Live showcase in Paris on May 10th

April 30, 2007  |  Comments Off on Live showcase in Paris on May 10th  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

therebels writes in to report that Dolores O’Riordan will be in Paris on May 10th for a short live showcase and an autograph signing
session at the Virgin Megastore on the Champs-Elysées. According to Virgin Megastore’s website, the show is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm.

We hope that Zombieguide readers in Paris will be able to attend the show, and will join the forums to tell the rest of us how it went!

Pre-order “Are You Listening?” on iTunes Europe

April 28, 2007  |  Comments Off on Pre-order “Are You Listening?” on iTunes Europe  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Europeans fans can now pre-order Dolores O’Riordan’s Are You Listening? on their national iTunes music store. The digital songs will be available for download starting May 7th. The album, priced at €9.99, will include two bonus tracks, “Willow Pattern” and “Forever”.

Here is the complete track list:

1. Ordinary Day
2. When We Were Young
3. In The Garden
4. Human Spirit
5. Loser
6. Stay With Me
7. Apple Of My Eye
8. Black Widow
9. October
10. Accept Things
11. Angel Fire
12. Ecstacy
13. Willow Pattern (Bonus track)
14. Forever (Pre-order only!)

“Are You Listening?” available in Spain?

April 27, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Are You Listening?” available in Spain?  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Retails stores in Spain are selling Dolores O’Riordan new solo album a few days early. The Fnac store in Barcelona is confirmed to be selling the CD. It is likely that other Fnac stores in Europe are selling the CD as well.
Update: The Fnac stores in France won’t be selling the CD until its offcial release date.

Check below for scans of the packaging. Check out the forums for more scans and photos.
[SCANS NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

Thanks to Fergalet for the news and scans!

MP3: Dolores performs on Hinet Radio

April 24, 2007  |  Comments Off on MP3: Dolores performs on Hinet Radio  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan performed “Ordinary Day” and did an interview on China’s Hinet Radio earlier today. If you missed it, you can grab an MP3 in the Forums. (Thanks CordellNJ)

Full live showcase @ London’s Hospital online

April 24, 2007  |  Comments Off on Full live showcase @ London’s Hospital online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Sanctuary Records has posted a professionally-shot video of Dolores O’Riordan’s live showcase at London’s Hospital — watch it here! [LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

And here’s the setlist from the night’s gig:
1. “Loser”
2. “Angel Fire”
3. “In The Ghetto” (Elvis Presley)
4. “Linger” (Cranberries)
5. “When We Were Young”
6. “Ordinary Day”
7. “Apple Of My Eye”
8. “Dreams” (Cranberries)

AP + Reuters covers Dolores in Hong Kong

April 24, 2007  |  Comments Off on AP + Reuters covers Dolores in Hong Kong  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Major news agencies Associated Press and Reuters both covered Dolores O’Riordan’s autograph session and press conference at the HMV store in Hong Kong today.

Photos from both the AP and Reuters are below.
Cranberries singer says reunion possible, click here to read pdf file.

“Aargauer Zeitung” reviews “Are You Listening?”

April 24, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Aargauer Zeitung” reviews “Are You Listening?”  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

The German newspaper Aargauer Zeitung has published their review of Dolores O’Riordan’s Are You Listening?

Dolores O’Riordan wird der Musikwelt auf ewig als die junge Cranberries-Fronfrau in Erinnerung bleiben, welche 1995 vom irischen Limerick aus den Hit «Zombie» in die Welt hinausschmetterte. Die Cranberries haben eine unbefristete Kreativpause eingelegt, doch O’Riordan legt mit «Are you listening?» jetzt ihren Erstling vor. Um es vorwegzunehmen: Es ist ein gelungenes Album – was teilweise auch am feinen Handchen von Starproduzent und Killing-Joke-Bassist Youth liegt. Anspieltipps: das von einem nervas klimpernden Klavier getragene, minimalistisch-unheilvolle «Black Widow» sowie «Ecstasy», das mit wabernden Synthesizern a la The Cure und unbeschwert federnden Drumparts aufwartet. Und uber allem schwebt ausnahmslos die unverwechselbare, kris- tallene Stimme der O’Riordan. Fazit: Fur Cranberries-Fans ein Muss, fur alle anderen mehr als nur harenswert. CHRISTOPH BRUNNER
DOLORES O’RIORDAN Are you listening? Sanctuary/Phonag.

“Sisterly Love” +2 more B-sides for Japan album

April 23, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Sisterly Love” +2 more B-sides for Japan album  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Are You Listening? will have 3 bonus tracks on the Japanese version, BMG Japan has posted, including a newly announced title, “Sisterly Love.”

Japan will have a total 15 tracks:

1. Ordinary Day
2. When We Were Young
3. In the Garden
4. Human Spirit
5. Loser
6. Stay with Me
7. Apple of My Eye
8. Black Widow
9. October
10. Accept Things
11. Angel Fire
12. Ecstasy
13. Letting Go
14. Forever
15. Sisterly Love

OD B-side “Without You” preview clip online

April 23, 2007  |  Comments Off on OD B-side “Without You” preview clip online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

HMV Hong Kong has posted a 30-second clip of “Without You,” the B-side that will accompany the “Ordinary Day” single. Listen here. [LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

HMV also confirms that the 7′′ vinyl, which includes the song “Forever,” will be limited to only 1000 copies. Both the CD and vinyl release in the UK on April 30.

Additionally, Amazon.co.uk is listing a 4-track version of the “Ordinary Day” single:
1. Ordinary Day
2. Without You
3. Forever
4. Ordinary Day (video?)

Amazon doesn’t list a country for this version, but says that it is due out April 30.

RTÉ Late Late Show video now online

April 23, 2007  |  Comments Off on RTÉ Late Late Show video now online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  The Cranberries

Dolores O’Riordan’s performance and interview from last week on Ireland’s “Late Late Show” is now posted on the RTE website.

Dolores O’Riordan is an icon of modern music. As lead singer of The Cranberries she has sold a massive 45 million records. Tonight on The Late Late Show Dolores launched her solo career and her debut solo album “Are You Listening?” Dolores performed her new single “Ordinary Day” and spoke to Pat about fame at a young age, performing for two popes and a whole lot more besides.

The clip is pretty long at 17 minutes, and includes some great interview bits, including Dolores describing the time when she got to sit on Luciano Pavarotti’s lap a la Santa Clause.

Sunday Magazine: “Fame almost killed me”

April 23, 2007  |  Comments Off on Sunday Magazine: “Fame almost killed me”  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

In a new interview for the April 15 issue of the UK’s Sunday Magazine, Dolores O’Riordan made her own headline by telling the magazine, “Fame almost killed me.”

Speaking about the days at the end of the To the Faithful Departed tour, she said, “I was overworking and I had this terrible metldown. It happens when you get famous very young.”

“In the industry, so many people feed o you, you don’t know who to trust. Many in that situation turn to drugs and don’t live to tell the tale.”

When asked about her tabloid headline-making lawsuit against former nanny Joy Fahy in 2004, she responded, “The allegations were very damaging. Our children are precious, we’d do anything to protect them. I’m a wonderful mum. Nobody says otherwise.”

A high-res scan and brand new photo are below for your enjoyment.

Photos + Setlist: Dolores performs in Taiwan

April 23, 2007  |  Comments Off on Photos + Setlist: Dolores performs in Taiwan  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan today performed a short 3- song showcase in Taipei, Taiwan. This is the first stop on her Asian promo tour which will take her to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

Today’s setlist was:

1. Ordinary Day
2. Linger (The Cranberries)
3. Angel Fire

The Cranberries achieved remarkable success in Taiwan even in more recent years. Stars: The Best of The Cranberries 1992-2002 was the best-selling international album in Taiwan in 2002, despite not having toured there sinice 1996. Furthermore, Taiwan got lavish box sets of Wake Up and Smell the Coffee and Stars unavailable anywhere else in the world.

Taiwan News Online has the story from Dolores’s showcase gig and press conference, click here to read pdf file.

Dolores O’Riordan on cover of Examiner Weekend

April 22, 2007  |  Comments Off on Dolores O’Riordan on cover of Examiner Weekend  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan was on the cover of yesterday’s (April 21) issue of the Irish Examiner’s Weekend supplement.

(The cover photo is a wire photo, found here, unlike the incredible unique shots in yesterday’s Telegraph Magazine.)

If anyone can get us nice scans or text, please send it in!

Screencap gallery: Dolores on TV4 Poland

April 22, 2007  |  Comments Off on Screencap gallery: Dolores on TV4 Poland  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Strona Cranberries has a screencapture gallery of Dolores O’Riordan on TV4’s “Na topie wywiad z…” program in Poland. Click here for yesterday’s news story on that subject.
[LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

Sunday Independent publishes Pt. 1 of new interview

April 22, 2007  |  Comments Off on Sunday Independent publishes Pt. 1 of new interview  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Ireland’s Sunday Independent today has a wonderful and lengthy teaser for a new interview with Dolores O’Riordan.

The newspaper published “part 1′′ of a new interview today, promising that the full article will run next week in the April 29th issue.

Here’s Part 1 of the Sunday Independent interview:

Mother Dolores buries the hatchet
Barry Egan
22 April 2007
The Sunday Independent (Ireland)
DOLORES O’Riordan walks into the garden of her Howth home and explains why she walked away from one of the biggest bands in the world.
Are you Listening? her debut solo album, out in two weeks, is her first recorded work since The Cranberries’ Bury The Hatchet in 1999. [sic]
The Limerick young
wan who became an international superstar had done five albums plus a Greatest Hits with The Cranberries.
“There was an awful lot going on behind the scenes that was so much more important than being in The Cranberries or any band,” she says.

Weekend Mail: AYL? one of the best albums of ‘07

April 22, 2007  |  Comments Off on Weekend Mail: AYL? one of the best albums of ‘07  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

The April 21st issue of the Weekend Mail (a publication of Malaysia’s New Straits Times) has nothing but praise for Dolores O’Riordan’s forthcoming new album, calling it “one of the better albums to be released this year.”

Here’s what they had to say:

Dolores O’Riordan
Are You Listening (Sanctuary Records/Import)
Release date: May 15, 2007
FROM the first listen, it seems like
the debut solo album by former the Cranberries frontwoman is going to be one of the better albums to be released this year. The first single, Ordinary harks back to her Cranberries’ days but that’s about it, apart from her of course distinctive voice. As a whole, the album moves along the same lines as Siouxsie and the Banshees and Sinead O’Connor – during their peak – while lyrically, this could be her most personal album to date. Songs like the first single, Black Widow and Apple Of My Eye ought to be a testament.

Info for Hong Kong autograph session @ HMV

April 22, 2007  |  Comments Off on Info for Hong Kong autograph session @ HMV  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan will be signing autographs at the HMV Style House in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Fans who preordered a copy of Are You Listening? will be able to receive a free autographed poster.

Here are the specifics, according to HKclubbing:

HONG KONG PROMO TOUR INFORMATION
Dolores O’riordan will be in Hong Kong on April 24th and 25th 2007.
Fans will have the chance to see her with the following details:
Date: April 24th 2007
Venue: HMV Style House – 1/F, Style House, The Park Lane, Causeway Bay
Time: 18h30
Autograph entitlement:
(1) Customers can pre-order the album Are You Listening? at any local HMV store or HMV website. With the receipt, they will receive a poster at the autograph session.
(2) Customers can also purchase her single available for sales on April 23rd 2007
HKClubbing.com is giving away some guest lists for her private showcase on April 25th! More information cominh soon.
(information provided by the record label)

Thanks to Juanberries.

TV4 interview: Dolores to tour Poland in fall

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on TV4 interview: Dolores to tour Poland in fall  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Poland’s TV4 aired a new interview with Dolores on their “Na topie wywiad z…” program this morning at 7:00 a.m., the result of Dolores’s recent promo jaunt to Warsaw.

Dolores said that she is planning a concert for Poland in autumn, which hints at another European leg of her world tour to come this fall.

If you missed it, it will air again tomorrow morning (April 22) at 3:05 a.m.

Source: Strona Cranberries

More interviews from M6 Music, MTV Turkey

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on More interviews from M6 Music, MTV Turkey  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

MTV Turkey aired a new interview with Dolores O’Riordan last week, where Dolores says some especially interesting stuff:

Speaking about the screaming teenage girl in the “Ordinary Day” video, she says, “By the time we got to that shot, it was late at night and she was quite tired. The director said to her, ‘Just start yelling.’ So she started screaming her head o — in Czech! So we were saying, ‘What’s she saying, what’s she saying?’ She was saying, ‘Go away. Leave me alone.’ Isn’t that interesting?”

Dolores also warned, quite seriously, that her lengthy 4-year break from the music industry nearly turned into an indefinite one:

“It was the time for me to come back. I felt that if I stayed out to pasture for another four or eight years, I might never come back. It’s what I do, it’s who I am.”

Adriano informs us that this interview also aired on MTV Brazil.

You can download the interview video from Cranberriesclub.com (thanks to stellian) or watch the Youtube version below.

[LINKS NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

M6 Music Rock in France last week aired their interview with Dolores O’Riordan, hosted by radio show host Zegut. Dolores speaks nearly equal parts French and English in the interview.

You can download a high quality version in the forums (thanks badjoe and maze) or watch via Youtube below.

[LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

Finally, here is a translation of the French part of the Zegut interview (thanks to celticyodels):

Zegut: She is Irish. Her name is Dolores. She’s releasing a magnificent album. She’s the ex singer of the cranberries.

Z: Thank you for accepting our invitation to “Focus” “M6 Music Rock” . The first question, how do you pronounce your name?

Dolores: Dolores O’Riordan.

Z: You are the ex-singer of The Cranberries. What motivated you for this solo album?

D: I think since I was 18 years old, I arrived in the US with The Cranberries. The success of The Cranberries was very big for an 18 years old girl. I probably spent 15 years with the band. I went on the bus, did a tour. After the tour, I made another CD. After the CD, I did promotion. And my life is like this [roller coaster]. Between the 15 years with the band I had four children, but when I had a baby, after three months, I had to go back with The Cranberries. Now it’s the first time in my life that I can stay at home for long time. During that time I wrote from time to time. Something would happen and it would become like a therapy for me. To be honest, it was the best 4 years in my life. For that reason, the songs and the album are fresh. The inspiration came from the children, mother, father, and the things that happened in life.

Z: You are signed to a small label. Is it an intentional choice?

D: Yes, it is an intentional choice. I think that for an artists like me, Sanctuary is a very good company, because they like to take time to understand artists. I am a unique and different artist unlike the manufactured big artists. I feel like they appreciate me, and they’re working with me with respect. I have respect for them. This makes you feel better everyday when you wake up.

Z: you’re not just a product.

D: exactly, not just a product.

Z: Don’t you think that in a few years there will be in one side the artists and the other side the people who like the artists and go to their concerts, and what is between the two, the means, will disappear or change?

D: This is one of the good things of the internet is that it takes away all the middlemen. It gets to that point where the artists can talk directly to their fans and you know how many people are into you. Whereas before manufactured artists and major record companies had so much control, I suppose, because the radio will chose what to play and who was played, but now it’s definitely a democracy where the people can choose for themselves through the internet and through downloading. so that’s cool, you know!

Z: As an adolescent, what kind of music did you listen to?

D: I really liked Alternative music like Depeche mode and Cure…..etc (in English)

Z: In the new album there are some titles like “In The Garden” “Stay with Me” “Black Widow” there is a dark side with some metal guitars. Were the four years that inspired the songs hard?

D: When I started writing this album, I wrote all the album on the piano. The Guitarist came in and transposed the piano chords to guitar with strange guitar tuning. With strange chords and strange tuning, when he played… We’re experimenting….. etc (in English)

Z: Apart from liking AC/DC, having an album with some Dark side, and a guitarist who likes metal, would that mean that you might have a cover during your concerts, for example something like AC/DC.

Z: Have you definitely turned the cranberries page? Are you going to continue with your solo career?

D: I don’t know, but the door is open.

Z: The Police are reuniting after 30 years. Do you think that’d happen with the cranberries?

D: Maybe, But I think when there’s only 6 or 8 years, it’s not much. If it’s a long time, I think it’s a good reunion, cos people wait.

“In the Garden” on Toronto Star’s Anti-Hit List

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on “In the Garden” on Toronto Star’s Anti-Hit List  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan’s “In the Garden,” an album track from her forthcoming Are You Listening?, made it to today’s “Anti-Hit List” column in Toronto’s biggest newspaper, the Toronto Star.

The list praises great songs that don’t have the hallmarks of radio friendly pop.

The Star’s John Sakamoto writes,

7. DOLORES O’RIORDAN, “In the Garden”
Considerably more diverting than the new single “Ordinary Day,” this haunting track from the Cranberries singer starts out a little like Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting” before bursting into a startlingly forceful refrain. The transition from tranquil domesticity (”I see you playing in the garden”) to something darker takes place within the space of a single couplet: “You’re like your father, I see right through you/Just like your father, I thought I knew you.” (From Are You Listening?, out May 15, myspace.com/doloresoriordan)

Dolores O’Riordan on cover of Telegraph Magazine

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on Dolores O’Riordan on cover of Telegraph Magazine  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan has a stunning cover shot on the front of today’s Telegraph Magazine in the UK, a supplement to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The cover’s subhead is a bit backhanded — “What Dolores O’Riordan did when The Cranberries passed their sell-by date” — but the Telegraph has been known to produce some truly excellent interviews (not to mention one of our most favorite photos of Dolores ever), so you’re in for a treat.

You can read the entire interview at the Telegraph’s site [link no longer available], or reproduced below…

Back in the swing

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 21/04/2007

Ten years ago the Cranberries were the biggest indie band in the world, but the pressure of fame caused singer Dolores O’Riordan to have a nervous breakdown. Now she is ready to face the world again – alone. By Craig McLean

Whatever happened to the Cranberries? In the early 1990s they were the little Irish band that had it all – four backwater teenagers from Limerick who formed a group, toured in a bread van, drank a load, had a laugh and, as if by magic, signed a six-album deal in London with the American arm of an international record label. The songs, co-written and sung by Dolores O’Riordan, were the key to their appeal. She was an elfin frontwoman with the voice of a giantess, a slip of a thing who could slip from Celtic etherealism to punchy arena-rock drama.

Dolores O’Riordon
Dolores O’Riordon: ‘I honestly think that it was beyond anorexia – it was bigger than that. I was having a nervous breakdown.’

Their songs and their sound – a U2-lite fronted by a less strident Sinead O’Connor – made them global megastars, particularly in America. The singles Linger and Dreams were huge hits, ubiquitous on MTV, radio, TV shows and over the PA systems in every high-street shop. In 1994, almost a year and a half after its original UK release, their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? reached number one in the UK, its rise powered by the sheer momentum of their phenomenal American achievements.

O’Riordan, now 35 and preparing to release her debut solo album, Are You Listening?, remembers the madness of her first trip to America at the age of 19. ‘I was blown away, “Woah, this is so cool.”’ And then, ‘A few weeks later, every flippin’ establishment you walk into, you’re on TV. And you’re going, “Who’s that?” Which is kind of dangerous. “Oh, that’s the Entertainer, but I’m not that person.” That was how I used to try and deal with it, which isn’t very healthy really. I often see young people doing that, referring to themselves in the third person. At the time you think that’s OK. But later on you go, “That’s… crazy.”’

She was, by her own admission, a hopelessly naive country girl – one record company executive who met the Cranberries back then described O’Riordan as like ‘someone who’d fallen from space’. ‘I think there’s a difference between somebody who grows up in Paris or London and goes to Los Angeles,’ O’Riordan says. ‘But if you grow up in the green fields, and you rarely go into the city, you’re so overprotected that when you do go to LA it’s almost a bigger slap in the head.’

In their first flush of success in America, the Cranberries supported their hit debut album by touring with Suede, The The, Duran Duran and then, as O’Riordan remembers it, ‘tons of headline tours’. They played the huge Woodstock festival in 1994. On one tour they were doing two shows a night. And the hard work paid off: by the mid-1990s the Cranberries were the second-biggest Irish band in the world. They had Number One singles in 26 countries. By the end of the decade, propelled by the subsequent big hit singles Ode To My Family and Zombie, they had sold 28 million copies of their first three albums. Their singer, meanwhile, was often accorded the dubious accolade of ‘Ireland’s richest woman’.
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And then… what? The Cranberries slipped off the radar. There were another two albums, Bury the Hatchet, and in 2001, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, but you could be forgiven for not noticing. Maybe the band barely noticed either. For a long time, almost since the release of their first album, O’Riordan, Noel Hogan (guitar), his brother Mike Hogan (bass) and Fergal Lawler (drums) had collectively given the impression of a band who didn’t much care for being wildly popular. O’Riordan, especially, was characterised as at best shy and withdrawn, and at worst moody and erratic.

Almost as soon as we have sat down on a sofa upstairs in her Dublin house, without being asked to, O’Riordan starts explaining. And explaining herself. She does this without much in the way of grammatical pauses, nor pauses for breath. ‘What happened was we did five albums with the Cranberries and then the Greatest Hits, and four years ago I decided to take time off and step away from the band. Because there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that was much more important than being in a rock band. My husband Don’s mother, Denise, was diagnosed with cancer, and she was given eight months to live. We decided to go and stay there and help live her days with her, ’cause you don’t get those chances again, right? That’s the priority and she’s the children’s grandmother.’

From upstairs floats the sound of Taylor, nine, Molly, six, and Dakota, two, O’Riordan and husband Don Burton’s three children. (She has a stepson, Donny, 15, who lives in Toronto with his mother, Burton’s former partner.) A strapping Canadian a decade her senior, Burton was tour-managing Duran Duran when he and O’Riordan met. After a two-month courtship they were engaged, getting married in the summer of 1994. The bride, infamously, wore a see-through dress.

‘Behind the scenes as well as in the band there was a lot of illness,’ O’Riordan continues, oblivious to what is going on downstairs – her mother, Eileen, is on hand, as she is every day, to help with her children. ‘And when the Greatest Hits came out and we did that tour, I just felt I wanted to take a break, totally. Probably because, as well, I was so young when I got famous. I did album, tour, album, tour, album, tour, then I had a public nervous breakdown where I just lost tons of weight.’

In October 1996, after the release of their third album To the Faithful Departed, a burnt-out band cancelled the remainder of a world tour. O’Riordan, especially, simply wasn’t up to it. At the time she weighed six and a half stone, and she was racked with self-doubt. She had always been insecure – she readily volunteers that this was because, ‘I didn’t get a lot of attention from my dad when I was young. That’s a big part of it for girls. Because your dad is the first love of your life. If he doesn’t put you on his lap and give you a pet, you do end up not really liking yourself that much.’ Convent-educated O’Riordan is the youngest of seven children, and was raised in a strict Catholic household. Her father, Terence, was injured in an accident when she was a child, and so her mother had to support the family.

Receiving the adulation of countless thousands of concert-goers, it seems, was no help. That was the ‘wrong love’. Working and travelling but ‘having no friends around you, and no normal love, and no reality – of course you’re gonna turn into a kind of a lunatic eventually. So, it happened to me,’ she says, a broad smile fixed across her face.
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Was she anorexic? ‘I honestly think that it was beyond anorexia – it was bigger than that. I was having a nervous breakdown. Losing lots of weight. I wasn’t sleeping, I couldn’t eat. I was suffering an awful lot from out-of-control anxiety attacks. I just couldn’t control my motor skills – I was panicking too much to move my limbs.’

O’Riordan says that her paralysis would occur before going on stage, meeting strangers, ‘or sitting with strange people. It was very weird. It was a bit scary. So I went to see the psychiatrist and he just said it was too much stress.’

She began to recover, the healing process helped along by the birth of her first child the year after the diagnosis of her breakdown. But the fire had gone out of the Cranberries, and their music. They had spent the preceding six years racing to the top of the mountain. They would spend the next six sliding slowly down the other side.

It is a sunny Saturday in Dublin’s affluent outer suburbs. Howth is a millionaires’ playground, albeit one disguised as an unostentatious, family-oriented neighbourhood. The politician and businessman Feargal Quinn is a neighbour, Ronan Keating of the recently reformed Boyzone lives nearby. O’Riordan is back home for just a day. She is busy promoting Are You Listening?, her first job of work in four years, and right now she is in a different European country every day.

In writing songs for herself rather than a band, ‘there was an element of freedom that I’d never had before. When I wrote Black Widow [about her mother-in-law’s battle with cancer], it was my first time experimenting with dark music. I’ve always played around with aggression, happiness, sadness, but never darkness.’

Are You Listening? is a collection of well-crafted pop songs, not as maudlin, wishy-washy and lumpen as the Cranberries’ latter albums. Her remarkable voice, too, is less histrionic. The punchy Ordinary Days (dedicated to Dakota) and the ballad Apple of my Eye (about Burton) have melodies to rival those long-ago career-launching singles. On the big rock thumper, Loser, she doesn’t pull any punches (‘The moral of the adventure is this/Take me for granted, you are taking the piss’) but refuses to say who it is about, save that it is someone in the music industry.

As she bustles about the house she is cheerful and welcoming, with a slightly manic, chat-chat-chat edge. This could come of the speedy pace at which she and Burton are operating just now (he is managing her) after four years’ ‘retirement’. Or it could come from the ingrained trauma of the 1990s, and the subsequent therapy she underwent – she was a patient of ‘celebrity therapist’ Beechy Colclough, Harley Street confidant of everyone from Elton John to Robbie Williams and Kate Moss. It is hard to imagine how full-on and clenched she might be if she wasn’t a serious yoga addict (she does two hours a day).

Today her house is a base for the Telegraph photoshoot and the attendant frocks and finery – much to her daughters’ excitement, and much to her son’s consternation. For the first couple of years of their lives, Taylor and (for a shorter period) Molly were on the road with O’Riordan. But none of her children can remember mummy working, or being on television. Yet the past year, which O’Riordan has spent writing and recording her solo album in her home studios, here in County Dublin and in Ontario (their Canadian home is normally described as a log cabin, but one imagines it is rather grander than that), has co­incided with dawning consciousness on the part of Taylor. ‘He’s been coming home from school and saying, “Mammy, my friends tell me that you’re famous and that you’re from a band…”’

O’Riordan and Burton have lived in this spacious, modern villa for three years. The walls in the hallway are covered with large-scale photographs taken at the children’s christenings – O’Riordan, glowing new mother in sleeveless dress, Celtic cross tattoo visible on one upper arm, loveheart tattoo on the other. Another shows her extended family, gathered after the ceremony, cheering for the camera. And Burton, beaming dad, in leather trousers and, in another, a pink brocaded suit.

Jostling for wallspace in the hall and up the stairwell are some of O’Riordan’s music-industry awards: the 1994 award from America for Most Performed Song on College Campus, for Zombie, O’Riordan’s heartfelt if clumsy song about the Troubles (‘In your head they are fighting/With their tanks and their bombs/And their bombs, and their guns’); an acknowledgement of the nomination of Zombie for an Ivor Novello songwriting award; silver, gold and platinum discs from South Africa, Australia and umpteen other countries.
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Downstairs, the children’s bedrooms, a riot of Bratz and Spider-Man duvets. Next door, the bathroom, with a pile of copies of Motor Boats Monthly and The Robb Report Collection (Real Estate and Interior Design) by the toilet. Opposite, the lounge-cum-bar. Finally, upstairs, in the loft-style space, is the office and O’Riordan’s little studio, easel (she loves to paint) and racks and racks of stagewear gathered over 10 years touring the world. All in all it’s fancy, but not as fancy as their previous abode: Riversfield Stud was a 150-acre farm in Kilmallock, near her hometown of Limerick. ‘This is a real family home,’ O’Riordan says. ‘We’re so much happier in this home than we were in the big place. That was very lonely.’

They had moved there in 1998, shortly after the birth of Taylor, at the height of O’Riordan’s traumas. She remembers being in Australia when her paternal grandmother died; she couldn’t get home for the funeral, because that would have meant halting the Cranberries’ tour. ‘It’s not just about you, it’s about all these people around you. There are hundreds of people depending on you.’ She had been forced to spend most of her first pregnancy in Canada, away from her mother. For an avowed family woman like O’Riordan, not to mention one feeling lonely and isolated already, this was a serious wrench. ‘While I was pregnant, my maternal grandmother passed away – I was in the morgue at her funeral, and there were paparazzi outside. I knew then that I had to get out of the country and go somewhere where I could recover and get away from it completely.’

Was buying the stud farm a continuation of that reclusive behaviour? ‘It was like my Neverland. I was having that, “God, who am I?” moment. But I couldn’t go out and walk around casually. People would come up and go, “If I had your money, I’d burn it.” But you couldn’t go to the pub and have one pint. So I built my own pubs and my own world. But you become a bit dysfunctional and a bit weird after a while. Too reclusive. ‘Sometimes I’d be asking the staff, “Will you come in, I’m lonely!”’ she cackles, her eyes wide. Nor did her young family ease her traumas. ‘The kids’ bedrooms were miles away. A different wing! They’re quite cheap those big old manors, you can buy them down the country for a couple of million.’

Amid the torrent of her speech, O’Riordan offers glimpses of what sounds like a terrible existence, where her fame and her wealth cursed both her and her family. She is from the countryside herself, and knows the ways of rural Ireland, but talks of her ‘sticking out’ in the little towns and villages. She says, ‘Imagine living in this big house and you can’t go out because somebody’ll throw stones at you or chase you. “Your mammy’s nee nee ne-ne neer,”’ she says in a sing-song sneer.

Finally, in 2004, they sold the house and most of the land for E4.5 million (£3 million). Now, in County Dublin, she only needs a housekeeper, and the children go to a local school ‘and we’re part of the community. It’s very safe, it’s much better for the kids. I can go out, walk around, nobody comes up to me. Some people ask for autographs sometimes, but that’s it.’

But being dubbed Ireland’s richest woman can’t have helped, I suggest. ‘Oh, it’s crazy. I flippin’ wish, man!’ Her reputed super-wealth was, she agrees, like a neon sign over her head. ‘Here she comes, who wants a free drink? Here, I’d like to build something, please charge me 10 times!’ she hoots, manically. The implication is that she was exploited, targeted. Indeed, in 2004 she and Burton were taken to court by their former child-minder, and accused of false imprisonment, breach of contract and negligence. The lawsuit failed. Equally, during my afternoon with O’Riordan, I overhear Burton talking about obsessive fans, in Belgium, Amsterdam and New Zealand, and how he has had to get Interpol involved.

‘It used to be upsetting,’ O’Riordan replies when I bring up the subject of overzealous fans. ‘I decided there’s nothing I can do about it by dwelling on it. So if I ever get anything weird I take it to the police, and they just deal with it. But you have to realise that it’s usually just a coward, someone trying to play with your head, mind games.’

It is time to take the photographs. We walk down to the nearby cliffs overlooking Dublin Bay, taking a route through the 2.5-acre plot overlooking the sea on which she and Burton are about to begin building a new house. Burton, a bit of a handyman, describes their plans for a three-level, 10,000 sq ft home, complete with swimming-pool, gym and recording studio. It seems that they will continue to live in the villa up the hill, though.

O’Riordan, resplendent in a Gucci dress, is radiant in every sense. She is still very thin, bony almost, and incredibly petite. But she is full of beans, even more so when Burton’s near to hand – she calls him ‘my rock, my pillar’. It is hard to imagine her even attempting a comeback without his steady management behind the scenes.

The Cranberries are not completely defunct, she says. ‘I stepped away from the group four years ago. I walked out of this big, big room I was in for a very long time into a smaller room, a different room, an interesting new room. But I didn’t shut the door. It’s kind of open.’ She says she is not in touch with ‘the boys’ (who all live in Limerick) – she says they were never that close in the first place – although Burton talks to Noel Hogan ‘a lot’.

‘I can’t really see myself going back immediately. The reunion that the Police are doing is quite respectable and quite decent because it’s 30 years since the split [it’s actually more like 20]. That sounds kind of cool. They’ve given it a good old break and did their own stuff.’

Two weeks later, Dolores O’Riordan plays her first live show in four years, an intimate, brief showcase event in the basement of the Hospital, an arts venue in London’s Covent Garden. She and her band – seasoned session players with a distinct whiff of gnarly old rock dudes about them – are dressed in black. She is in feisty form, kicking her white-trainer-clad feet high in the air. Her cover of In the Ghetto is cringy – too much melodrama, not enough soul – but the new songs sound as powerful as the old ones she plays, Dreams and Linger. Performing the hits that launched and then defined her, she says, holds no fear. ‘The audience always join in. And it’s, “Oh, fun time!” as opposed to, “I’m-performing-for-you time.” So the old energy’s going round the room like this…’ – she waggles her arms around her – ‘…in a circle, wooh!’

It is not so much a zen approach to rock’n’roll as a yogic one. And, in the end, it’s a grown-up approach – that of a woman who became famous while still a girl, and got trapped there. It has taken O’Riordan this long – and three children – to free herself. ‘I was obsessed with my career,’ she freely confesses. ‘It was my life, now it’s just a hobby. It’s fun. Thankfully, by making those decisions to have children when I did, I have the possibility now to have a second life with them. My mam said to me, “Careers come and go, but children are for ever.” It’s true. I’d hate to be a very successful career woman and have all this accomplishment, but have no children or grandchildren. Who’d be around when you were dying, like? Who’d mind you?’

# ‘Are You Listening?’ is released on May 7

New rehearsal photos posted at doloresoriordan.ie

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on New rehearsal photos posted at doloresoriordan.ie  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

For those who can’t get enough candid shots, DoloresOriordan.ie has posted more photos of Dolores’s band warming up on April 18 for the upcoming tour.

Ordinary Day 7” to be limited to 1000 copies

April 21, 2007  |  Comments Off on Ordinary Day 7” to be limited to 1000 copies  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

UK record collecting site EIL.com reports that the upcoming limited edition “Ordinary Day” 7′′ vinyl single will be very limited indeed with a pressing of only 1,000 copies.

The vinyl “picture disc” will carry the previously-unreleased B-side “Forever.”

Fans who want to assure their copy may want to preorder now.

Brickfish issues press release on banner contest

April 20, 2007  |  Comments Off on Brickfish issues press release on banner contest  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Brickfish today sent out a press release regarding their ongoing competition to design a web banner for Dolores O’Riordan’s new album Are You Listening?
Here goes…

SAN DIEGO – (BUSINESS WIRE) – In support of Are You Listening?, her solo album being released May 15th, Sanctuary Records artist Dolores O’Riordan is offering the public a chance to design web banners promoting the album preorder. O’Riordan, the iconic former lead singer of Ireland’s The Cranberries, has sold in excess of 40 million albums worldwide. Are You Listening? is the much anticipated album that marks Dolores’ first foray back into music in over four years.

“Music Week” reviews ’sophisticated’ “Ordinary Day”

April 20, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Music Week” reviews ’sophisticated’ “Ordinary Day”  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

The April 21 issue of UK records bible Music Week has a short but very sweet review of Dolores O’Riordan’s new single “Ordinary Day.” “Ordinary Day” gets released in CD and limited 7′′ form on April 30 in the UK:

Dolores O’Riordan
Ordinary Day (Sequel SEQXD010)

The debut solo single from The Cranberries’ singer is an emotional, introspective and classy aair. Although maybe a tad sophisticated for some palettes, O’Riordan is in fine voice on this Youth/Dan Broadbeck- produced song, which has been B-listed at Radio Two. It is taken from her album Are You Listening, released May 7.

“Ordinary Day” most-added AAA track on US radio

April 19, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Ordinary Day” most-added AAA track on US radio  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

“Ordinary Day” is off to a fantastic start on US radio — Dolores O’Riordan’s debut solo single was the #1 most-added track on Triple A format (big-name artists) this week.

“Ordinary Day” just “went for adds” on Monday, meaning that this is the first week that the single has been officially available for play on US radio.

Dolores tied with Paolo Nutini for the #1 spot, and beat out Bright Eyes (!), Alo, and Cowboy Junkie for the top spot.

Thanks to Jr for the news.

Source: FMQB

Greek dates announced; Free gig in Seville May 3rd

April 16, 2007  |  Comments Off on Greek dates announced; Free gig in Seville May 3rd  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Two new tour stops for Dolores O’Riordan have been announced for Greece at the end of June.

Red FM reports that Dolores will be performing in Thessaloniki, Greece at the Moni Lazariston on June 21st and in Athens, Greece at the Likavittos Theatre on June 23rd.

As previously announced on Dolores O’Riordan’s promo tour schedule, there will be a free outdoor concert on May 3rd in Seville, Spain. Dolores O’Riordan will be kicking off the opening of an Fnac store with a free concert on La Avenida de la Constitución in Seville. Diariodesevilla.com has more details here.

Thanks to Litsa and Pedro for the news.

Many new press and promo photos online

April 16, 2007  |  Comments Off on Many new press and promo photos online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Several new Dolores O’Riordan press and publicity photos have popped up in various places around the net, we’ve gathered them up as best we could. If we’re missing any, let us know!

Taken from ? (thanks -CORDELL-):

From muzyka.onet.pl (thanks Eric Draven):

From dolores.sanctuaryrecords.com:

From scoolz.de (thanks Dave):

Demo MP3 of “Ordinary Day” posted online

April 16, 2007  |  Comments Off on Demo MP3 of “Ordinary Day” posted online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Brickfish, the site hosting a challenge to create a web banner for the Are You Listening? pre-order campaign, has (inadvertently?) posted what appears to be a demo version of Dolores O’Riordan’s current single “Ordinary Day.”

The vocals a nearly the same as the version being released as a single, but the instrumentals are completely different and a bit unpolished.

You can listen to the demo streaming on Brickfish, or download the MP3 directly at this address.

[ALL LINKS NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

Thanks to Litsa for finding this gem!

Japanese acetates for “AYL?” out; 2 B-sides planned

April 15, 2007  |  Comments Off on Japanese acetates for “AYL?” out; 2 B-sides planned  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Promotional acetate CDs for Dolores O’Riordan’s forthcoming Are You Listening? have been distributed in Japan. It appears that BMI Japan will be handling the distribution of the CD in Japan.

According to the promo’s liner notes, there are expected to be 2 bonus tracks on the Japanese release, but have not yet been announced.

Dolores to be at Victoria Mary Clarke book launch

April 11, 2007  |  Comments Off on Dolores to be at Victoria Mary Clarke book launch  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Today’s Irish Independent reports that Dolores O’Riordan is among the guests expected at tonight’s launch of Victoria Mary Clarke’s new book Angels in Disguise at Vicar Street in Dublin.

Among the expected guests are Dolores O’Riordan, Jim Sheridan, Sinead O’Connor, Gavin Friday, artist Guggi, and Clarke’s husband-to-be Shane MacGowan.

“Shane will be singing and hopefully some other special guests,” Clarke told People yesterday. “JP Dunleavy will be making a speech and there will be a few DJs playing.”

Photos + Setlist: Dolores O’Riordan @ The Hospital

April 11, 2007  |  Comments Off on Photos + Setlist: Dolores O’Riordan @ The Hospital  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

It’s taken a few weeks, but Japanese site BARKS: Global Music Reporter has some great photos and a report from Dolores O’Riordan’s press-only gig at The Hospital in London on March 22.

Here’s a translated clip of the review:

It was delightful to hear some Cranberries hits like “Linger” and “Dreams” live, which made us feel strangely sweet. Her current songs “Ordinary Day” and “Angel Fire” match her previous work in being simple and strightforward.

And here’s the setlist from the night’s gig:

1. Loser
2. Angel Fire
3. In The Ghetto (Elvis Presley)
4. Linger (Cranberries)
5. hen We Were Young
6. Ordinary Day
7. Apple Of My Eye
8. Dreams (Cranberries)

Many more interview videos online

April 7, 2007  |  Comments Off on Many more interview videos online  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

There are more new interviews with Dolores O’Riordan online, courtesy of YouTube.

The first is from public television service Fast Focus. This is a meaty 5-minute clip with interviews meshed together with footage from The Cranberries. Best of all, there are several behind-the-scenes shots during the filming of the “Ordinary Day” video in Prague.

You can watch the YouTube version below or download the high quality WMV format video from Fast Focus’s site.

 

The next is a clip from MTV Italy’s “Flash” from April 2nd, filmed off of a TV screen, courtesy of Mattia over at the Cranberries Discography.

[LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

And last, we have a rather sad clip of a couple who traveled from Poland, but couldn’t get into Dolores’s press-only gig at The Hospital in London. We’re sorry guys. We feel for you.

[LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

El Periódico de Catalunya interview translation

April 7, 2007  |  Comments Off on El Periódico de Catalunya interview translation  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Thanks to Gonzo, here is an English translation of the interview that appeared in El Periódico de Catalunya last week:

“You can be a pop singer and a mother of four”

O’Riordan, Ready to start her Tour in Barcelona on 29th May.
JUAN FERNÁNDEZ
MADRID

– Was the decision of starting a solo career taken previous to The Cranberries’ dissolution?
– No. That period ended because we all finished a phase in our lives we did not want to go back. In my case, I needed to stop and have a normal life back again. No contract deals, Tours or anybody on my shoulders, just me taking care of my kids.

– Then, why are you back?
– Because singing is my thing. It’s what I do and I enjoy doing. All the rest of it, a glamorous life, fame, etc are just things you have to deal with.

– The ideal life would be as a pop star, living a normal life…

– That is not an ideal, it’s simply impossible but at least that is my plan. You can be a pop singer and a mother of four kids, go pick them up from school like all mums do, I do it. ¿Why not?

– Did you ever think of reuniting with The Cranberries again?
– My intuition told me now it was the time to go solo. The challenge is bigger but all the decisions are made by me.

– Introduce your music to me. Will Cranberries fans like it?
– By the reactions I have observed, I do think so. I would say my work now is more experimental, more open, daring. I never saw myself capable of doing such personal & dark songs with the band.

–Will it be a heavy shadow, your past as a Cranberries member when introducing yourself to new audiences,?
–No, ’cause it’s something I feel very proud of. It’s part of my life. With out the Cranberries I wouldn’t be here talking to you today.

–How do you face this challenge personally?
–I feel more mature. Being a mother of four kids, having a partner for 13 years and surviving a pop band makes you a wiser person. At last I have learned not to struggle myself.

Also thanks to Chema and don_8 for their input!

Video: Dolores arrives in Poland

April 5, 2007  |  Comments Off on Video: Dolores arrives in Poland  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  The Cranberries

Strona Cranberries has put up a short clip from Polish news program Teleexpress of Dolores O’Riordan arriving at the Warsaw airport on Monday. Dolores is in Poland this week to do promo for Are You Listening?

[LINK NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

On-the-road photos on DoloresORiordan.ie

April 4, 2007  |  Comments Off on On-the-road photos on DoloresORiordan.ie  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan’s Official Site has posted a great gallery of miscellaneous snapshots of Dolores’s promo tour across Europe over the last few weeks. Included are shots of Dolores on France’s Taratata TV and RTL Radio shows, plus some others.

More videos of Dolores on Ultimate-Guitar.com

April 4, 2007  |  Comments Off on More videos of Dolores on Ultimate-Guitar.com  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

There are more interview videos of Dolores O’Riordan online at ultimate-guitar.com. The videos are taken from the same source as the ones posted yesterday on underground.com.au

Here are some quotes from the videos:

“Well there wasn’t any great obstacle, but what happens is as we all get older we acquire children, and we require life and priorities beyond just working all the time. And I suppose having spent 14 years in the ‘berries, and always…I’d have a baby and then the baby is about three or four months, I’d go back to rehearsal and then I’d go back to touring, back to the studio. But for the first time in my life I really wanted to step completely away from the music industry and the idea of being an entertainer. After the Greatest Hits from The (Cran)berries came out it seemed like the right time to just stop and just spend time with my children and just be a mother — a really normal mother, and in that sense I mean I didn’t want a housekeeper and I didn’t want a nanny. My mother helps me mind my kids all the time, so we tried to keep things very real in the house, you know?”

 

“My mother in law she was diagnosed with cancer, and in 2003 I moved to Canada with my husband, to the forest. And basically I had no helpers or anything, and I was just a full-time mother and I really enjoyed that experience. And through that experience of spending four years at home with my family, I wrote all these songs for this record. So they’re just about very human, day-to-day things.”

Thanks to CanadianLeprechaun for the find.

Sanctuary to cut back US label on June 30

April 4, 2007  |  Comments Off on Sanctuary to cut back US label on June 30  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Billboard reports that Sanctuary Records will be closing down major operations for its US record label shortly after the release of Dolores O’Riordan’s Are You Listening?

One source told Billboard that for new releases, particularly for Dolores’s album: “It is important to do the right things for albums like those. But then everyone who deals with front-line will be leaving at various times over the new few months.”

UK executives arrived in New York last Thursday to personally deliver the news that major parts of the US branch of the company would be closing on June 30. It appears that Dolores O’Riordan’s album will be one of the last released by the US branch of the company. The company will maintain a back catalog operation in the US.

The closing of the US division of Sanctuary Records is one of a long list of expenses that the company is cutting. Sanctuary Records has lost large portions of its market value in the last 2 years.

Dolores to perform at Concerto del Primo Maggio

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on Dolores to perform at Concerto del Primo Maggio  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Rockol reports that Dolores O’Riordan will be performing at Italy’s Concerto del Primo Maggio festival in Rome on May 1st. This will be her first large scale solo performance, ahead of the “official” kickoff of the European Tour in Barcelona on May 29th.

Dolores will be the International Guest Star for the festival, and the concert is broadcasted on TV nationwide in Italy.

Thanks to Alessio for the tip.

Video: Dolores O’Riordan arrives in Poland

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on Video: Dolores O’Riordan arrives in Poland  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan has arrived in Warsaw, Poland, to do promotion in support of Are You Listening? Polish TV news program Teleexpress has some footage of Dolores arriving at the airport in Warsaw, which you can watch at the link below (skip ahead to the 10:45 mark):

[VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

(Note the site seems to be blocking users who are not in Teleexpress’s viewing region.)

Thanks to cran of Strona Cranberries for the news.

MTV Turkey: Dolores O’Riordan Artist of the Week

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on MTV Turkey: Dolores O’Riordan Artist of the Week  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

MTV Türkiye has chosen Dolores O’Riordan as “Artist of the Week” for this week. You can find a biography on the MTV Türkiye website and MTV Türkiye is running the “Ordinary Day” video as an exclusive in the country.

Thanks to cranberriERman for the news.

“Ordinary Day” taking off on US radio

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Ordinary Day” taking off on US radio  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Even though Dolores O’Riordan’s “Ordinary Day” has not yet officially “gone for adds” on US radio, it’s already gaining momentum on US stations and raising eyebrows.

This week, the track has “Jump!” status on AAA radio formata, which means that it has had at least 20 more plays than the week before. Stations that are currently playing the Dolores’s new single include WRLT-FM Nashville, KTCZ-FM Minneapolis, WXRT-FM Chicago, and XM Cafe (XM channel 45).

“Ordinary Day” will be officially added to US radio on April 16.

Thanks to Jr for the news.

“Today” (Singapore) reviews “Are You Listening?”

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on “Today” (Singapore) reviews “Are You Listening?”  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Singapore’s Today newspaper has one of the first print reviews of Dolores O’Riordan’s debut solo album Are You Listening? They give the album a 3/5.

You can grab a PDF of today’s paper by going here

Dolores O’ Riordan – Are You Listening?
By Zul Othmanzul

Rating: 3 out of 5

FORMER Cranberries singer Dolores O’ Riordan has kept a low profile since the band split up in 2003.

That and the fact this album is her solo debut is sure to attract some interest: After all, The Cranberries won acclaim early on for their ability to craft hypnotising tunes.

Then again, O’ Riordan also tended to leave fans boggled as to how a wee Irish lass could resort to yodelling to get the musical message across, most notably on their 1994 hit Zombie.

Not surprisingly, Are You Listening displays many of the O’ Riordan hallmarks.

The crunching quasi heavy metal riffs and over-the-top vocal delivery are here, but as the bulk of songs are better than average this ends up being a minor distraction.

Video interview with Dolores at undercover.com.au

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on Video interview with Dolores at undercover.com.au  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Undercover has a video interview and report on Are You Listening?

[VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

“After the Greatest Hits came out with the ‘Berries, it seemed like the right time to just stop and spend time with my kids, to be a mother, a really normal mother. In that sense, I meant I didn’t want a housekeeper, and I didn’t want a nanny. My mother helps me mind my kids all the time. We tried to keep things very real in the house,” she said.

El Periódico de Catalunya interviews Dolores

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on El Periódico de Catalunya interviews Dolores  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

El Periódico de Catalunya published a Q&A-style interview with Dolores in the March 31st issue of their print newspaper. If someone would be kind enough to do an English translation, please send it to me or post it in the forums.

The interview is also available in Catalan after the jump.

Dolores O’Riordan : “Se puede ser cantante pop y madre de cuatro hijos como yo”
JUAN FERNÁNDEZ MADRID

–¿La decisión de iniciar una carrera en solitario es previa a la disolución de Cranberries?

–No. Aquello terminó porque todos completamos una etapa que no queríamos volver a vivir. En mi caso, necesitaba parar y volver a tener una vida normal. Sin contratos, giras ni nadie pendiente de mi, sino yo pendiente de mis hijos.

–¿Entonces, por qué vuelve?

–Porque mi oficio es cantar. Es lo que sé hacer y lo que me gusta. Lo otro, el glamour, la fama, es algo que hay que soportar.

–Lo ideal sería ser una estrella pop y poder tener una vida normal.

–No es un ideal, es algo posible. Al menos, ése es mi plan. Se puede ser cantante pop y madre de cuatro hijos, e ir a recogerlos al colegio en chándal como una madre más, como hago yo. ¿Por qué no?

–¿Nunca se planteó volver con toda la banda?

–Mi intuición me decía que ahora era el momento de jugármela en solitario. El reto es mayor, pero las decisiones solo dependen de mi.

–Presénteme su música. ¿Gustará al fan de Cranberries?

–Por las reacciones que he observado, creo que sí. Digamos que ahora mi trabajo es más experimental, más abierto, más atrevido. Con Cranberries nunca me vi capaz de hacer canciones tan personales y oscuras como las de este álbum.

–¿Pesará demasiado la sombra de Cranberries en su tarjeta de presentación?

–No, porque es algo de lo que me siento muy orgullosa. Forma parte de mi vida. Sin Cranberries no estaría aquí hoy hablando con usted.

–¿Personalmente cómo encara este reto?

–Me siento con madurez. Ser madre de cuatro hijos, tener una relación de pareja de 13 años y sobrevivir al éxito de una banda de pop te hace una persona más sabia. Al fin he aprendido a no luchar contra mí.

Catalan version:

Dolores O’Riordan : “Es pot ser cantant pop i mare de quatre fills com jo”
JUAN FERNÁNDEZ MADRID

–¿La decisió d’iniciar una carrera en solitari és prèvia a la dissolució de Cranberries?

–No. Allò va acabar perquè tots vam completar una etapa que no volíem tornar a viure. En el meu cas, necessitava parar i tornar a tenir una vida normal. Sense contractes, gires ni ningú pendent de mi, sinó jo pendent dels meus fills.

–¿Llavors, per què torna?

–Perquè el meu ofici és cantar. És el que sé fer i el que m’agrada. La resta, el glamur, la fama, és una cosa que s’ha de suportar.

–L’ideal seria ser una estrella pop i poder tenir una vida normal.

–Això no és cap ideal, és possible. Almenys, aquest és el meu pla. Es pot ser cantant pop i alhora mare de quatre fills, i anar a recollir-los al col.legi en xandall com una mare més, com faig jo. ¿Per què no?

–¿No es va plantejar mai tornar amb tota la banda?

–La meva intuïció em deia que ara era el moment de jugar-me-la en solitari. El repte és més gran, però les decisions només depenen de mi.

–Presenti’m la seva música. ¿Agradarà al fan de Cranberries?

–Per les reaccions que he observat, crec que sí. Diguem que ara el meu treball és més experimental, més obert, més atrevit. Amb Cranberries no em vaig veure mai capaç de fer cançons tan personals i fosques com les d’aquest àlbum.

–¿Pesarà massa l’ombra de Cranberries en la seva targeta de presentació?

–No, perquè me’n sento molt orgullosa. Forma part de la meva vida. Sense Cranberries avui no seria aquí parlant amb vostè.

–¿Personalment com encara aquest repte?

–Em sento amb maduresa. Ser mare de quatre fills, tenir una relació de parella de 13 anys i sobreviure a l’èxit d’una banda de pop et fa una persona més sàvia. Per fi he après a no lluitar contra mi.

Breed 77 to release Latino-metal “Zombie” cover

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on Breed 77 to release Latino-metal “Zombie” cover  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  The Cranberries

Gibraltar-based band Breed 77 will be releasing a “Latino metal” cover of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” as a bonus track for the digital download of their new album Look at Me Now, to be released on April 23.

According to the UK’s FAME Magazine, who have heard the cover…

Look At Me Now is released April 23, and on the digital bundle contains a never heard before “Latino-metal” version of the Cranberries classic hit, Zombie, which is totally out of this world. Usually a track of this calibre should have a label stating, “Do Not Cover”, placed upon it, but Breed 77 has produced a track, up there with the original itself.

Scans: Dolores O’Riordan on cover of “XL”

April 3, 2007  |  Comments Off on Scans: Dolores O’Riordan on cover of “XL”  |  by Zombieguide Archives  |  Dolores O'Riordan

Dolores O’Riordan makes her first magazine cover appearance in many years on the April 2007 issue of Italy’s XL magazine.

Dolores talks about a number of topics in the interview: Sinead O’Connor, Britney Spears, Pope Benedict (whom she calls “Benny”), and even touches on abortion.

Thanks to irishsoul, CORDELL and Lore for the scans!

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