Friday, October 3, 1997

Ireland's The Cranberries left Toronto earlier this week after completing demos at Metalworks in Mississauga,Ont., the state-of-the-art studio owned by ex Triumph member Gil Moore.

The passionate pop band -- whose 1994 No Need To Argue went diamond in Canada (signifying 1 million albums sold) and the 1996 follow-up, ....To The Faithful Departed turned triple-platinum -- recorded a handful of new songs over a two-and-a-half week period. The sessions were self-produced by The Cranberries and engineered by Britain's Ben Fener (James).

"We were thrilled to have them here," says studio owner Alex Andronache. "They did it in Studio 1, our Neve room, which is the same room used by David Bowie, Sass Jordan, Treble Charger, Alannah Myles, King Cobb Steelie and Patricia Conroy. I really couldn't tell you anything about the material `cause I didn't get a chance to hear that much. It's The Cranberries."

Singer Dolores O'Riodan, Andronache reveals, is seven months pregnant. She met her husband, Canadian Don Burton, when The Cranberries toured with Duran Duran; he was their tour manager. The couple is based in Dublin, along with the rest of the band, brothers Noel and Mike Hogan (guitar and bass, respectively) and drummer Fergal Lawler.

"Family Way Studios is what we're called now," jokes Andronache. "In the last three months, Sass Jordan was here and she is expecting. Erykah Badu was here for a few days -- we did a track for a Samuel Jackson movie -- she's expecting. In the middle of all this, Gil Moore, the owner's wife, gave birth to a baby girl on Labour Day. And Dolores came in and she's expecting soon. It's only safe for males," he quips.

No word from The Cranberries record label, A&M/Island, in Canada whether these Metalworks tracks will surface on the band's next album or if there's a projected release date.