By

October, 2018. It is been 8 months since our dear princess got her angel wings and the world remains shocked and sunk in the deepest sadness, just like it became on that cold January evening when we got the news that would dramatically change our lives forever. Noel Hogan has talked for Billboard and Rolling Stones in two poignant interviews where he has recalled The Cranberries’ trajectory since their earliest beginning, he has hinted about the band’s future plans and he has remembered Dolores with the love a brother would.

The Cranberries’ beginnings were not as easy as it may seem. They started playing at small clubs until they received the so expected call from their label asking them to go straightaway to America. “Linger” had been broadcasted on the radio and was having a massive success. The Cranberries flew to Denver for their first American gig, opening for The The, and found out that everyone knew their songs. “And from there, everything changed” Noel recalls. Their first album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? sold more than 6 million copies. No Need to Argue (1994) got more than 17 million copies.

Apart from the 25^th anniversary reedition of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, The Cranberries have currently finished a brand new album, for which Dolores had already recorded her vocals before her passing. It will be called In the End, which is also the name of the final track of the album.“The Cranberries is the four of us, you know?” Hogan says.“Without Dolores, I don’t see the point of doing this, and neither do the boys.” He says it is a very strong album, lyrically moving and very close to the first two albums, especially lyrically and sonically. They wanted to go back to the old Cranberries’ sound. “I had a discussion with (producer Stephen Street) about what we were going to be doing and told him I think the best way to finish the Cranberries is how it began and to go back to that sound, kind of less complicated, ’cause now’s not the time to be reinventing the wheel.” The lyrics are “very emotional, because of all the things that were going on in Dolores’ life.”

Dolores, Noel says, was in great spirits, feeling good and thrilled about this new album and touring China in March “There’s so much going on in my life and I have so much to say.” They started writing in June 2017 and by December 2017 the album was almost finished. The day before she passed away, Dolores had sent Noel an email with another song “Look, I don’t know if I sent you this one yet, but listen to it and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Something that, unfortunately, never happened.

Noel says recording this album has been like a therapy to the band, that helped them deal with it. “During the day you’re kind of in the thing, so you’re focused on that and you almost forget Dolores isn’t there, because she’s in the headphones and the speakers and you’re playing away to it and you’re working on everything else. But I found that at night, that’s when it would really hit you, and it was really very kind of emotional (…) But every day is different; There still hasn’t been a day I haven’t woken up and it’s the first thing you think of. It’s just a thing that I guess will take some time.”

Noel also recalls that Sunday afternoon where Dolores made her audition for The Cranberries. When Niall Quinn, the previous singer with The Cranberry Saw Us left the band, Noel already had the instrumentals of “Linger” and “Dreams”. Niall’s girlfriend knew a girl that was looking for a band. So Niall came up with Dolores, “a shy, soft-spoken. A very quiet country girl.” Dolores sang a couple of songs that she had written herself, and she did a Sinéad O’Connor song, “Troy.” “I was just shocked that she wasn’t in a band already. Because the minute she sang, you know, it was like your jaw drops at her voice.” Noel recalls. When Dolores was getting ready to leave, Noel gave her a cassette that had the basics of “Linger”, and some days later she came back with which basically became the final version of the song.

“Dolores was musically far superior to me” – Noel says – “because she had been doing it all her life. She had been singing and she had taken piano lessons. She had done all the things that you would expect somebody that’s an accomplished musician to do. Whereas I had just been a listener of music. I’d been a massive fan of music, particularly English alternative bands. But I had only started playing guitar a couple of years before that. But she often said that’s what she liked about my playing — the simplicity of what I did left room for her vocal. There wasn’t someone filling the thing up unnecessarily. And the excitement was always when one of us would give the other a track and see what they would come back with. To the very end, that was my favorite part, when she would send me back a song.”

Noel says that the Everybody Else reedition box set was a pleasant trip back in time. “The minute I kind of started digging through all this old stuff I started to remember this, that and the other, and it was fun. I’m delighted that people get to hear what (the band) began as. A lot of people know the finished things, but to have early versions of ‘Dreams’ and stuff is nice. You can see how a bunch of kids took something and went away and created this thing that’s became a lot bigger than any of us ever dreamt it could be.”

Hogan is hoping the group’s five other studio albums will be given the expanded anniversary treatment — especially 1994’s No Need To Argue, which did even better than its predecessor. But he admits it is going to be harder with the following albums because when an album came out and became very successful, everything they did after that was released or used straightaway. However, he says new rarities that he has forgotten about could pop up, which he hopes will maintain a strong legacy for The Cranberries. “I hope and I think it’s a nice thing for the fans to have these things, because it really is kind of coming towards the end of it now. But we made a lot of good music, and that’s what everybody should focus on. That’s the best way to remember the band, and Dolores.”

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8479398/the-cranberries-shine-down-demo

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/cranberries-talk-everybody-else-is-doing-it-reissue-final-album-with-dolores-o-riordan-731376/

On September 27th, we had the honor to hear the studio version of that old hidden treasure with which we had been dreaming for years. Years in which we would regret not having asked any of the band members if they had ever thought of recovering it. But Dolores had thought of it. Dolores was so special that, despite having left so prematurely, she made sure not to leave anything undone and that her fans would be able to find some kind of comfort that would make it a bit easier to keep going with such an immense pain.

“Íosa” (Jesus) is the first posthumous song by Dolores O’Riordan and the only known song of The Cranberries in Gaelic, although not entirely unpublished: it was played live only once, at the University of London Union, London, on the 14th of November 1991. “Íosa” sounds dark and mysterious, mystical and painfully nostalgic. It sounds like a distant dream; like the reminiscence of better times; like youth dreams and promising illusions, as if what was intended to be a letter of introduction in the first place, had otherwise turned to be the farewell which it has sadly become. It sounds like beginnings, like experimentation, like the early 90’s, although the initial guitar chords and Dolores’ voice may remind us to “Why” and to that maturity and experience that was so characteristic of Something Else.

Thanks Sanela Nesensohn and Bitesize Irish Gaelic (https://www.bitesize.irish/), we have an approximation to the lyrics of the song and its translation in English.

GAELIC

Suite ar chathaoir mhaorga ag smaoineamh ?
Anois ar a laethanta saoire.
Na blianta crua curtha síos.
Seanathair, a sheanathair.
(líne dothuigthe)
Saol le chéile le do chéile
Blianta caite ón am sin
Nócha trí bliain, nócha bliain
A Íosa, cad é ?
A Íosa, go dtaga do riocht
A Íosa, cad é ?
A Íosa, go dtaga do riocht
Suite ar an gcathaoir shoilseach,
D’fhéach sé orm, cád é a dheir mé
Na laethanta crua curtha síos
Seanathair, a sheanathair.
Mise ? ar sheanathair
Suí/saol le chéile le do ?
Blianta caite ón am sin
Nócha trí bliain, nócha bliain
A Íosa, cad é ?
A Íosa, go dtaga do riocht
A Íosa, cad é ?
A Íosa, go dtaga do riocht

ENGLISH

Sitting on a majestic chair (throne) thinking ?
Now on his holidays
The hard years put down
Grandfather, oh grandfather
(Unintelligible line)
Life together with your spouse/companion
Years spent since then
Ninty three years, Ninty three years,
Jesus, what is ?
Jesus, may Your Kingdom come
Jesus, what is ?
Jesus, may Your Kingdom come
Sitting on the luminous chair
He looked at me, what did I say
The hard days put down
Grandfather, oh grandfather
Me ? grandfather
Sit/life together with your ?
Years spent since then
Ninety three years, Ninety three years,
Jesus, what is ?
Jesus, may Your Kingdom come
Jesus, what is ?
Jesus, may Your Kingdom come

The reedition of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? Will be published on October 19^th 2018. You can get it in different formats in the link below:

https://store.udiscovermusic.com/artist.html?a=the_cranberries

“We will do this album and then that will be it,” says guitarist Noel Hogan “There is no need to continue.” In a devastating interview for The Guardian, The Cranberries have remembered Dolores O’Riordan with love, and how they are leading her loss. In addition, they have revealed the name of what will be their new and last album, This is the end.

Noel Hogan last saw Dolores O’Riordan in November last year, in the same hotel in Limerick where they are doing this interview. There, they had agreed to meet a journalist from China to talk about a tour there, where they are highly acclaimed by the public. It was something that the band was very excited about.

During last Christmas, the recording of the new album of The Cranberries continued its course. On January 14^th, a day before her passing, Dolores had sent Noel some new songs. The recording of this new album was not too different from all the previous recordings, as the band used to record during the day, and Dolores would go to the studio at night to record the vocals with producer Stephen Street. They would encounter one another at the corridor. “This time around, there were nights when we were waiting, looking for her to come in the door” recalls Mike Hogan. They were emotionally exhausting months for Dolores’ band mates.

Noel remembers when he met Dolores. She was extremely shy, but after hearing her sing, he asked himself how she was not in a band already. They feel blessed to have found her. Their first album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, Why Why not We We?, And “Linger” got a great diffusion on the part of MTV. This was how the album reached number 1 in the UK sales charts, and by 1995, it had already sold 5 million copies in the United States.

Dolores learned her Celtic Yodelling from her father, fond of traditional country music. “Zombie” was a response to the bombing in Warrington in 1994, in which two children died, Jonathan Ball and Tim Parry. Dolores used to write about what worried her at every moment, sometimes about past relationships and very personal feelings, and the group never wanted to interfere. This new album, Noel says it is lyrically very powerful. Dolores would find it difficult to write when she was happy. “Give me a bit of misery and it will be easier,” she would say. Noel Hogan declares that it is going to be the last album of The Cranberries, since “there is no need to continue”.

The reissue of Everybody Else Is Doing, So Why Not We We, will be released on October 19^th this year. The new album, In The End, is expected for 2019.

Somebody once said, “Don’t dream your life, make your dream a reality.” And this is how The Cranberries have taught us that we can do anything like anyone else; that it is better to bury the hatchet when there’s no need to argue anymore; that we must always be ourselves along the way, living through the spirit of our dreams. As if she knew she was not going to be here for too long, Dolores O’Riordan made sure she left us a  powerful legacy where she shared her experience and wisdom, to help us and guide us in this test of obstacles and challenges that life itself is. Tragedy has been whimsical. It has marked a before and an after, we have been robbed a very beloved one to us, without whom we can’t live, and we are forced to face the pain, loneliness and confusion without that powerful light that guided us and helped us out, every time she would write to guide and overcome her fears herself. Our dream has been tragically ended, but there is something we should never forget: they were the ones who taught as to dream.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/13/she-was-on-a-roll-the-cranberries-on-the-last-days-of-dolores-oriordan

September the 6^th. The first birthday without her, just the first one of the rest of our lives. And it hurts, it hurts the greatest pain, but having shared our lives with her is the best blessing life has granted us. Many people will talk about how extraordinary a talent she had, about her contribution to music, and how great her voice was… If only they knew how generous, understanding and inspiring person she was! If only they had seen the purity of her soul, the generosity of her heart, the innocence in her eyes, the kindness of her spirit.
The best singer, performer and songwriter the world will ever know but also an exemplary mother, an inspiration and a role model to many.

On the 6th of September, Dolores O’Riordan’s birthday, this is our humble tribute to her, a special soul, a magical human being who touched so many people’s hearts with her kindness, her humanity, her music, her voice…

Dolores, this is why we love you:

The so expected special re-edition of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? is out on October 19^th 2018.

The tracklist features 4 CDs:

CD 1 is a remastered version of Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, celebrating its 25^th anniversary.

CD2 contains demo and alternative versions of the songs from the album and some rareties such as “Iosa” (also known as “Atosa Iosa”, a song in Gaelic that Dolores wrote for her grandfather), “Chome Paint”, “Shine Down” (also known as “Take My Soul Away”, one of fans’ most acclaimed songs and that will for sure be one of the most celebrated) and “A Fast One”, as well as single b-sides and their debut EP Uncertain (Xeric Records, 1991) and early cassette demos from 1990 and 1991.

CD 3 includes two early 90s bootlegs: Live at Cork Rock (June 1^st 1991) and Live at Féile, Tipperary (July 31^st, 1994)

CD 4 features theree radio sessions from the very first performances of The Cranberries in the early 90s: Dave Fanning RTE radio session 1991, John Peel BBC Radio 1 session 1992 and Dave Fanning RTE radio session 1993.

U Discover Music offers the four versions of the album: Quadruple CD Album Box Set (the four albums mentioned above and a bundle of special photographs of the band in a beautiful collector’s box), Double CD Album containing the first two, single CD album (remastered version) and Vinyl LP. There is also a limited edition Clear Vinyl that should not be missing in your collection:

https://store.udiscovermusic.com/artist.html?a=the_cranberries

The Cranberries’ Official Website offers all of the above (except the Clear Vinyl) plus a special bundle containing the Quadruple CD Album Box Set and the Vinyl LP:

https://thecranberries.tmstor.es/

If you want the Quadruple CD Box Set only, you can also get it in Amazon UK, Amazon Germany and eBay:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everybody-Else-Doing-Why-Cant/dp/B07G28PH8X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535288911&sr=8-1&keywords=B07G28PH8X

https://www.amazon.de/Everybody-Else-Doing-Why-CanT/dp/B07G28PH8X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536403934&sr=8-2&keywords=the+cranberries+everybody+else+box

https://www.ebay.es/itm/The-Cranberries-Everybody-Else-Is-Doing-It-25th-Anniversary-CD-Pre-Order/202416900017?hash=item2f20fcc7b1:g:yMEAAOSw8fJbisw3

Dear fans throughout the world

During these insanely painful months we have seen beautiful tributes of all kinds dedicated to our angel, which has warmed our hearts. It is time for us to do ours. We want to remind the world how special a human being Dolores was, what she did for us, and why we know she is an angel now.

Like you know, we have called out for you every year since 2007 to make Dolores a special video on her birthday, September 6^th. This year things are so different and the world, itself, doesn’t make any sense, but Dolores had a birthday video every year, and we have to start biting the bullets because it would be disrespectful, as much as cruel, not to do anything for her this year. It cannot be a birthday video anymore, but Dolores will have a special tribute in which we would like everyone to participate.

If you want to take part it, send your favourite memory with Dolores. Preferably, your picture with her, but if you haven’t got any, you can send a picture of yourself that shows that you love her (it can be a picture you were taken at a concert, or with a promotional poster, with your CDs or merchandising, etc.). If you want, you can also add to your memory an answer to this question: Why is Dolores special to you? Be concise; an image is worth a thousand words. Send everything to: doloresoriordanfanclub@gmail.com before August 15^th.

We hope you will all participate and send all your love to our princess.

Thank you very much

Dolores O’Riordan Spain & FanClub

As it has been announced, on March 1^st it was the 25th anniversary of the release of The Cranberries’ debut album “Everybody else is doing it so why can’t we”, and The Cranberries have just confirmed the best of celebrations for it.

The Cranberries had been working with Universal Music since last summer on a 25th anniversary edition of the album, “a newly re mastered version with previously unreleased material of ours as well as other bonus material from the era of our debut album.” The initial plan was to get this special edition album released coinciding with the 25^th anniversary of the album, but it had to wait due to Dolores’ tragic passing. The band says that after much consideration they have decided to go on with this album, because it is a project that they had started with Dolores. Thus, this special album will see the light later this year.

It won’t be the only album we are going to have in the next months. As it has been mentioned before, The Cranberries are currently working on recording that new album previously announced, which they also started last year with Dolores, who had already recorded the vocals. This album will hopefully be published early next year.

For many of us who have been following The Cranberries almost since their beginning, “Everybody else is doing it so why can’t we” is the album of our lives; it means the beginning of something grand, not only a very special album but a life-changing experience that allowed us to know and follow the band, to dream our dreams with them and to accompany them in that magical journey that would give such a special meaning to our lives. But what should have meant celebration and joy has now acquired a totally different meaning. It is good news and we are smiling through the tears at the possibility of having jewels such as “Iosa”, “Serious” or the insanely beautiful “Take my soul away” reedited and included in the album, but the thought of our princess working on this only last summer and seeing all her illusions and dreams broken with ours is ripping our hearts and drowning us in the deepest sadness. At least we can find some relief thinking that dream Dolores had will go ahead.

Thank you, The Cranberries. This is definitely the best way of honouring Dolores’ memory.

It has been six weeks since Dolores got her angel wings and, far from getting used to the idea, each passing day the pain grows more and more intense. Little relief remains for those of us who love this princess more than our own lives and who need her so much, but we have a purpose to help us carry on.

The initiative was clear: Our princess loved the flowers and plushes that we gave her, and if there is something we can be sure about, it is that nothing will ever seem even close to enough for her. So, as long as her loving fans live, Dolores will continue to receive our gifts, just as it has happened so far. Let’s provide her with the most beautiful flowers one can ever imagine, so that she gets so many that she will not know where to look at, and that her smile from above will continue to brighten up the world, just as it did during those wonderful 46 years in which we were blessed with her presence. You can send flowers to Dolores by placing an order at the following addresses:

THE FLOWER STUDIO
theflowerstudio@eircom.net
Web: https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Flower-Studio-178084038891541/about/?ref=page_internal

LAWLESS FLOWERS
orders@lawlessflowers.com
Web: www.lawlessflowers.com
You can place an order through facebook or email. Give them a description of the type of flowers and colour you would like and card message for it. Do not forget to indicate that they are for Dolores O’Riordan’s grave in Caherelly. To compensate for your generosity, we are raffling the first CD by The Cranberries “Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?” an essential in your collection or the perfect gift if you already have it. To enter the contest, you just have to show us a screencap of your flower delivery to Dolores (covering your personal data. You can send the screencaps to our Facebook page (Dolores O’Riordan Spain) or at twitter (@DORSpain).We will give the name of the winner next March 12^th. Good luck to everyone!

A month has passed since Dolores left this world to go to a better place. A month in which life has been struggle and fear, grieve and insecurity, sadness and an unbearable pain ripping our chests and piercing our hearts like a knife. Today we have known there will be an upcoming album by The Cranberries. This is the official statement released by the band:

A few words from Noel, Mike & Ferg.

Firstly we would like to thank everyone for their support and kind words over the past few weeks. As you can imagine this has been a very sad and difficult time, not only for us, but also for Dolores’ family. Reading though the messages you all sent has been amazing. To see how much of a positive impact Dolores had on people’s lives is so lovely and gives some comfort at this very difficult time.

A lot of people have been asking what does the future hold for the band?

We have been discussing this over the past few days.

Over the past few months, the writing process for a new Cranberries album had begun with a lot of new songs already quite well developed. Dolores had already recorded vocals on these tracks so we have decided to finish them as it is what she would have wanted. We don’t know how many tracks will make the final album right now but it was Dolores’ wish that we complete the recording of the album and release it so we going to do just that in the coming months.

As well as finishing the new album there are a few more Cranberries projects that were already underway. We will look at each as time permits.

Again, thank you all for your support. We will try our best to keep you all up to date on things as they unfold.

The Cranberries

This is not going to be the only posthumous album to be released. There will be another album with D.A.R.K., Dolores’ parallel band together with Olé Koretsky and Andy Rourke. We do not know even how to react. Two albums in a year would have been the greatest news ever, but now everything feels painful and cold. It is just an example of how unkind, cruel and hostile life is, to give us the best of blessings to take her away too soon, to turn our dreams and biggest illusions into fear and insecurities. Both bands agree on something: releasing both albums would have been Dolores’ wish. Making her happy has been this team and website’s main and only priority. So we will hold on to the music, to the memories, to our princess’ little face and we hope and pray she will give us some strength to carry on.

This is the most difficult news we could ever imagine to be writing, and we are still shocked, fighting a battle for which we have no weapons and in which we are beaten up before it getting even started.

Our dear Dolores O’Riordan died suddenly in London on Monday 15th January 2018, at 46 years old. She was in London for a short recording session. The causes of her death are not available at this time. Noel, Mike and Fergal wrote: “We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores. She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today.”

These days, the world has exploded in tributes and praising to a rarely unique talent and an extraordinary person gone too soon. Thousands of people have attended her public reposal and funeral in Limerick.

To the world, Dolores is a rockstar, a genuine composer with an outstanding sensitivity, a powerful Irish voice combining belting, yodeling and a smoky hue that made her voice so incomparable. To us, Dolores is family, the most kindhearted, understanding, pure and innocent little human on earth. Never had we ever seen anybody treat others like Dolores would do. We would hold on to her every time life hit us, but this time, life hit us the hardest and we don’t know how we will make it to carry on. We are left so lonely, so broken, devastated, empty, and unready, so full of fears and insecurities, and lost, so very lost. Everything seems meaningless now, nothing seems to be worthwhile anymore. We will never understand why life would give us the best of blessings to take her away from us this soon. But we feel beyond grateful to have had this angel in our lives, and because for some 46 wonderful years, this world was a better, brighter place.

Dear Princess, thank you for being the best gift life could give us and forgive us when we were not up to what you did deserve. Sometimes you may see us break, you may see us cry, you may see us look for a quiet place where to talk to you. Don’t worry for us. We will try to be strong and to carry on, because our aim in life was always trying to make you happy, and you need to be happy up there. Send us a sign some time so we know everything is all right there. We love you, princess.