January of 2006 began with pleasing the Cran-fans with the news about the upcoming joint work of Dolores O’Riordan and Angelo Badalamenti. As the ‘HotPress’ magazine informed before, the singer and the world-famous composer had recorded a song for the film ‘Secrets of Love’. The song is called ‘The Butterfly’. It’s interesting that Dolores and Angelo actually never met during the recording: it was literally done via phone. Dolores made lyrics and general tune, while Angelo composed the music in his studio, then sent it to Dolores, she laid her voice on it and then sent it back to Angelo for mixing. And that’s how The Butterfly was created. (And not how ‘Angels Go to Heaven’ was: here, Angelo wrote the music first, and then Dolores made the lyrics for it). Angelo’s reviews on Dolores are all rapturous, he calls her “a splendid talent”. He also noted that Dolores was still sending him her new sketches, and they were composing songs.

In the same time, Noel was continuing working on new songs for Mono Band, again with help of Matt Vaughan the programmer who also helps Dolores with her solo album. According to the HotPress’s wide poll among its readers, Noel’s first album ‘Mono Band’ was ranked 3rd in the list of the best Irish albums of 2005. ‘Mono Band’ are also the seventh in the list of the most promising Irish bands, the tenth of the best album covers of 2005, and Noel Hogan is the ninth of the best Irish song writers. The other magazine, Irish Abroad, also rated Mono Band the 3rd among the best albums of 2005 (beaten only by Sinead O’Connor and Mark Geary). The names of some new songs that weren’t included in the album leaked out, too: ‘Flame’ (singer Kate Havnevik) and ‘Sometimes’ (Angie Hart). Also during the year Noel placed some of the demos of his new songs written with Richard Walters on his second site, http://www.myspace.com/monobanddemo: Armies of Mice, Black Hair, Sleep Song, Breathe, Track 26, Track 33 (Night’s End), Track 34.

Noel decided to change the general idea of Mono Band: instead of a variety of singers all the new songs will be sung by Richard Walters only who will be the one to become the voice of Mono Band. In this connection, a bunch of new photos of Noel together with Richard appeared in the Net as pictures of the Mono Band participants. Mono Band planned to release the ‘Black Hair’ EP in 2006, which sound was “polished up” by Bernard Butler, the ex-guitarist of ‘Suede’.

In March it became known that Dolores was now working with the new manager, Tony Cuilla, who used to work together with Marilyn Manson. Later, though, we were informed that Dolores fired him.

On March, 17 Dolores was supposed to give an interview by phone to Indie 103.1, the radio station of Los-Angeles, but considering Dolores being in Dublin, the technicians weren’t able to provide a high-quality connection, so the interview was cancelled.

April gave some surprising news about Dolores playing a small part in the comedy film ‘Click’, starring Adam Sandler. The premiere was in the summer of 2006. Dolores appears nearer to the end of the film, in the wedding scene where she sings the new version of ‘Linger’ live on the stage (the same as the one she’d sung in Vatican in December of 2005). Besides, there is a piece of the original Linger version in the film itself. Dolores’s part is mentioned as ‘Singer’ in the credits. As the producers and the director of the film confessed later, ‘Linger’ was chosen because it was one of their most favorite songs, and that because Dolores’s an outstanding singer.

Later in April it became known that back in 2003 Dolores had had plans of recording two songs for the independent film ‘Catching the Stars’ which in the end was not cut because of the money problem. The first songs was supposed to be the well-known “cranberry” song ‘This is the Day’ performed in duet with another singer, Dusty Hughes. In fact, he did record his part of the vocal, so this version was available for downloading in the Internet. The other song was in duet, too – ‘Worthwhile’ written by Hughes. Just like the case with Badalamenti, Dolores was going to work with Hughes without actually meeting him in person. Before, more than once in the interviews Dolores implied that she would be very fond of writing music for films.

In April, Mike Hogan set up a cafe on Catherine Street in Limerick called ‘The Sage Cafe’ (the cafe even has its very own official site – www.thesagecafe.com). It can house 45-50 of people. Mike became the head of the TM Coffee Company which owns the cafe. And Fergal continued to work with the other musicians from Limerick and writing songs in his studio in Ballymorris.

In May, the powerful British music magazine ‘Q’ published a list of the 50 most dreadful albums in the music history, where The Cranberries’ album ‘To the Faithful Departed’ was rated 25th. On the other hand, the American National Review magazine rated ‘The Icicle Melts’ song as the 41st in the list of the most conservative rock songs. And the MTV Latin America music channel placed ‘Linger’ 92nd in the list of the best 100 pop-songs of all times and people.

In May the iTunes and eMusic music stores started selling the compilation “Mono Band: Remixed” which included the remixes for some of Noel’s songs.

In June Dan Brodbeck, the producer of Dolores’s album, published some photos of Dolores taken in studios in Dublin ‘Pulse Studios’ and ‘Windmill Lane’ (the studios where ‘To the Faithful Departed’ and ‘Wake Up and Smell the Coffee’ were recorded before) on his site. In the studio Dolores was accompanied with Steve Demarchi the guitarist, Marco Mendoza the bassist, and Graham Hopkins the drummer. All three are the main musicians of Dolores’s solo album.

The Irish press informed that Dolores and her husband got a rejection to their application to purchase a mansion in Limerick because of the couple not living there any more. According to the Irish laws, the property can only be bought in case the buyer has lived in the area for more than 5 years before the purchase. In the same time, Dolores and Don changed their plans concerning their new home in Howth, the suburb of Dublin. They wanted to add the building of a recording studio in there, and also double the size of the house itself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the “Cranberries” – Noel, Mike and Fergal – continued their businesses. In July the press informed about the musicians depositing money for development of the new radio station in Limerick called HeartFM. But before the station is to be set going, the Heart Media must first win the vacancy of the frequency that is now owned by the 95FM station (which ironically is owned by Dolores’s elder brother, P.J. O’Riordan). The format of Heart FM is going to be based on the alternative music, and also news. If the idea will be approved, the Hogan brothers and Fergal will own 10% of stock.

In September the Irish paper The Sun informed about Dolores and Don winning another court, this time against the company that was selling and setting windows. According to the court, the firm did not set the windows in a proper way, and had to pay 46.582 euros for it.

Also in September one of the female fans who lived in Peterborough, Ontario (Canada) met Dolores and her daughter (Molly, apparently) in an underwear shop. (Dolores’s Canadian home is located not far from Peterborough.) As Dolores was buying bras, she told the girl that the release of her solo album was postponed till 2007, and also signed her brown paper. :)

In September Tommy Wolter, the singer and song-writer under the pseudonym of Abandoned Pools, informed that he had wrote the ‘Twilight’ song for Dolores. Tommy and Dolores shared one manager, but Tommy wasn’t sure whether Dolores wanted to use his song.

Also in September the official site www.cranberries.com changed its design again and once again promised that ‘from now on it will tell all the latest news’, but as always, they were published overdue. :) The moderators also promised to launch the forum but eventually did not.

Meanwhile, the ‘Stars’ compilation issued 4 years ago suddenly rushed into Spanish charts again. It took 100th place, though – nonetheless, it can only mean that even after these years the sales of the album are still stable.

Continuing the good old tradition lasting for three years already, in the autumn (on October, 10) a new song of Dolores showed up in the Internet. To be more precise, it was her joint work with Angelo Badalamenti, ‘The Butterfly’ song, which demo was already placed on Angelo’s site. The composer confessed that he was trying to give it to some film director. And the cran-fans managed to make sure that Angelo had kept his promise, showing the world “new” Dolores O’Riordan, in a style quite far from The Cranberries’ one.

In October it became known that the very first Dolores’s solo song (she was in the band back then) – God Be with You – was included in the soundtrack of a short film ‘3:16’. A little sooner, the ‘When You’re Gone’ song could be heard in the French film ‘Toute la Beaute du Monde’.

In November the Spanish press informed that a Spanish singer Miguel Bose had plans to record a song for his new album in duet with Dolores, but their tight schedules made both Miguel and Dolores unable to meet. Their joint work was supposed to be called ‘Partisano’. Miguel Bose said that he and Dolores had talked a lot about it, but it didn’t work out. Despite that, they could record the song sometime later.

In all, November proved to be rich in the news. It became known that Dolores was going to take participation in the Christmas concert for the fourth time, this time it would not take place in Vatican but in Monte-Carlo. But the most shocking – while awaited – news was the first official announcement about Dolores’s first album coming on May, 8 of 2007 under the label of Sanctuary Records that was more directed towards the experienced artists. The name of the solo album is “Are You Listening?” The first single supporting it will be released at the end of April of 2007. Also, a yet inactive domain at www.doloresoriordan.co.uk was registered by the management of Sanctuary Records.

During the autumn Noel Hogan and Richard Walters filled their Mono Band site with the podcasts answering the fans’ questions. The release of the ‘Black Hair’ EP was put off till 2007. The EP was going to include Black Hair, Breathe and Night’s End mixed by Bernard Butler.

In November Noel, Mike and Ferg presented their HeartFM radio station to the broadcasting committee. If they will approve the station then Mike Hogan will become its director, and all three musicians will be the presenters of Green Heart radio show, playing the demos of unknown local bands. The name of the one who gets the frequency will be revealed on January, 22 of 2007.

On December, 9 Dolores performed on the Christmas concert in Monte-Carlo. She sang the traditional Christmas song ‘Away in a Manger’, and also presented her new solo song, ‘Angel Fire’ (the first Dolores’s solo song to be performed live ever!), striking everyone with her emotional and lively performing. The guitar part was played by Steven Demarchi.

By the end of 2006 we knew all the names (and even length) of these Dolores’s solo songs: Angel Fire, Without You, Playground, Forever, Apple of My Eye, Letting Go, In the Garden, Croatia, Black Widow, Human Spirit (3:44), Ordinary Day (3:37), and Loser (3:01).

It's written by JV11
It's translated by Michiru