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The Edge

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This article is about the U2 guitarist with the "The Edge." For other usages, see Edge. For other people called David Evans, see David Evans (disambiguation).

Template:Guitarist infobox

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 and does not hold an Irish passport [citation needed] or dual nationality. 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.

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 rock 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, Dave came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he was persuaded to stay [citation needed] . Shortly after this persuasion, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was written.

The Edge married his secondary school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan in 1982. 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 1995, 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. 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.

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.

Music

On stage in Anaheim, 2005

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.

Much like his contemporary, Tom Morello, 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 will play both the piano and guitar parts simultaneously. After opening with the main piano melody, he will play 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" [citation needed] .

Musical equipment

The Edge plays: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time"), and lap steel.

Guitars

Amps: Vox AC30 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

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".

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Edge.
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Edge.
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