- Music
- 22 Apr 01
The Cranberries have overcome the growing pains that all young bands encounter to become one of Ireland's brightest prospects. Here, Dolores O'Riordan and Fergal Lawlor tell Stuart Clark about the new friends they’ve made, their first trip to America and a chance encounter with Michael Stipe.
This reminds me of the time I shared a bed with Maria McKee. It was fully made and we were sitting on top of it, I hasten to add, but there was a marked intimacy about the affair which you don’t get when you’re stuck in a record company interview room with a PR person sulking in the background and pulling faces every time you ask something even vaguely salacious.
The setting this afternoon is a suite at U2’s gaff, The Clarence Hotel, where Dolores O’Riordan is peeping out at me rather blearily from underneath a king size quilt. Style watchers will be interested to note that The Cranberries lead singer is resplendent in a pair of brown and white polka dot pyjamas and matching dressing-gown while a quick glance at the floor beside her reveals that furry Dunne’s Stores’ slippers are this season’s de rigeur footwear.
"You wouldn’t get Cher or Madonna talking to journalists if they looked like they’d just been dragged through a hedge backwards and jumped on by a herd of cows," she chuckles, "but I can’t be bothered with all this image nonsense. We’ve done TV shows where people have thrown tantrums and refused to go on because they’ve got a spot on their nose, which is ridiculous.
"There’s a lot of pressure on you, especially when you’re female, to be ‘sexy’ and ‘glamorous’ but if I’m not in the mood for plastering my face with make-up or doing my hair, I won’t bother. I’m happy enough being myself, so why pretend to be someone else?"
It strikes me that Dolores, as a teenager, has already sussed what it takes most musicians a whole career to discover. And this is the girl that my British counterparts still insist on portraying as "naïve" and "innocent". The reason I’m here in her boudoir, as the Limerick lass delicately puts it herself, is that she’s "completely knackered" and in need of a rest after a mad dash round the UK with Belly and a week of laying her soul bare to the world’s press in support of The Cranberries’ debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?.
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"Belly was a great tour to get," she enthuses, "because although we’re very different, there are enough similarities for their fans to appreciate what we’re about and vice versa. The other thing is that they specifically asked for us – we weren’t forced on them by the promoter and that meant we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves without worrying that we might be chucked off after the first night.
"For me, personally, it was wonderful getting to know someone like Tanya [Donnelly] who’s been in the business since she was eighteen, experienced the various highs and lows and still loves what she’s doing. Her classic piece of advice to me was ‘men suck’ which, I must admit, I was relieved to hear because it means I’m not the only person who feels that way every now and again.
Liam Fay, as I write, is burning his string vest and studded leather posing pouch in protest at that frankly sexist anti-male statement. Anyway, were you able to look at Tanya and say, "yeah, that could be me in five or six years time"?
"No. We got on brilliantly but attitude-wise we differ enormously. She’s certainly far more cynical and hardened towards life than I am – her parents broke up when she was quite young and she doesn’t see much of her family whereas I’m one of nine brothers and sisters, my Mam and Dad are happily married still and whenever I go home, I’m surrounded by relations.
"Tanya’s biggest ambition," reveals Dolores, "is to have a kid of her own and she couldn’t understand why I’m absolutely in no hurry myself to become a mother. I suppose she’s looking for the closeness and sense of belonging which, in the nicest possible way, I take for granted."
When it comes to turning punters on, a Top Of The Pops appearance is still a powerful aphrodisiac and the surprise chart success of Belly’s ‘Feed The Tree’ ensured that there were plenty of bums on seats throughout the tour. The Cranberries rose to the occasion by giving the headliners a serious run for their tax-free dollars and were only denied their own Thursday night assignation at the Beeb when ‘Linger’ stalled frustratingly close to the Top 50.
"That final night will stick in my memory for a long time," picks up drummer Fergal who’s just wandered in clutching a cup of room service’s multi-purpose hot drink which looks like hot chocolate, smells like coffee and tastes like diesel sump. "Tanya invited Dolores to join her for the encore and I went into the audience to watch. She got a massive cheer when she walked on and I don’t mind admitting that by the end of the song I was nearly in tears. For obvious reasons I don’t often get to stand in front of the stage and watch her perform and it genuinely sent a shiver up the spine."
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"When I met Ferg in the dressing-room afterwards," smiles the singer beatifically, "he was rightly emotional and that triggered me off too. The gig was a big deal for us because the record company and all the press were there and everything fell into place perfectly. Our own set was the best we’d played in ages and guesting with Belly was the icing on the cake.
"Tanya wore a Cranberries T-shirt, I changed into one of their’s and the roar when the crowd recognised me was deafening. It’s easy to get fed up with the business side of things but those kind of moments remind you why you joined the band in the first place."
Although they’ve yet to make the commercial breakthrough that Island so obviously expect, The Cranberries have laid enough solid foundations to suggest that when they do crack it, they’ll get more than their prerequisite fifteen minutes of fame. Choice supports opening for House Of Love, Mike Oldfield and Hothouse Flowers have earned them a strong fanbase ranging from your standard indie kid to the chartered accountant with 2.3 children living in suburbia who thinks that the Jesus & Mary Chain is a religious order. They’ve also dipped their toe into that murky musical pond known as America.
"We’d heard so many horror stories concerning the States," admits Ferg, "that when we went to Los Angeles recently to shoot a video, we were shitting ourselves. Typical tourists, we were expecting to get mugged the moment we got off the plane but there wasn’t any hassle."
"We loved it there," joins in Dolores who’s getting perkier by the minute. "and they were mad for our music. Whereas the last video we made was a complete waste of money, this one turned out exactly the way we wanted it. Melody McDaniels, who crewed on REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’ directed and was so easy to work with because rather than just barking out orders, she asked what you thought and involved you in the creative process.
"I nearly fainted when Michael Stipe turned up one day to see what was happening and Jean Baptiste-Mondino, the guy who directed Madonna’s ‘Justify My Love’ and that other video where she flirts with the little boy, actually plays a part in it. We were kind of starstruck at first but him and Michael are so down to earth and natural that we soon forgot they were famous."
It was pretty much the same story when, after an abortive first attempt, the band went into the studio with Stephen Street to record Everybody Else… Smiths fans will tell you that Street guided Mozzer through some of his finest moments and the producer‘s deft touch has worked similar wonders for The Cranberries.
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"I’d never heard of Stephen before we met him," resumes Dolores, "but when he told us he’d written the music to ‘Everyday is Like Sunday’ and ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’, I started frothing at the mouth. When I was at school, I worshipped The Smiths and suddenly to be working with a guy who knew them personally and produced their records was… well, it took a while to sink in."
"Stephen’s a bit like Melody," adds Ferg, "in that he knows what he wants from you, but he’s not a dictator. Before trying something, he’ll bounce the idea around and he never forgets that it’s your record. He told us at the end that it was the most fun he’d had since The Smiths which was a huge compliment."
Another turning point for the band, he feels, was signing to Rough Trade Management, a company run by indie guru and former Smiths’ mentor Geoff Travis.
"Geoff knows the industry inside out but, in addition, he’s also a music fan and that means money’s not his sole motivation. He’s on the phone every day going ‘right lads, you’ve been offered this gig and that interview, do you want to do them?’ We know exactly what’s going on which, let’s face it, is how it should be because this is our career, our future."
At this point, the interview grinds to a halt because that swine Dawson wants to take some photos and Dolores is reticent about displaying her nighttime apparel to the whole of Ireland.
"I suppose I’m a bit conscious of the way I look," she confesses as we leave her to change, "but then again, women are entitled to be vain!" God knows what Liam Fay’s going to burn in retaliation for that!