U2 to start new album this summer

U2 is planning to hit the studio this summer to work on their next album. Frontman Bono recently told the UK newspaper The Guardian about the Irish quartet's plans and said he's getting inspiration from a new source: "I've got a lot of songs, oddly enough, from taking piano lessons. My kid's piano teacher, Dawn, has been teaching me the piano. And every time she gives me a lesson, I write a new song. So...when (the band and I) meet up, I have all these songs to play for them. So I'd like to thin out my schedule in terms of the politics and activism and just get lost in the music again. That's what I'm really looking forward to for the summer."

The still-untitled album is the follow-up to 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, which debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 chart, and won eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

The band has not announced who will produce the new album.

In March, U2 postponed the rest of its Vertigo world tour due to "the illness of an immediate family member of the band," said to be one of guitarist The Edge's daughters. New dates have not yet been announced.