Exclusive - Pale Waves cover The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’: “Dolores was this strong, bold woman, who was so talented. And she was gone way too soon"

“Alright, this next song is for Dolores,” Heather Baron-Gracie told a thronged tent at Reading Festival this August – before Pale Waves deviated from their standard festival circuit setlist, and launched into their live debut of The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’.

It was a tribute a long time in the making. Around the release of the Manchester-formed band’s lauded latest album, Smitten, in September ‘24, lead vocalist Heather recalled how Dolores O'Riordan and The Cranberries had shaped her own approach to music – encouraging her to embrace a “sense of freedom” in her vocals, beyond the typical constraints of the indie-rock and pop world.

“She’s such an influence on me,” Heather tells me now. “She was this strong, bold woman, who was so talented. And she was gone way too soon.

“Most female singers these days are doing that whisper singing,” she continues. “That’s cool if that suits you – but I can’t even do that. We’ve definitely got that yodel thing! That’s just what I learned, before I even started singing – listening to artists like that, and even Avril Lavigne, growing up. And now I can’t not do it.”

Across four well-received albums, all released through the prestigious indie label Dirty Hit, Pale Waves, like The Cranberries before them, have established themselves as an act that can strike the balance between ongoing artistic evolution and commercial success – with their loyal fanbase helping them top the indie charts on multiple occasions, as well as crack into the Top 5 on the UK’s Official Albums Chart, twice.

With footage of their ‘Zombie’ cover at Reading having clocked up hundreds of thousands of views online, the four-piece – also made up of Ciara Doran, Hugo Silvani and Charlie Wood – have since been teasing a studio version, with a social media clip featuring Heather recording her vocals in a church.

“The producer was like, ‘I’ve spoke to the church next door, and they’ve said we can go in there, and record your vocal. We’ll set up loads of mics around, and you just belt it out,’” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘In a church, really?!’ I thought I would burn if I walked into a church, and started singing that! But they let us, and it was really cool.”

She says that Pale Waves’ version of the track will most definitely be part of the setlist when they take their Still Smitten Tour to Ireland this month, for shows in Dublin, Belfast and Cork.

“If I can remind people of Dolores’ greatness and keep her in everyone’s minds – even just by performing a song that she wrote – I’ll definitely do that,” says Heather. “Because she deserves that.

Dolores O'Riordan by Melodie McDaniel

“So we’re obviously going to do that in Ireland,” she continues. “I can’t wait. They’re always great shows – and it’s also one of my favourite accents of all time. Ciara is half-Irish, and has a lot of family in Ireland, so they’ll all be coming. It’s such a beautiful place that I’m actually extending my stay after the Cork show, and I’m going to road-trip around Ireland.”

And The Cranberries aren’t the only Irish act she’s been listening to lately.

“I started following Cliffords recently,” she tells me. “They’re really cool. I only recently found out about them, but I really like their stuff. Hopefully we’ll play a show with them in the future. There's just so many amazing artists that have come from Ireland.”

The upcoming tour comes just after the one-year anniversary of Smitten – a project that found Pale Waves reconnecting with their roots, complete with “the twinkly synths and the dreamy guitars,” as Heather describes it.

“But right now, I’m just excited for the next thing,” she resumes. “I thought I’d figured out where we’re going to go, and we’d started writing for the next project. We have about nine songs. But then we performed ‘Zombie’ at Reading, and I thought, ‘Hmm. Maybe this is the direction I want to go in now.’”

“So I’m really confused!” she laughs. “And I’m not sure any of those songs are right. I think I need to start all over again…”

Heather has always drawn influence from unexpected places – including country acts like Kacey Musgraves and Kelsea Ballerini.

“I love a lot of female country singers,” she nods. “The stories they’re able to tell, in a pop format, is just very, very impressive. I went to see Kacey Musgraves in Chicago, and even though she was in an arena, it felt like she was performing to 300 people. It was great.”

That’s not to say she’s going to take Pale Waves down a country route anytime soon.

“The band know how much I love country music – and they’re like, ‘Don’t you dare do that us!’” she smiles. “Charlie likes country to be fair, but Ciara and Hugo aren’t so keen. I’ll have to save that for my own project!”

Pale Waves. Credit @shotbykelsi

From the early days of Pale Waves, Heather had a clear idea of the kind of community she wanted to build around the band.

“I wanted the kind of fanbase that, when someone would look at the people standing outside the venue, they’d be able to be like, ‘Oh, that’s Pale Waves,’” she reflects. “The gothy, vampire look.

“And if you look at the barrier, you’ll always see that,” she continues. “But the rest is a mixed bag. There can be a 60-year-old dad, and then a 12-year-old girl...”

With Ciara identifying as non-binary, and Heather having explored her own relationships with women in depth in her music, there’s a strong queer community within that fanbase. When they were starting out, Heather notes, there were far less openly queer women in music.

“Now there’s been this wave, with Chappell Roan, Reneé Rapp, Billie Eilish – which is great to see,” she remarks. “But when we released [2020’s] ‘She’s My Religion’, it felt like there were very few. That track in particular opened the floodgates, to us, for a lot of lesbians. And now they’re everywhere, and I love it. If you’re a single lesbian and you’re looking for a date, just come to a Pale Waves show. Shop around!”

Although plenty has changed for Pale Waves since those early years, Heather tells me that some things have remained a constant – most notably, the scale of her ambition.

“I’m grateful for the position that we’re in, but I always desire for more,” she says. “The drive has never been dulled in me. I always want more – bigger crowds, bigger shows. And I want to be touring more. The drive, definitely, is consistent.”

Pale Waves play The Academy, Dublin (October 28); The Limelight, Belfast (29); and Cyprus Avenue, Cork (30).

Ahead of the official release of 'Zombie' on October 28, get an exclusive first-listen below: