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NEWMUSIC By JIM By JACQUI SWIFT GELLATLY “DEATH is nothing we ever get used to. It MT. DOUBT never gets easier to WHO: Leo Bargery. lose someone great,” WHERE: Edinburgh. FOR FANS OF: Bon Iver, says . Frightened Rabbit and Ben Backstage at Vancouver’s Howard. Rogers Arena, the singer JIM SAYS: Scotland seems is talking about losing awash with great singer-song- writers at the moment. loved ones. A lot of artists start out on the There have been huge losses to deal with at the start of their thriving open mic scene, but Innocence + Experience tour. I’m not sure Edinburgh’s Mt. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr lost Doubt has actually performed his dad, and had to fly back for his songs live yet. That cer- the funeral in Dublin as the band tainly adds to the intrigue. continued with rehearsals. The 21-year-old first caught Then news came, just ahead of my attention at the end of last their second show, that legendary year when he forwarded his guitarist BB King — who U2 had debut single Feathers. Sticking worked with on their 1988 Rattle a few songs on Soundcloud And Hum album — had died after and gaining traction from long-term health problems. music blogs, he’s steadily been And on Tuesday, just two weeks building his profile online. after SFTW’s chat, the band’s He said: “Mt. Doubt is a rela- long-standing tour manager tively new concept. The project Dennis Sheehan died at 68. started at the tailend of 2014 as He was found unconscious in a consolidation of what I had his hotel room at Los Angeles’ been doing by myself for quite Sunset Marquis Hotel, just hours some time. I felt the songs lent after U2 played their first of five themselves to being part of LA shows. one collection.” In a statement Bono said: The result is the stunning “We’ve lost a family member, debut album My Past Is A Quiet we’re still taking it in. He wasn’t Beast, set for release next just a legend in the music week. It was recorded with pro- business, he was a legend in our lific producer Mark Morrow, band. He is irreplaceable.” who seems responsible for most of the emerging acts that The plan was for a I’m listening to at the moment more intimate affair (including his own band The Winter Tradition). Mt. Doubt is On Wednesday night the band very much just Leo, though paid tribute to Sheehan at their second LA Forum show. With a huge photo displayed on the venue screen, and as Bono introduced Iris (Hold Me Close), a song written about the death of his mum when he was just 14, he said: “What a privilege to share the stage with these brothers of mine and to share this evening with you who have given us everything. “U2 is kind of family and our extended family is very, very important to us. We look after each other and it takes a lot to put on a show like tonight. when it comes to live shows he “Last night we lost a member of plans to bring in more players. our family. Dennis Sheehan was The album stands out from his name. He was U2’s tour other singer-songwriters in manager for 33 years.” that it does have the feeling of a Earlier he also told the crowd: band, despite some very per- “A lot of U2 songs over the years sonal songs. Leo said: “It’s an were written to fill a void, an album which has been heavily, absence, a hole in a heart left by heavily influenced by my teen- a loved one. With the loss of age years and the strange tran- Sheehan, U2 has such a wound.” sition into whatever I am now. SFTW had been lucky enough “It ties up all the strange feel- to join the band at the start of ings of regret and lust, confu- the tour — and see just how close sion and panic that really fuel the U2 team are. those years.” At a special party in Vancouver’s Diamond bar, Bono There’s a lot going on the thanked the tour team for making album, with some lovely instru- the show a success. mentation. I love how it veers “Being in U2 is not just about from delicate textures to more the four of us in the band,” Bono full-on sounds. told me earlier in one of their Some tracks have a Springs- many dressing rooms. teen feel, while others are more “The magic trick with this one is accompanied by state-of-the-art on a bit of a wave at the moment “There’s a huge team we’ve that it feels at times like we’ve technology designed by long-time and feeling really good about it.” akin to The Twilight Sad. Once worked with for a long time. So shrunk the place. set designer Willie Williams with The tracks on Songs Of he starts performing the songs when Larry returned home for his “How many shows have you help from award-winning designer Innocence are some of the most I’m sure we are in for a treat. dad’s funeral, we stayed getting been to where you are in the Es Devlin, known for the London personal songs of U2’s career and Mt. Doubt plays a launch gig ready for the first night. But back and can’t see anything? It 2012 Olympic closing ceremony. Bono says writing has been a for My Past Is A Quiet Beast at Larry had a peace about him, he kind of sounds good but with this Later that week, with a few form of therapy. the Mash House in Edinburgh had made peace with his father.” we want it to be total immersion. more shows under their belt and “Everyone has those first on June 26. Twenty per cent of U2’s Innocence + Experience “The reviews have been now in Phoenix, Arizona, The experiences,” he says. “The street all album sales will be going to shows arrive four years after their amazing. It also shows that tells me: “It’s all about they grew up on, a house, a The Rock Trust Charity, sup- 360° tour — the biggest-grossing Apple experiment really worked responding to the audience — we bedroom, a window they looked porting young people in Edin- tour in history with £481million for us because we’ve had a never want to feel like the show out of, a first love. burgh and the Lothians who from ticket sales. younger audience who know all is on train tracks. “And I was trying to answer the are homeless or at risk of The plan was these tunes and they’ve question, ‘Why did I want to be in becoming homeless. to scale things been listening to them a ‘We’re on a bit of a a band in the first place?’ When I MORE: facebook.com/ back for lot. That is a thrill for was an angry teenager I was sent MtDoubt Innocence + us.” wave at the moment’ to see somebody. I must have l Jim presents Drivetime on Experience The first half of the “Some nights we will stick to bored them after a few weeks XFM Scotland, Monday to and make it a show is centred the setlist but we will probably because they were like, ‘Ah, you Friday 4-7pm. more personal, around their latest think of a couple of changes. are fine, get out of here’. xfm.co.uk intimate affair album, opening Some nights we will deviate and “Music has always been my jimgellatly.com. for fans. with The Miracle go on a different direction. therapy and, in a band, people are But after (Of Joey Ramone) “Noel Gallagher came to one of so close that you can’t really hide watching U2 and includes the shows and he was so generous anything from each other. TAM’S ON soundcheck, I tell Cedarwood Road, with his praise. I think he is a “I think everyone in U2 has HOLIDAY. Bono it’s the biggest Song For Someone huge fan anyway, but he really these sore things. You can’t be “scaled back” show and Raised By went out and said it was the best alive, you can’t go through life, SCOFF THE I’ve ever seen. He laughs: Wolves. It is all without some cuts and bruises.” BALL RETURNS thing he’d seen for ages. We are ON JUNE 19