Good news for those of you who, like us, have been really enthusiastic about D.A.R.K. (Dolores’ side project with Andy Rourke & Olé Koretsky):

Musicradar.com just published a fresh new interview of Andy Rourke ahead of his performance at London Bass Guitar Show on March 5th, 2017.

Asked if the D.A.R.K. project would remain a « one-off » or if there would be more coming from the band, Andy answered :

« In terms of the D.A.R.K project, we are in writing mode at the moment although our schedules are all over the place. Dolores is busy with a Cranberries tour and I’m here working in LA [on a project with Kav Blaggers, former guitarist from Happy Mondays and Black Grape]. But we have a few ideas already. Watch this space is all I can say. »

Let’s hope for new tracks, and that we’ll get to see these folks live one day, ‘cause their rehearsal videos were really promising!!!

We taped one of our rehearsals last year. Which song on the album would you like to see played live? @andyrourkemusic @doubleole #doloresoriordan

Une publication partagée par D.A.R.K. (@darktheband) le 11 Oct. 2016 à 11h33 PDT

“Have a happy and safe New Year!
With love Andy Rourke, Dolores O’ Riordan, Olé Koretsky, DARK”

This message with the above photo was posted earlier today by D.A.R.K. on their social media. Definitely a good way to start 2017!

However, it’s not clear whether or not this picture was taken last night. Taking a look at Dana Distortion’s Instagram account, there’s no sign Dolores and Olé were attending the same party as Andy. We’re not 100% sure as it does look like the background is quite similar on both photos, plus Andy seems to be dressed almost the same… if any of you have more info, let us know!

EDIT 06:05 PM (UTC):

Small update to emphasise that it actually does seem that both photos were taken yesterday on NYE in the “Night of Joy” bar located in New York City. Proof could come from the well hidden person on the very left of the pic who highly looks like Olé! So we can even imagine that Dolores took the picture as she does not appear on it, and Dana happens to be in the very center.

Good news for D.A.R.K. fans who had ordered a signed Science Agrees vinyl and were still waiting for the item to be delivered. After several complaints, Pledge is finally keeping customers updated on their order in the below email:

To all customers still awaiting their orders,

We know some of you have been waiting far longer than you should have for your signed copy of D.A.R.K.’s Science Agrees. This has been due to a number of factors, including the initial shipment of signed stock arriving at our warehouse damaged, and then the time it has taken to get new stock delivered whilst replacement signings happened at the band’s separate locations around the world.

At one point, due to the issues above and other logistical problems, we thought we would never receive more stock and would have to refund you all. However, we are happy tell you we are expecting a limited amount of stock to cover outstanding orders to finally arrive into our warehouse tomorrow (December 23rd) and for shipping to take place as soon as possible. You will receive a notification email once your item ships, but what with the exceptionally busy time of year, we expect this to be in early January.

PledgeMusic and the band apologise profusely for the wait you have endured. We know it has not been good enough, but we hope to get your long awaited signed album to you asap.

Thank you for your continued patience,
PledgeMusic.

This is definitely a HUGE relief as Pledge Music had actually started refunding some of us early December because of stock shortage.

Let’s hope everyone will receive the exclusive items they have ordered more than 8 months ago now.

And thumbs up to the Pledge Music team – once in a while does no harm 😉 – who happened to be very attentive to fans complaints (we can tell for sure as one member of our team was among the disappointed fans who contacted them to express their dissatisfaction).

If some of you are still awaiting for some news from Pledge, drop us (or DoloreO’RiordanSpain Facebook) a word to see if we can help you reaching out to them.

As you may have noticed, some of Olé Koretsky’s very cool signatures on Science Agrees vinyls feature some geographic coordinates.
Let’s thus have a bit of fun finding out where Olé is taking us, sometimes even inviting fans to travel in time!

VINYL #1 (thanks to electro1979)

This one makes fans land in Australia, in a residential area: 2 Hewlett St, Bronte NSW 2024.
As Olé mentions the year 1988 and signs “TIME TRAVEL”, we can imagine this could be the place where he spent his childhood? Very mysterious!

VINYL #2 (thanks to peepee173)

“TIME TRAVEL”
Another puzzling one that leads fans to Miami Beach in Florida, USA: 7601 Atlantic Way, Miami Beach, FL 33141, USA. Seems like Olé is again inviting us to travel in time back to 2005.

VINYL #3 (thanks to PT)

“WE’LL GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME”
Wondering where the Science Agrees vinyls were signed? This one possibly shades light on this question as GPS coordinates point to the Londonian suburds: 12 Swainson Rd, London W3 7XB, UK.
Looking for this address on the Internet will reveal these are Cooking Vinyl offices!
Note the big “KO” on his face… rather cool, isn’t it?

VINYL #4 (thanks to raulovinyl)

“ON MY WAY”
This one is quite funny as Olé mentions he is “on his way” to this destination, which happens to be none other but Shannon Airport, near Limerick in Ireland.
Have safe flights, Olé 😉
Double “KO” on his face on this one !

VINYL #5 (thanks to Andrea)

“GETTING WARMER”
With this new one sent by Andrea from Italia, Olé sends us to Venice beach, Los Angeles.
Not too much of a surprising destination, let us remember Dolores has/had (?) a flat at Marina del Ray and was spotted on this beach in February 2015.

VINYL #6 (thanks to Mario A.)

Another cool “TIME TRAVEL” signed LP. Hard to see it on this picture but 1991 is written on Olé’s face.
The coordinates point to the following address: 1633 79th St, Brooklyn, NY 11214, USA.
Looking at the street view picture on the right, you’ll see a building that looks like a school. Was it Olé’s school (kindergarten?) when he was a child back in 1991?
Possibly, unless he wants us to see the opposite side of the street and the multifamily residential? Could be a place where he grew up….

VINYL #7 (thanks to Richard)

“…CLOSER THAN YOU THINK”
No coordinates on this one but as Richard says: “Pretty cool”

VINYL #8 (thanks to cranfandy)

“SEE YOU AT SIX”
A rendez-vous? How cool!
These coordinates are leading us to 1 Highwood Avenue, Tenafly, NJ 07670, USA.
Looks like a small mall with three restaurants (Sushi, Café & Grill, Vietnamese) a clothing shop for children (Party Girl), a jeweler (Charmed) and a hair salon (BBC Salon).
Where do you think Olé is inviting us? Are we up for a dinner, a jewel, or a haircut?
Our guess is on a restaurant… or wasn’t Olé working as a hairdresser at one point though?

VINYL #9 (thanks to cranmex)

“ARCTIC  OK  THANK YOU”
Just like Richard LP, this one has no coordinates and may be related to travels.
Possibly Arctic is such an exact position itself that it doesn’t need any GPS coordinates!
So travelling to the Arctic ??!!? …  let’s go 🙂
Another cool message for sure.

Feel free to send us a picture of yours, the more we get pieces of the puzzle, the funnier it is.
And most of all, thanks to Olé for this cool treasure hunt.

What a very disappointing news for fans who had ordered D.A.R.K.’s “Science Agrees” Screen Print on Pledge Music almost 8 months ago now: the platform is about to refund fans as “unfortunately, not enough orders were placed to meet the requirements for a minimum run to be manufactured“

What’s all the more unsatisfying is that -once again- Pledge Music failed to inform fans about it (and to proceed to refunds). Cranberries World’s team got to learn about it today through a fan who emailed Pledge Music to complain as he had still not received the ordered items.
Quite unprofessional taking into account orders have been closed since September 9th… time to realize “not enough orders were placed” on November 30th !!!
They let the fan know they “will therefore be refunding [him] for this item” and “are extremely sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and will process [his] refund ASAP.”

Not to mention that this is another loss of money for foreign fans who bought this signed screen print in March when British pound was rather high, and who are going to be refunded now the pound has significantly decreased. Thank you Pledge, thank you Brexit!

Although we’re really excited about the signed vinyl -especially as Olé is treating fans with cool messages as you can see on the below pictures- we have to emphasize Pledge Music’s lame services: release date postponed three times, fans pre-ordered items damaged in the process of delivery, finally delivered almost three months after general sale…

This excellent album has been cursed, to say the least 🙁

Signed LP’s now on their way… and some of them have (already) arrived:

credit: marcantoinepanda Instagram

credit: cehooperradio Instagram

Here’s the Pledge Music message as received:

Hi,

Thank you for your patience waiting for your Signed Screen Print from D.A.R.K.

Unfortunately, not enough orders were placed to meet the requirements for a minimum run to be manufactured and we will therefore be refunding you for this item. We are extremely sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and will process your refund ASAP.

If you have any questions, please contact our Customer Service team via your order here – pledgemusic.com/pledges.

Kind regards,

PledgeMusic

There is renewed hope for fans who cannot wait to see Dolores O’Riordan new project with Ole Koretsky and Andy Rourke, D.A.R.K., live !

Indeed, no later than last night, the band posted the below video on their Instagram account asking fans “which songs would you like to see played live ?“

Une vidéo publiée par D.A.R.K. (@darktheband) le 11 Oct. 2016 à 11h33 PDT

Can we thus expect the band to go on tour late 2016 – which is unlikely if The Cranberries are touring South America – or in 2017 ?

From this small and very exciting preview of the rehearsals, there’s no doubt fans will be very disappointed if the tour is not taking place as Loosen The Noose sounds brilliant here.

Let’s thus cross fingers we’ll be lucky enough to see them live in the upcoming months/year, and that we’ll get to see more of this video filmed during the rehearsals too.

Let’s also note that the Cranberries World poll “What’s your favorite track on Science Agrees?” has now ended, interestingly showing that High Fashion clearly stands out as the ONE song most Cranberries fans consider as their favorite on the album with a high score of 35% !

The second song that received quite a lot of votes too is Gunfight (23%), which is not so surprising taking into account fans comments when the song was released. What a blast !

The two winners are closely followed by Loosen The Noose (20%) and Watch Out (16%).

You can see the poll results by clicking here, a good preview for the band to know which songs fans would like to hear live 😉