THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 5, 1994 TAG: 9408050138
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
IT'S HARD TO get away with thinking you're hot stuff at home in Ireland, says Cranberries drummer Feargal Lawlor.
Even if your band's first album goes platinum in America and you're acclaimed as the most important Eire-rock export since U2.
``You can't do that here; they wouldn't take you seriously at all,'' Lawlor said by international phone from a studio where finishing touches were being put on a second album, ``No Need to Argue.''
That very lack of pretension, he added, is part and parcel of what keeps the Cranberries themselves down to Earth.
``It's just good to be here after being on the road so long,'' he said of the outfit that spent nearly six months touring the United States in 1993 after ``Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?'' and its single, ``Linger,'' took off. There's no sense within the ranks that the Cranberries are more important than any other group: ``No, we just try to keep playin' the gigs.''
The few stateside dates the band will do before ``Argue's'' release in October include one at Woodstock '94. Does that name conjure the same magic in an Irish musician as it does in so many American ones?
``Yeah. It's great to be asked to do it,'' Lawlor said. ``It's such a big thing just to be there. We're looking forward to going back to the States. It's a pity we'll only be there for two weeks, but I'm sure we'll be back when the record comes out.''
The Cranberries' success here radically rearranged their notions of what was possible for the band. By the time ``Everybody Else'' had gone the distance, the band had heaps of recognition and accolades thrown on them.
``Yeah, it was mad,'' Lawlor said. ``We came over in June of '93; we expected to do a small college tour and do a few dates opening. Then one station picked it up, and the word of mouth went from station to station.''
Among the perks was a fashion spread in Rolling Stone.
``Yeah, we did that Rolling Stone thing for a bit of fun,'' he said. ``It was great, because we never get dressed up. It made us feel a bit respectable.''
``No Need to Argue'' comes in seemingly record time for a follow-up to a major hit. Lawlor explained that ``by the time we got home, we had most of the songs written. Delores (singer O'Riordan) finds it really easy to write on the road. We test 'em out at soundcheck and then play them on the gigs the next few nights. A lot of people were saying, `Don't you feel a lot of pressure for the next record?' But we don't.''
As for the ethereal sound of ``Linger'' and the debut's other tracks, don't expect a massive change, he said, adding: ``I think it's not hugely different. We don't sound like a different band. But I think this one's much better than the first one.''
Don't expect O'Riordan's inward-looking lyrics to hold anything back, either.
``She just writes for her own satisfaction,'' Lawlor said. ``If she worried about what people thought, she'd never write anything. But she doesn't worry about what people think. She writes what she feels. If she feels that way, she'll write that.'' by CNB