WORLD renowned rock photographer Andy Earl is in Limerick to shoot The Cranberries’ new album cover, his sixth for the band.
Earl, from Sussex, has photographed over 120 iconic album sleeves for acts as diverse as Pink Floyd, Madonna, Prince, Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, Robbie Williams, Morrissey and Johnny Cash and was due in Limerick on Monday to work with the band on their new cover.
The Cranberries are gearing up to release their sixth studio album later this year, their first since they reformed after a seven year absence in August 2009. Entitled ‘Roses’, the album was recorded in Toronto by the band with producer Stephen Street over a five week period in May and early March.
Previous to that, the band spent four weeks “rehearsing in Limerick going through new tracks for the upcoming album”. The band revealed on their official Twitter account late last week that Andy Earl was “coming to Limerick on Monday to shoot the cover for the new album. This will be Andy’s 6th album cover for the band!”.
While the band cancelled an appearance in Estonia last weekend because of an illness to a family member, they are scheduled to perform in Portugal this Saturday, followed by dates in Jakarta and Shanghai.
“Just planned an extra few hours rehearsal for next week and then off to Portugal next Friday,” read another tweet.
It is not known where the band will shoot the album cover for their latest studio album, but the prospect of an image of Limerick possibly appearing on the cover of the band’s record would be immensely beneficial, given that they have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and remain incredibly popular around the world.
The quartet of Noel and Mike Hogan, Fergal Lawler and Dolores O’Riordan hit the big time in the early 90s with seminal album ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’, going on to have huge success, in particular in the United States. Several members of the most famous band to emanate from the city still reside in Limerick.
After a period pursuing their own projects, they reunited in late 2009, performing a thumping set at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics in Thomond Park in 2010, their first appearance in the stadium.
According to their website, the new album is due for release later this year.