Dolores O’Riordan, the wee Irish woman with the gigantic voice, is sitting on a leather couch in the office after recording four live acoustic tracks for us.
The last time we spoke—God, was it really that long ago?—the Cranberries were on the verge of cracking up, victims of too much success, too much fame and too much scrutiny for a group so young. Dolores was, in fact, at the age of 24, on the verge of a genuine nervous breakdown. Today, though, she looks and feels great.
Not only does she have a new solo album called No Baggage (And yes, there’s a story there; check out the interview), the Cranberries are in the process of getting back together for a reunion tour slated to roll through North America beginning (probably) with a show in Toronto in mid-November.
How did that all come about? Dolores’ oldest has his confirmation at home in Ireland and all her old bandmates—Noel, Mike and Feargal—were at the ceremony with their families. Quite suddenly, they simultaneously realized that none of their children knew anything of the fact that their parents were in one of the biggest-selling bands of the 90s.
“So you decided to reform the Cranberries at a post-confirmation party?” I asked. Dolores looked at me with those fetching Irish eyes. “Yes,” she said, “I suppose we did.”