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Larry Mullen Jr.
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Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Mullen, Jr. (born 31 October 1961 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland) is the drummer for the Irish rock band U2. He is the founder of U2, which was originally known as "The Larry Mullen Band" at its inception. His drumming skills are notable on songs such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bullet the Blue Sky." He has worked on numerous side projects during his career, including a collaboration with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills of R.E.M.
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Lawrence Joseph "Larry" Mullen, Jr. (born 31 October 1961 in Artane, Dublin, Ireland) is the drummer for the Irish rock band U2. He is the founder of U2, which was originally known as "The Larry Mullen Band" at its inception. His drumming skills are notable on songs such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bullet the Blue Sky." He has worked on numerous side projects during his career, including a collaboration with Michael Stipe and Mike Mills of R.E.M. to form Automatic Baby in 1993 and working with bandmate Adam Clayton on the re-recording of the theme to Mission: Impossible, in 1996. He and U2 have won several awards, including 22 Grammy awards.
Biography
Mullen, the middle child and only son of Larry and Maureen Mullen, was born 31 October 1961, and raised in Artane, on the north side of Dublin, Ireland. Mullen began drumming in 1970, at the age of 9 under the instruction of Irish drummer Joe Bonnie and later, Bonnie's daughter Monica. In 1971, Mullen was introduced to one of his father's long time friend's and drummer, Wesley Kerr who instructed him up until the death of his younger sister, Mary, in 1973. His mother died in a car accident in November 1978, two years after U2 was founded.
Before founding U2, Mullen was involved in a Dublin marching band called the Artane Boys Band, contributing to the martial beats common in Mullen's work, such as the song "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Mullen founded U2 in the fall of 1976 by placing a now famous notice on the Mount Temple Comprehensive School bulletin board, saying something to the effect of "drummer seeks musicians to form band." The band, originally consisting of Mullen, Paul "Bono" Hewson, David "The Edge" Evans, his brother Dik Evans, Adam Clayton, and Mullen's friends Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin, was originally known as the "Larry Mullen Band", but the name quickly changed to "Feedback", as that was one of the few musical terms they knew. Soon after the band formed, McCormick and Martin left, and the band, by then known as "The Hype" was a 5-piece. Just before they won a Limerick, Ireland talent contest, they changed their name again, for the final time, to U2, formally done at a farewell concert for Dik Evans, becoming the 4-piece band they are today.
As U2 grew more popular, Mullen added the "Junior" suffix to his name to stop confusion with his father (also Larry Mullen), who was receiving large tax bills meant for his son. Mullen is unmarried, but has lived with his girlfriend Ann Acheson for more than 20 years. They have three children, Aaron Elvis (born 1995), Ava (born 1998), and Eli (born 2001).
Larry's cousin Eoin Mullen won the League of Ireland Championship with Shamrock Rovers in 1994.
He is known to be the "brakes of the band", and prefers to let the other band members take the spotlight at interviews. Mullen has also played synthesizer or keyboards on several songs, including "United Colours" from 1995's Original Soundtracks 1, an album that Mullen has always disliked. Mullen loves Harley Davidson motorcycles and is a big fan of Elvis Presley. He currently lives in the Howth suburb of Dublin.
Leading up to the new U2 release, No Line on the Horizon, Larry recently spoke out to the British press about bandmate Bono "buddying" with certain world leaders. Mullen spoke frankly about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and outgoing US president George W. Bush, calling them "war criminals".
Style and techniques
People say, "Why don't you do interviews? What do you think about this? What do you think about that?" My job in the band is to play drums, to get up on stage and hold the band together. That's what I do. At the end of the day that's all that's important. Everything else is irrelevant.—Larry Mullen Jr.
After forming U2, Mullen’s drumming style and techniques began to evolve. In the early days of the band, his contributions to the band was often limited to fills and drum rolls, but he became more involved in the writing of the songs later, particularly in conjunction with Adam Clayton, his partner in the rhythm section, with whom he has collaborated on solo projects. When the band was first being signed to CBS Records, they refused to sign the band unless Mullen was fired. He was not, and as a result, his drumming became more integrated into the song structures. Mullen's experience as a teenager in the Artane Boys Band heavily contributed to the martial beat featured in many of U2's songs, helping to evoke military imagery.
During the recording of the album Pop in 1996, Mullen suffered from severe back problems. Recording was delayed due to surgery. When he left the hospital, he arrived back in the studio to find the rest of the band experimenting more than ever with electronic drum machines, something driven largely by The Edge's interest in dance and hip-hop music, and, given his weakness after the operation, he finally gave in to The Edge and continued to use drum machines, which contributed heavily to the album's electronic feel.
Mullen has had tendinitis problems throughout his career. As a means to reduce inflammation and pain, he began to use specially designed Pro-Mark drumsticks. He uses Yamaha drums and Paiste cymbals. He was placed at # 21 in Stylus Magazine's list of the 50 Greatest Rock Drummers.
Solo projects
Mullen has worked on many solo projects in his career, including collaborations with Maria McKee, Nancy Griffith, and U2 producer Daniel Lanois. Mullen played drums on many of the songs on the 1995 Emmylou Harris album Wrecking Ball. Mullen, along with bandmate Adam Clayton, recorded the soundtrack to the 1996 movie remake of Mission: Impossible, including the theme song, whose time signature was changed from the original 5/4 time signature to an easier and more danceable 4/4 time signature. The "Theme from Mission:Impossible" reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard chart, and was nominated for a Grammy award in the "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" category. Mullen worked with producer Daniel Lanois on his album Acadie. Mullen and Clayton also collaborated with Mike Mills and Michael Stipe from R.E.M. to form the one-performance group Automatic Baby, solely for the purpose of performing the song "One" for Bill Clinton's inauguration at MTV's 1993 inaugural ball. The group's name refers to the titles of both bands' latest albums, Achtung Baby and Automatic for the People. He provided 'marimba and inspiration' on Underworld's song Boy, Boy, Boy from their 2007 album Oblivion with Bells.
Kit configuration
- Paiste Signature cymbals:
- 16" power crash
- 17" power crash
- 18" power crash
- 18" full crash
- 22" power ride
- 14" heavy hi-hat/sound-edge hi-hat.
- Yamaha Birch Custom Absolute Nouveau drums: (Since the Elevation tour. Previously he used Yamaha's Maple Custom drums in the same sizes).
- On the video of Get On Your Boots, Larry use a Yamaha Oak Custom, with the same sizes than the Birch Custom
- 14x10" rack tom
- 16x16" floor toms x2 (one left of the hi-hat, one right of the snare drum for the Vertigo tour). For previous tours, he used an 18x16" floor tom to the left of the hats.
- 14x7" Brady Sheoak Block - primary snare drum on the Vertigo tour. For ZooTV and Elevation tours, he used a 12x7" Sheoak block snare. For Popmart, a 14x6" Jarrah block primarily. Depending on the gig, he sometimes used a 14x6" Jarrah ply snare instead of the block snare.
- 24x16" kick drum. 22x16" Kick on the b-stage during ZooTV only. He has not used a different kick drum on any tours since then.
- Pro-mark 5A Japanese oak drumsticks.
Various other percussion instruments, including LP cowbells.
- On the video of Get On Your Boots, Larry use a Yamaha Oak Custom, with the same sizes than the Birch Custom
Awards
Mullen and U2 have won more than 60 awards, including 22 Grammy awards. At the Grammy awards, the band has won "Best Rock Duo or Group with Vocal" 7 times, "Album of the Year" twice, "Record of the Year" twice, "Song of the Year" twice, and "Best Rock Album" twice.
See also
External links
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