AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Who are The Cranberry Merchants?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: The Cranberry Merchants are a husband and wife rock duo from Atlanta, Georgia. Steve Moore plays guitar and bass, and does vocals, and Dianne Moore plays drums, synth, and also sings.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: How would you describe your style?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Straight-up Rock, mostly, but any and all genres are fair game.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Why did you choose The Cranberry Merchants as the band name? What does that name mean to you?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: That phrase comes from Steve’s late father, actually. He had a number of catchphrases that were all his own, but whenever someone would tell a huge lie around him, Steve’s Dad would say, “he’s got more B.S. than a cranberry merchant!” …and, so, we thought that that would make a great band name! LOL!
ARTIST’S HOUSE: How did Steve and Dianne Moore get into music?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We both got into it as teenagers. Dianne got an old drum kit and learned to play on her own. She jammed with several friends in high school, playing her favorite music of the day. Steve got into playing guitar through a friend and took up bass, too, a little later. We met in college when we both attended The Art Institute of Atlanta’s Music Business program.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Any special memories that come to mind right away when you think about the past with The Cranberry Merchants?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Seeing how our debut EP “In the Blood” has been so warmly embraced by internet radio and the listeners has been VERY special!
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What’s your favorite song you produced and why?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Probably “The Black Maria” because it’s just a grand example of all of the right elements coming together–it’s a great experiment in minimalism that paid off.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What’s been the hardest part about having a music career? The best?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: The hardest part has been finding enough time to write and record everything we want to do, as Steve’s day job has him working very long hours sometimes. The best has been all of the wonderful fan response! We had no idea that everyone would relate to our music so well!
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What kind of topics do you want or plan to make songs about?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We don’t approach our songwriting with any sorts of agendas. Song topics usually come up as we’re writing the song, so they could be about anything that strikes us at the moment, really.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What makes producing music worth it to you?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We love feeling all of the pieces come together and adding the finer details to the mix that make a song complete. We also love seeing who reacts to our music and how they react.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Do you ever disagree with each other when composing music? What do you do to resolve the conflict?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Usually, if we have two different ideas about the same piece of music, it will turn into a second song entirely. That seems to be how we always handle it and it works just fine for us. We never really argue about it, though.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What artists do you personally listen to?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Steve is a big classic rock fan as he listens to a lot of Led Zeppelin, The Who, Aerosmith, and The Rolling Stones. Dianne is more of a fan of new wave and alternative as she listens to a lot of Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Collective Soul, and Maroon 5. Our sound comes from meeting in the middle of all of that.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Who plays what instruments?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Dianne plays drum and keyboards, as well as doing vocals. Steve plays guitar and bass, as well as doing vocals, too.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What inspires your mind when you’re in writing mode?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Seeing how your songwriting partner reacts is a huge inspiration! That usually fuels the creative fire more than anything.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What are your biggest accomplishments so far?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We were nominated for a number of awards last year and won several, most notably winning the silver award for “Band Single of the Year” with our song “The Black Maria” at last year’s International Singer Songwriter Awards.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What do you want to accomplish next?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Releasing our new single “Disturbing the Peace” on April 1st (along with its music video) is our next thing that we’re looking forward to! It’s a really fun song, so we hope it will be well received.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What kind of musical styles or genres would you like to explore and why?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Nothing is out of the question, really. No genres are off the table. But trying something with more of a funk groove to it could be fun!
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Are you indie artists or with a label?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We are indie artists—not with a label. And for now, we’re enjoying the freedom of that.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What are your future plans for The Cranberry Merchants?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: For our next big step, we’re hoping to release another EP later this year, to include our most recent singles, “Quiescence” and “Disturbing the Peace.” Past that, who knows!
ARTIST’S HOUSE: What would you do if you weren’t involved in music?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We’d probably both be genealogists since we love exploring our family tree! In fact, we’re both big history buffs in general, as one might guess from “The Black Maria.”
ARTIST’S HOUSE: If you could choose an artist to collaborate with you, who would it be?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We don’t actually think about collaborations much, since we work so well with each other. We have talked with a few of our fellow indie artists about the future possibility, though, so anything is possible.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Favorite food?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We’re huge fans of New Mexico dishes, actually, which are a mix of Mexican and Native American cuisine. Mexican, Italian, and all sorts of American comfort foods are favorites, too.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: If you could spend a whole day with someone, from the past or present, who would it be?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: Our parents and other loved ones in Heaven.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We’d go to Europe to explore our family tree some more. We both have plenty of roots all over that continent! But we would also love to visit a lot of the overseas radio stations that have been so supportive to us.
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Any TV shows or movies you really love?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We have a lot of pretty eclectic tastes: “The Simpson’s,” the original “Twilight Zone,” most any historical fiction or documentaries, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
ARTIST’S HOUSE: How can fans contact you?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: We are all over social media and the web in general. Here are some of our links:
www.cranberrymerchants.com
https://www.facebook.com/The-Cranberry-Merchants-358404611588914/
https://twitter.com/cranberrymerch2
https://www.instagram.com/cranberrymerchants/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzYnUI2z628Q4Dp4odPJpQ
ARTIST’S HOUSE: Any final message to everyone reading this?
THE CRANBERRY MERCHANTS: First, we would like to thank Artist’s House for this wonderful opportunity to tell our story to your readers! We’d also like to thank all of our fans who have been so awesome about following us on social media, requesting our songs on the radio, and supporting us in so many ways!
MARCH 2020