Hot Press has become aware that an article published by the magazine, and on hotpress.com, has been used as the basis for follow-up stories stating that The Cranberries have split up.

We can state categorically that no suggestion of this kind is made in the interview with Cranberries lead singer Dolores O’Riordan.

"On the contrary. During both the research process for the Hot Press special issue devoted to The Cranberries, as well as in the interviews with all of the members of the band - all of which were published in the magazine - what we encountered was an outfit that seemed remarkably happy, confident and content as a unit," says Hot Press editor Niall Stokes.

In her interview, conducted by Hot Press writer Peter Murphy, singer Dolores O'Riordan exclusively revealed plans to work on her first solo album.

"I'm definitely going to mess around now after the Greatest Hits," she said. "I'm not going to go back and do another Cranberries album. I need to do a different project completely, and the boys need some freedom for a while."

The phrase ‘for a while’ should have been enough to ensure that there would be no misunderstanding. Unfortunately however, as the story travelled round the world, some news sources chose to ignore the context in which the statement was made, reducing it to the most sensational of one-liners.

One website even misconstrued another quote from Dolores - in which she says "I'd like to do a little bit more flying out to places like Turkey or Africa" - as a declaration that she was quitting Ireland!

"To be clear about it, The Cranberries are not splitting up and any solo projects will be in addition to band activities," says Hot Press editor Niall Stokes. "That’s the way I understood it from the beginning, and it is clear that this is the case from anything that we published.

"In fact, one of the most striking things about Dolores at the moment is just how comfortable she is in her role, and in herself. That comes across very strongly in the interview with Peter."

Hot Press can confirm that New Year plans for the members of Ireland’s most successful rock act after U2 include Dolores attending an actors’ workshop and Noel running a marathon in the spring, as well as possible European supports with The Rolling Stones.

Lastly, despite the interest expressed by Dolores in doing a solo album, The Cranberries are currently talking to producers with a view to going back into the studio in February.