Voices On U2 – Kodaline's Steve Garrigan: "They've never been afraid to mess with their sound"

I grew up listening to The Joshua Tree and watching the Rattle And Hum live DVD. I think I was about eight when I first stumbled across U2, I remember hearing the intro of ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and it just blew me away.

You can hear the influence of U2’s sound in bands like The Stone Roses, The Killers, Kings Of Leon... the list goes on. To be honest, if it wasn’t for U2 I never would’ve started Kodaline. The fact that they were four lads from the North side of Dublin really inspired us and made us believe that we could do it.
The Edge is phenomenal. His choice of sounds is one of the unique things about U2. Bono’s raw emotion, showmanship and voice are other huge strengths. The songs are incredibly well written. Larry has a lot of feel as a drummer, unlike most who just hit them as hard as they can. In fact Larry and Adam together are the backbone of the band

99% of bands break-up for various reasons or usually just get sick of each other, but U2’s chemistry on stage is as good as it ever was, I actually don’t know how they stayed together but I’m glad they did.

I’ve always aspired to write big songs for my own band and still do, partly due to being a U2 fan. I believe that the songs are the main thing that carry any artist – and U2 have consistently delivered huge songs.

I like the fact that they’ve never been afraid to mess with their sound and get out of their comfort zones musically. They’ve also always paved the way in terms of live production and visuals. They’ve never been afraid to push the boat out. I always find myself wondering what they’re gonna do next.

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With two anniversaries rolled into one, 2020 is an important moment for U2 – marking 40 years since their extraordinary debut album Boy, and 20 years since their marvellously resonant All That You Can’t Leave Behind. To celebrate, we released the Hot Press U2: 80-00-20 Special – out now!