who are gonna be at Sheffield and/or Cardiff - see you there!

    What do you make of the relative lack of success of NLOTH in the charts?
    Very little to be honest. Obviously, commercial success is generally a decent thing for one's favourite bands because success means they are able to continue to produce music etc. although U2 being U2, they've kinda been doing that for 30 years now, so it's not as if they're hard up. However, I'm more of a musical idealist - the actual musical content of new music is more important to me than chart positions, album sales etc. I've bought a copy of the album and the Get On Your Boots single, and whether anyone else does or no isn't really my concern - what matters to me is whether I think the music is any good, and in this case No Line On The Horizon has proved to be a great piece of work. The more I listen, the better it gets. By no means is it perfect, but that said, I'm also one who thinks that perfection is impossible to achieve. I didn't have any expectations for the new album, and thus I was very impressed with what the boys had put together - only time will tell if it can hold its own compared with the critical acclaim and success of U2's previous work, not simply the album sales after less than 2 months on the shelves.

    When you're forced to leave to a deserted island and you can take only one U2 album with you, which would it be?
    Bit of a grim outlook isn't that? I wasn't aware I was going to end up on a desert island! It might be a bit of a cliché but it would have to be a tossup between Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree - they were the two albums that really captured my imagination when I first started listening to U2, and they still do. No Line On The Horizon has the potential to be up there, but time will tell on that score. Having given some consideration, I think I'm gonna stick with Achtung Baby simply because it has Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses on it, and that is (as already mentioned) my favourite song, so if there's gonna be a deciding factor between two fantastic albums, it'll have to be that.

    Where do you most prefer to listen to U2?
    Erm, probably in my car simply because I'm usually on my own so I can sing as loud as I want and play it as loud as I want (and if I'm not on my own, whoever's in the passenger seats has no choice to listen 'cause I'm driving and what I say goes...)! I listen to U2 more in my room (at home or at Uni.) or on my mp3 player when I'm on the bus or something, but I think if preferance is called into question, it would be my car because it's more fun although the choice of material is limited because I only have a CD player in said car, and am yet to burn anything onto CD other than a U2 driving playlist. On that score, I was a bit peeved when I got around to finally playing said CD in the car because, a while back, my friend made me put Pete Doherty's new solo album onto my laptop, and for some reason it ripped it as No Line On The Horizon so when I burned what I thought was Breathe onto said CD-R, I actually got some bloody awful song consisting of incoherent acoustic plinking and the kind of wailing I'd associate with a cat dying - most upsetting...

    Thanks for this interview WojBhoy!

    Note: Our crew members randomly pick fans of the month, you can't sign up for it
  2. That was quite a good read - with some funny little bits too.
  3. Hey Harry,
    Glad to see Wild Horses is still your favourite.
    For a while there I thought North and South of the River was taking over...
    Great read and hope to see you around here more after the tour takes off!
  4. Nice one Harry
    And funny too lol
  5. Cheers guys
    Originally posted by aussiemofo:Hey Harry,
    Glad to see Wild Horses is still your favourite.
    For a while there I thought North and South of the River was taking over...

    Aha, I thought I should have to put you at ease m'man North & South is a close second, but definitely second! I need to sort out my top 10 songs 'cause I have to work Breathe into it now...
  6. Whee, very nice extended answers! I especially liked your opinion on I Will Follow .
    I'm gonna be in Sheffield and Cardiff! Let's see if we meet .
  7. Hi interview Harry , especiailly agree with what you said about U2 and British youths, U2 does seem to have become more of a specific taste nowadays, don't that I care
  8. Again, cheers guys
    Originally posted by loftarasa:Whee, very nice extended answers! I especially liked your opinion on I Will Follow .
    I'm gonna be in Sheffield and Cardiff! Let's see if we meet .

    Ah, that would be pretty cool for sure
    Originally posted by Hans23:Hi interview Harry , especiailly agree with what you said about U2 and British youths, U2 does seem to have become more of a specific taste nowadays, don't that I care

    More for us ones what knows eh?
  9. Harry!!!
    Very nice interview man!!!!
    My dear wanna-be-cassanova-as-me!!!
    hahaha!!
    very interesting interview, as many others have pointed out, nice words you had for I Will Follow, awesome song....
    and you're in for a treat this summer, I'm very jealous!!!! 2 gigs in a week???? lucky you mate!!!!

    as always, all the best mate!!!
  10. Originally posted by JohnnyVOXX:Harry!!!
    Very nice interview man!!!!
    My dear wanna-be-cassanova-as-me!!!
    hahaha!!
    very interesting interview, as many others have pointed out, nice words you had for I Will Follow, awesome song....
    and you're in for a treat this summer, I'm very jealous!!!! 2 gigs in a week???? lucky you mate!!!!

    as always, all the best mate!!!

    You are my idol Jonny, I can't deny it! re. the summer, I can't bleedin' wait, it's gonna be absolutely fantastic
  11. I have been waiting for this for months Excellent interview Harry! (and excellent choice crew!)
  12. No time now to read it, but I'll do soon. Good choice to pick you, Harry.