Irish group The Cranberries just do it like the others

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): The three males and one female from the small town of Limerick, Ireland never dreamed they would be as popular as they are today when they started to get serious about music back in 1990.

The Cranberries just wanted to play music and give it a try, like they said in Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, the title of their first album.

They never thought the album would turn people's heads or top the charts. Released in 1993, the album has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide.

The Cranberries are Dolores O'Riordan, the lead singer and songwriter who also plays the guitar and piano; Noel Hogan, the lead guitarist and songwriter; his brother Mike, who plays the bass, and drummer Fergal Lawler.

The group is currently touring Asia, with stops in Singapore, Manila and Jakarta. They are scheduled to perform here on June 28.

In a phone interview with The Jakarta Post Lawler said that he personally never thought he would have a good career in music.

"I had never thought of being like this when I was young. I just did what I wanted to do -- play music. And I'd never thought it would end up like this," he said.

According to Rolling Stone magazine, Lawler was a hairdresser before he decided to concentrate on his drums.

The first success was a big leap for Lawler, who did not have a formal education in music. He said he taught himself to play the drums in his parents' house.

But the Cranberries handled the unexpected success very well. They haven't changed.

"No, we haven't changed just because we are having a success in the business. I think the only change in our lives is that we are traveling a lot more," Lawler said.

The band has spent most of its time touring the world. The songs of their second album, No Need To Argue, were written on the road while touring the U.S.

The story of their success began in 1990 when Lawler, Noel and Mike, who were united in a band called Cranberry Saw Us, decided to find a female singer because the songs Noel wrote were too soft for a male singer.

O'Riordan came and impressed them with her voice. A week later she had arranged the raw materials and written the lyrics for Noel's songs.

They became the Cranberries, a name which does not have any special meaning to the quartet.

"It just came out when we were looking for a name," Lawler said.

In 1993 the group released its first single Linger, which became a world hit.

They didn't wait long to release their second album. No Need To Argue came out in 1994 and has sold five million copies worldwide.

The total sales of their two albums has reached over 8.5 million copies, making the Cranberries as popular as Irish band U2 and singer Sinead O'Connor.

Even during breaks they work. A brief tour break in December last year resulted in their third album, To The Faithful Departed, which was released last month.

Alternative

The Cranberries offer something different. Their typical melodies, combined with touchy lyrics, make people want to hear their songs again and again.

Classified as alternative, the Cranberries say they are influenced by everything from rock 'n roll to grunge; from the Beatles to Pearl Jam.

"Basically, our music is soft. Noel's songs have always been soft even before O'Riordan came. But there are many bands which have influenced us such as the Beatles, REM and Pearl Jam," Lawler said.

Some of their songs are soft but the band is not reluctant to use rock rhythms. Zombie, a song from the second album, is dominated by a rock rhythm combined with O'Riordan's chants, which sometimes lead people to mistakenly think it is sung by Sinead O'Connor.

Lawler says the third album is stronger than the first and the second ones. Some of the songs, such as Salvation and Hollywood have quicker rhythms. The latter sounds like Zombie.

"Dolores wrote all the lyrics and I think the songs in our third album are stronger than the previous ones because they capture many things in real life such as people's pain," Lawler said.

The Cranberries talk about war and its effect on children in Bosnia and War Child. Their memory on the Beatles' guitarist John Lennon, who was shot dead in 1982, is told in I Just Shot John Lennon.

O'Riordan is the brain of the group as her songs dominate the group's albums. Of the 15 songs on the third album, 11 were written by O'Riordan. She co-wrote the remaining four with Noel Hogan.

O'Riordan's dominate role and almost exclusive media attention doesn't seem to be a problem for the three men. Lawler says the band is strong enough to deal with it because they have been together for a long time.

"No, definitely not. We are stronger than that. We are strong because we have known each other and spent so many times together for more than four years now," he said.

He said the band is very democratic, and that no one is actually the leader of the band.

"We solve any problem democratically," he said.

O'Riordan has dismissed the possibility of a solo career any time soon.

"If I'm doing live performances, I'll always do it with the three guys. I wouldn't like to be a soloist. It's bad for people to be on their own because they get very selfish," she told Rolling Stone.

"Hopefully, I can play music as long as I live, with the band, of course," Lawler said.

Everyone else seems to be doing it.