Irish post-punk band The Virgin Prunes has many close ties with U2, including a long friendship between frontmen Gavin Friday and Bono. But the tightest bond linking the two bands is between their guitarists: Dik Evans and his younger brother, David “The Edge” Evans. The Virgin Prunes’ arty, goth-steeped style never had a chance of breaking as big as U2’s stadium-aimed anthems, but Dik’s guitar style is every bit as atmospheric as The Edge’s. The Virgin Prunes broke up in 1984, and Dik has kept a relatively low public profile ever since. But the band can still be viewed as the dark, eerie counterpart to U2 in the ’80s, just as the latter band was embracing Christianity and fist-pumping populism. [Jason Heller]
