Cradle of Filth – Danni Filth

Cradle of Filth have become one of the most influential extreme metal bands in the scene today, lending influences from most religious, satanic and gothic fables. Cradle of Filth return with their new album Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa. Metal Obsession sits down with Cradle of Filth frontman, Dani Filth to discuss the band’s latest release and their future plans, one of which being an orchestral album.

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Metal Obsession: Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa continues in the same vein as Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder, yet follows a much more heavily driven concept. This time centering on the demon Lilith, who is well known in both mythical and biblical circles. What brought about the concept of Lilith?

Danni Filth: I did swear blind on the previous record that I wouldn’t do another concept record, but it was only when we had a nucleus of about four songs written that the story kind of suggested itself. It was progressively faster and more symphonic. It just had an aurora about it. We suggested this idea, but we wanted something in a gothic horror vein. I wanted to base it on fact and on historical fact and mythology, if you call that fact.

I didn’t want to pursue the whole idea of Lilith in a mythology Eden. I wanted to reintroduce her into humanity and we did this by reading stories of the Knights Templar, carmelite nuns and various other historical figures.

MO: So this isn’t centered on the creation aspect of biblical texts, correct?

DF: No, not at all. Not in the slightest.  She reemerges in the beginning of the 14th century and its essentially from there til the present day that we’ve sort of focused on.

MO: Was Lilith always your first choice for a concept, or were there other fables and biblical figures that you had in your mind beforehand?

DF: No, Lilith was it. We just suggested the idea because she’s behind everyone and everything, she’s essentially the root of all evil. Also, in current circles she is also seen as a figure head of femininity. A very power and magical being who is seductive, but you also have to be careful of her as well. She’s like the ambassador of darkness I suppose.

MO: Would you consider these concept albums the new face of Cradle of Filth. In other words, do you find it more satisfying writing giant epic concepts rather than a string of songs with no connection?

DF: Nah, I wouldn’t say that’s the current staple. I mean we just did two concept albums in a row. I mean if you go back to Cruelty and the Beast that was a concept, Damnation and a Day was a concept too. We’re not going to do another concept record for awhile, otherwise will break our rule of doing something differently from album to album. I think will be thinking into sparrow if we should pursue it any further.

I mean people take it for granted. I mean, yeah! The hardest thing about this record I suppose was the equilibrium between not only the symphony and the metal side of things and getting a perfect balance there, but the equilibrium between people enjoying it solely as a collection of heavy metal songs and also if they want to scratch beneath the surface. There is a story which runs throughout where they can indulge in the lyrics and the fabulous artwork provided by Natalie Shell. So there is something more if people wish to get involved.

MO: Did  you ever get fans up in arms about the concept of the album?

DF: We just write what we want. I mean sometimes I’ll peruse our website and see some utter shit talked on there sometimes. I think the people who got into Cradle of Filth in the first place have just liked what we have always done. We never had anybody on the first couple of records say “Ohhh you should do this, you should do that”, because we hadn’t been around long enough for people to complain about it. The true fans really love the packaging, they love the art work and love exploring the lyrics and digging deeper into it.

You have a very convoluted story which is very cinematic. People get immersed in that. Its not only that, we recorded 16 tracks, 11 of which made the record. 11 being the magical number of Lilith and the other 5 made it onto the special edition, but they were all written and recorded at exactly the same time so there is no qualms about them being inferior or b-sides, or anything of that nature. So it was quite a lot of hard work and like I said the other 5 songs, there actually not connected to the album, so I guess there is a bit for everyone I suppose.

MO: You’ve been quoted as saying the new album is the fastest and most brutal album you’ve written. Have you found it hard in recent years to keep up writing more creative and indepth albums or concepts, as this is your 9th album?

DF: Umm. No, not really. There isn’t a check list before we start writing. We didn’t intend to make this the fastest record. It’s just the way it came out. You can put that down to any outside influences like the time of year, the people working in the band and where we recorded it. It’s just loads and loads of different things. Some people were quite surprised with Forgive Me Father (For I Have Sinned) which is the first video track. Mainly because it had a very commercial edge to it, I suppose? They assumed the rest of the album would follow. That’s the thing about us, we baffle ourselves sometimes. [laughs]

MO: Do you ever take a look at other extreme metal bands like Dimmu Borgir or Mayhem for example, to see what they’ve doing to essentially survive in a music world of mass downloading and social networking. It must scare the shit out of you that so many people are downloading your music for free and not actually appreciating anything that comes out of it?

DF: It is a worry, obviously. It is our career. I believe we have a lot of true fans who, like me, prefer to have the actual product in their hands and sit there and read the lyrics and not download the booklet to a printer. As for other bands, when we were in the studio I bought a bunch of “bubble gum” music like KISS, Motley Crue, Bad Religion and HIM. Stuff like that so I could drive out of the studio and listen to something that wasn’t in no way connected to what we were doing at all. So I tried to steer away from listening to other extreme metal bands for that reason.

MO: I know you’ve mentioned in the past that you’re a massive fan of movie soundtracks. Has the thought of doing an orchestral only Cradle of Filth album crossed your mind?

DF: It’s strange that you should say that. Prior to writing the new album we were working on a symphonic album which has tracks from our first four albums. So songs like Summer Dying Fast, Funeral in Carpathia , A Gothic Romance etc etc. We just realised as a full orchestration in say, a style of Danny Elfman or John Williams, or someone like that would be great. Obviously, the encroaching album took over but I’m actually revisiting it in a couple of weeks time.

Well, I’m revisiting it now but I’m actually going into the studio in a couple of weeks. The same studio that we recorded the new album actually, with a choir and some heavy strings. I’m going to put the finishing touches to it. It’s called Midnight in the Labyrinth and it will actually have a proper Cradle song on there as well because obviously, not everyone likes symphonic music. [laughs]

It’s sounding absolutely awesome and it should be out sometime next year.

MO: Is there a particular composer that you’ve chosen for this particular project, is he or she famous for any other major projects, or are they a “no name” in a sense?

DF: It’s someone who’s been working behind the shadows for awhile with us. It’s Mark Newby-Robson. He actually worked with us on the Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder release  and he’s helped us out with a couple of things in the past. We are however trying to get some very well known people in for the narration.

MO: Now that Cradle of Filth have joined Peaceville records, which is an independent label. Do you find you have more creative control over what you do, than say working with your previous label Roadrunner Records?

DF: I think we’ve always had control over what we do all the time, but we weren’t bothered by Peaceville as much. It’s a good move for us because we are a bigger band in a smaller, more creative pool. What I mean by that is the people at Peaceville are generally into the music, into Cradle, and into creating ideas to promoting their bands. As with Roadrunner, I felt towards the back end of our career with them, they were losing interest in us and anything that didn’t enter the charts, you know. Anything in the top 20 or something like that in America, which is never going to happen for a band like us. We’re not that kind of music.

Unfortunately, Roadrunner were built on bands like ours, so I sorta felt their leash fall a little bit and they also sacked a few people that I thought were the main people that were actually doing work. We’re very happy with Peaceville. They were completely cool with everything we were doing. They’ve come up with some amazing ideas.

They’ve actually got this big boxset coming out. It’s got a DVD, extra tracks and a t-shirt, prints and a nice 64 page heavy bound book with an in-depth story which should be amazing. So yeah, I think they have some great ideas.

MO: A lot of people know you worked on the cult classic horror movie, Cradle of Fear. We also know you love music soundtracks as well. Have you thought about utilizing both passions to perhaps create your own movie in the future?

DF: Of course. When we did Cradle of Fear, it was a collaboration between me and the director (Alex Chandon) and it was spawned out of…well, it was essentially a longer version of From the Cradle to Enslave. At the time, it was very successful. I think the most successful underground British film of all time, and it sold half a million copies or something like that. At the time, everybody worked for nothing and everything was scraped together. We had to use people when they were free from other films, so I don’t think that would happen again. If someone approached the record company about it, sure. Its physically not possible at this point in time though.

One of my friends who’s in the movie industry said you can’t make a movie these days (a decent one) for less than a million dollars. We’re busy all next year touring and we also completed a book on the band and the occult called The Gospel of Filth which came out last year and that was the result of about 4 or 5 years hard work, so maybe…just maybe we could do a movie. At the moment we’re just snowed under. In a good way. [laughs]

MO: Many have speculated that you’re a satanist due to the themes and ideologies within Cradle’s music, yet you have confirmed those reports and stated that you’re in fact a Luciferian. For the many who are unfamiliar, could you explain to our readers the difference between the said ideologies. In the simplest term possible?

DF: I see it as a hotch potch of different beliefs that I have and that’s from traveling around the world for ages, and especially researching different books as I’ve always been fascinated on the occult. It opened my eyes to a lot more things.

MO: Alot of these beliefs coincide with Cradle of Filth. I know one such belief involving a biblical figure being called a C***on a t-shirt has made news headlines in Australia in the last couple of months. A lot of these people are getting jail time or being fined large amounts of money for wearing such an offensive t-shirt.  Do you see it as one person’s view being oppressed by another, or do you agree with the fact that the shirt is offensive in some way or another?

DF: To be fair, I would agree with you and not have a swearword on a t-shirt. Now you got to remember that this shirt was made when I was about 19 years old. I’m now 37 years old now, so it’s been awhile. The whole purpose behind it was to a little bit…well, a lot anti religious and certainly anarchic. Using the figure head of Jesus was probably the most recognisable piece I could think of at the time, but I can understand peoples view points on it and there is a time and place for everything. For example, you wouldn’t go to a child nursery naked, would you? It’s just something you would draw a line at.

If you wear the t-shirt at the concert, fair enough, but if your going to parade “Jesus is a C***” around children and people who would be offended, of course they’ll be offended. You wouldn’t want other peoples views forced upon too you. So again, I sympathise with people who get in trouble about it, but like I said before there is a time and place for everything. It’s like if you go petrol bomb a police car, you will suffer the consequences no matter what.

MO: Does it frustrate you sometimes when you see fans wearing these shirts for the completely wrong reason?

DF: No, not at all. I think our fans (or the majority of fans) are very intelligent people. Whenever I do interviews with non-metal publications or TV stations I’m constantly saying “No, no, no your wrong. They aren’t just scruffy, long haired louts”. [laughs] So you know, what you give with one hand, you take with the other. [laughs]

MO: [laughs] If you had the chance to change that t-shirt today, would you?

DF: Nah! I think it does its job. [laughs]

MO: Are there plans for Cradle to tour Australia next year for the new album?

DF: Yeah. There is no absolute, definite, concrete plans right at this minute, but we are basically coming come. At the moment we have South America booked for the end of this year, then we have to finish the orchestral album which I mentioned before and also shoot a video. We go through America in January for about 7 weeks. Then we have a headliner tour which I think has something to do with Metal Hammer. I think it’s called Defenders of the Faith? It’s something they do each year. That’s as far as we can actually see at the moment.

MO: Any final words?

DF: Just thanks to everyone in Oz. Thanks for supporting the band, buying the new album and keep an eye out for the other things I mentioned like the Gospel of Filth. Midnight in the Labyrinth which is the orchestral album, which should be out next year and to keep an eye on the skies for our arrival in Australia sometime next year.

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Q’s: Anwar Rizk
A’s: Danni Filth
Band: Cradle of Filth
Date: 21/11/2010
Origin: United Kingdom
www.cradleoffilth.com

The new album Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa is available through Peaceville Records. Get your copy today at Riot! Entertainment, JB Hifi and all leading music outlets.

www.peaceville.com
www.riotact.com.au
www.jbhifionline.com.au