Better than the real thing?

By Andy Buchan, November 2007

Rumours of U2 visiting our sandy shores have been around longer than the pyramids. In lieu of the real thing, ZU2 frontman Russ Ashford chatted to Andy Buchan about being ‘Bono’ ahead of their gig at the Rugby 7s.

We are slowly following U2 around the world.

When we first started in 2000, it was only the odd-trip abroad for the first four years. But now, in our eighth year, we’ve done some stuff in Miami, Latvia, Moscow and back to Dubai. We are also due to go to India straight from Dubai.

I’ve been everything from a window cleaner to a car mechanic.

But I’ve always been interested in music – some kids go and play football and some go and pick up a guitar. My brother plays in the band – he’s the Edge – and we’ve always played in bands right from school age. We’ve always had regular jobs to make ends meet though – but we’ve been professional now since 2000. So it’s nice to hang around the pool before a gig instead of rushing from your day job.

There’s always new material to play.

That’s the good thing about being in a U2 tribute band. We do do a lot of rehearsing and we’re always improving the show. If you were in a Beatles tribute band, you’d be pretty limited as you’re not going to get any new music to play. It’s definitely an advantage as we can play a different set.

We’ve never snuck in an original track and passed it off as a long-lost b-side, but it’s a good idea.

We always have respect for the client and the crowd – we’ve been brought here to do a specific job. In saying that though, we’ve met a lot of the right people who could have given us our own record contract. But, when we need Zimmer frames, we might change and go into a Rolling Stones tribute act instead.

I’ve been a U2 fan for a long time now.

When we were first in a band, we used to model ourselves on U2 anyway – when I’d go down to the bar, people would stop and say I looked like Bono. And this was years before we even thought about being a tribute band. A lot of it does come naturally but I have to do my homework as well. I’ve watched the band a lot, own all the DVDs and I’ve listened to all his speeches.

We stood the real band up.

So we’ve not met them yet unfortunately. A friend of mine writes a U2 fanzine and he organised for us to meet them in Manchester. We were touring in Ireland and had to travel back to meet them, but the ferry was late and we couldn’t make it in the end. So I think we probably stood them up, which is not a good thing to do. We were in the south of France last week and Bono was there with his boat in the St Tropez regatta. We’re going back there so hopefully we can bump into him there. That would be wicked.

We try not to make our shows as politically upfront as U2’s.

And it’s not that we don’t agree with what he says. Bono represents a generation of people but I think people are buying a ticket to hear the music and not necessarily the politics. So, it’s a conscious decision to make our show more musical.

Pavarotti and Bono were great mates.

He respected Bono for his singing and recognised what a talent he is. There are some moments in the show were my voice can get a little strained but on a special evening, you can find that extra five per cent to hit the notes. I’d hate to think that Bono wouldn’t be remembered for his singing and lyrics but solely for his politics.

I’d never have plastic surgery to make me look more like Bono.

I do have a friend who’s a Michael Jackson tribute act though and he’s gone all the way. Well, you’d have to, wouldn’t you. When you say to him that you really do look like Michael Jackson, it’s not a compliment is it? Luckily, Bono is a good looking guy so there’s not much work for me to do.

We did get recognised in Miami.

The guy came over as we were drinking some champagne by the pool and all dressed up and asked if his girlfriend could have a photo taken with us. My conscience said ‘she’s very pretty so why not’, but I had to explain to him who we were. And although he didn’t look too deflated, he didn’t have the photo taken. I would hate to take advantage of it and then be caught out. I’ve never used me being Bono to book a table at a restaurant but I suspect the rest of the band do.

If I had Bono’s platform,

I’d be doing the exact same thing he’s doing and try to raise awareness about poverty. There shouldn’t be this miss-spread of wealth. Pop stars have too much money – they’re talented sure – but they get too much of the money. Bono has a 120ft boat and you do wonder if he couldn’t put that money to better use. But Bono and Bob Geldof have tried to raise the awareness and whether it’s helped is a different argument – but at least they stood up and that’s what pop stars should do, definitely.

If I could ask Bono any question it would be to put me in touch with U2’s sound engineer.

He wouldn’t want to talk to me anyway and I imagine I’d have a lot more to ask the sound engineer about. I’d probably ask Bono for a few quid actually [laughs].

ZU2 headlined at Rugby 7s on Saturday December 1 after Juliana Down.