Below is an exclusive scan of the “Time is Ticking Out” 12″ European Promo Vinyl, just issued by MCA Records. The release is no doubt an attempt to promote the remixes at the vinyl-spinning clubs throughout Europe.

Source: Exclusive

No Cranberries history is complete without the name Niall Quinn.
It began one night in late August 1989. While waiting in The Granary Nightclub, Mike and Noel met with Niall Quinn, their longtime neighbor who lived only a few hundred yards away. Niall, a drummer for his own band The Hitchers, was opening the set that night. They introduced Niall to Fergal, also a drummer. Mike, Noel, and Fergal, all three about the age of 16, were by this time looking for a singer to complete their band.

“Over the course of a pint they told me they were putting a band together, were actively looking for a singer and I guess I volunteered to give it a go. A couple of weeks later while on the way home from school a little white car screeched to halt across the road from me and out bundled the three boys to see if I was still interested,” Niall writes in a newly-written online narrative of the early days of The Cranberry Saw Us, titled “Another Story”. The story is by far the most informative resource on the previously obscure early days of the group that eventually formed The Cranberries.

He notes, “We decided on the name that day [in September] – and contrary to what I’ve read elsewhere I came up with it. Actually what I came up with was the name ‘The Cranberries’ and then suggested several variations on it. These included ‘The Cranberry Saw Us’, ‘The Cranberry Doodles’ ‘The Crandoodles’ and several more I can’t remember. Without actually voting on it we discussed them and eventually settled on ‘The Cranberry Saw Us’. I remember favoring it over ‘The Cranberries’ – which I reckoned sounded like a band a girl would be singing with – like ‘The Darling Buds’ or ‘The Sugar Cubes’. Maybe that’s why long after my departure they shortened it back to its source name – because it fitted perfectly a band fronted by a female.”

Over the next few months, the novice band practiced regularly, eventually moving into the “The Whiteroom” rehearsal room of the local record company, Xeric Records. On September 18, 1989, The Cranberry Saw Us did their first gig at the Flag Cafe in Limerick. “It was in The Flag Cafe – a little coffee shop that used be on Broad St. in Limerick that was popular with students of the nearby art college. We actually performed as a five piece that day. We’d toyed with the idea of getting in a keyboard player and a few weeks before the gig I’d convinced a mate of mine from school to give it a go,” Niall writes. Although titles such as “My Granny Drowned in a Fountain” on Lourdes” are common among the major Cranberries biographies, it was crowd-pleasers like “Sixty-Niner” that stole the band’s early live gigs.

The Cranberry Saw Us’s live gig experience only adds to the legendarily “quirkiness” of the band. Niall admits, “At this stage I was enjoying the novelty of being a frontman and wasn’t particularly concerned that my voice was at best work-a-day or that my guitar playing was simply awful. I think I premiered a quaint little ditty called ‘Sixty-Niner’ at that second show [at the Flag Cafe] too. From then on I’d usually sing it with my trousers ’round my ankles for extra dramatic effect. Though the trousers down stunt was in truth stolen wholesale from ‘They Do It With Mirrors’ frontman Kevin Brew… Maybe to compensate for my discomfort I experimented a bit. I reckoned if I’m going to feel ludicrous I may as well look ludicrous so I’d tie my hair up in pig-tails, borrow a school uniform off one of the lads girlfriends and wear that onstage. And why not?”

Early Cranberry Saw Us Gig Ad
As the end of the year approached, however, Niall was becoming concerned about the time he invested in the band. In his mind, he was firstly and primarily a drummer for The Hitchers. He wanted to be sure that his reputation would remain that way and he wouldn’t become instead “the singer for The Cranberry Saw Us.” Mike, Noel, and Fergal were also anxious to record a demo of their new mass of songs. Niall remembers, “The lads were gung ho to book a day in Xeric Studios and record a few songs. I was a bit hesitant if only for the simple reason that I couldn’t afford it. The plan was for each of us to chip in fifty quid which would be enough to get us a day. Truthfully they may as well have been asking me to chip in fifty million. I didn’t have it and had little way of raising it. In the end I managed to scrape £25 together and that was through calling in a lot of favors.”

The band booked January 7th, 1990 at Xeric Studios and recorded their first and only demo, titled “Anything,” the title being an alluding tribute to the English guitar band Ride. The art to the demo was hand-done by Noel, who ironically misspelled “Cranberry” (as “Cranbery”).

By February, however, Niall knew his resources were being strained. The Hitchers was a demanding priority, so he decided he knew he had to leave The Cranberry Saw Us. He wished them luck in finding a replacement, but his involvement in the band didn’t end here. “Outside the take away [of the Termite Club] I bumped into an ex-girlfriend of mine called Kathryn who asked how TCSU were getting on since I’d split,” recalls Niall. “I said the lads had mentioned that they were considering getting a girl and straight away Kathryn suggests a girl in her older sisters class at school. ‘Her name’s Dolores …she sings with the choir but she’s into Sinead O’Connor as well. I’ll get her phone number for you tomorrow.’ And that’s how, one Sunday afternoon, I ended up phoning a girl called Dolores — out of the blue — to see if she’d be interested in singing with my old band.” Dolores O’Riordan was interested. She arranged to meet at Xeric Studios late that spring with the band.

Niall remembers the moment Dolores opened her mouth to sing, saying, “She started playing a Sinead O’Connor song — I don’t know which one… I think it’s on ‘The Lion & The Cobra’ LP — but she was scarcely three or four lines into it by the time all our lower jawbones had hit the floor. This girl could sing — effortlessly. I think I was off the hook with Noel, Mike and Ferg by the time she finished and within a couple of minutes I’d made my excuses for dashing off, said my see ye laters and quietly slipped out the door leaving history to get on with its making.”

“The songs [they played] were not to my taste, but I saw the potential in the playing. It was easy for me because no matter what their first impressions were, the minute I opened my mouth I knew that they were going to be impressed.” -Dolores

Niall Quinn rarely does any interviews whatsoever regarding The Cranberry Saw Us, but has graciously made an exception for Zombieguide, and chatted with us earlier this today.

ZG: Zombieguide.com
NQ: Niall Quinn

ZG: First of all, thanks, Niall, for the opportunity for us to chat with you. We’ve gathered some questions from fans along with some we came up with ourselves.

ZG: Is this, then, a picture of you?

NQ: Yeah, not TCSU period though. I can date it exactly. That shot was taken on Dec 23rd 1992 — the coldest day of that year here in Ireland and just The Hitchers’ luck to have pre-booked a photo shoot for that morning. It’s like 10 below freezing or something.

ZG: The narrative that you wrote titled “Another Story” is in excruciating detail and is by far the best source of information about the early band that we’ve yet to run across. What motivated you to compose the entire story? Did you just want to set the story straight once and for all?

NQ: I guess so. I mean for the most part reports that are out there of that short era tend to be really scant on detail. I should correct something you said to a contributor to the message board the other day too. I’ve not actually seen many Cranberries fan-sites. It was a friend of mine said to me a while back, “Have you ever typed your name into a search engine on the web? There’s some really funny shit out there about you.” So I guess I was a bit intrigued. The fact that there isn’t much detail available has maybe contributed to people drawing their own conclusions about some bits of the story and filling in the gaps with those conclusions however wacky they are. So seeing as I was setting up a website for the new band I decided that maybe this was the right forum to deal with the issue. I mean, I think it’s an interesting little story — but it is a LITTLE story in the greater scheme of things — it was never going to be long enough for a book nor for that matter have I the remotest interest in writing a book about it. I don’t think either that I’m making a particularly big deal about it. It’s just my best recollection of that period and it’s even buried pretty deeply within the website. To be perfectly straight, you guys are the only people anywhere [whom] I’ve told that it’s in there because I guessed that as fans of the band it’d be attractive to you. What’s attractive about it to me is the fact that I’m the editor and I’m not going to clip quotes out of context and I’m not going to try and make it into something it aint.

ZG: The Belgian newspaper article that you described was very far from the truth… were there any other notable examples of false information about The Cranberry Saw Us that you’ve come across?

NQ: Well obviously the ‘mental institution’ story is a fairly extreme example. But there are plenty of common misconceptions out there — not just on the www but in urban myth as well. Even here in Limerick I sometimes encounter people who think I was in The Cranberries as opposed to TCSU, that I was in TCSU at the same time as Dolores, that I was the drummer, that I was the guitarist, that I was kicked out, that I was asked to leave because the boys had seen Dolores singing with another band and wanted her to join. Another common enough one is that I used sing ‘Linger,’ ’Dreams’ etc… none of which obviously were written ‘til Dolores joined. Let’s see… Oh there was a good one I heard ages ago that included a complicated romantic entanglement between myself, Dolores and one of the lads — don’t know who. All bullshit. But journalists are the worst. I’ve been asked in the past to do interviews on the basis that The Hitchers have a record out, been asked one or two questions about The Hitchers and a dozen about The Cranberries/TCSU. Now some may say that’s only to be expected. I’ve a policy these days (thankfully I don’t get asked much anyway) that pretty much excludes talking to the print media (I’ll break it for two individuals who I trust impeccably) and anything else has to be either by e-mail (where I get to keep a copy of exactly what I wrote) or has to be live broadcast. That may sound tight-assed but it restricts the amount of creative editing people can get up to. By example there was one interview that I was told I was doing for the rock column of a paper here in Ireland back in 1997 when The Hitchers first LP “It’s All Fun & Games ‘Til Someone Loses An Eye” was released. There was virtually nothing of the interview published. What they did publish was a photo and front-page banner headline something like “I Could’ve Been A Millionaire!”. At the bottom of the page in a 11⁄2” square was a footnote saying the LP was out. That’s the calibre of wankers you’re dealing with. But I’ve been in interview situations where I could see that this guy has no interest in me or The Hitchers and even when they hear the story of my involvment in TCSU you can see visible disappointment on his face because he SO wants this to be a ‘Pete Best’ story. He needs this story to be about how I narrowly missed out on “fame and fortune”, how I proverbially “lost the Winning Lottery ticket” when even a cursory glance at the facts rubbishes such nonsense.

ZG: LittleHoss asks to “Describe each of the band members for us in your own words… Do you have any funny stories about the band you’d like to share?”

NQ: Is LittleHoss a web handle or something?

ZG: No, uh, the names were changed to protect the innocent! *laugh* Yes, it’s a web handle.

NQ: The Hitchers’ bassist was a guy called Hoss Carnage — he was 6’2” though. A couple of things first — these descriptions would be how I’d remember the lads over a decade ago because, unfortunately, I rarely see them these days. Also while obviously I’d have known Dolores as the singer with The Cranberries — a fellow musician about town trying to make her way in the world — I was never as close to her as I would’ve been to the three lads. Therefore it’d be rich of me to be describing her personality when I never got to know her very well. All I would say is that on the occasions we did meet she always seemed very quiet, unassuming and friendly. Noel was the quietest of the three boys. Despite being quiet he’d a quick wit and I’d say if he were in the army he’d be singled out as leadership material early on. He has a great sense of melody and has always been a far better guitarist than I’ve ever seen him given credit for. Mike was and I dare say most likely still is the joker of the pack. I hope he’ll forgive me for saying so but he could find the funny side of a motorway pile-up. I’ve met him most recently of the lot of them — even that’s got to be a year ago. I bumped into him in a local club. He was just having a beer and a game of pool so we’d a chat. I was telling him that The Hitchers had a recent line up change as Hoss the bassist had left and we joked about him joining in Hoss’ place as The Cranberries were quiet at the time. Fergal was the most outgoing of the three. A genuinely friendly and very down to earth guy — as indeed they all are. He was always fiercely enthusiastic and a perfectionist with it. I think that actually comes across in his drumming.

ZG: Crandana asks, “Did you ever have any serious aspirations of becoming famous, or was the band strictly for fun?”

NQ: I take it the band you’re referring to is TCSU, so yeah I took it serious as a heart attack. My reasons for moving on are probably best explained in my own site. I dunno [if] has Alex posted a link to it. It’s www.geocities.com/thepennywhores/another_story.htm. The band was fun as it should be. ‘Serious aspirations of becoming famous’ wouldn’t be my way of putting it. Yeah, I’d still like to be a successful musician and writer but how do you quantify successful? What I’d ultimately like would be to be able to do this professionally and make my living from it. That is actually a lot to ask in this day and age so I’m more than prepared to accept that most of my living will have to be made elsewhere and making records is always going to be an uphill struggle and probably a cottage industry. I don’t think I’d handle ‘famous’ very well so if I could take or leave it I’d most likely leave it. ‘Fortune’ I’d be willing to try though! *laugh*

ZG: Mummbz asks, “Do you still live in Limerick or have you moved elsewhere?”

NQ: Yeah I live in Limerick these days. I lived In Cork which is 60 miles south of here from ’92-’95 as I was in Art College down there doing sculpture and print. That was hard as the band was scattered and we used have to trek home most weekends to meet up, rehearse, get drunk, chase skirt… usual lads stuff.

ZG: Mummbz also asks, “What did you think of The Cranberries at the start of their rise in popularity? At the height of their popularity? Today?”

NQ: You seem to imply their popularity has waned. Has it? Not in this part of the world. I mean, I know there was a media backlash in the UK but they set you up to blow you out of the water anyway. They still do really well over there. I was and still am delighted for them. I remember seeing them on Top of the Pops years ago and saying, “Wow, I actually know these people.” It was all very exciting. I always thought they’d [create] some really cool songs. From their early stuff I’ve always thought ‘Uncertain’ was a beautiful song. They also had a song on their first demo (after me) called ‘A Fast One’ which I still love. It’s more like a Belly song or even a Sleeper song than a Cranberries song but it’s great. I really like the title track and ‘Icicle Melts’ from ‘No Need To Argue’. More recently ‘Just my Imagination’ is a really nice tune — very Smiths.

ZG: I don’t doubt that they’re still a hot commodity in Europe, but I think in the United States things have “waned” a little bit. MTV is chock full of crap (almost more so now than before) and I haven’t seen The Cranberries on regular MTV in nearly 3 years. I can’t be bothered by it too much, but if you ask any American fan in the discussion boards, they can give you a recent “frustration” story. Well, next question… several fans have asked what you have been doing since you left the ‘Sauce. So, please, tell us a little bit about your time with The Hitchers and now the Pennywhores — or anything else you care to talk about!

NQ: Well before, during and after my time in TCSU I was I was the Drummer/chief songwriter/ occasional singer with The Hitchers and we actually only broke up last year. We released two LP CDs in the UK and Ireland, ‘It’s All Fun & Games ‘Til Someone Loses An Eye’ (1997) and ‘For the Want of Some Better TV’ (1999). We just released our farewell EP single ‘She Broke My Heart So I Ate Her Liver’ on Dec 30th last [year]. I’ll be posting The Hitchers’ new site in the next few days so I’ll send the URL when it’s up and running. Actually I know the URL already it’s www.thehitchers.com. That’d be the best way to find out about The Hitchers because otherwise there’s just too much to tell. My new band The Pennywhores haven’t played live yet but it’s going to be my first time fronting a band since TCSU. Check out the site and have a listen to a tune or two. I’ve done about a dozen solo shows in the last year so I’m looking forward to doing more of that too.

ZG: Why the name Pennywhores? It’s very, um, unique!

NQ: It’s a lyric from a song called ‘Rachael’ by Bostons finest -‘Buffalo Tom’ from their LP ‘Smitten’. It goes “Rachael tell me what you’re waiting for? / Rachael aren’t you just a penny whore?”

ZG: LittleHoss asks, “Your lyrics to early material have been described as ‘quirky’. How do you respond to that?”

NQ: Well they probably were/are quirky — if quirky means unusual and uncommon way of putting an idea across. Unfortunately there are those who attach to quirky — insincere, lacking gravitas and therefore irrelevant. But it wasn’t just TCSU that affected. It clung to The Hitchers the whole way through our career. At the same time I was in TCSU, The Hitchers would’ve been selling demos of ‘The Streaking Chicken From Mercury Who Exposed Himself To Everything EP.’ Now there was a song on that called ‘Which Leg of A Chicken is More Tender?’ and we got pigeon holed by people who’s attitude would be, “Oh you guys sing songs with titles like ‘Which Leg of A Chicken is More Tender?’ therefore you’re wacky, you’re not earnest, You’re a comedy band, you don’t take this seriously, therefore we’re not going to take you seriously — in fact we’re going to ignore you ‘til you go away.” Despite the fact that if they’d bother to listen they’d find that ‘Which Leg of A Chicken is More Tender?’ is about something very real. It’s about as far into love song territory as I go and it is very sincere. But I always have and always will blame pop music for that narrow-mindedness. It makes people extremely conservative — for all the bullshit pop acts spout about ‘free your mind,’ ‘express yourself,’ ‘hurray for everything’. Pop music is very much the pre-school of conservatism (Academy status is still held by TV) and the message that I believe it constantly rams home to kids is keep your head down, be one of the gang, don’t make waves, don’t try to be different! If you DO try to be different YOU WILL BE PUNISHED psychologically, emotionally, socially and financially all your life. Now… that’s my anti-pop/anti-tv rant out of the way for today.

ZG: Yeah, I’d have to agree with that in a lot of ways. Several fans have asked, “Do you still keep in touch with ‘the lads’ ?”

NQ: Like I said earlier I rarely see them these days, which is a pity. On the rare occasion that I would bump into them while out for a beer, to be honest I feel a little awkward because I’m guessing they’re not in town for long and are catching up with family and loved ones of their own and I’d feel a bit bad about cramping their time. I’d always say hi and have a quick chat but I wouldn’t swarm round them or anything. I would love to meet up with them for a few beers sometime though. The most recent contact was nice. Noel signed in to The Pennywhores guestbook the other day with some words of encouragment for us.

ZG: Out of the three guys, which do you think had the best musical talent at the time?

NQ: Ah that’s easy — Fergal. He was a sublime drummer even back then — always knew when to hang back, when to wade in, how much pressure to apply when and where… he had it all from very early on in his drumming career. Noel and Mike had to put up with an amount of bullshit about their playing ability, much of which came from jealous blues-men. I can relate to it because The Hitchers had to listen to an awful lot of the same nonsense about our playing abilities for a different set of reasons. Back then Limerick had a plethora of blues and hard rock bands. Several featured lads who’d dress like Megadeth for a photoshoot but when you’d go see them they’d scarcely be as heavy as Bryan Adams. The blues brigade were often as bad – -and I should know, I served my drumming apprenticeship with one of the better outfits. But, to these guys a band like The Cranberries were easy meat because they kept their musical arrangements minimal, as were The Hitchers, because all our songs were power-chord bashing three chord tricks.

ZG: Why Cranberry? You wrote that it was something you came up with in Fergal’s back yard, but didn’t say quite where it came from. Just a random thought?

NQ: Yeah pretty much. There’s no big story behind the names origin.

ZG: I’ve read in several publications that the guitar chords to “Linger” were originally used in a very different Cranberry Saw Us song. Can you verify this, and if so, give some more information?

NQ: I’ve heard this said before too and if it’s so I only wish they’d used more of it as it would‘ve entitled me to a bite of a very sweet plum indeed. There’s only one song that matches the chord pattern or sequence and that’s “My Granny Drowned in a Fountain at Lourdes” — which we used play in the key of A. The sequence was A-E-G-D. Now if you modulate A-E-G-D to play it in the key of D it becomes D-A-C-G, which happens to be the chord sequence of ‘Linger’. It’d be pretty unreasonable of me to go trying to copyright a chord sequence though -particularly as there’s only 13 notes on a scale. So the upshot of it all is — it looks like I still have to go to work tomorrow. Oh well. *laugh*

ZG: Do you remember any verbal or written critiques of “Anything”? Did you sell very many copies?

NQ: I can’t remember any though I was saying in my own sites piece that The (now defunct) Limerick Tribune published a picture so I’m guessing they must have said something about the demo. I don’t remember anything bad being said about it so it must’ve been okay. I haven’t a clue how many it sold. I’d guess we’re talking dozens. Very low dozens. Possibly a bakers dozen.

ZG: Yeesh! And I thought getting my hands on a copy of “Nothing Left At All” would be hard! Did Noel have to design all of the covers of “Anything” one- by-one? Or were they photocopied or… ?

NQ: Not at all. Noel drew the cover with some markers, brought it down to me to type the inlay, I either bottled pointing out that he mis-spelled Cranberry or maybe I did point it out and he rationalized it away! Then again my typing isn’t going to score me a whole lot of secretarial work either is it ? What I think is quite funny is where I’d typed in a retail price of £2.00 and Noel changed it to £2.50 with a pen! The sleeves are color photocopies.

ZG: If you had the chance to do it all over again, would you? Would you do anything differently?

NQ: Would I do it again? Yeah why not? I had a lot of fun with the lads and I learnt a lot. I made some use of what I learned too. Only eighteen months after I finished my TCSU stint my own band The Hitchers found themselves singerless. Had I not had that TCSU experience I’d probably have been favorite to step into the job and would most likely have dived headlong into a job I was not cut out for. Would I do anything differently? What would be the point in doing anything differently? Where’s the percentage in it? It’d create an all ‘round no win situation. Examine it a little. Let’s just say I didn’t leave TCSU in late Feb/early March 1990. What happens? Me and the lads limp on for a couple of years, sheer determination would probably get us a record of some sort out by late 92 and we’d probably split amicably but disenchanted by early ’94. That’s if the lads hadn’t gotten tired of me splitting myself between two bands and booted me out by Christmas 1990. So what’s changed. I’m still not in TCSU anymore and I still haven’t made my fortune from rock ’n’ roll. So there’s no material benefit for me to gain by going back in time and staying in the band. The only thing that has changed now is that Noel, Mike and Ferg (and Dolores) are in the same position as me. They’ve never heard of Dolores O’Riordan nor she of them. Dreams, Linger, Island Records, Stephen Street, the LPs, Woodstock II… none of it ever happened. That’d be a shame. I don’t believe in pre-ordination or pre- destination, I don’t believe in God so I can’t believe he maps out paths through life for any of us. I don’t believe in fate or destiny. But when I examine the alternative ways the dice could’ve fallen I can only conclude that it was for the best that my path and the lads path parted when and where they did.

ZG: Once again, thanks so very much for your time and effort…. perhaps we’ll be seeing you sometime in the future at Zombieguide?

NQ: No Problem

According to Solidarité Sida, The Cranberries and Garbage will be headlining the annual “Le Festival Solidays” at the Hippodrome de Longchamps in Paris. The event takes place on July 5th and 6th of this year and is in its fourth year of running.

However, the news should be taken cautiously until it is officially confirmed. Two years ago for the 2000 Festival, Solidarité Sida advertised a billing that included The Corrs as the featured artist. However, The Corrs never performed, and it was speculated that the announcement was merely an attempt to boost ticket sales.

Thanks to Stephane from Paris for the news.

Source: Exclusive

The new Cranberries single “Time is Ticking Out” made the highest debut this week on the definitive Spanish radio chart Los 40 Principales. “TITO” entered the charts at #15, a decent entry by the standards, and will no doubt move its way up. For reference, “Analyse” was also the highest-charter for its debut week, and eventually moved its way up to the #1 position.

In other chart news, the video for “Time is Ticking Out” is also doing equally well in Europe. The video currently stands at #2 on the MTV Italy Select chart, coming in second to Linkin Park’s “In the End”. The video is also appearing daily on MTV Italy’s Total Request Live.

Thanks to Electric Blue and Merry for the news.

According to ShowbizIreland.com, The Cranberries are among several artists expected to play at this year’s Meteor Music Awards. The Berries will be joining U2, Westlife, The Corrs, and Samantha Mumba at the final awards ceremony in Dublin this coming March.

Irish comic Patrick Kielty recently officially kicked off the awards at a ceremony in Dublin and is expected to be hosting the final awards show. This year’s Meteor Music Awards will be held at the Dublin Point Theatre on March 4th and will be broadcasted on Irish TV. Over 1,000 tickets will be available for this year’s event, and will be available to record companies and private corporations. Proceeds from the sales will benefit charities associated with the awards.

Source: ShowbizIreland.com

MCA Records has released a new promo CD for North America, a sampler of the rock tracks found on “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”. The disc includes a radio edit of the disc’s title track, which has not been released on any other previous disc.

1. Wake Up And Smell The Coffee (Radio Edit) (3:42)
2. This is the Day (4:15)
3. Time Is Ticking Out (2:59)

In other new promo release news, MCA has released a 12″ promo of “Time is Ticking Out (Marius De Vries Remix)” which includes the normal remix as well as a previously-unreleased “Instrumental Mix” on Side B.

Side A
1. Time is Ticking Out (Marius De Vries Remix)

Side B
2. Time is Ticking Out (Marius De Vries Instrumental Mix)

Source: Exclusive

Earlier tonight, Dolores O’Riordan was on stage at the prestigious NRJ Music Awards 2002 in Cannes, France to present the award for “Best Song of the Year”. Dolores, on stage with French-Canadian singer Garou, presented the award to Geri Halliwell. Dolores demonstrated a bit of her francophone, ending with her oft-used humble phrase, “My French… comme ci comme ça, français de l’école (My French… it’s average, school French).” The Cranberries were nominated for “Best International Group” (along with U2, Daft Punk, and Depeche Mode), but Destiny’s Child took home the award.

The Cranberries were invited to kick off the Midem Music Conference earlier in the day with a private gig at Cannes’ The Palm Beach. Only five pairs of tickets were given away through NRJ radio (with an insultingly easy contest: Find The Cranberries among a mix of Madonna and The Corrs songs), which made it a very private concert indeed.

Thanks to Uriel de Santiago Martinez for the news.

Source: Exclusive

Cell phone company Movistar Activa has begun promoting their upcoming Spanish music festivals, for which the Cranberries headline. Tickets have been on sale for several weeks for the multiple Spanish dates in March, as they have for other dates throughout Europe. Check out the poster below to promote the upcoming festivals, which will also be featuring Weezer and Dover.

Sources: Cranberries of Prat, CranClub

European TV station VIVA will be broadcasting The Cranberries’ Hamburg, Germany performance from April 16, 1999, this weekend to its European audience. The broadcast will be on Saturday from 18:00 to 19:90 (local time). If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out — it’s a good one!

Source: Cranberriesitalia.it

The Cranberries’ classic MTV Unplugged performance will be re-aired this weekend in its entirety on MTV Europe as part of its “Unplugged Weekend” special. The performance was recorded on February 14, 1995 in Brooklyn, NY, with a small string orchestra and includes the one-time performance of “Yesterday’s Gone”. Those of you on the giant peninsula with MTV Europe can look for it tomorrow (Saturday) at 13:00 CET.

Thanks to redgil for the tip.

Yesterday, Universal Music released this press statement, outlining The Cranberries’s plans for 2002. The band will be releasing special collector’s editions of each album, along with a boxed set in March, and will be touring the US beginning in May.

BAND TO START 2002 WORLD TOUR AND RE-RELEASE BACK CATALOGUE IN FIRST HALF OF YEAR

 

Santa Monica, California, January 14, 2002 – MCA Recording artists, The Cranberries, announced today their initial schedule for the first half of 2002.

 

The Cranberries have just confirmed the first dates of their “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” World Tour through April 2002.; The band will embark on their first routing since the band’s “Bury The Hatchet” tour ended in July 2000, after 110 dates, with the announcement of singer and front-woman Dolores O’Riordan’s second pregnancy.; The group will tour throughout 2002.

 

The band also confirmed today the release date of their back catalogue which is being released world-wide by Universal Music’s Island Def Jam label on March 18, 2002.; The 4 CD set is being sold in a Limited-Edition Boxed Set format and in individual CD formats.; The packages include new artwork plus studio B-sides and other material recorded during each album’s creation.; Island Def Jam is releasing the set in conjunction with the 10th Anniversary; of the band’s debut album release, 1992’s “Everybody Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We?”

 

“We have had a great year” stated O’Riordan.; “Noel, Mike and I added beautiful children to our families last year.; I also turned 30 in September and we had a great time travelling around the world playing our new music to our fans.; We are all really excited about the tour kicking off this year in Copenhagen, a city we haven’t visited since we started our careers! We intend to visit many new countries this year – including Latin America (a part of the world we have not been to), Asia and America.”

 

The tour kicks off February 17th in Copenhagen, Denmark (see below for dates) making stops throughout Europe at a variety of venues ranging in size from 1,500 to 15,000 seats.; The Cranberries will head to America to tour in early May.

 

“Time is Ticking Out,” the second single and video taken from the band’s platinum plus album, which has already sold 1.3 million copies (and been certified gold/platinum in a dozen countries world-wide since it was released late last year) is being released at different times over the next two months (check local listings for exact dates).

 

“Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” was produced by Stephen Street and features the first single and video, “Analyse” which was a top 10 hit single around the world.

 

Following is a list of dates for the first leg of the “Wake Up And Smell The Coffee” World Tour:

 

Feb 17th Copenhagen, Denmark; Vega
Feb 19th Stockholm, Sweden Arena
Feb 21st Berlin, Germany Columbiahalle
Feb 22nd Dusseldorf, Germany Philipshalle
Feb 24th Vienna, Austria Bank Austria Halle
Feb 26th Geneva, Switzerland Geneva; Arena
Feb 27th Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadion
Mar 10th Bologna, Italy Palamalaguti
Mar 11th Toulon, France Zenith
Mar 13th Madrid, Spain Palacio Vista Alegre
Mar 15th Barcelona, Spain Palau Sant Jordi
Mar 16th San Sebastian, Spain Velodromo Anoeta
Mar 18th Lille, France Zenith
Mar 28th Brussels, Belgium Forest National
Mar 29th Amsterdam, Netherlands Heineken Music Hall
Mar 31st Frankfurt, Germany Jahrhunderthalle
Apr 2nd Amneville, France Galaxie
Apr 3rd Stuttgart, Germany Liederhalle Beethovensaal
Apr 5th Milan, Italy Filaforum
Apr 6th Lyon, France Halle Tony Garnier
Apr 8th Paris, France Bercy
Apr 9th Bourges, France Festival
Apr 19th Oslo, Norway Rockefeller Music Hall
Apr 21st Hamburg, Germany Alsterdorfer Sporthalle
Apr 23rd Prague, Czech Republic Paegus Arena
Apr 25th Katowice, Poland Spodek Arena
Apr 27th Munich, Germany Colosseum
Apr 29th Montepellier, France Zenith

The band are currently rehearsing in Ireland and will perform this weekend at a private gig for NRJ Radio listeners in Cannes, France to kickoff Midem 2002 the music industry’s biggest event. This will be Noel’s first live gig with the band since November 2000.

Source: Cranberries Official Website

Following Saturday’s airing of “Música Sí”, Universal Spain has been notified of the video manipulation and may soon be pressing some form of charges against the show.

Laura Ceballos, representative for the group in Spain, was not originally aware of the incident. However, both she and Universal Spain have been notified and are currently investigating. Universal Spain is currently awaiting a VHS copy of the show from the president of the Spanish Fanclub and will intervene after it has been reviewed by the company.

Source: Cranberries of Prat

The 4-song performance recorded in late November for the Spanish music show Música Sí will be airing tomorrow morning. The band performed four songs for the show: “Analyse”, “Zombie”, “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”, and “Time is Ticking Out”. “Analyse” was aired previously in December, which may exclude it from a second broadcast. For the record, this is currently the only documented live performance of “Wake Up” thus far. The show will be broadcasted tomorrow at 11:15 AM on the Spanish network TVE1.

Thanks to Jesus Castillo for the info.

Official Italian Cranberries webpage Cranberriesitalia.ithas posted six downloadable Real Video clips from Dolores’s performance for Pope John Paul II on December 15th. The clips include soundcheck clips, meet & greet with fans, and actual performance footage. The site promises to have more photos up in the coming days, as well as Dolores’s answers to questions by Italian fans. Here are the links to the downloads… (All links no longer available)

“Little Drummer Boy” Soundcheck w/ Westlife
“Little Drummer Boy” Soundcheck 2 w/ Westlife
“Panis Angelicus” Soundcheck
“Little Drummer Boy” Performance w/ Westlife
Dolores Meet & Greet w/ Fans
Contest Winner Andrea Nannelli Proudly Displays His Autographed Guitar

Source: Cranberriesitalia.it

With the release of “Time is Ticking Out” a mere few days away, we finally get our first glimpse of the single’s cover from The Cranberries Official Website. The cover depicts a globe-painted egg, about to drop rapidly to its doom — which links in very well with the song’s theme. The site notes that the official street date for the single is January 14th for Europe.

Source: Cranberries Official Website

Spanish television channel TVE1 aired the newest episode of “Música Sí” earlier today, which included The Cranberries’ four-song mini-concered, recorded in a frictional session in late November. In an attempt to cover their own asses, the show manipulated much of the video, putting the band in a very degrading, humiliating, and indignant position.

They originally recorded the songs in this order:

1. Analyse
2. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
3. Zombie
4. Time Is Ticking Out

During “Zombie” Dolores and the director had a harsh exchange of words, which you can read about here (Link no longer available), if you haven’t already. The show instead changed the order of the songs, putting in the following:

1. Analyse
2. Time Is Ticking Out
3. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
4. Zombie

At the beginning of “Zombie” Dolores said, “This next song is Zombie.” It was properly translated at the bottom of the screen. “Zombie” was never finished. Halfway through the song, an understandably irritated Dolores dropped the lyrics and said, “The sound is crappy, I can’t sing like this.” However, the subtitles deceptively read, “I’m stressed and I can’t sing.”

To make matters worse, in the break before “Zombie”, the show substitued in falsified clips that were recorded after the show. “The interviewer said that Dolores had told her during the spots that her voice was terribly bad and that she didn’t know whether she would be able to sing,” says Jesus Castillo, one Spanish fan who was able to watch the show. “They have followed a line of argumentation completely false to save their image by manipulating what actually happened. Dolores was very serious, angry, uninterested and she commited a HUGE mistake singing WUASTC. In TITO, she didn’t sing ‘we’ in the chorus . She said, ‘… don’t know, for me love is all’. In Zombie she skipped many parts. If you don’t know what has happened, you lose all the respect for the band BECAUSE Dolores seems really silly.”

Spanish fansite Cranberries of Prat has plans to begin a petition to send to “Música Sí” in hopes of a public apology from the show. In the meantime, they also plan to have an MP3 of the audience-recorded argument between Dolores and the director within the coming days, so that the situation can be made known first-hand to fans.

And perhaps the biggest insult of them all is that this situation isn’t exactly new. The band experienced similar mistreatment when they recorded for “Música Sí” in early 1999, where it was reported that the audience filler at times boo’ed The Cranberries on stage.

Thanks to Jesus Castillo for the info.

The newest issue of the Brazilian magazine “Dynamite” features Dolores & Co. on its cover, as well as an in-depth article within its pages. Check out the cover of the issue below.

Source: Cranberries Tape Trader

“Time Is Ticking Out”, the second single from “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” has been given a Canadian release date of Tuesday, January 29, 2002. The four-track version will be seeing its Canadian release two weeks after its international counterpart. A US release is not expected.

Source: Cranberries Tape Trader

A representative for The Cranberries has informed Zombieguide.com earlier this week that the band is currently deep into rehearsals, preparing for the upcoming “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” 2002 World Tour. The tour will kick off in Copenhagen, Denmark on February 17th and then will cover the rest of Europe, later heading to other global locales, including North America, South America, and Asia. The band began rehearsals for the new line of shows as early as November.

The band is currently at home, practicing at their mythical “red brick barn” (sometimes dubbed “Cranberries Headquarters”), which is located outside their hometown of Limerick. “Shhh!” Dolores once told Q Magazine, “It’s supposed to be a hay barn. That’s what the neighboring farmers think, anyway… Just say it’s somewhere between Limerick and Cork.” The magazine complied, washing their hands free of any blood, saying, “…the rest of the band who, for the sake of any Irish famers who happen to be reading, are here solely to make hay.”

The Cranberries have good reason to practice. As the band told Navegalia.com in late November, “We expect to really surprise the public. We’ve been rehearsing for three weeks and we’ve decided to include alot of old songs because it’s been awhile since we’ve played them and we want to bring them back.”

What kind of “surprises” will eager fans be treated to on the next tour? We’ll find out soon enough when the “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” worldwide tour kicks off next month.

Wanna check out rehearsal photos from inside “Cranberries Headquarters”? Check out Zombieguide Europe’s screen captures from the “Beneath the Skin” DVD

Source: Exclusive

Several online retailers have begun posting listings for the upcoming international release of “Time Is Ticking Out”. The single will be out in 2- track and 4-track installments on the MCA International label on January 15, 2002. Because of the inclusion of the “Analyse” music video, the 4-track disc will be labeled as an enhanced single. Final cover art has yet to be seen, but we’ll keep you updated!

Source: CD Universe

MTV.com has posted a new picture of the band, taken by their own in-house photographer Jason Campbell. The absence of Noel suggests that it was taken around August, when the band was doing promotion in the United Stated, and performed three songs for MTV.com

Source: MTV.com

The Cranberries were Artist of the Day yesterday on Canadian music channel MuchMoreMusic for their new video “Time is Ticking Out”. Here’s what got posted on their website…

The Cranberries
“Time Is Ticking Out” is the second single from Irish group The Cranberries’ fifth album, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. The video, directed by Maurice Linnane (U2’s “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me”) features singer Dolores O’Riordan in a Wizard of Oz-style setting, walking amongst poppies and sunflowers, down a yellow brick road. The video’s basic concept elaborates on the song’s meaning: about saving the earth from destruction before it’s too late.

Source: MuchMoreMusic

MTV Spain has compiled and announced their list of the hottest artists of the past year — and The Cranberries sit at the top of the list. A clear example of “Wake Up”‘s popularity in the Iberian Peninsula, the station has chosen the ‘Berries as one of the bands of 2001. They’re not alone, however; The Cranberries share the top spot with Dido and Destiny’s Child in a three-way tie.

Thanks to AlwaysIsTheDay for the news.

Source: MTV Spain

According to reports out of the Italian newspaper “Avvenire”, Dolores has formed a new relationship, both personal and professional, resulting from this month’s IX Concerto di Vaticano in Natale. During the preparations, orchestra director Renato Serio was immediately overwhelmed with Dolores’s voice, later saying that it is remarkably “soft but at the same time strong and powerful”. Dolores was equally pleased to make his acquaintance, promising to stay in touch. She also hinted that the two may collaborate sometime in the future to produce some “strange and charming” orchestrated material.

Thanks to Oxygen for the info.

Source: Exclusive

Mix 106.5 has posted memory-inspiring photos from the December 8th performance at Batimore’s Mistletoe Meltdown 2001. WOHOO!!
Look for more photos in the coming days!

Source: Mix 106.5

The Cranberries performed at Tampa’s “Santapalooza” earlier this month as part of the band’s holiday radio festival tour, sponsored by Star 97.5
This pic was taken backstage with one of the station’s hosts, John Stewart, at the gig.

Source: Star 97.5

Providence’s “Jingle Mingle 2001” on December 10th was one of several venues that The Cranberries played at earlier this month for their promotional US radio tour. Below are photos taken from 92 Pro FM… you can also visit their website to download Jingle Mingle 2001 wallpaper, with of course, The Cranberries!

Source: 92 Pro FM

According to the official Italian Cranberries site, Cranberriesitalia.it, The Cranberries’s new album “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee” has sold over one million copies worldwide since its October release (with 140,000 copies in Italy alone). For comparison, the band’s fourth album “Bury the Hatchet” (released April 1999) sold 5 million worldwide in a year’s time.

Source: Cranberriesitalia.it

According to the official Italian Cranberries site, Cranberriesitalia.it, the two versions of “Time is Ticking Out” (2 track and 4 track) will be released in Italy on January 11, 2002. If the past is any indication, releases throughout Europe and the rest of the world should come then or shortly thereafter.

In related news, the video for “Time is Ticking Out” premiered today in Italy on MTV’s Total Request Live. The video premiered several days ago in Canada, and will have its US premiere on January 7th.

Source: Cranberriesitalia.it

“Analyse” is nominated as one of the Best of 2001 on the Portuguese radio show “Rádio Comercial”. The song has been a Powerplay Song on the station since its release. The station is allowing listeners to vote online here. Needless to say, your vote is appreciated!

“Animal Instinct” finished in the top 20 of 1999, coming in at number 15.
Thanks to Bruno Malveiro for the news.

Source: Exclusive

As we reported little less than a month ago, Microsoft France has begun distributing Demo CDs cross-promoting “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”. The CDs are enhanced with XP trial content, including a free 30-second download of the title track from “Wake Up” (requiring Windows Media 7). The track is provided by an additional sponsor, E-compil, where users can “telecharge” downloaded tracks. Below is a screenshot from the demo’s application.

Source: Cranberries of Prat

There’s an article in the new issue of “Vale” which highlights the previous friction between Dolores and The Corrs, it’s it’s not very complimentary towards Dolores. It should be noted that Dolores has very recently publicly reconciled with her Irish kinsman and they now hold no grudges towards each other.

Source: Cranberries of Prat

French radio station “NRJ” (pronounced “energy” with a thick French accent) is gearing up for a private Cranberries gig in their studios, coming up on January 19, 2002. Tickets will not be available for sale to the general public, but attendees will be able to obtain tickets by listening and participating in NRJ contests. The contest to win tickets for the intimate gig begins next week for the Paris-based station.

Source: Cranberries Tape Trader

To commemorate the launch of the Terra network in Brazil, Dolores and Fergal were scheduled to participate in a web chat with fans. Unfortunately, Dolores was out buying last-minute Christmas gifts for her children, and was stuck in traffic, leaving Noel to do the chat alone.

One bit of very interesting and exciting news arose — that the band holds a bit more in store for 2002 than just a “greatest hits” compilation. Here’s what was said:

Marcelo S. Nery, of Belo Horizonte (MG), says:
On the site ZombieGuide, I read a news article that that said you will go to launch a new album in 2002. Will it be a compilation of the best songs of these past 10 years of your career or will it be an album with new songs?

 

The Cranberries [Noel] 14:33:04:
Yes, the new disk will be launched by December and will have our biggest hits and, we hope, new songs

Partial Source: Terra (Brazil)

Mix 98.5 has posted some great photos taken from The Cranberries performance at Boston’s “Holiday Hoedown” at the Fleet Center earlier this month. Check ’em out below!

Source: Mix 98.5

So this may not be news (ok, fine, it’s anti-news), but we know you’d be interested in seeing it anyway. Zombieguide has dug up a bit of an antiquity — an article from the October 26, 1991 issue of “Melody Maker”. The Cranberries are featured on the front of the issue with the caption, “Flying Sauces! The Cranberries take off”, and has one of the earliest interviews with the band printed, promoting their “first single”, “Uncertain”. It’s a rare glimpse at the young band (when they all aged about 19), and has a most interesting description of Dolores’s humble kitchen.
(Webmasters: These scans are exclusive, so please do not take them without giving proper credit to Zombieguide.com)

(No longer available, see CW Magazines section for this issue)

Source: Exclusive

MCA Records has issued and sent promotional discs for “Time is Ticking Out” to American radio outlets this week. The disc contains the same two tracks as its European counterpart, namely:

1. Time is Ticking Out (Album Version)
2. Time is Ticking Out (Marius de Vries Remix Edit)

It looks like the art department over at MCA was a bit on the lazy side for this one — the CD (which has no cover art) contains the same design as the “Analyse” promo.

Source: Exclusive

The Cranberries’s new video “Time is Ticking Out” will premiere in the United States early next month on Oxygen, on the premiere episode of the second series of “Daily Remix”. The half-hour show is “dedicated to music from every genre”. The Cranberries performed for Oxygen earlier this fall during their US promo tour, and perhaps they’ll become a semi-frequent staple for the women’s network.

The premiere episode of “Daily Remix”‘s second series, which will air the “TITO” video, broadcasts on January 7, 2002 at 10:30PM.

Source: Press Release

Zombieguide has received the first word of the tracklistings for the upcoming “Time is Ticking Out” single.

2-Track Version:
1. Time Is Ticking Out (Album version)
2. Loud And Clear (Live at Vicar Street, November 11th, 2000)

4-Track Version:
1. Time is Ticking Out (Album version)
2. Time is Ticking Out Remix (Marius De Vries Long Version)
3. Shattered (Live at Vicar Street, November 11th, 2000)
4. Analyse (video)

We still don’t have a firm release date for the single, but judging from the relevance of this information, it should be quite soon.

Thanks to Electric Blue for the info.

Source: Exclusive

The Cranberries are on the cover of a recent issue of the US-based industry-only magazine “Network 40”, and includes a 2-page article on the band and “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee”.
Check out a scan of the cover below.

Source: Exclusive

MCA has released a 3-track promo CD in Germany of the three different mixes of “Analyse”, including the elusive “Oceanic Long Version”. The CD also has some unique art; although it has the same photo as the common “Analyse” single, it does not include the Thorgerson-induced red spots found on the previous promo.

The tracklisting is:

1. Analyse (Oceanic Radio Edit)
2. Analyse (Oceanic Long Version)
3. Analyse (Album Version)

Check out some scans of the art and CD, below.

Source: Exclusive

Edge 102 has posted performance photos from last week in Toronto, where The Cranberries played three songs live on the air and participated in an interview. Zombieguide staffer Tara is in one of these shots, though I suppose she’ll have to show me which one. Although, she should be sharing her own exclusive photos sometime soon, so check back. For now, click below…

Source: Edge 102

In an interview taken two weeks ago for Navegalia.com, The Cranberries revealed that they’ve been practicing heavily and that next spring, eager fans will be in store for a few surprises in the Wake Up and Smell the Coffee 2002 World Tour.

Q: Next March you’re coming to perform in Spain. What will your concerts be like?
A: We expect to really surprise the public. We’ve been rehearsing for three weeks and we’ve decided to include alot of old songs because it’s been awhile since we’ve played them and we want to bring them back.

Another question revealed some new information about the oft-speculated “greatest hits” compilation (of which the Crans released a promo version of earlier this year, titled “Preserved”).

Q: After five discs, have you planned to release a compilation?
A: Yes, we think we’ll do it around this time next year (2002).

For the full interview, click here. (Link no longer available)
Thanks to INNER for the tip.

Source: Navegalia.com

People often say that its not always the best experience seeing your favorite band at a festival because not everyone is “into” that band. I think now that that theory has just been thrown out the window just before my very eyes. When Dolores walked off the stage, my throat was raw, my palms were anxiously sore, but I’m convinced it was one of the best experiences of my life. If The Cranberries’s performance at the Mistletoe Meltdown wasn’t the “best” experience I think I’ve had, anyone would be hard-pressed to come up with something better.

The lead singer for Five for Fighting was on first, with a skimpy 3-song acoustic setlist (At first I was worried each band would be limited to three songs). Then came American Hi-Fi with a pretty good (although blaring) rock set, while the lead singer even mingled with the crowd on the last song, putting most people on the floor on their feet.

Then, one of Mix 96.5’s radio personalities came on, declaring, “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Cranberries!” A cheer rang out, the first chords to “Zombie” hummed over my ecstatic cries of “I LOVE YOU DOLORESSS~~~!!! YOU ARE MY GODDESS~~~!!!!!!”, and immediately, everyone on the floor level jumped to their feet, and most stayed there for the full 8-song set. As for those folks in the bleachers — well, most of them didn’t stand once during the entire show, even when Better Then Ezra tried to verbally pry them out of their seats with a crowbar.

The setlist was:
1. Zombie
2. Analyse
3. Time is Ticking Out
4. Salvation
5. Linger
6. Free to Decide
7. I Really Hope
8. Dreams

A “tight” setlist, as one person described it, but a good one. This is one of the very few concerts I can call to memory where the Crans have started a set with “Zombie”, but it’s an incredibly good idea. The crowd was in it from the beginning, and the energy lasted until “Dreams”.

“Salvation” rocked the house, and “Linger” had the crowd’s lips moving to the lyrics.

I was particularly pleased to hear “I Really Hope” for the first time live, and I really hope (yes, pun intended) that it becomes a staple of the setlist — it’s completely killer live! When I got the chance to speak to Fergal, I told him that it was a great addition, with his humble reply being, “We’re still working on that one.”

“Dreams” was the usual icing on the cake for the short show, and I think everybody was left wanting a little more. But hey, that’s what world tours are for, right? Of course, for myself, the show was small beans compared to what followed…

Do you have a review or even a setlist from a recent concert? Email it to us.

Source: Exclusive

After some humbly-accepted Zombieguide compliments, Fergal and I got the chance to chat, sign anything Chris and I could pull out of our pockets (including the “soiled napkin” !!), and take photos (which we’ll have shortly!).

First was the staple “What did you think of the show? Was it good?”, which I responded with an emphatic “It was awesome!” I also complimented the addition of “I Really Hope” to the setlist, to which he responded, “We’re still working on that one.”

Next I asked him if the band had contemplated choosing their next single to follow “Time is Ticking Out”. He said that they might possibly choose “Never Grow Old”, but that they are also considering “I Really Hope” or “This is the Day” as the third single to “Wake Up”. Singles, though, he said are really “hard to choose”.

Next came the subject of their DVD “Beneath the Skin”, released in January. Fergal conveyed that the band was not happy with the final product, which has had some notorious loading complaints. I myself told him of my own experiences with PlayStation2 incompatibility. Apparently, the menu and loading problems are universal, and the band may have all of the DVD discs recalled in the near future. He correctly stated that Image did a poor treatment of the programming, and that the band will find a different company to reissue the disc in 2002.

After the autographs, he was disappointed that he had nothing on the bus to give me. However, he told me that if I wrote down my address, he’d mail some stuff over to me, including — get this — a copy of “Watercircle”! And while we were on rare early material, Paul spoke up about the elusive “Uncertain” video. Fergal was somewhat surprised to find that a copy hadn’t surfaced, even though the early attempt was “kind of embarassing”. He said then though that he would try his best to have it soon on the official site.

“I really appreciate it,” he told me as we said our goodbyes, and thus ended quite possibly the best night of my life.

Source: Exclusive