Bono On Delayed U2 Album: "No Babies Born That I Know Of..."

Don't go looking underneath your Christmas tree or Menorah for the new U2 album. The follow up to 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb won't be coming out till early '09. Dayum! That's five years in between!

"We've hit a rich songwriting vein and we don't want to stop," Bono explained of pushing back the release on the band's Web site. "This is our chance for us to defy gravity once again." WARNING: Bono getting very Bono here. "We have what it takes, we have the songs, new rhythms and a guitar player who is not ready to re-enter earth's atmosphere until he's taken a slice of the moon! It's been fun, it's been maddening... there have been injuries and recoveries, no babies born that I know of, but this one is nearly ready for the new year of 2009."

In addition to recording in the south of France, U2 have recorded in their Dublin hometown and everybody's favorite snake charming city, Fez. While the band have brought back their usual producers, namely Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, the question remains does the more you move around making an album, help the musicianship on it?

In Morocco the band played under the open sky so you can hear "the sound of a swallows nest close to the building," Bono dished. He also stated that a main focus with this album was "the plan not to have a plan." Perhaps a reason for all the moving around.

"The last two records were very personal," Bono says of the sound, "with a kind of three piece at their heart, the primary colours of rock - bass, guitars and drum. But what we're about now is of the same order as the transition that took us from The Joshua Tree to Achtung Baby."