Patti interview on U2.com

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Looks like this was actually put up on the U2
site _before_ the MSG shows:


    http://www.u2.com/highlights/index.php?hid=194

Patti The Punk Rocker

U2 have had some pretty cool acts playing with them during
2005 but none as legendary or influential as Patti Smith
who will support them at Madison Square Garden early next
week.

It was thirty years ago this month that Patti's debut
album Horses was released, an album that was to have a
seminal influence on four teenage musicians in Dublin -
and thousands of others worldwide. As long ago as 1988 U2
covered 'Dancing Barefoot' for a b-side release and during
Vertigo '05 shows they've interjected snatches of her
songs 'Rock'n'Roll Nigger' into Vertigo and 'The People
Have The Power' into Bad. Earlier this week, Bono
dedicated Wild Horses to 'Patti the punk rocker'.

A remastered version of Horses has just been released,
complete with a live version performed at the Meltdown
Festival in London in the summer. You can find out more
about what she is up to [at www.pattismith.net].

U2.Com caught up with Patti on the US West Coast earlier
this week and discovered how Michael Stipe surprised her
by taking her along to a U2 show last month, why she
thought they sound 'like a punk rock band', which member
of the band she met as a teenager and how 'art is meant
for the people'.

U2.Com: Are you touring with the band at present or doing
poetry readings?

Right now I'm doing a little tour with Lenny Kaye to
celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of our record Horses.
Since Lenny and I developed most of the songs together we
thought it would be nice to visit some of those place
where we first performed those songs. So we've been
performing acoustically on the West Coast and then I've
also been doing some readings because I have a new book of
poetry coming out. Even though I have been around for a
long time, I still feel that I have something to
contribute and I think next year we will do a cover album,
songs that have taught and inspired me through the years.
We'll sit down and look at the whole canon of rock'n'roll
and choose some songs where writers have spoken for me.

U2.Com: Does the thirtieth anniversary of Horses give you
pause for reflection?

I was surprised when I realised it would be thirty years.
I hadn't really realised it and I am actually quite proud
because I feel I am still in touch with the songs. I feel
very healthy and I still feel able to project the songs. I
feel very good about where we are right now but I am also
proud to have done a body of work which has proved
meaningful to people. To mark the thirtieth anniversary we
started out performing Horses live in sequence at the
Meltdown Festival in the summer with Tom Verlaine and with
Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and that was exciting
so we will do the same at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on
November 30th . We will have celebrated in London, on the
West Coast and then in New York.

U2.Com: Did you ever imagine that album would prove so
influential - and for so long?

No. I was just hoping the record would inspire people.
When I recorded Horses I wanted to make a record for
people like myself, who were outside society, who felt
disenfranchised. I really never imagined that it would
have any big impact, but I thought some people might find
it helpful so it is really quite amazing and a wonderful
feeling that it still means something to people thirty
years later.

U2.Com: At the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame Awards earlier
this year, Larry noted your influence on U2 as a young
band and said that you were in U2's Rock'n'Roll Hall of
Fame. Is that kind of recognition rewarding?

That means more to me than the recognition of the Hall of
Fame itself, because the recognition of one's peers and
fellow musicians is what really counts, It is an honour to
be recognised by such institutions but I have say to be in
'U2's Hall of Fame' is really special, to be in the
People's Hall of Fame is all one needs. I feel very
touched by that. One doesn't really realise this impact at
the time or think about it. I never realised truthfully
that we had any impact on these younger groups and when I
listen to them, they are so strong and have such unique
qualities that I certainly see no comparison but I think
that if we did anything to inspire these groups or to give
them courage or to help them feel not alone then we did
our job.

U2.Com: It seems improbable but when you support U2 next
week it will be the first time you have ever played
Madison Square Garden.

Yes, our first time! Even though our band is American we
are still a fairly marginalised band and I have to say
that probably we would have never gotten an opportunity to
play at MSG if someone didn't give us a chance. In my
thirty-plus years this is the first time I have been
invited by a band to play so it is great. Not only are we
going to experience being a New York band playing at the
Garden - which is a dream - but we are doing it with
people who share our beliefs and who are such an important
part of the current cultural voice.

U2.Com: Were you surprised at the invitation?

Yes and I was excited. We had to make some last minute
adjustments but we did everything we could in order to do
the job and we'll do the best we can to provide a good
energy. Not that they need it but it has always been my
policy, whether opening for Bob Dylan or Neil Young or any
young group we admire, that our job is to create a good
atmosphere on stage so that when the headliner walks on
stage they feel a positive spirit. We'll do our best!

U2.Com: You saw the band play on the current tour, in New
York last month. What did you make of the show?

I was actually on my way to Africa but Michael Stipe
called me and picked me up and said, 'I know you have a
plane to catch in a few hours but I am whisking you off to
Madison Square Garden.' And it was so great, such fun to
attend the show with U2 and dance all night with Michael.
Of course their older songs are thrilling but they played
Vertigo which is one of my favourite songs, such a fresh
energy. In fact as they were playing I was thinking,
'Gees, they sound like a punk rock band, they sound like
our band. in fact I think we make the grade, that we could
play this song just as good as them.' Then I realised that
they were doing our song, Rock'n'Roll Nigger, so no wonder
they sounded just like us! I was laughing when I realised
they were playing one of our songs. But the strength of
the show took me right back to CBGB's in the 1970's, I was
so moved by the whole thing: everything you want in
rock'n'roll, the sexual energy, the emotional energy, the
political concerns. but music you can dance to and express
yourself in. It was all there.

U2.Com: You've met the band over the years, as well as
seen them play before.

I had seen them before this last show and it's always a
great experience: great singer and lyricist, great to hear
that Edge clarion call, and one of the greatest rhythm
sections in rock'n'roll. They've also been to our concerts
and I always find them very supportive and friendly. The
story I remember most is from the 1970's, when our band
weren't allowed to travel to Ireland because of the unrest
so I went with just my piano player. We visited a church,
and there were a lot of poor kids and struggling kids and
I read poems and talked and sang songs with an old upright
piano and we talked about rock'n'roll as something from
the grassroots that didn't belong to the rich or to
business but something that was the people's art. We
talked about how everyone in that room was capable and
deserving of expressing themselves. And one of the people
who was there was Larry, he was just a young boy, and he
has told me about that since and we talked about Africa,
about Ethiopia and all the things you can do through music
. artistically, poetically. And that was my first contact
with Larry. I think that's what made it so much more
amazing for him to say those words about me when he was
inducted into the Hall of Fame. He comes by where he is
very honestly so I am very proud to see where he has risen
to.

U2.Com: What do you find in U2's music?

When I first heard U2 in the eighties I was living in
Michigan and had withdrawn from the public arena. There
was something in their music that deeply touched me, even
when I knew nothing about them. I felt whoever this band
was, these were our people, their music had such a merging
of tradition with the new, r'n'b with 70's aspects..but
all new. And there was always this political concern as
well, a human concern, whether songs about love or self-
exploration or the state of their own country or
revolution. It's the things that our band always sought,
and still does, but what U2 has is something far beyond
what I was able to do myself . to take these aspects and
to really communicate with the public consciousness, to
create songs that people really respond to. I don't think
that one has to be obscure or marginalised to be a true
artist. Art is meant for the people and political
awareness is meant for the people and I am so happy to see
one of the biggest bands in the world not only creating
music the people respond to, but music that encourages
them and teaches them.

U2.Com: In recent shows U2 have been marrying your song
'The People Have The Power' with their song 'Bad'.

I still believe that the people have the power but they
have forgotten how to exercise that power and it's
important to remind and encourage people of that. My late
husband Fred Sonic Smith wrote it with me and we wrote it
for the people to have it, for people to be inspired by it
and certainly U2 is going to connect with more people than
I ever could, so I am really grateful that they have
chosen to do that. There is a lot of similarity in our
bands, our motivations are similar, humanistic, concerned
about our people, our environment and we both like to have
fun. Spiritual concerns, political concerns, poetic
concerns - and a lot of dancing.'

Patti Smith will play with U2 at Madison Square Garden on
November 21st and 22nd.