The Edge
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This article is about the U2 guitarist known as "The Edge." For other usages, see Edge. For other people called David Evans, see David Evans (disambiguation).
| The Edge | |
|---|---|
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| Born | August 8, 1961 London, England |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | U2 |
| Notable guitars | Gibson Explorer Fender Stratocaster Gibson Les Paul Custom |
| Years active | 1976 - present |
The Edge is the moniker of David Howell Evans (born August 8, 1961), the lead guitarist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Evans was born in Barking, East London, England. When he was a year old, his family moved to Dublin, though he has retained his British citizenship. His distinctive electric guitar timbre along with his innovative use of digital sound processing, both in the studio and on stage, have helped define U2's sound.
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[edit] Biography
Dave Evans received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dick Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. seeking musicians to form a jazz band [citation needed]. This band would go through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978. (Dick Evans left the band just before the name change [citation needed].)
In 1982, The Edge came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he was persuaded to stay [1] . Shortly after this persuasion, The Edge wrote a piece of music that was to become "Sunday Bloody Sunday".[2]
The Edge married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983.[3] The couple had three daughters together: Hollie, Arran and Blue Angel. The Edge and O'Sullivan separated in 1991 but could not divorce due to Irish law. Divorce was legalized in 1995 and the couple divorced in 1996.
In October 1997, The Edge had a fourth daughter, Sian Beatrice Echo, with Morleigh Steinberg, a dancer from U2's early 1990s Zoo TV Tour. Their son, Levi, was born in September 1999. The couple married on June 22, 2002.
The Edge's hair started thinning in his early twenties, as a result of which he has worn hats or caps on stage, in photo shoots, and on album covers since The Joshua Tree album and tour. From the period of the Joshua Tree up until Achtung Baby and early Zoo TV he had very long hair. It has progressively been dissapearing. He now wears a wool cap at all times in public, and even wore one at his wedding to Steinberg in 2002. This cap has become part of his distinctive "look," as has wearing shirts with numbers on them during the Elevation Tour concerts. During the Pop era, however, The Edge was known for his cowboy hat and handlebar moustache.
The Edge's humanitarian work has been currently focused on the charity Music Rising. They give musical instruments to musicians who lost theirs in Hurricane Katrina.
The Edge first aquired his now legendary Electro Harmonix Memory Man Deluxe upon the suggestion of Bono. Bono allegedly asked him "Have you heard the start of Pink Floyd's Animals? (It is likely the song Bono was refering to was "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" as it is the first use of delay on the album. It is possible that he was talking about "Sheep", however) , you've got to get one of those echo units". The Edge now says that he usually set the tempo of the unit extremely high as he didn't have a clue how to use it.
[edit] Nickname
There is considerable speculation as to how Evans received his nickname "The Edge". While his bandmate Bono has joked that Evans received the name because of his sharp mind,[citation needed] most of U2's biographers attribute the nickname to the sharp profile of his face and nose.[citation needed] However, the most widely accepted reason attributes his nickname to the "edgy" sound he makes while playing guitar.[citation needed] This peculiar style sounds as if he were playing chords with the edge of a knife. Bono also made reference to the name in the commentary track of the movie The Million Dollar Hotel, saying that the Edge tends to stand close to the edges of buildings because of his comfort with heights.
[edit] Music
As a guitar player, The Edge is recognised as having a trademark sound typified by understatement, a chiming, shimmering sound that is achieved with extensive use of digital delay effects, reverb and a focus on texture and melody. 1987's The Joshua Tree is probably the best example of the 'U2 sound', with songs like "With or Without You" and "Where the Streets Have No Name" being amongst the band's most critically acclaimed and best loved works. The album was recorded at the height of the 1980s "shred-metal" era, but The Edge's guitar playing on it could not be further from the emphasis of the time on technique and speed (for example, Edge has suggested that With or Without You could easily have gone off into a huge guitar solo, a la "November Rain", but instead resolves after a brief drum interlude to a relaxed and "chilled out" strummed guitar part, which he cites as his favorite from the album). The album showcases The Edge's approach to the guitar: rather than trying to push his guitar to the front of the mix and make his contributions obvious, The Edge focuses on the song and the mood, often contributing just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present digital delay. The intro riff to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's '80s material made heavy use of echo. His influence as a guitarist can be seen on many bands still active such as Radiohead, Muse, Coldplay, Angels and Airwaves, and much of the indie/alternative scene, especially Editors, whose drummer's style is also very similar to that of Edge's bandmate, Larry Mullen.
The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2's singer Bono. As a vocalist, his contributions to the band's overall sound are certainly underappreciated. U2's 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and Live At Red Rocks are good reference points for his singing. (So are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, U2: Go Home and U2 Live From Boston.) For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are often in the form of a repeated cry; this style was probably at least partially inspired by later Beatles recordings such as "Helter Skelter" (of which U2 has recorded a cover version). Examples of songs that use this approach include: "Beautiful Day" and "New Year's Day". The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" (Rattle and Hum), "Numb" (Zooropa), the first half of the song "Seconds" from (War), the falsetto parts at the end of "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" from All That You Can't Leave Behind and in "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" and a verse in the song "Miracle Drug" (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb). He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the Popmart Tour).
He has played piano and keyboards on a myriad of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down," "October," "New Year's Day," "Running To Stand Still," "Miss Sarajevo," "The Hands that Built America," and "Original of the Species." In fact, in live versions of "New Year's Day," he plays both the piano and guitar parts simultaneously. After opening with the main piano melody, he plays the guitar and piano simultaneously on the first verse. In most live versions of "Original of the Species" (Two notable exceptions being the shows in Milan and Amsterdam), piano is the only instrument played during the song.
Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he has played the bass guitar on at least one occasion. For the song "40" The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments on both the album and live versions with the exceptions of the performances of the song during the Popmart Tour where Edge played it with his guitar.
In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine named The Edge #24 on their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". [1]
[edit] Musical equipment
The Edge plays: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time"), and lap steel.
Compared to many lead guitarists, Edge uses many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night. Edge takes 45 on the road (touring), and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert.
Guitars (and some of the songs they have typically been used to play)
- Gibson Explorer (Beautiful Day, The Saints Are Coming I Will Follow, Miracle Drug, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, Out Of Control)
- Fender Stratocaster (Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Pride (In the Name of Love), Sunday Bloody Sunday (1980s), All I Want Is You, "40" (Adam uses a Stratocaster when played live))
- Gibson Les Paul Custom (Zoo Station, Walk On, New Year's Day, One, Numb, Mofo, Kite, Exit), (The Electric Co.)
- Gibson Les Paul Goldtop (Until the End of the World (played with a capo on the 3rd fret), Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me)
- Gibson SG (Elevation)
- Fender Telecaster (Sunday Bloody Sunday (recently), Vertigo)
- Rickenbacker 330-12 (Mysterious Ways, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Window In The Skies)
- Gretsch Country Gentleman (City of Blinding Lights)
- Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic (Love and Peace or Else , The Fly)
- Epiphone Casino (All Because of You, electric versions of Original of the Species)
- Epiphone Sheraton (All Because of You clip, Crumbs from Your Table)
- Gibson J-200 (Yahweh)
- Gibson Hummingbird
- Fernandes Decade (Discothèque, With or Without You)
- Fernandes Native Pro (With or Without You)
- Fernandes Retrorocket (With or Without You)
- Gibson ES-330 (One (On The Zoo TV Tour))
- Gibson ES-335 (One Tree Hill)
When he plays Adam's bass for "40", He used the Ibanez Musician in The 1980's and the Lakland Daryll Jones Signiture for The Vertigo Tour
Amps:
- Vox AC30- his 1964 AC30 has been used to record every single U2 album and has been used for every single concert.
- Fender Deluxe Tweed
- Fender Blues Jr
- Roland JC120
Pedals and Rack:
- "Floor board" - Boss TU-2, Digitech WH-1, Dunlop Wah, Skrydstrup SC-1 (foot controller)
- "Rack" -Lexicon PCM, TC Electronics Delay, Line6 Pod Pro, Korg SDD 3000, AMS S-DMX, Korg A3, Line 6 CUSTOM Distion Pro , Rockton DVC
- "Pedals" - Ibanez Tube Sreamer, BOSS GE-7 , BOSS CS-2, BOSS FA-1, EHX Big Muff, Lovetone Meatball, Lovetone Doppelganger
Keyboards Used:
- Yamaha CP70
- Electric Grand Piano
[edit] Solo recordings
In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with artists like Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, and Ron Wood.
The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film Captive (1986).
He also created the theme song for Series 1 of "The Batman".
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- U2.com, official U2 site
- The Edge at the Internet Movie Database
- A Study of The Edge's Guitar Delay
- Huge library of instruments, effects, amps and others, used by The Edge
- Music Rising
- The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1961 births | Living people | English guitarists | Irish guitarists | English rock guitarists | Irish rock guitarists | Christian musicians | Rock musicians | U2 | Natives of County Dublin | Natives of Essex | English Methodists | People known by pseudonyms | Batman music
