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Interviews : Cradle of Filth – “It almost feels like Principal fuckin’ part two again, you know?” (An interview with Paul Allender)

By on November 17, 2012

 

Cradle of Filth – Paul Allender

It’s hard to find a self-respecting metal head that digs Cradle of Filth these days.

The group shot to fame after its iconic The Principle of Evil Made Flesh (1994) and Dusk… and Her Embrace (1996) releases, but quickly lost credibility with its black metal fan base as it turned to the black laced, platform shoe-d world of what could only be described as ‘goth rock’.

New band members, internal clashes and mediocre reviews have plagued the band – which has been kept afloat on the back of its theatrical live shows and orchestral intrigue.

They’ve waded through the shit for 12 years and have finally created an album close to the integrity of their debut and sophomore releases.

The latest release The Manticore and Other Horrors, launched late last month, has been hailed as a return to old Cradle by media and fans alike.

Guitarist Paul Allender almost made it out of bed to talk to Metal Obsession.net about what he hopes will be a new path for the band.

MetalObsession: Hey dude, how are you?

Paul Allender: Yeah I’m good, I’m laying in bed doing these at the moment because it’s fuckin’ early here right now [laughs].

MO: [laughs] Obviously I’m chatting to you about your latest release – I’ve had a listen to it and it’s actually really, really good – I hate to say I’m surprised by it. What kind of feedback have you heard from those who have heard it so far?

PA: It’s only just got out – only just been released, fans haven’t had the chance to sit down and digest it properly yet, you know?

But from the press point of view it’s been fuckin’ brilliant. Everything we’ve done so far, well, over the last few albums when we’ve gone and done press interviews or whatever to promote it – people have gone ‘yeah it’s good but I prefer this’ or ‘it’s another Cradle album but we prefer this’ you know, and the reviews have been, like, O.K.

When the press got hold of this one they were like ‘holy crap’ you know, ‘you’ve actually gone, managed to pull it back around to what you used to do before Dust and stuff, like from Principal’ you know, and they said ‘because of this album we’re fans of the band again’, you know, it’s like nobody’s gone ‘this is good but I prefer this’ everyone’s gone ‘this is fuckin’ brilliant’.

MO: What have you changed in your approach with it?

PA: Basically, it was me and the drummer that wrote it. We had a break after a whole bunch of festivals last year and we had a break because, you know, all things get intense and you end up hating each other [laughs] if you’ve been playing with someone for so fucking long, you really don’t want to see each other for a while, as it does with any band that’s been together for as long as we have. In that break I made a conscious effort to find out what the fuck was missing, because I felt that with the last few albums it was there but it was all too nice and it was all too fuckin’ soundin’ the same, you know, personally – for me – it was.  And I was thinkin’ well there’s no attitude back in the band, the band was born out of attitude, you know, and there was none of that back in there. So I made a conscious effort thinkin’ what was missin’ and it just dawned on me – for a start there’s too much cut and pastin’ in ProTools, so that had to change, and also our original influence – the whole punk-esque influence was missin’. We never put any of that back in again. I turned around and said to the drummer ‘let’s’ basically ‘bring this back in again’ so I started writing a whole bunch of stuff and it just flowed from there.

MO: Well, you talked about your influences and your attitude, you guys went into something that I heard described the most as ‘goth rock’. Was that just through complacency or what? Was it deliberate to go for that sound?

PA: What, on this album or previous albums?

MO: Previous albums.

PA: Oh no, the thing is nothing was ever really consciously… we don’t ever really do anything consciously, it just happened, it just comes out at that point in time, you know? I mean, when I write music – because I write most of this stuff pretty much by myself now – and when I write I don’t take any influences around me on-board. I just play what sounds cool and what comes out…

MO: Yeah, sweet.

PA: …and over the last couple of albums we’ve had like other band members involved in it and we started, I must admit with this album I started getting riffs and stuff from other people in the band. It’s like it was still soundin’ like the same old crap, you know, I said ‘we can’t do this, we’ve gotta go down this road’. The other players are session players as well, so they said ‘well you do it because obviously you’ve got a vision for it’ and this, this and this, and ‘we’ve still got other stuff that we’ve gotta do’ because they play in other bands and they work and all sorts of stuff, so they kinda like left me and the drummer to get on with it. So we did right from the start.

I think the only reason it works as well now is because me and the drummer played it all in together when we was recording it, it was like no cut -and-paste. There was no like polished programming or anything, it was all naturally played in.

If people are expectin’ another Dusk… and Her Embrace it’s not going to happen, I’ve heard this so many fuckin’ times and, to be honest, I’m getting piss-bored of hearin’ it

MO: I think the thing, to me, that’s surprising is that it’s all been your own work, you’ve had a team effort, you know, it’s your creativity that’s been coming out – you’re aware of the sound and it seems like you knew what happened. How does that feel – was it frustrating for you, or what?

PA:  Erm, the first previous album before this new album, yeah it was pretty frustrating because I wanted to push the band in this direction quite a few albums ago, you know? It was frustrating because there was loads of other people involved and stuff and kinda of took my hands off and said ‘fine we’ll try it this way, and well try it this way, and we’ll this it this way’ you know, and we’ll give it a go – but it all felt boring. There was no, like, clenching fist going ‘fuck that sounds amazing’ you know? I think on this album we’ve actually nailed the fuckin’ groove and the feelin’ of it – it rocks like fuck. It’s still heavy, it’s still nasty, it’s still dirty, there’s tonnes of attitude in, like, the playin’ of the songs. This whole album was written specifically for live in mind as well so I think that’s the reason why, also, it feels differently and people are really latching onto it – because it sounds like a band playing. Even though it’s really just me and the drummer who recorded it and wrote it.

MO: Well the previous album had a bit of that there, that driving groove, but the thing that really stood out was that you were not only aware of the groove but you maximised it. You made the guitar work with the drums and it really came through strongly. How did you build it from there – how did you put the vocals and the rest through?

PA: As we were recordin’ it, Dan’s in another studio doing vocals. So as soon as we’d finish and it slightly got a little bit tidied up, then it got sent off to the studio and he started doing vocals. It was kind of like doing everythin’ at once, we tried to do it before in the past but because it was cut-and-paste it took, like, forever. Usually what would happen we’d get the music down, then the vocals would start. This time we managed to, like, utilise two studios at the same time and it worked really well, you know. When we were writin’ I mentioned to Dan vocal placement ideas and stuff, you know, giving him, like, pointers and he took some of the stuff on-board. Obviously he came up with some of his own stuff as well, like, pretty much all of it is his own stuff – but there were sections that I wanted on this where I really wanted to go back to doing some of the death metal vocals that we used to do.

He’s got his high-pitched screams and he’s got his normal singing and stuff he does but there’s some passages on this album, I said to him, you know, ‘fuckin’ get right down in your vocals, not like the stuff you used to do – because that’ll really emphasise the atmosphere in these sections’ and… he wouldn’t do it. He thought it would be too different, I was like ‘nah, fuck no, c’mon’ [laughs].

MO: Well, you mention perhaps clashes between members – is Dan someone who you get along with still, do you guys wear each other thin or what?

PA: No, I mean we get on fine. It’s any working relationship really, of course it is. If anyone’s been in a band as long as we have, people argue all the fuckin’ time because there’s all these creative forces. Me and Dan, like, we argue along the way but eventually, when we come to the end of it, we’ve got this fuckin’ album so we – even though we argue quite a bit – we come up with this product that everybody is completely into. We come up with an album everyone’s like ‘fuck it, it’s really good’. Luckily we’re not as bad as what Metallica are [laughs].

MO: I don’t think anyone can be that bad man, not while still trying to stay functional anyway – hey?

PA: [laughs]

MO: I’m a guitarist myself, a question that’s a bit nerdy for me is: you use PRS – why are you still using them, what is it about the guitar?

PA: They just fit well, every time I play a PRS, you know, it’s like – the only way I can liken it is that when I play it, it feels like a hot knife going through butter. It’s molded, it’s effortless, I have no idea what it is but when I play them they’re completely suited for me. When I pick up other guitars, I’ll play them and it’ll feel like I’m wandering through soup or wadin’ through porridge, you know? It’s not the right feel, it’s not effortless. When I play other guitars they don’t feel effortless. When I pick up a PRS and play it, it feels like I’m not playing anything.

MO: Well we’ve got a couple of minutes left, from your point of view – what would you really like to highlight about this release?

PA: The groove, absolutely, it’s sick. We’ve worked so hard on absolutely nailing the groove and we did and to just have the aggression. If people are expectin’ another Dusk… and Her Embrace it’s not going to happen, I’ve heard this so many fuckin’ times and to be honest I’m getting piss-bored of hearin’ it, right, it’s not going to happen, you know? Those days are nostalgic, they’re fuckin’ long-gone. Even if the ex-members come back, that would never happen again because that’s that point in time – but this album is definitely a way forward, we’ve taken another right angle for this band and this is definitely the way the band’s going to keep going. It’s nasty sounding, it’s aggressive, you know, the guitars have been put up front specifically on purpose just to give it that real aggressive feel, we’ve completely nailed the groove. As a band we feel like it’s done a whole 360, it almost feels like Principal fuckin’ part two again, you know? The band’s eventually started off again and everyone’s put into it. Nobody’s gone ‘oh this is crap’, you know, ‘oh blah, blah, blah’. Obviously you get the odd fan who want fuckin’ all, like, the frilly fuckin’ vampire stuff but, you know, that’s not going to happen. The majority of people who’ve heard it so far – especially all the press and stuff – have gone ‘this is brilliant’.

MO: You must be absolutely stoked man?

PA: I am, I must admit, I was a little bit nervous because when I first wrote it and recorded it before anyone heard it, I was like ‘this is too much of a fuckin’ change’ but I was like ‘oh, fuck it, bring it on’, and I listened to the album and was like ‘holy shit, this is amazing’ [laughs] do you know what I mean?

MO: I was the same dude, I hope it goes as far as you’re hoping it will, good luck with it, you know.

PA: Thanks man, you know, the whole thing was specifically written to be played live so we shall find out how the songs go down live from Wednesday onwards because that’s when we start touring.

MO: Alright, you coming to Australia?

PA: Hopefully, one day, we’ve got two months in Europe, then like a month-and-a-half in America then we’re doing South America and possibly Ireland.

MO: Well make your way down dude, c’mon – you’ve got fans here!

PA: Oh dude, believe me, we want to but it’s out of our hands, it’s down to promoters talking to booking agents etcetera, etcetera, you know? I know it sounds crap to fob off but really, we do want to come but we’ve said loads of times when we’re doing that part of the world that we want to but they’ve gone ‘oh yeah, we’ll see, we’ll see’ – it’s just the powers that be [laughs].

MO: Well, it’s a pleasure speaking to you Paul. Good luck again and I hope to talk to you when you start making your way to Australia – keep it real.

PA: Yeah, you too man, take care.

The Manticore and Other Horrors in now available via Roadrunner Records – http://au.roadrunnerrecords.com/

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