U2.COM : 'catholic'

Gavin Friday grew up on the same street as Bono, and was part of the ‘Lipton Village’ gang with Bono and their mate Guggi.
Gavin formed the Virgin Prunes with Guggi (and Edge’s brother Dik, among others) in 1977, and has enjoyed a celebrated and eclectic career since - as punk, performance artist, actor, soundtrack composer, and much more.  He also advises U2 on the visual and performance side of their work -  an “aesthetic midwife”, is the phrase he uses.
Gavin’s first solo album in 16 years – ‘catholic’ - was recently released to widespread acclaim. A good moment for U2.com to track him down again. (Here’s part one of our interview, with part two coming in a few days.

U2.com:The world has changed dramatically since you were young. Where does music fit today, for you?
I formed the Virgin Prunes as a 17-year-old from Dublin in the 1970s. Music was this incredible escape route, a way to express myself and to get out of a place I thought was going nowhere. The punk movement gave me the energy and license to form a band. I was making it up as I went along. Thirty-odd years later, I’ve learned a lot, I’ve become more of a musician than just a performer, but, at root, it’s what I do, it’s my life. I have no choice.

U2.com:Does music have the same power as it used to?
It can make a difference. There’s so much you can do and say and create. But I look around now, and see our country in ribbons, and I’m mystified that bands aren’t annoyed or angry or even writing about it. It seems like young people are treating music as a commodity, whereas for our generation it was a lifeline; it was blood. I was interviewed on a TV chat show recently, and they showed a clip of the Virgin Prunes from 1979. And the anger and the rage were phenomenal.

U2.com: But there’s a time to mature, presumably.
Yep. People say to me, “What you did in the Virgin Prunes was so anarchic, so expressive, so of a moment, and now look at you, making this album...” But this album is beautiful: it’s mature, and if you’re 51, you can’t be running around with make-up on, screaming.
How old is rock and roll? 55? 60? It was built on Elvis shaking his hips, the Beatles screaming, the Pistols spitting... But now, it’s a grown man. And the poignancy lies in its wisdom and its poetry. Look at U2 -  probably the most potent song for me in the last couple of years is ‘Moment of Surrender’. That came from the pen of a grown man. A 25-year-old couldn’t write that.

U2.com:How would the young Gavin Friday react to ‘catholic’?
It’s melodramatic enough, so he’d probably like it. I was a big fan of Bowie, Roxy Music and then punk, but I always liked Leonard Cohen as a kid; I liked the melancholy. When I heard Bowie on the radio, or Roxy Music, or later the Smiths, I’d think, “I’m not alone; someone else has been there.” And the poignancy of such kinsmanship is huge.

U2.com: Bowie developed personas. Were the names you gave each other in the Lipton Village an attempt to do something similar? Did they turn out to be more than just nicknames?
There was something to it, yes. I mean, we were only kids - 13 or 14 when we started giving each other names - and of course, most gangs of kids give each other nicknames. My real name is Fionan, you know, and my brothers call me ‘Finna’. But I was christened Gavin Friday by Bono and Guggi, because of my personality, my physicality... So the names came from something to do with our essence.
I’m not trying to big it up or put it down, but there was intuition there. A real intuition. And we held to it. When we were 17, we had these crazy ambitions - we’ll make films, we’ll do this, we’ll do that - and still, if I go out for a pint with Bono and Guggi, we’re making plans. We still have that thing that we want to keep doing.

U2.com: You’ve said that ‘catholic’ is about “waking from a deep sleep, letting go and coming to terms with loss”. What were you awakening from?
I was at Island Records for 12 years, but by the end of the 1990s they were taking down the posters of Bob Marley and Tom Waits and putting up the Sugababes. I was dropped. At the same time, I turned 40, my marriage broke up, and I got a serious illness... But then my father died, and it was then that I started waking up. I started writing again, but more from a personal point of view.
When I turned 50, Bono and Hal Willner organised a gig in Carnegie Hall in tribute of my work... I was on stage singing my own songs again, and that was it: I wanted it more than anything.

U2.com:From Lipton Village to Carnegie Hall!
I was completely blown out by that night. It was unbelievable who was on the stage.

U2.com: U2 were there, but didn’t play as U2?
When Bono first suggested the Carnegie night, I said, “OK. But there’s one thing: if the four of you are playing, you’re not playing as U2, and you’re not playing any U2 songs.” It was quite liberating for them all. I never saw a happier Larry Mullen in my life than when he was playing T-Rex.

U2.com:Have you helped to save U2 from themselves?
Yeah, I have. And they’ve helped me, too. We’re mates. We’ve been doing this since day one. I’d knock on the door of number 10 Cedar Wood and Bono would say, “Listen to this. It’s a new song we just wrote.” And I’d say, “That chorus isn’t good enough!” And he’d say, “Ah, maybe you have a point...”
So it started as kids, you know? “You’re set’s too long! Why are you doing a Ramones cover? Do your own song!”

U2.com: And still you knock on their door to lend an ear?
When you make an album, it’s like going into a cave. You’re living, breathing, eating it. Two months later, you’re like a rabbit in the headlights... So that’s when I’ll walk in on U2 and say, “What’s that? What’s this?”
I question. I kickstart. There is no bullshit. We speak the same language. I’ve known those four people for 35 years. I can smell them. And by the way, they’re the same with me. I was once at the end of my tether, recording Shag Tobacco, and Edge and Bono walked in and said, “Look! You’ve got a single there...” I said, “No I don’t!” Well, it ended up being ‘Angel’, one of my most popular songs, but I couldn’t see it at the time.

(Part Two of the interview coming shortly)