U2 Chatcast Extra (discontinued)

Welcome to the U2 Chatcast Extra, an occasional podcast we'll present beyond our normal chat

format.

Tonight, an interview with AtU2.com founder, Matt McGee.

Years before U2.com was a reality, AtU2 was among the first U2 fan websites to gain popularity.

Formed in 1995, the site recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and is considered one

of the premier U2-related websites.

During this interview, Matt discusses the formation of the site, its growth, its history,

and potential for another 10 years of U2 coverage.

Well, I'm kind of fascinated by it.

When did you decide to start it?

Wow.

It'd be like 95, right?

That was 95, and I had been on AOL for the better part of a year and a half, and I mean,

that was a revelation because, you know, I don't know how it was with you before you

found fans online, but I just, I was always the, you know, the nuttiest or the biggest

U2 fan I knew, and...

For me, it was Wire.

Yeah, okay, Wire for you or AOL for me.

There was...

There was a community on AOL that I found, and it was just, it was, you know, as I said,

it was a revelation to find people that were as into the band and in tune with the music

and the songs and all that sort of stuff as I was, and I just remember there being so

much sharing of information that, you know, now, in 2005, we kind of take for granted,

but I remember, you know, people would say, you know, would post, you know, a list of

all the...

All the tour dates from, you know, the third leg of the Joshua Tree tour, and it's like,

wow, look at this incredible information I have in front of me.

You know, I would never have gotten this anywhere else, and so, you know, I remember saving

a lot of that stuff that got traded back and forth, you know, people would post song lyrics,

you know, on AOL or on mailing lists, because I joined Wire pretty early, too, as well.

Right.

And I just remember saving a lot of that information, and then, you know, just decided that, you

know, that it needed to be posted somewhere, and that's kind of how it all started.

Now, it originally started out as, like, what did you name it?

Like, Matt's Somewhat...

What was it called?

Somewhat.

Yeah.

Matt's Mostly U2 page or something?

Yeah, Mostly U2 was in parentheses or something like that.

Yeah, it was...

Because, you know, at the time, you know, U2's always been my favorite band, but I went

through a Toe of the Wet Sprocket period and an R.E.M. period.

Something happens, too, that band.

Something happens, yeah.

Great Irish four-piece.

And so, you know, yeah, I would post...

You know, photos of R.E.M. or a photo of Toe of the Wet Sprocket or an album cover or a

piece of news.

So, yeah, there was a period of about, I think, maybe four or five months when it was, you

know, sort of a mishmash of, you know, different artists that I was interested in.

Right.

But at that point, it was pretty much totally you, correct?

Mm-hmm.

When did it change over to...

And, you know, there has to have been an evolution somewhere.

When did it change over to where you had, for lack of a better term, a staff, where you

started having other people kind of help you with the site?

Was that much later or was it fairly early on?

Yeah, yeah.

Well, it was much later that any one person, you know, got the title of staff person.

Right.

But it wasn't too long, you know.

It was about, you know, some point in 96 when, you know, the Mostly part went away and it

became Just You Two because that's when I, you know, I started posting lists of tour

dates and song lyrics and...

You know, stories, you know, that were found in newspapers and, you know, back then there

were very few, you know, media sources that were actually online posting news.

Right.

But, you know, you could find them and then, you know, so we'd post, I'd post news stories

on the website.

And so what happened, once that got started and then people started knowing that they

could go to the site to find that kind of information, then what happened was whenever

they came upon similar information, they would start sending it in.

And so, you know, pretty...

Pretty much from, you know, day one or year one, it became a real collective effort where

a lot of different You Two fans were contributing by submitting, you know, lyrics to a hard

to find song or, you know, an article that they transcribed from their newspaper or from

some regional magazine or whatever.

So, you know, there were a lot of other people helping out in that way, you know, very early

on.

But in terms of one person actually becoming staff, it was pretty...

Probably sometime in 97.

I was going to say, probably Pop Mart, huh?

Yeah, that was...

That was kind of the coming out party in a lot of ways.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

It was.

And it was around that time, a gal, a You Two fan named Teresa Doherty was probably

the most prolific contributor of news stories.

She, as I recall, had access to, I don't know, one of those big news databases that, you

know, common people don't have access to.

And so she would send a lot of stuff in, and I kind of threatened her that, you know, if

you keep this up, I have to make you a staff person.

And so she kept it up, and so she became the first, you know, the first official staff

person.

And that was around Pop Mart.

And I remember, I remember, you know, that Kmart press conference, February 12th of 97.

That was, I don't know, I mean, that was probably the day that it started to become...

It started down on the road.

Would you say topical, too?

Like, you kind of kept track of things?

Yeah.

Well, it's when it started to become what it is now, I think, because that was, you

know, by that point, you know, the site had been, you know, about a year and a half old

or almost a year and a half old, and there was, you know, a pretty substantial traffic

coming to it, you know, on a weekly or a monthly or even a daily basis.

And I remember, you know, thinking, gosh, they're going to do this press conference.

Everybody on all the mailing lists and the chat boards and all this sort of stuff is

going to want to know.

You know, the tour dates, what else was said, you know, et cetera.

And so I decided to call in sick to work that day.

And I was, at that point, sports anchor for a local CBS station, and I realized that,

you know, I kind of have a responsibility to the people that are going to be hitting

my website, you know, so I needed to stay home, you know, watch the thing on MTV because

it was broadcast live on MTV, and, you know, just post anything I could find.

And so that's what I did, and so that's when I realized, you know, gosh, this is not just

something I'm doing in my spare time.

It's something that I'm prioritizing, and so, you know, I think a lot of people at that

point came to the site, got the tour dates, you know, saw the logos and photos from the

press conference and this and that and the other thing, and I think that's when it all

kind of started, as I said, started down the road that, you know, to where it is now.

Now, back then, you're just kind of, you started off doing it.

Yeah.

You started off doing it more as a hobby, then you make this step of staying home, which

really does suggest it's becoming a priority.

Now you start feeling a responsibility to your audience.

Did you ever expect it to become what it is now, which is one of the premier sources of

information to the point where even YouTube.com, you know, the legitimate site, checks on what

you're doing?

Yeah, no, I mean, obviously not, but, you know, at the same time, you know, in 1997,

you know, none of us knew what the internet was.

It was going to be like even a year later, so, you know, it would be, it would, it would

have been impossible for anyone to imagine, you know, the thought that, you know, that

that website or that webpage or whatever you want to call it, you know, would eventually

have, you know, 30 people around the world contributing on a, you know, quote, staff

basis and, you know, a couple hundred thousand people visiting the site every month.

I mean, there was no way to even fathom that because, you know, we simply didn't know what,

you know, what the internet would look like, you know, down the road.

When did, when did you realize?

Is it that kind of thing was going to happen?

Do you know what I mean?

You, you, there must've been a point where you said, whoa, this has gone from a few people

visiting, I'm getting more and more emails.

When did you kind of realize, okay, this is becoming something kind of big and a priority?

Well, probably the first thing was, was the PopMart thing.

As I said, that's when I first made a priority.

And then at some point within the next year, you know, once the PopMart tour started, you

know, that was another thing.

That was another big thing because that was the first, you know, that's the first store

when you and I met, for example.

Right.

It was the first time when I, you know, all of us, yeah, exactly.

When all of us who emailed each other and visited each other's websites and shared information,

it was the first time we all got to meet each other in person.

And so, you know, that, that was really special.

And I think, you know, was another step in recognizing, you know, gosh, this, there's

a real community out here and there's a real, you know, there's a real audience out there

that wants to be part of it.

And so, you know, that was the first time.

And, you know, that's always, you know, I mean, that's, that's kind of been, you know,

kind of guides what we do is, you know, what does, what does, you know, the people that

visit the site, what do they want?

You know, let's give it to them.

And so that was big.

And I remember there was, I posted an article at one point, it was right after Woodstock

97 or 98 or something like that.

I wrote up a little, a little column about how, you know, people were saying, you know,

how come you two wasn't there?

They're supposed to be the biggest band in the world, blah, blah, blah.

And I said, you know, look, you know,

they would have been completely out of place there.

You two is, is never going to have, you know, top 10 hits again.

You know, they're beyond their prime.

They're, you know, they're going to become a small band again, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I got so much feedback from that.

And I was obviously so wrong because, you know, we all know the success they had with

Beautiful Day and, you know, that album was, you know, a big turnaround for them.

But I remember there was, there was such a great feedback to that article that I wrote,

that column that I wrote, that it showed me that people were interested in, you know,

original writing about the band, not just, you know, what does, you know,

what does, you know, Time Magazine or what does Rolling Stone or, or New Musical Express,

you know, what are the, all these official sources say.

There was an interest in what other fans' opinions were and what other fans might write about the band.

And I had probably, you know, 10 or 15 people write their own columns in reply disagreeing with me.

And so I started, you know, I posted a couple of those.

And that's, that's really how the idea of, you know,

adding fan voices to the site came to be.

Do you, do you look at that as kind of the primary mission?

Because there's this kind of an archival mission, mission of keeping track of things that have happened.

Do you look at the kind of new material that you're putting out as the number one mission of the site?

Yeah.

I'd say it's probably 1A and 1B because, you know, certainly it is archival.

You know, that, that, that's how it began in the first place was, you know,

saving all those articles from Rolling Stone and all those other sources.

And, you know, we have a news database that goes, you know,

well now it goes all the way back to 78 or whatever.

Right.

But, but yeah, we, to my knowledge,

I'm pretty confident that we were the first of the,

the YouTube fan pages to start posting, you know,

articles and columns and reviews and commentaries.

And then later humor, cartoons and satire from Answer Guy, you know,

from a fan's perspective.

And, you know, you know, cause that's stuff that you, you know,

you just don't get that.

Right.

From, you know, from Rolling Stone.

And, you know, those folks do a great job.

You know, they have great interviews with the, with Bono or a band member,

but, you know, yeah, certainly, you know, Mission 1A 5050 would be,

you know, being able to have a place where, you know,

a fan voice can, you know, can be heard.

Now over the years, you know, you've gotten feedback,

you've been voted one of the top websites and so forth.

You've received magazine, you know, mentions and so forth.

Do you have any moments,

moments that stand out where you were kind of proudest of what had,

what had resulted from the site?

I, you know,

I remember being stunned when I got an email from somebody in Germany in 97

saying that, that the webpage had been mentioned in the German Rolling Stone.

Right.

Which was the first time there was ever any press mention.

And I thought, my God, this internet thing is incredible.

How else would I have ever found out?

How would they have ever found out about the webpage and how else?

So, yeah,

that was, that was, I mean, that was, you know, still blows my mind to this day.

But yeah, you know, probably in terms of, of you said being most proud that we had

in, in, in 2003, we had the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

invited us to co-sponsor or co-present a fan celebration that they planned

when they had that big, you know, the three floor U2 memorabilia display.

And so we, that, that was,

you know, just being invited was, you know.

Yeah, your name was even on the shirt that they made, correct?

Yeah, yeah.

They had 451 put together a limited edition shirt, you know, with, with U2's Wings logo

and, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame logo and our website logo.

Yeah, I mean, that was incredible.

And just having all, that was the first time for me, you know, I'd bump it, you know,

at, at, you know, in, in GA lines on the Elevation Tour, you know, a few fans would come up and,

and, you know, say, are you Matt McGee?

And they, you know, they'd talk to me.

And, which was really cool and, and, you know, totally humbling to,

to hear feedback like that face to face.

But in Cleveland was the first time that, oh my God, there were like 500 or 1,000 fans

around our table when we were giving out prizes at the end of the day.

And, and just all day long, there was a stream of fans, you know,

just coming up to us and sharing their thanks.

And, you know, I'd probably get all emotional if I keep talking about it because it was,

that was really a mind bender for me because I really had no idea.

I, I, at that point,

up until that point,

I had no idea that there was somehow a connection between the people that read the website and the website itself,

which is, you know, really just amazing.

Yeah.

I remember I was astounded that, you know, your name,

your website was on the shirt and that you were co-sponsoring it with them.

And I thought, well, that's very legitimizing.

That's saying that, that what you're doing is respected, you know,

even just beyond the fan community.

Yeah.

So I, good choice.

I can understand why you picked that moment.

Yeah.

That was, that was a,

as I said,

a real mind bender.

Now we, we kind of fast forward to this year and I think you've really made some substantial changes to the site.

You added the, the podcasting,

you added the blog.

Was Flickr this year too?

I think Flickr was, was 04.

Okay.

But so late 04.

Yeah.

Late 04.

Let's say the last year and a half,

but some substantial,

I think branching out.

When did you two tours come in,

by the way?

We started you two tours in late 2000,

right before the elevation tour was announced.

And, but, but over the years you've kind of,

I think you've, you know,

value added things as they like to say in the industry,

you've added things that kind of stay with your core mission and extend it.

Do you have things that you're thinking of for the future?

Are you looking at a nice period of quiet and stability after the party and everything?

Hey dude,

after the tour,

you know,

when they go on tour is the busiest time and I'm,

you know,

I mean,

I hate to say,

but I'm so ready for them not to be on tour because it,

yeah,

I mean,

it's a lot of work,

but no,

it's fun.

I,

you know,

what does the,

I don't know what's going to be down the road and,

and you're right in that,

you know,

yeah,

we,

we are adding things and the podcast and we started the blog this past year.

And you know,

it's like I said,

it's driven by what do the people want,

but then it's also driven by the fact that,

you know,

there are 30 people or so,

you know,

on the staff of the site that are just incredibly talented people.

And,

and you know,

you mentioned the podcast,

and Teresa cook,

who is,

you know,

the wizard or the producer of our podcast is,

you know,

she comes from a radio background and is just incredibly talented in what she

does.

And,

you know,

so she's,

you know,

I don't know if I want to,

if I can put words in her mouth,

but she's kind of found her niche as Larry would say,

I have found my niche.

And so,

you know,

it was fantastic to be able to have her on the staff and say,

you know,

Hey,

should we start a podcast?

It's the hip new thing.

And,

you know,

would people be into,

would you two fans be interested in hearing about it and blah,

blah,

blah.

And she said,

yeah,

you know,

I can do this,

you know,

and I said,

well,

Teresa run with it,

you know,

let's see what happens.

And so,

you know,

it's been great.

And so who,

you know,

I don't know what's going to,

you know,

what's going to happen down the road.

You know,

you and I could sit here and,

and,

you know,

surmise what the future of the internet is going to be.

I,

you know,

I would imagine in,

in a matter of years,

we're going to have,

you know,

wireless broadband across the entire country.

You know,

video casting,

video casting will be the next thing.

So maybe,

you know,

maybe your podcast or your chat cast and our podcast will,

we'll have video elements to it.

You know,

who knows what else,

you know,

who knew what Flickr could do for concert photography.

I mean,

it's,

it's just,

it's astounding.

You know,

so who knows what's going to happen,

but you know,

I,

I'm looking forward to another 10 years,

I think.

Yeah.

Well,

that's what I did want to ask that too.

Have there ever been points where you just thought,

oh man,

I want to step away from this for a while.

Hell yes.

You,

you bet there have been.

There was,

there was a,

there was,

I think probably the first time was about,

I don't know,

the maybe sometime in 2000.

Yeah.

I'm being a little coy here.

Cause I've heard you tell me about some of those times too.

Yeah.

There,

there,

there were a few times,

you know,

the,

the website,

you know,

as it grew those first few years and we started adding,

adding staff and started producing all this original content and started

archiving all this,

you know,

outside content,

it became really difficult to manage because,

you know,

we were doing it all by hand.

I mean,

every page on the website was a state,

you know,

a static page of HTML.

So,

you know,

if I posted,

or if at YouTube posted,

you know,

20 new articles in a week,

that was 20 things that,

you know,

20 pages that had to be created.

And so then,

you know,

you get to a website that has,

you know,

two or 3000 pages and,

you know,

just making the slightest change to it was,

you know,

a royal pain in,

you know,

what.

And so there was some points,

you know,

just because of the workload involved and the fact that I had,

you know,

a wife that wanted to spend some time with me and a son that wanted to see

his dad.

There were some times that,

you know,

that the workload was an issue,

but,

you know,

in,

and I think it was in 2001,

we,

we bit the bullet and,

you know,

installed about,

I don't know,

six or eight databases.

And so you basically went dynamic where you didn't have to.

Yeah,

exactly.

You know,

change the whole back end of the site,

the whole structure of the site,

which meant that I didn't have to hand code every page.

And,

and so other people that were involved in the site,

Teresa,

that I mentioned before,

and Daisy over in the UK who does news and,

and other folks,

you know,

could just post articles themselves without me having to be involved at all.

So,

yeah,

I mean,

there have been times there have been,

you know,

some other frustrating times,

you know,

where you,

you know,

you kind of think,

you know,

what the hell are you doing this for and spending,

you know,

30,

40 hours a week on this kind of thing.

But no,

I,

I imagine that,

you know,

we have such a great group,

people working on it and,

and,

you know,

such great response from the readers that,

you know,

I don't,

I don't think we're going anywhere.

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Thanks for listening.

See you next time.

March of the Penguins is on DVD now.

Congratulations, Matt.

Yeah, I actually,

I actually watched a movie.

There you go.

Of course,

it had penguins in it.

No actors,

no dialogue.

The whole family could enjoy it too, right?

Yeah.

Except for the death and maiming of the penguins.

Yeah.

Um,

I don't know.

Yeah,

exactly.

Except for that.