Although Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan may be best known for her alt-rock hit “Zombie,” when she calls Paste from a Toronto hotel, she couldn’t sound more alive. O’Riordan’s voice, much like when she sings, is full of tonal twists and turns; her deep Irish accent carries her words like a melody. But on this particular evening, there’s more than just the musicality of her voice pushing her energy through the phone; not only has O’Riordan just released her second solo album, No Baggage, but she’s also announced that The Cranberries will reunite for a tour after a seven-year hiatus.
In those seven years, O’Riordan took a big step back, and a bigger one north. She’s spent much of her time raising her three children somewhere “in the forest of Ontario” with husband/former Duran Duran manager Don Burton. The time in relative seclusion, she admits, has aged her, wisened her. But with her band back on the road this November, it’s clear that O’Riordan’s lingering spark has been relit.
Paste: Where are you today?
O’Riordan: I’m in Toronto. I’m overlooking a lovely lake, and a beautiful evening it is. And I’ve got a 7 a.m.-er in the morning; it’s just not rock ’n’ roll, dude.
Paste: Before playing with Noel (Hogan, guitar) and Mike (Hogan, bass) at the Trinity College in Ireland this January, you hadn’t seen them since 2003. How did it feel to not only see them, but play with them?
O’Riordan: It was really weird, actually. I was kind of apprehensive at first, because I hadn’t seen them in so long. But I walked into the room and it was anything but weird, like, “Oh, my old babies.” I was a bit emotional, and they were too. You never appreciate something until you take time away from it.
Paste: How had Mike and Noel changed in the years since you’d seen them?
O’Riordan: Not much. It was more a case of “Let me see your spare tire” and “How much grey hair have we?” But not a bit in character. And I’m really happy about that. At the end of the day, the four Cranberries had a unique experience in our journeys of life, and only the four of us can relate to each other like that. It’s kind of nice now; it’s an unspoken word.
Paste: Had you been in contact before that?
O’Riordan: I’d been talking to Noel for the prior year. We’d been texting and sometimes we’d phone each other. I only got a laptop this year. I didn’t know how to use computers; I’m from the old school. The reason I got one was that my son was starting high school and he was getting so good at bloody computers, and he was like, “Come on, Mommy, you better get involved.” I was like Old Mother Hubbard. So I got one and started on the e-mail; that’s really handy.
Paste: Would you even say that computers are partially responsible for The Cranberries getting back together?
O’Riordan: It actually helped, yeah. Noel could send me music through the computer. It was different when I was growing up—we had to send it through the post. Now we can also work on ProTools. As a singer or guitar player or bassist or drummer, you can put down your different ideas and send them to each other. In the old days, you actually had to meet each other and sit in a room and work out the cards and all that.
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