on supporting their existing roster. Hayden did not want the label to miss out on an Irish band with potential international appeal, or for CBS UK to be seen as anti-Irish. Involvement of Chas de Whalley During a visit to London in February 1979, McGuinness met Chas de Whalley, an A&R representative for CBS UK. McGuinness played for him U2's latest demo, which was recorded at Eamonn Andrews Studios. De Whalley said that they "sounded like a thousand other wannabe new wave acts and made no real impression on [his] jaded ears". However, his interest was piqued after talking to McGuinness and learning that U2 had won a CBS-sponsored contest. Word had circulated in the label's London office that Hayden was raving about them from Ireland. De Whalley convinced his bosses, Muff Winwood and assistant A&R director Nicky Graham, that U2 were worth a speculative visit. Winwood was still disappointed that his team had missed out on signing the Undertones and thus approved the trip, provided that de Whalley be accompanied by another A&R representative, Howard Thompson, who had successfully scouted Eddie and the Hot Rods and Motörhead. De Whalley and Thompson arrived in Dublin in June 1979. McGuinness gave them VIP treatment, personally picking them up from the airport and taking them to a party hosted by a prominent Dublin advertising agency in a garden as part of "Strawberry Time". Afterwards, they attended a U2 concert at McGonagles, which was the first in a series of four "Jingle Balls – Christmas in June" shows. By this point, U2 had become rising stars in the Dublin scene, but de Whalley was still not overly impressed by the band, recalling: "They were a pretty damn average post-punk band. They weren't particularly good – a lot of sound and fury signifying not a great amount. Except that [Bono] was absolutely mesmerizing even then". De Whalley remarked to Thompson that he thought Bono would either be the next Alex Harvey and burn out after a few hits or become the next David Bowie and "be a major force in pop music". De Whalley thought enough of U2 that upon returning to London, he pitched to Winwood the idea of recording them. CBS regularly gave aspiring bands a day's worth of recording time in the smallest of the label's three studios at Whitfield Street in London, at a cost of £100 to the A&R