From: February 1996
The career of The Corrs is like an Irish fairytale. Until recently the three sisters and their brother Jim performed mostly privately. Suddenly they were able to record an album for Atlantic records in California with the technical assistance of David Foster and Bob Clearmountain, soundwizards that normally work with giants like Michael Jackson and U2. Expectations are high for the debut album "Forgiven, Not Forgotten". We talked to drummer and Bodhran player Caroline.
The Corr family reside in the north-eastern part of Ireland in the town of Dundalk, 80 kilometres north of Dublin. Music was always part of the family. Their mother played guitar and their father played (amongst other instruments) organ in the local church. The children were given music lessons from an early age.
Caroline: "We were all taught classical piano and only after that did we specialise. Jim plays guitar and keyboards, Sharon plays violin, Andrea has always been the best leadsinger and she plays the Irish flute, and I became the percussionist. Originally only on Bodhran but in the last three years also on drums."
The Bodhran is like a big tambourine without the bells, it has been used in Irish music for century's. Comparable tambourines are also used in Norwegian and Arabian music.
"That's right, undoubtedly there was a link between these instruments in the past. What sets the Bodhran apart is that it is not played with the hands but with a stick. It's not a regular drumstick but a so called tipper. It's thick on both ends and thin in the middle, that's where you hold it. So you tap the skin with both ends but it is also possible to play percussive accents by hitting the side of the Bodhran, either on the wood or on the rivets. That sounds nicely aggressive, especially because there's a contact microphone on the instrument which gives it more body. It has to. At home or in a pub the volume suffices, but in a hall like Ahoy (1) you really need the amplification. Rhythmically I have had no trouble switching over to drums. You work from the same rhythmic patterns. But physically I did find it difficult. If I had to play 4 or 5 nights in a row my hands get bruised. I had blisters everywhere and I didn't know how to tape my hands. It was disastrous. At first I took lessons from a friend, after that I took lessons from a drum teacher for the more technical finesses. He's just a local drummer, but I have since found out he's good. I wish I had started earlier, although I will always continue to play Bodhran besides playing drums. On Bodhran they play in a particular way according to old traditions. Since I have started drumming I have been trying to use modern drum-patterns on Bodhran. Traditional musicians find that odd, but why shouldn't you try to do something different with an old traditional instrument."
On one song, "Toss The Feathers" Simon Philips play's drums, why is that ?
"That song needed a special rhythm section, that's why we invited Neil Staubenhaus on bass and Simon Philips on drums. He brought in this gigantic drum-kit and I thought wow! What in ‘Gods-name’ are all those drums for ? It takes enormous discipline. He's brilliant. But I had a problem. I had to learn that part for the live-shows. That took quite some effort, but I can manage now. Yes I also play that complicated break, although I do it my way."
Can you tell me how you managed to obtain such a record deal as an relatively unknown band ?
Our current manager John Hughes was looking for musicians for the Alan Parker film "The Commitments". We played in Dublin during a special audition for that film. When we were there playing a small club, the American ambassador to Ireland heard us play. She invited us to play during the celebrations of the World Cup. Through various people we came in to contact with David Foster who was a board member at Atlantic. Well, actually it wasn't that easy. David Foster was at that time busy working on the latest Michael Jackson album in New York. Despite the fact that we had an appointment we could not reach him. Michael Jackson's security guards would not let us through. That man is sealed off by these goons. He's better guarded than the American president, it's terrible. On the last day we where in New York we decided to do the bold thing. We all dressed in black. You can imagine how that looked like in Manhattan on a hot day in July. We had typical Irish luck, because to this day I don't know how we got in. We went to the studio and apparently Michael Jackson had just left. We told we were there to see David Foster. We were allowed to sit and wait for him, later we got to see him. We played him some songs in the studio, he was very enthusiastic and signed us immediately. We spent 5 months in his studio. I don't know what the debut CD has cost us, but it's a lot. We were very naive, we didn't really know who David Foster was. Then we read a bio and we read names like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and the Tubes ... we gasped for air. On top of that we were allowed to work with Bob Clearmountain, the best mixer in the world. It really is a fairytale.
"Forgiven, Not Forgotten" is recorded in Chartmaker Studio.
"Yes, that's David Foster's studio in Malibu. We stayed at his house and we only
had to walk to get to the studio. We spent every day of five months there working. All
four of us were constantly present, because we do everything together. We're a tight
family, also musically. We also write everything together. We've been playing together for
so long now, you then grow into a musical unit. Even if you did not have to play a part,
you would still be present. Sometimes I hear story's about brothers and sisters being in a
band that practically kill each other. It's not like that for us. But who knows, it might
result to that when were on world-tour and can't get away from each other, ha ha.
At that point brother Jim walks in who is listed as co-producer next to David Foster. He
says : "you spend so much time talking, are you planning to start a solo career
?"
Caroline : " see what I mean, that's how the trouble starts.
If you play acoustically the music sounds rather traditional, but on the CD there's also modern folk/pop. Is that the influence of David Foster ?
"No, not really. We're in our early twenty's and we do like modern electronics. If you would listen to our demo's you would hear the same sound. The CD just sounds a lot better. We programmed quite a bit in advance. The bassriffs for instance, we've used those for the recordings. I used a midi kit a lot, a Roland TW7 and I loved that instrument. We wanted a modern sound next to the traditional sound, a kit like that is ideally suited for that. In America we actually concentrated mainly on arrangements and vocals."
I've got two questions left on Ireland and I won't mention football. Many Irish wear black. All four of you dress in black and you are even using black lipstick. Why is that ?
"We Irish are incredibly pale skinned. And our skin doesn't react kindly to sunlight. When we were in California we'd sometimes spend time in the sun, but we don't really develop a tan. Black suits pale skin like ours best. It's also sort of a profile. It has nothing to do with a funeral mood, were pretty happy people."
How is it that so many people make music in your country ? And being successful at it as well, Van Morrison, U2, Sinead O'Conner, Enya and off course The Corrs.
"To parents it matters that their children play an instrument. Music unites, the Irish find that important. You will seldom hear recorded music in an Irish pub. There are always some people that start making music spontaneously. And everyone sings along. That beats playing a CD I think. Every time I am amazed on the skill of Irish musicians in pubs. You would think that only drunks play in these pubs, but although they drink a lot, the quality of the music is high. There often shy and don't know themselves how good they are. Irish are poor and there's a lot of misery, used to be and still is. But they always manage to see a light and when they hear music they forget their sorrow. Irish music combines hope and sadness. You're right, you could compare it with the way black musicians express themselves in the blues.
(1) "Ahoy" is a concert hall in Rotterdam in the Netherlands where the Corrs played live.
Interview by Roberto Palombit
Picture of Sharon Corr by Rob Verhorst
Magazine : Music Maker (Dutch monthly magazine for musicians)
Published : February issue 1996
Scan and translation into English by Hans Waasdorp (hans@trancom.demon.nl)