February 2007 Archives

Win Butler talks exclusively to NME

Arcade Fire have criticised the marketing strategies of band's like U2, Oasis and the Rolling Stones.

Speaking in the new issue of NME, frontman Win Butler had a go at bands who aggressively force feed their music to fans.

Butler said: "It's not like we shun success, but at the same time we don't want to shove it down people's throats. In the U.K. there's this kind of rock star competition.

"I don't know if U2 started it, or the Stones or Oasis but a lot of bands think in terms of: 'I'm going to be the biggest band in the world. F**k all those bands who've got no ambition.' I think that's a total crock of s**t.

"There's nothing less interesting to me than the idea of marketing the f**k out of something so people are forced to like it. Some bands are just manipulating people to buy music. That's how 90 percent of the record industry works! It's basically the same as selling a f**king toaster or a cruise package."

Copyright © 2007 NME. All rights reserved.

Ian Guider

Profits at Paul McGuinness's Principle Management company grew last year, newly-filed accounts show.

The company, which manages U2 and other acts like Paddy Casey, made a pre-tax profit of EU283,003 in the year to end March 2006, up from EU203,170. The profits would have been even better were it not for a EU400,000 write off in the cost of an "unlisted investment," the accounts said.

Mr. McGuinness set up Principle more than 20 years ago and is the majority shareholder in the company. His business partner Trevor Bowen owns the remaining shares.

Mr. McGuinness has been with U2 since the band started in the 1980s and is widely referred to as its fifth member. He has also represented acts like PJ Harvey and Sinead O'Connor.

According to the Principle accounts, turnover for the years increased to EU4.5 million from EU3.7m. Even with higher administrative expenses operating profits at the end March 2006 increased to EU558,755 from EU111,661.

The company's balance sheet shows retained profits of EU7.7m. No dividends were paid out.

Part 2 of My Mis-Adventures in Ireland

by Brenda Clemons, U2 Station Staff Writer

Like I said in the first part of my story, there was absolutely nothing to do on a Sunday in Dublin during the 90's. And it definitely wasnt a good idea to go wandering around the docks at night. So, I was more than just a little excited when I happened upon Dockers.

Now, of course I knew what Dockers was. Dockers is the Dublin pub famous for being a U2 hangout. However, I did come upon it by accident. I really wasnt expecting to find it, literally, just around the block from Windmill Lane. In fact, I bet if you looked on a map, it would be directly in front of Windmill Lane. Dockers definitely didn't look like a hang out for world famous rock stars. It looked more like the kind of joint where you would find rowdy mid-shipmen. The kind who have been at sea way too long and looking to blow off some steam.

When I walked in, the amount of U2 memorabilia overwhelmed me. You cant help but know whose hangout this is. U2's gold and platinum records are hanging all over the place. If that didnt give it away, then the photos of U2 taken inside of Dockers surely did. But, I didn't have much time to drool over the memorabilia. In fact, I had only taken about 3 steps inside of the door, when a Japanese man approached me and said,

You, rock star?

I think my reply was, Huh?

The Japanese man asked again, You, rock star?