The charismatic 25-year-old is, of course, Bono’s eldest son and like his famous dad in his younger years, he seems to have a surfeit of nervous energy, like an ever so slightly wired dreamer.
Studio 8 is hallowed rock `n’ roll ground that has played host to a multitude of bands over the years, including, of course, U2.
Jeff Buckley lookalike Hewson is here with his band mates - impressively tall bassist Robert Keating, bone fide guitar hero Josh Jenkinson, and drummer (and uncannily good Bob Dylan impressionist) Ryan McMahon.
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Inhaler have returned with their third album, Open Wide, and it marks a departure for the band, with the title alone suggesting a bit of a re-set and a warm embrace of pop.
It also arrives less than a year after their last album, Cuts & Bruises. Maybe they’ve been inspired by the blistering work ethic of their contemporaries Fontaines D.C. but songs seem to be pouring out of Inhaler these days.
"We had a good stint where we had no gigs booked and we were able to really focus in on these new songs," says Hewson. "Whereas for the last two albums you’re making an album so you can get back on tour. This was - let’s make an album that we love and that we can really dive into and create some sort of world."
After three years of solid touring, including support slots with Pearl Jam, Sam Fender, Arctic Monkeys and even Harry Styles at Slane in 2023, they went back to the start and regrouped in the Nunnery, their seaside rehearsal space in Dublin.
They worked on writing Open Wide from January to September of last year and came out with a set of sheened pop songs that mark a departure from the more fevered and brittle sound of their first two albums, It Won’t Always Be Like This and Cuts & Bruises.
"I think the main thing about this album is that we feel like we’re looking for a new perspective on our music and also our lives," says Hewson.
"We want to be as open as we possibly can to life and music and think about where we are going in the future. I think that’s what the album title lends itself to."
Recorded at RAK Studios in London, Open Wide was produced by the Grammy and Brit Award-winning Kid Harpoon, who has previously sprinkled the "hit dust" over Styles’s hugely successful Harry’s House album and also produced Flowers by Miley Cyrus, one of the biggest hits in Ireland in recent years.
"We’ve always gravitated towards pop music even though we’re a band," says Keating. "Maybe that’s why we’ve sat in a slightly different lane to other bands - whether that’s cool or less cool, I don’t know. That’s up to other people to perceive."
Hewson adds, "You never know when you’re going to get a hit but I think our main focus was making a piece of work that we could love and play to our friends. we felt like we got closer to that this time."
The new album is poppy and dynamic stuff bursting with hooky exuberance, ranging from the propulsion of Eddie In The Darkness, gospel on Your House, and an eighties groove on Billy (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah). Jenkinson sounds like he’s been worshipping at the altar of Johnny Marr on X-Ray and A Question of You may even remind you of Big Country.
"We had a lot of fun on this album," says the guitarist. "Experimenting with rhythms we’d never really done and a lot of that came from us listening to a lot of different people. Eli was listening to a lot of Prince; he was doing dance moves when he was recording a lot of these songs.
"When we’re playing guitar, Eli and I just bounce off each other. It’s very much symbiotic."
"We’re like Venom and Spider-Man," says Hewson. "If Josh plays Fender, I play Gibson and vice versa."
When Inhaler first formed in 2012 at Dublin’s St Andrew’s College it was as a metal band. However, by the time they started making tentative first steps with lowkey gigs around Dublin in 2016, they’d morphed into a tight guitar pop outfit.
Word got out that, yes, Bono’s kid was in a band and Inhaler were feted and damned in equal measure. Naysayers bitched that well-oiled cogs were grinding in the background during their rapid rise, while yaysayers liked the their suss and nous for bright, melodic songs bristling with old-fashioned hooks, choruses, and quicksilver guitar riffs.
It just made the band work harder. Blame the rock royalty bloodline but it was no great surprise when their debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This, hit No 1 in Ireland, while Cuts & Bruises, topped the Irish charts and reached No 2 in the UK.
The immediate selling point with Inhaler was always going to be Bono’s boy’s band but initial curiosity seems to have shifted to a solid and loyal fanbase and those high profile support slots over the past few years have introduced them to a whole new audience.
That was certainly the case when they supported Styles at Slane in front of 80,000 people in 2023.
"I remember walking onto the stage and seeing the hill with all the people going that far back . . . " says McMahon. "I’ve never been more nervous in my life but the reception from the crowd that day was very warm, it was very homely in a way. What a thing to put on the resume."
"He was really sweet, really nice and it was a big honour for us to be there," Hewson says. "The amount of people I've met who’ve said `oh, I found out about your band through that gig . . . ' It was a great gig to do."
And did they get to hang out with young Master Styles? "He said hi to our girlfriends," grins Hewson.
"And our girlfriends said hi to him," chimes in McMahon.
Inhaler have said Open Wide takes "a kind of self-centred approach to romance" and asked if there’s a unifying theme to these 13 new songs, Hewson says, "It’s always love, isn’t it? I can’t get away from it as a writer.
"I think as a collective, we were exploring that a bit further. There is so much to write about and we always see our music as an escape. I think having a bit of time to get away from the world made us a bit more contemplative, a bit retrospective but also with a newfound appreciation for the future."
Escapism is important but do they feel compelled as a young band to address the issues facing their generation in Ireland?
"I don’t think we’re obliged to," says Hewson. "I really respect artists who do it but it but it’s very hard to say we stand for this or we stand for that.
"If we were to explore themes outside of just escapism we’d have to really know what we were talking about and really go for it. it’s not something we could just do on a whim. There’s weight to it but there is a lot to write about. I’ll get back to you on the next album."
Years of touring have made them seasoned young men of the road but it is hard slog and tales of rock `n’ roll chaos are in short supply with Inhaler.
And as ever, it’s the Irish audiences they enjoy the most. Sure, they would say that, wouldn’t they? but Inhaler mean it, maaaaaan. They’ve already sold out most of the UK shows on their upcoming tour in support of Open Wide but it’s their next big Irish gig at St Anne’s Park in Dublin in front of 20,000 fans this May that’s in their sights.
"Irish audiences are the best," says Jenkinson. "We’ve talked to many of our peers and bands we’ve met from other countries and they always say Dublin is a stand-out show for them."
And, Eli, what happens if your dad invites himself on stage at St Anne’s Park this May?
"Aaaahhhh," says Hewson. "He hasn’t asked to do that yet. Hahahaha. I think Dave, our monitor tech, would probably tackle him.
"And then we’d blacklist him."
Open Wide is out now. Inhaler play St Anne’s Park in Dublin (with special guests Blossoms) on 30 May.
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