from=Early 1996
Interviewer-Dave Fanning
They play an Instrumental
David Foster: So I just happened to be walking into the lobby, just by chance. The
group had taken it upon themselves to come to the 'Hit Factory' and wait and wait and wait
on the hopes that I would come up, and I did. And I took a look at them and of course
there is these three beautiful sisters and their handsome brother and they all had their
instruments with them. And they said 'Hi, we're here...' "Oh, yeah, right I remember
getting a phone call. I was so spellbound by their looks I said lets go upstairs and play
for me. And they played for me, they did some acoustic, they played a tape first, that
sounded incredible. They said you take a chair by the piano and we'll play you some music.
They brought out the violin, Sharon on the violin, Andrea on the tin whistle, Caroline on
the bodhran drum, I didn't even know what a bodrhan drum was at that time, and Jim on
piano and guitar and they just, they just blew me away.
Play Instrumental='Haste to the wedding'
David Foster: Basically the five of us went into a room and created a song, very
fast, as most good things happen, very fast and it was just great to write with all four
of them and I got a little insight as to how their material must have come about, because
they really do work well together. And I think it's a great testament to their character
that they allowed me in that process and the result was 'Someday' which was a pretty cool
tune
the Corrs (singing around a table): You're Forgiven Not Forgotten, You're forgiven
Not Forgotten
Andrea: And so on
Caroline: Voila
Andrea: I'd better turn myself off now (twisting her arm)
They play Forgiven Not Forgotten (Acoustically)
Cut To Interview
Dave: Forgiven Not Forgotten is the title, that's from the Corrs and their here
with me, here live in the studio right now. You're all very welcome, all four of you. I'm
gonna start with you Sharon first of all. Your guy talkin' there, his name is David
Foster, right, this producer, this twelve time Grammy winner etc. I mean is this fairy
tale story supposed to be true? Cos' like, You actually went down right, and waited until
he came to the foyer or something and said "look we're not leavin' until you listen
to us play", he listened to you play and then he gave you a deal, I mean come on!
Sharon: It is, it is actually true, the thing is, we nearly, we were supposed to
have a confirmed meeting with him through 'Atlantic Records' and we didn't get it because
he was working with Michael Jackson. And the security was just so big around there, y'know
it was just impossible to get through. We happened to be still in New York the next day
and we were showcasing for other record companies and the 'Hit factory' was just around
the corner and we knew that David was in there and our manager John said, "let's just
go around and see if we can get in, and we did, we got in! I think maybe a bit of Irish
charm or something. I dunno but we got through and David came down and met us in the lobby
he was just finished his session with Michael Jackson at the time, he took us upstairs, we
played one of our demo's 'Love To Love You' and then we played acoustically around a
piano, and he really, because David is a musician himself, he wanted to start playing with
us straight off, so he wanted to work out what sort of chords Jim was doing, what was
Caroline doing on the bodhran, where was that 'click' sound coming from? And all that sort
of thing, he just fell in love with the music and the next day we got the record deal.
Dave: And did you find out on the phone?
Sharon: On the phone yeah, Jason Flom, The A&R man with Atlantic who'd tried to
get us to meet with David, rang us up and we were just like two hours before we got the
plane home, no record deal gonna go on home with our tail between our legs, and the said,
"go out and have a meal on me, you're signed to Atlantic Records".
Dave: Excellent, because, Caroline, if you go over there and this happens with this
huge big guy. mean, were you worried about it were you in the studio goin' "Gosh,
what have we done, here we are now in Malibu with this guy.
Caroline: The funny thing about it wren we first met David, we were very naive to
his whole discography, the first time......
Dave: You were probably better off
Caroline: We were better off, but actually when we went in, we didn't have any
nerve, we just played the demo, we thought, y'know "OK" producer yeah great and
just played and did it the way we usually do it and luckily it paid off
Dave: Right but at the end of the day then, Andrea, is that what he wanted to do,
to make sure that this sound that I heard here, just 'off the cuff' is the sound that
they're gonna have on their album, ie. these are demos', I want them to sound like these
demo's.
Andrea: Absolutely, he actually rang us up at one stage because of course we were a
bit anxious that it would change and go a bit too far down the Malibu road and David
Foster road like the Bodyguard or whatever but he actually allayed all our fears, he
actually rang us up and he said y'know if this album that we make together ends up
drastically different from the demos then I have failed and he asked Jim to co-produce
which was fantastic
Dave: OK, well this guy has done the Bodyguard which sold 33 million albums he's
done Michael Jackson How important is it now to have that guy behind you, I mean is it
like, in terms of opening the thousand doors you have to open to make it there, is he just
goin' like this and the Corrs are walkin' through
Andrea: There's immediately, everybody, you're immediately listened to, y'know, I
mean David Foster has written on the album so of course people are gonna go, of Corrs!!(everyone
laughs) people are gonna go y'know, listen
Dave: So that's the way it is. OK well now Jim, about the music itself, are you the
main man here with the music or should I say that??
Jim: No, no
Sharon: Oh, there'll be punchin'(Gestures a fist)
Caroline: We meant that this was a family affair
Dave: I know I realise that but I get the impression that so many...OK now hold on
a second, Who co-produced the album? You didn't, you didn't, you didn't, did you?
Jim: I did
Andrea: Yeah you said music, production is one thing, writing the music is another
Dave: OK! God Almighty!, you can be pedantic if you want then. Jim
Jim: In terms of the writing, creativity wise, it's very democratic
Dave: But the one thing I was goin' to say there, the first thing I was sayin' to
Sharon was this, the very fact that you signed with Atlantic, if you were there to
showcase for other record labels are you now quite delighted that those other record
labels didn't come on board, if you like
Jim: Absolutely, I mean we went through some hard times tryin' to get record deals
and thanks be to God we were turned down because some of the deals we were offered were
very very small and wouldn't have been sufficient, financially to launch us on an
international scale, so we are just thrilled. I mean even though we were very disapointed
at the time but thrilled that, that's actually what happened and now we're with the number
1 record company in the world
Dave: But also, bringing in the traditional side of the music, I mean there's
about, say, five traditional pieces on the album and like, it's very much part of the set,
it's very much part of what you are. it's very much apart of what you see, it's very much
part of what you want to do with the music and as you said earlier on, you didn't want to
make it all Malibu, you didn't want to make it all LA session-heads and all the rest of
it. So do you think it's important that, like, that thing there that you wanted to make
sure was sort of part of the Corrs has now become the biggest selling point in some ways
of the Corrs, in some ways to make them different from all those American bands
Jim: The traditional aspect?
Dave: Yeah
Jim: Absolutely, I mean we are very aware of that, we are very aware trying to keep
the continued Celtic vein running throughout our music, so we absolutely love traditional
Irish music, we've also been heavily influenced by music from across the water in England
and America, so, so there's a natural process for us to marry the whole three and
certainly it is a unique selling point, there's no doubt about that
Dave: OK well tell us about Dundalk, what was that like growing up in Dundalk? Does
it seem far away in some ways with the Malibu an' Malibu n' Malibu?
Caroline: Oh no
Sharon: Dundalk's great because it's remained the same for us, y'know, and the
lovely thing about it is, now with the success on the album, y'know getting to number
three in the Irish charts. I mean to us that's, that's like confirmation, y'know it's
really, really good to make number three in Ireland with mixing Irish traditional music
and pop because you never know how that's gonna be received. But goin' home to Dundalk,
y'know people are jus' proud of us, they're really delighted about it, y'know so it's
wonderful. And it was nice growin' up in Dundalk cos' there's a lot of music happenin', a
lot of good traditional sessions and a lot of good players and then a lot of really good
cover bands an' stuff like that working in Dundalk so...
Dave: I have cousins who live in Dundalk
Caroline: Do you?
Dave: Yeah in a place called Blackrock, do you know it
All: Yeah
Sharon: I know!, I know them!, I know them! I know the "Fanning's"
Jim: You know the "Fannings" (Looking at Jim)
Jim: The "Fannings", oh yes, of course (Laughing)Tony & Paul
& Andy
Sharon: They drink in McManus' Pub
Dave: Do they, They Drink! Oh my God! Wait 'till I tell their parents. OK Well now
, first of all, em, I jus' wanna' get back to the music. Andrea, movies or whatever, I
mean the Commitments first of all is where, I mean I didn't even realise, I completely
forgot about that, that you were a rabbit sister, right?
Andrea: I was a rabbit
Dave: You were a rabbit, was that good fun working on that movie? Had you any idea
it was gonna be as big as it was?
Andrea: It was, it was absolutely brilliant. I was, just gone sixteen at the time
so I don't think I realised, y'know, how fantastic it was. So at that age you're kind of (sticks
out her tongue) mmhhh. Which I'm not sayin' I'm any less (sticks out her tongue
again) mmhhh, now but. (Everyone laughs) Y'know it was absolutely brilliant, it
was great experience, y'know and it was really great fun
Dave: OK now what's this I hear about gettin' kicked out of bed by Jonathon Price
Andrea: Oh, no its not Jonathon Price, he actually is the one that, is the reason
I'm in the bed in the first place. It's Madonna that kicks me out of the bed.
Dave: There's not many people who can say that (Laughing) Kicked out of bed
by Madonna! You actually are starring in this "Evita" movie. I mean did you go
to South America to Alan Parker and do it?
Andrea: No, I haven't done it yet, I'm going to go, it's actually, my part is being
filmed in Budapest, on the ninth of April and its all done to sync, so y'know because it's
all opera, y'know, no spoken word
Dave: And did Alan Parker remember you like, from the Commitments, is that the
point
Andrea: Yes, he just, he remembered it and said "I wonder is she too old
now?" because she's supposed to be 15 years old.
Dave: Oh, right I see
Andrea: But so, I auditioned and got like (mimics putting on make-up) very
young
Dave: Very good, you made yourself look younger. So like you're gonna be in a scene
with Madonna in this movie, and she will actually get annoyed at you?
Andrea: It's a sad scene
Dave: Oh, it's a sad scene
Andrea: I'm scared about it she'll probably kill me.
Dave: She doesn't throw a tantrum does she?
Andrea: She does, she shakes me, she wakes me up out of the bed and she's singing,
hello and goodbye this sort of thing and then she escorts me away and Jonathon Price pays
me some money and off I go
Dave: Right, brilliant, excellent, OK well then, gettin' back to the music, em, the
Corrs very much are becoming a live band now. But down through the years in terms of
getting it right what you didn't do was go to smoky, sweaty clubs and play for loads of
times, you honed your sound in the studio. Now what did you find in the studio, did you
find you were lookin' for somethin' you could marry into the songs or how did it all come
together?
Jim: I suppose, we did, it was a different route that we took, I mean I had done
that to a certain extent with other bands, y'know and if we were able to avoid that whole
area, y'know the live, sweaty night clubs, an' all that, y'know comin' home at five in the
mornin'. We jus' knew there'd be more, it'd be very hard for us to do that, so we just
basically, locked ourselves into the studio and just kept writing and developing our sound
and it certainly is a different approach, it's a different angle y'know, no the normal
angle that bands ........
Andrea: I mean to gig anyway, that costs a lot of money anyway, goin' around
Ireland, I mean so many bands break up because of that and the fact that it doesn't pay to
do it
Sharon: You two were still at school aswell, so we couldn't really take Caroline
and Andrea and goin' into as you say, sweaty pubs an' all the rest and comin' home at five
o'clock and having to get up for school the next mornin'..cos' we started off when both of
them were still at school
Caroline: But now, I think that now we're doin' a lot of live acoustic performances
everywhere that we go, em, in the States and in Europe, I think it's really paying off,
an' it's helping us, I mean I think definately for the next album we'll have a, y'know,
it'll be more, y'know probably more basic, it's just really helping us
Sharon: It's actually the most important part of our sound now, em because,
everywhere we go, every territory that we go to promote the album, we play live,
absolutely every where, and it just, every time we leave, the record sales go up
dramatically and I think it's that live thing. It's that rawness that people really love
and it's something that, when we got up and did support to Celine Dion completely live
with two extra musicians, the feeling you get from that is definitely what music is about
Dave: And there's so many bands around these days who can't do it live, they
couldn't do what you're doin'
Andrea: Exactly, I mean what you saw on the EPK there was us in, completely in the
raw but we actually are at the same time a rock band and y'know it's a much broader,
bigger thing on stage
Jim: There's a different angle
Dave: Ah now listen their playing the video there, does that mean we're finished or
something, does it yeah??
They all laugh
Dave: Well listen, thanks very much, sorry 'bout that I didn't realise. It's just
gone half-way through the video Thanks very much for droppin' in, the Corrs, let's quick,
watch this.
Play's remainder of Runaway video
Thankyou to Joe Evans for supplying the aforementioned tape! thanx