HEIR GUITAR
As Inhaler returns to Chicago for show at the Riviera, even frontman Elijah Hewson, son of U2’s Bono, admits to getting starstruck at Lolla
Adefining set at Chicago’s Lollapalooza last summer left different impressions on two members of the Dublin indie rock band Inhaler.
“It was massive, the size kind of freaked us out,” says drummer Ryan McMahon. “Unfortunately our bass player Rob [Keating] was sick so he had to sit through some crazy, arty rap music playing over him while getting sick in a bucket.”
Singer-guitarist Elijah Hewson, however, has a different memory: “The craziest thing that happened to us that day was I looked over to the side of the stage during our set and members of Metallica were watching us. That was pretty wild.”
On a Zoom call from a tour stop in Washington, D.C., the duo brandish slick accents and play with rings on their fingers — the exact effortless swagger you’d expect from rock music’s biggest new import, heading to the Riviera on Friday.
It’s a bit surprising Hewson would be starstruck. Not just because Inhaler will soon be doing dates with Harry Styles or last year shared a festival bill with Robert Plant and Billie Eilish at Glastonbury, but rather because the band’s frontman is the son of one of the biggest stars of them all: Paul Hewson, aka Bono.
“I don’t think that [feeling] ever really leaves,” the younger Hewson shares. From the beginning, Inhaler has been unassuming, humbly meeting as school mates who bonded over a love of guitar music.
Teaming up with bassist Keating and guitarist Josh Jenkinson, Inhaler solidified in 2015 and self-released its first single in 2017, the hazy dream pop number “I Want You.” A few more songs came in 2019, among them the smiley synth track “It Won’t Always Be Like This” and the disco-meets-new-wave-flavored “Ice Cream Sundae,” which caught the notice of tastemakers at the BBC and MTV.
By 2021, Inhaler’s debut album, also called “It Won’t Always Be Like This,” hit streets and earned the No. 1 spot on the UK charts. The album was the fastestselling debut on vinyl “by any band this century,” and Inhaler was the first Irish group to debut atop the charts in 13 years.
The quick rise and pressure to follow up the success led to a proverbial sophomore slump during writing of the aptly named “Cuts & Bruises,” released Feb. 17 and anchored by a lead-up single, the anthemic feelgood ode “These Are the Days.”
“The only world we have is this band, and if there’s any sort of tension or uncomfortableness in it, everybody can feel it,” says Hewson. That made “Cuts & Bruises” a more “human” album as the quartet endured real coming-of-age moments.
“We were losing touch with who we were as friends … and I think it’s very much a record of trying to find that pure place again. … Everyone thinks the [songs] are about girlfriends; they’re not, they’re about boyfriends,” the frontman adds, laughing.
The bandmates took cues from some of the American artists like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan they tuned into while on the road in North America in 2022. The jaunt included “one of their favorite gigs ever,” playing Chicago’s House of Blues last St. Patrick’s Day, during which they made a rule that everyone had to have “at least a sip” of Guinness.
“Folk music in general can be very influenced by Irish music and English folk music and I think there’s a throughline there,” says Hewson, getting back
to the album influences. “But really it’s storytelling, and I think that’s something we were very attracted to on making this record. We wanted to tell our story a bit more.”
There’s also a strong ’80s vibe to the whole thing, from the band members who were born in the late ’90s. The style cue came from a lightbulb moment seeing Depeche Mode play Lollapalooza Paris, says McMahon, and from being fans of The Smiths. And no, it has nothing to do with that other ’80s band, U2.
“We really avoid that especially with any delay on the guitar. Josh is very good at keeping an eye out for that,” says Hewson. “Because sometimes you’ll be [writing] a song and it’s like, ‘Oh f---, that’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday.’ ”
With the same gift for incredible songwriting and the musical chemistry that ignites Inhaler, it really was only a matter of time before we got the new Irish rock band of a generation. Though Hewson still has to laugh it off.
“It’s funny, you always want to do the opposite of what your parents do. I don’t know why that hasn’t applied to me,” he says.