Tough ‘Berries With A More Mature Take On Life, The Cranberries Get Political With Songs Of Nonviolence

It’s happened again. Another young band has grown up remarkably fast. Only a few years ago, the Cranberries the most popular Irish group since U2 eased into view with the light love song “Linger.”

Its words were heard endlessly in taverns across the land: “You know I’m such a fool for you. / You have me wrapped around your finger; do you have to let it linger?” It sounded like timeless teen pop.

Fast-forward to 1996, and there are different Cranberries to harvest. Same personnel, but a much deeper message. The band’s new album, “To the Faithful Departed” (taken from a Catholic prayer), delves brilliantly into the issue of nonviolence. It cites the senseless deaths of John Lennon, Kurt Cobain and John F. Kennedy, as well as of children in Bosnia.

And all the while it rocks harder than the first two Cranberries albums, which sold in the millions and made the band one of the few new acts to vault to arena-headliner status.

“To the Faithful Departed” is No. 4 on this week’s Billboard album chart.

“We were quite young when we started. So there wasn’t much of a dark edge to the music,” drummer Fergal Lawler said. “There were little bits and pieces, but as you get older, you understand things more.”

The Cranberries, led by charismatic singer Dolores O’Riordan, are still only in their mid-20s. But the sense of lost innocence - and brutally aware adulthood - pervades the new album, which will be followed by a tour.

On the new song “The Rebels,” O’Riordan offers this poignant reflection: “Seems like yesterday we were 16, we were drinking magic cider and having fun.” But the very next song is the back-to-reality rush of “I Shot John Lennon,” where O’Riordan sings “What a sickening sight” as the sound of bullets echoes in the background.

“That song came about because Dolores was reading a book one day on how he died,” said Lawler. “And it just sprang from that. All of us have a big admiration for John Lennon.”

Other victims of violence are recalled in “I’m Still Remembering.” Sings O’Riordan in her soulful, uniquely ornamental fashion: “What if Kurt Cobain with his presence still remained? … And remember JFK?”

The most impressive anti-violence songs, however, are the acoustic ballad “Warchild” and the orchestrally enhanced “Bosnia.” The first asks, “Who will save the warchild?” and calls him a “victim of political greed,” before ending with the added image of a homeless Vietnam veteran on the streets of New York. The second, embellished with violins and cellos conducted by Michael Kamen (whom O’Riordan met when she sang with Luciano Pavarotti in Italy), asks: “When do the saints go marching in?”

So what about the band’s increasingly political stance?

“It’s not really talking about politics,” said Lawler. “It’s just things that you see from day to day. It’s more human, really. Everyone watches the news and sees different things and you can get upset by them. If Dolores gets upset enough, she’ll write about it. So it’s the more humanitarian side of it, really, especially ‘Warchild.’ So many young children have died, and that’s where the song came out of.”

There’s also an actual organization called Warchild, which O’Riordan discovered by talking to U2 producer Brian Eno. The organization is now building a music school just outside Sarajevo. “I think the school is almost finished,” said Lawler. “They’re trying to help children forget about the war and the suffering - and just express themselves through music.”

The new album tugs at the heartstrings, but also rocks in tracks like “Hollywood” (about a love relationship that does not have a Hollywood ending) and “Forever Yellow Skies,” with a pounding drum solo from Lawler, who stretches out more on this album than any other. He credits producer Bruce Fairbairn (who has worked with Aerosmith) for encouraging a tougher sound.

“We’ve always been a lot harder-edged live than on record - and I think Bruce really managed to capture that energy,” said Lawler. “It was exactly what we wanted to do on this album.”

Then there’s the slashing “Salvation.” It’s the disc’s first single (it’s No. 1 on Billboard’s modern tracks chart) and takes an anti-drug stance: “To all the kids with heroin eyes, don’t do it / It’s not, no, what it seems.”

For the Cranberries themselves, drugs have never been a problem. “We’re lucky in that respect,” said Lawler, whose group started in the city of Limerick as teenagers. Drugs “were a big thing in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but I think the main reason to get into a band today is to make music. It isn’t to party.” He did confess, though, to “enjoying an occasional Guinness - oh yeah, more than an occasional Guinness.”

The group, which also includes Noel Hogan on guitar and his brother Mike on bass, is enjoying its new success. “We’ve always been quite together as people - and very focused. And I think we’ve become even more focused in the past couple of years,” said Lawler, adding that the group is also starting to settle down as individuals. O’Riordan is now married; Lawler and Noel Hogan are about to follow suit.

They’re also staying in Limerick, rather than moving to music centers like Dublin, London or, God forbid, Los Angeles. “We don’t usually get into any scenes. We stick to ourselves more. The scene thing has never really enticed us,” he said.

“Life hasn’t really changed that much,” said Lawler. “It’s still pretty much the same, but we have a little more pocket money now.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GORGE ON CRANBERRIES The Cranberries will perform at The Gorge with Cracker on Aug. 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $37.35 and $30.25, available at all regional G&B Select-a-Seat outlets, or by calling 325-SEAT or (800) 325-SEAT (credit cards only).