“Nothing has come to us,” says Inhaler singer (and son of Bono) Elijah Hewson

‘Um … I have not seen my father-not-not-not-shelang. To be honest, I have no idea what he is doing or where he is. The only thing I know is that he is very good at making babies. “

Practice. That was of course not the intention.

The idea was innocent: let’s ask the other three band members of the Irish rock sensation inhaler for a change what their father does for a living, and whether that has influenced their own career. That issue is normally exclusively presented to the singer guitarist of the band, Elijah Hewson (25). Son of Paul Hewson, better known as U2 icon Bono.

Since the founding of Inhaler, in 2012, the eternal fathing continues to chase the son. How often Hewson and the other band members have already stated that the majority of their (young) fans U2 usually do not even know, or cautiously suggest that they all sold out shows, important support programs (Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon, Noel Gallagher, Harry Styles) , big festivals (Pinkpop, Glastonbury) and dozens of millions of streams may also owe their own qualities, does it always follow that one killer: is that also not because of your dad? In the United Kingdom, a fierce debate even flared up about so-called ‘Nepo babies’ that ride on the careers of their parents.

Outrage

Hence the question, as a variety: what do those other fathers actually do? And then the outpouring of guitarist Josh Jenkinson (25) is just as a bomb, although he himself – just like the rest of the band – can happily laugh about it. He has peace with his disappeared father, he assures several times. “Don’t worry, man. It’s okay. ” Grinning: “But I do know that he has no major influence on the music industry.”

“My father is retired, but he worked for Mars,” says drummer Ryan McMahon (25). “As a child I ate far too much of those chocolate bars. Bah.”

Hewson: “Your dad is Willy Wonka.”

McMahon: “Haha, right! But unfortunately it is not Gene Wilder! ”

Bassist Robert Keating (24): “My father is really a nerd. He is a computer programmer. I should actually ask if he can give us more Spotify streams. “

“Look,” laughs Hewson: “That’s real nepotism.”

The son is such a mirror image of his father that it seems as if the young Bono from 1985 has been reported to the present. “It is true that my father is famous. As a result, people may come to look at our shows faster, but it doesn’t ensure that they keep coming back. I am not a nepo baby in the sense that everything has come up. It is not that my father interferes with our music or picks us up and puts down everywhere. ”

McMahon: “Otherwise we would probably have been much bigger.”

Keating: “Just the suggestion that we would write songs with him is bizarre for me: I would never be able to handle that pressure. I’m overjoyed that we do that ourselves. “

Hewson: “One thing has always been important to us: very hard work. And although there will undoubtedly be people who think so: we have not received anything as a gift. ”

The four band members gathered in the Hilversum headquarters of record company Universal to talk about their third album Open widethat they will show a group of fans later this afternoon.

“It feels like it’s our first album,” says McMahon. On the boisterous debut It won always be like this (2021) which appeared during the Pandemie, were more or less all great hits from their early years. Because they could finally perform – after the Lockdown – and wanted to do that as much as possible, they completed the successor Cuts & Bruises (2023) In record tempo, between countless shows. Keating: “It seemed as if we were finally allowed to invent ourselves again.” McMahon: “It was our time to get weird. “

That realization, says Hewson, thanks to the collaboration with the British top producer and song smid Tom Hull alias Kid Harpoon, who previously scored monsters successes with Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus, Shakira and Rihanna. But the joke was that he turned out not to be the walking hit factory that the band initially saw him. McMahon: “We had not deliberately completed a few songs. When we let them hear, he only responded with: they are not ready yet, you have to finish that first. ” Hewson: “We naturally hoped that he would help with that. Like: Give us a hit! But he immediately said, Naah. ”

Kaleidoscopic

His magic was just creating freedom, the singer continues. “Tom taught us to make a record from a totally different idea: much more as a whole instead of a collection of loose songs. His ethos was: let’s just make what we want to hear ourselves. He refused to talk about possible singles and – for the first time – no managers or record bosses were allowed in the studio. ” Jenkinson: “Just like during Covid, we were completely in our own bubble again.”

That attitude of Open wide Much more a kaleidoscopic pop than rock plate made, with thirteen songs that regularly wink to dance shits from the eighties. Hewson: “Tom has given our music much more Groove.” McMahon. “It all went very spontaneously. In ‘Billy (Yeah yeah yeah)’ he conjured up crazy percussion from a modular synthesizer that he himself hardly understood. I am happy that we have loved a lot of such Happy Accidents. ” Hewson: “For” Your House “he came up with a gospel choir. That was really a shock, but it worked great. “

McMahon: “It is definitely an album where we can get the rock police behind us.” Keating: “For purists it is always about extremes. We are not a boy band, but also not Metallica. ” Hewson: “There are so many genres that we keep. We listen to Joy Division, Stone Roses but also to Prince. I don’t think there are still rules in music and if so, then we want to break them. ”

His father thinks it is a good album anyway, says the son, who used to be constantly asked for his opinion. “I remember how I was having breakfast in the kitchen in the morning and heard the same song in forty different versions in which one word had changed. “What do you think of this?” He always asked. That naturally fueled my wonder about music. We are both not afraid of being ambitious or to play great feelings. It is certainly not a curse to have such a father, but one hundred percent a blessing. ”

Open wide Van Inhaler is now out. On 10/5 Live: Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam.

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