They’ve sold more than 30 million records, with four Top 20 Billboard albums and a total of eight hit singles. They’ve performed to millions of fans across the globe including several appearances for the Pope. They’ve graced the covers of Rolling Stone and SPIN Magazine, performed on Letterman and Leno. And now after taking a few years out to raise their families, the band are thrilled to be back with Roses, their sixth studio album and the first since Wake Up And Smell The Coffee in 2001.
“I always had the attitude that there would be another album,” says guitarist Noel Hogan. “We just agreed we needed to get away from it for a while. But now it’s great to be back.”
The new phase in The Cranberries career comes on the back of a successful reunion tour in 2010 which had them crisscrossing the globe playing to sold-out audiences every night. But it was during sound checks on the tour that Dolores, guitarist Noel Hogan, his brother Mike on bass and Fergal Lawler on drums found time to trade ideas and melody hints in the search for some brand new songs from that distinctive Cranberries sound.
The result is Roses, 11 new songs from The Cranberries. Produced by the band’s old friend and collaborator Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur and more recently Kaiser Chiefs) the songs on Roses sound like nuggets buried deep inside The Cranberries’ soul harking back to the freshness and acoustic originality of the band’s first two albums, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Cant We? and No Need To Argue. The innocence is back in the melodies, which are given plenty of room to breathe while the words have matured to explore the twists and turns of life’s uncertain paths.
The songs vary in pace and mood, from the soft and summery “Fire and Soul” to the reggae infused “Raining In My Heart” and the sweeping storm that rages within “Conduct Yourself.” Free of the constant routine of tours and albums that drove the band prior to their hiatus the songs on Roses come from a band with a renewed hunger to get the sound just right. And in every corner you’ll find the extraordinary sound of Dolores O’Riordan’s voice, the pivotal instrument which transformed this band from a group of young Irish hopefuls at the edge of the 80s into an MTV sensation and worldwide supergroup within just a few short years.
Originally formed in 1989 as The Cranberry Saw Us, Noel, Mike and Fergal first met Dolores O’Riordan in May 1990 after she auditioned for them shortly after their original singer left the band. They knew instantly they had found an extraordinary voice and a songwriter whose lyrics could compliment Noel’s unique guitar sound. The hits were just around the corner and soon after signing to Island Records the single “Linger” was adopted by MTV in America who played the video every hour. The soft-sided tune went on to become a massive worldwide hit, followed by the sharper edged “Dreams”. A fairytale start to an unforgettable decade.
The Cranberries returned in 1994 with the second Stephen Street produced album, No Need To Argue. Keeping abreast of the 90s taste for grunge, the album skipped between the fully loaded “Zombie” which scorched a trail to the No. 1 slot across the world and the softer, more reflective “Ode To My Family”. Album sales were huge. Between them, the first two releases alone notched up more than 20 million copies. Demands on the band’s time rose, fans rioted at a free show in the U.S. By the time they came off the road to record the follow-up, The Cranberries were among the biggest bands in the world.
The third album, To The Faithful Departed was released in 1996 and mirrored the frantic pace of the lives of the four members. With Aerosmith producer Bruce Fairburn at the controls, the band’s sound put the innocence away and turned up the volume in favour of a faster, harder rock style with songs like “Free To Decide”, “When You’re Gone” and – still a big crowd pleaser to this day – “Salvation.”
In 1999, they released their fourth album Bury The Hatchet, a way of making peace with the pop and rock audience. With a two year interval from the public gaze they served up a more relaxed mix of pop and rock in singles such as “Promises”, Animal Instinct” and “Just My Imagination.” After a lengthy world tour, they reunited with original producer Stephen Street in 2001 to make their fifth album Wake Up And Smell The Coffee, featuring top tracks “Analyze” and “Pretty Eyes”. The tours rolled out one after another and in between performances they somehow found the time to promote Stars, a 20 track compilation of their very best, released in 2002.
In September 2003, as they considered recording another album, the band put the brakes on what had turned into an endless routine of performing and recording and went their separate ways. Glad of the break, the four who had all married by this time stepped out of the glare and returned home to raise their young families. The break proved quite successful in that respect. At a recent children’s party in Limerick, to which all four members were invited, they realized there are now more than a dozen little Cranberries!
But during their time off from each other, some of the members continued to explore new sounds. Dolores released two solo albums, Are You Listening in 2007 and two years later No Baggage. Noel continued to write and produce releasing Mono Band in 2005 and later, Arkitekt. Fergal fed in to several acts in the local Limerick scene including The Low Network and Brendan Markham. And Mike stayed out of studios altogether, preferring to run a successful restaurant in Limerick city.
In 2009, Mike joined his brother Noel to perform some Cranberries songs at a college event in Dublin to honour Dolores. Of the performance Dolores says “The minute we started playing it felt like we’d never stopped. There’s something about playing with the Cranberries, it’s like putting on the pair of perfect shoes. It’s a chemistry. It just fits.” By then, Noel was back in touch with his former lead singer, sending her a variety of musical ideas for new songs. The small acoustic event helped ease the partnership back together again and within the year the Cranberries were testing the waters with some low-key shows. The following year saw them back up to speed again with a world tour featuring the very best of The Cranberries.
Some of the songs from the latest album date back to the days before they paused The Cranberries in 2003, like “Astral Projection” and “Raining In My Heart”. Others come from the sound checks in 2010, like “Serendipity,” “Conduct Yourself,” and the seize-the-day themed first single “Tomorrow.” But there were still a few surprises at the last minute during recording at Metalworks in Toronto in April and May of 2011. On an evening off as Dolores was going in to watch the movie Limitless, she listened to a melody Noel had saved for her. She loved it instantly and later that night wrote the lyrics to it calling the song “Roses”. The song is now the title of the album, the sixth from The Cranberries and one they are confident will please their fans and win a legion of new ones.
The Cranberries Live in Manila: The Greatest Hits concert is presented by Karpos Multimedia and Midas Promotions with official music channel, MYX and TV partners Fox and StarWord. Radio partners are Mellow 947, 96.3 Easy Rock, 90.7 Love Radio, 101.1 Yes FM, Tambayab 101.9, 106.7 Energy FM, 93.9 IFM. Print partners are The Philippine Star and Business World. Online partners are PinoyExchange, Click the City, Manila Concert Scene, Philippine Concerts, Ixomsoft.tv, Yahoo! Philippines, Dig Radio. Special thanks to Astroplus, Red Box, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Universal Records, MCA Music and Sitel.