Your Sunday dinner: The Cranberries

The Cranberries weren’t one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, but they were among the most successful. In the United States alone, from 1993 to 1996, the band sold more than 14 million copies combined of three albums: “Everyone’s Doing It , Why Can’t We?” “No Need to Argue” and “To the Faithful Departed.”

 
In 2003, the band took a break. “We’d been doing it for a while – about 13 years,” said lead guitarist and songwriter Noel Hogan, “and we wanted to go off and do other things, like raise our families.” The hiatus lasted six years. During that time, lead singer Dolores O’Riordan recorded two solo albums.

In January, talk of a Cranberries tour was reignited after Hogan, his brother Mike (the band’s bassist) and O’Riordan played together for the first time in nearly six years. This month, the Cranberries launched a U.S. tour that stops at the Midland theater on Sunday night. Noel Hogan talked to the Star recently about getting back into an industry that has changed a lot since he and the rest of the band stepped away from it.

How long has this tour been in the books?

We did a gig in January of this year at Trinity University in Dublin. Dolores was getting an honorary doctorate and she’d been asked to do an acoustic set and she asked my brother Mike and me to join her. We kind of mentioned it then and talked about it a few times afterward, but it wasn’t until the summer when it really kicked up again.

We never broke up. We just took a break. So we had talked about getting back together off and on over the years I thought it’d be next year. But once we did the thing in January it felt really good and everyone was keen to get back into it. You’ve said it’s not really a reunion because the band never broke up; you just stopped for a while.

We’d all kept in touch over the years, so it wasn’t like we were strangers. I’d been sending Dolores bits of music I’d written for her over the years. But (that show) was the first time more than two of us had been in the same room together.

It really sunk in how we missed it when we were all in the same room together rehearsing. It was a really weird thing to go out there and it was like someone unpressed the pause button after a long time. It never really felt like we’d taken a day off.

You’re five shows into the tour. How has it gone?

The reactions have been amazing. Really. We’ve been surprised how well we’ve been received.

Who is coming to your shows?

We’re getting obviously the people our age and a little younger, who listened to us growing up in the 1990s. But we’re also seeing young people. They tend to come up to the front of the stage to dance.

Other bands who have gone on long hiatuses have said that the time away made them all better musicians. True for the Cranberries, too?

Yes. We’d reached a point where were getting into routines. We’ve all gone off and done other things, musically, which helps us inject new things into our music every day. I don’t think we’ve ever played as well as we are now.

What’s your setlist like?

We’ve rehearsed 40 songs. We play the ones you have to play, the singles, like “Zombie” and “Linger.” But we also have picked some album tracks that maybe not everyone knows but a lot of fans are really happy to hear.

And you do some of Dolores’ solo material?

We’ve rehearsed two, “The Journey” and “Switch Off the Moment.”

Are you writing new songs?

Yes, we are kind of writing new material. We’re working on six or seven new songs. We might play one of them on this tour.

For a new album? And if so, will there be a label involved?

We are not connected to a label at the moment. You know the Internet has changed things so much, even in the time we’ve been away. So a lot of the ways we used to do things aren’t necessary any more. You don’t necessarily need to depend on a record company. It’s great if you have a big label behind you that can finance things when you’re starting out, like we did. But for the most part, the way we did things is history.

Initially we thought we’d just self-release an album. But some labels have shown some interest. We’re in discussions.

But at this point a band like yours must have most of the leverage.

Well, you don’t want to get cocky. But, yes, the way things are now we do have some.

Comments

[onthemark]

Be great to hear them play 'Zombie'. That song rawks!

[soukaina]

realy you are my best .
and i love you .
i advice all peaple to lecen to thes song***I miss you****zombie***i love you***
and ....ok thet's all for nown
by
i m soukaina of marocco

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