The Edge has been telling hotpress.com about the inspiration behind the new U2 album which is due in summer 2003.

Says the wooly-hatted one: "Right now, I'm getting very excited about bands playing together in a room and what that sounds like. It sounds very fresh to me. So the albums I'm excited about are things like the Sonic Youth record or Mudhoney - things that are very visceral. And dynamics and interaction of musicians is really a part of those records. You don't really hear a lot in the way of production or manipulation of the sound. It's what it is.

"As pop music gets more and more produced, and hip hop gets more and more sophisticated sonically, I think there's a real power to a raw band sound," he continues. "And I think people are reacting to it because it's so different to everything else out there. That's why I like it. It kind of reminds me of the feeling when we first formed. The bands that we were listening to had that kind of life force, that vitality. And I think it's time to revisit that."

Meanwhile, Bono revealed during a webchat this week that they've come up with a song called 'Full Metal Jacket' that's "the mother of all rock 'n' roll tunes".

"Lary and Adam haven't heard it yet," he divulges, "but Edge brought round a CD of a new tune. I don't know where it came from but it's a remarkable guitar thing. You want to hear it - it's a reason to make a record. The song is that good!"

We'll have more words - thousands in fact - with U2 in the next issue of Hot Press, out on November 21.