Intervista 3

WORKING TOUGHER GROUND

The Cranberries Dig Deep To Branch Out
by Kymberli Hagelberg (Scene Magazine)

Fergal Lawler is enjoying the up side of an unfortunate break. Were it
not for bandmate Dolores O'Riordan's bum knee, he'd be hanging out on a
bus somewhere heading for the next gig. Instead he's relaxing at home
in Limerick, Ireland, gearing up for the second, hopefully healthier
leg of the tour that will bring the Cranberries to Blossom this Friday,
August 23. Like O'Riordan (vocals), the band -- Lawler (drums), Mike
Hogan (bass) and Noel Hogan (guitar) -- are tougher than they look, and
lots more versatile. Thirteen slices of hard life and dashed
expectations, TO THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED relies heavily on O'Riordan's
dynamic hiccupy yodel to get the serious sentiments across, big guitars
and the band's relentless rolling rhythm, brought to the foreground by
producer Bruce Fairbairn's keen ear. Far sturdier than its pastel
predecessors, EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING IT SO WHY CAN'T WE and NO NEED TO
ARGUE, the new release surprised longtime listeners, critics and even
the band's record label with its newly muscled tone. Lawler spoke to
SCENE recently about the new record, having a life on the road and the
Cranberries' need to strike a balance between external expectations and
internal responsibility.

SCENE: So, will you all be in one piece by the time you get to
Cleveland?

Fergal Lawler: Oh yeah. Dolores just twisted her knee.

SCENE: I heard she also worked on it for another couple days.

Fergal: She went to a doctor who put a splint on it, then she tried one
more show hobbling around. Turns out it was quite bad. She'd torn some
cartilage. We lost eight or nine shows in Australia. That's why I'm at
home in my front room. We found it was quite bad really, and there's no
point in doing this if you can't give it 100 percent.

SCENE: Will you make up the canceled shows later?

Fergal: Probably after Christmas.

SCENE: Your new record got a lot of notice for being harder than your
others.

Fergal: That's what we were looking for, really. We had most of the
songs written over the past two years and began to notice they were
quite different from the others. We played a few live and recorded them
on tape just to see what they sounded like, and they went over really
well.

SCENE: Much of the change is being credited to your new producer. Why
did you choose not to go for a third record with Stephen Street
(Smiths/Morrissey/ Psychedelic Furs)?

Fergal: We wanted to work with somebody different this time so we
jotted down a few names and came up with Bruce.

SCENE: I'll admit that I laughed when I first read about that.
Fairbairn's resume now reads, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi... and the
Cranberries.

Fergal: (laughs) A lot of people were very surprised, but he had an
open mind about it, and that's what we were looking for. We'd obviously
heard the Aerosmith stuff and his work with other bands. We didn't
choose him for that -- we're not really fans of those bands. It was his
overall sound that we really fancied.

SCENE: Like?

Fergal: He gets a sound that's really lively and punchy. That's
something that was really missing in the past two albums. So much
energy from our live shows was just lost -- a lot of that edge was
really cut off. Bruce was able to capture the bit of us that's a little
more raw. In five weeks we were able to record the whole album, and
were more than happy with what we ended up with.

SCENE: Sounds like you had a lot of unexpected choices in mind this
time. Were people at the label telling you, "Why tempt success?"

Fergal: At this stage they realize we really know what we're doing. The
first record they were always looking around saying, "What are they
doing now?" By the second one they just came in the last week and
asked, "Can we have a listen?" -- that was it.

SCENE: So you've proved yourselves?

Fergal: Yeah, and at the end of the day it is our music. We should have
the right to decide what we should do.

SCENE: This record seems to be driven by the rhythm section a lot more
than usual. You gotta love that.

Fergal: What you're talking about is happening on songs like
"Salvation" and "Hollywood." Again, that comes from the stage. On the
other records, Stephen [Street] concentrated on the guitar and just
guitar alone. He was great for the first two albums, but it was getting
a bit stale. We were starting to change and he couldn't really change
with us, so we said it was time to move on.

SCENE: So, we're back to the producer again. Did you know right away
that Fairbairn was the guy?

Fergal: We spent a lot of time talking about what we wanted, and he
knew the first day. We told him, and five minutes later it was there.
It's strange to work with someone like that. He knew what we wanted
almost before we asked. That was very important.

SCENE: With his body of work, he probably had a dictionary of sounds in
his head.

Fergal: He's been doing this a long time. Almost 20 years.

SCENE: Almost longer than you've been alive!

Fergal: You're as young as you feel (laughs).

SCENE: When writers ask Dolores about "I Just Shot John Lennon," she
likes to remind them that none of you were even old enough to remember
the time of Lennon's death. Did his death have any effect on you?

Fergal: That song was written because of a book Dolores was reading
last year. That was really the trigger. None of us were really big
Beatles fans, and we're not now. But it was also shortly after Kurt
Cobain's death that she was reading it; she was thinking about what a
waste the death of talented people is. It's a pity, really.

SCENE: That song's been in your setlist a good while now.

Fergal: By the end of the tour last year we had six new songs in the
set. We got bored, so we'd work new things in to see how they went.
That's pretty much the way we always do things.

SCENE: Is the listener reaction to "I Just Shot John Lennon" any
different now than when you were just playing it at shows?

Fergal: They understand what it's about now, since they've heard it a
few more times. And I think they're more aware of the contrast between
the upbeat, uptempo music and serious lyrics.

SCENE: Aside from short stretches of time off back home in Ireland,
you've been on the road for much of the last four years. Do you enjoy
touring?

Fergal: Most times, but it's getting a bit much at this stage. After
this tour, I think that will be it for awhile. I think we'll just do a
couple of albums and not tour.

SCENE: Really?

Fergal: Yeah. We'd like to spend some more time in the studio. There's
no point in getting into the rut of record-tour, record-tour,
record-tour. The fun goes out of it. I mean, the idea of being in a
band is to have fun, do what you want to do and make yourself happy.
It's what the four of us want that is most important.

SCENE: And if you're out on the road forever, do you really live enough
to have anything to write about?

Fergal: Exactly.

SCENE: Do you think that's why so much of rock and roll is about
sleeping with strange women in anonymous hotel rooms?

Fergal: (Lots of laughter.)

SCENE: Not that that's not an advantage of being a famous young man,
but do you need to get away from the bus and hotels and do other things
to feel normal on the road?

Fergal: I do. In Australia I went deep sea fishing and I ride my bike.
It really breaks the monotony. (laughs) I got to explore every city we
were in. That's fun.