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Interviews Cradle of Filth Interview
Interviews Cradle of Filth Interview
| Cradle of Filth Interview |
From The Cradle To The Rave
On the eve of one of the biggest extreme metal parties ever to be thrown in jolly old London, Soundshock sneaked on to Cradle of Filth’s tourbus for a quick chinwag with long-serving guitarist Paul Allender to discuss Filth Fest, art of all varieties and why goth chicks just ain’t what they used to be . You’re back in London with your own festival in tow, that’s pretty sweet… Yeah it’s good, I think it’s been a couple of years or something since we’ve toured England. How did you come up with the idea to put this event together? We didn’t actually do it! It’s not our idea, we were just asked to play it. It was the promoter that put the bands together and wanted to do an indoor festival, and he basically asked the management if we wanted to headline, and he – completely off his own back – called it ‘Filth Fest’ without actually saying anything to us. He said it would be great to call it ‘Filth Fest’ and ‘The Darkest Tour’ and all that, and we were like “Ok, whatever you want to do.” It was nothing to do with us! There are a couple of infamously theatrical bands on the bill – most noticeably Gorgoroth. Can we expect anything special stage show-wise from you guys? Oh yeah we’ve got a few props and stuff up there…there’s a huge crucifix with shackles and a big iron maiden, and a big screen where we’re gonna have all the videos, stuff like that. Sounds great. Gorgoroth are infamous for having a fickle and somewhat elite fanbase, do you worry about any potential hostility from them tonight? Nah I don’t give a flying stuff! We supported Slayer once, you know, and their fans are fanatical. If we can take having batteries and coins thrown us at and having them zip right past our head and stuff, then we’ll be fine. If people don’t like us then they can fuck off after Gorgoroth! Does it frustrate you that people still see you as being ‘commercial’ compared to other bands in the scene? You’re no Westlife after all… Well I don’t really see us as being commercial, but at the end of the day people, whether it’s kids, fans, me or whoever, have to pigeon-hole bands so that they can be put across well. I’ve always said that this band is an extreme metal band; I’ve never said that this is a black metal band or whatever, but an extreme heavy metal band. We’ve got black metal influences such as the atmosphere we create, cause at the end of the day if I want to talk about black metal I’ll talk about the atmosphere it has, but unfortunately people are so narrow-minded in this country that they can’t get along without being told what to do. Unfortunately that bleeds into music as well, where you have the mags like Kerrang and Metal Hammer saying that you have listen to this band, dress like this, do what you’re told to do. Blimey! So do you think that people have generally come to accept your status as an ‘extreme heavy metal’ band? No, ‘cause there are still arguments on the forums all the time between kids. I read one the other day where someone said that we’re a ‘black goth band’. What the fuck’s that meant to mean? Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie And The Banshees, that’s goth, so how can you say we’re a goth band?! Also, when goth was around when I was a teenager, all the women were fucking gorgeous – really pristine, slim and toned up – and you look at them now and they’re a fucking mess! All baggy pants and spiky hair, I mean where in the hell did the grunge stuff start to crossover with all the goth stuff that we’re apparently a part of? *laughs* Christ knows. Let’s talk about the new album, ‘Godspeed On The Devil’s Thunder’. It’s based on the life of Gilles de Rais… We took it from the point from when his comrade in arms Joan of Arc died, because as far as he was concerned he’d lost his one and only true love in life, which is when the alchemy and the demonology started. The album isn’t done like a history lesson though, we’ve written the album and its lyrics to be more like a fairytale. We’ve added some of our own bits into it as well, so it’s more like a fantasy story with some factual bits. The narration that’s on it is taken from actual transcripts from the guy’s trial. That’s awesome! It’s a pretty sweet album in all really… Yeah well myself and my friend Mark Newby-Robson wrote it between us because we wanted to crack on and were running out of time, and once I started writing the first song I had this huge creative wave that lasted about three months, so I just went at it from start to finish. And what about the album cover? It’s quite far-removed from your usual stuff and looks more computerised… It’s funny because most people say that, but it’s not actually computerised, it’s hand-drawn! Because the album is different from the last two, personally I wanted something different cover-wise, something darker. Speaking of art, you’re quite the artist yourself. How is your ‘Vomitorium’ project coming along? Yeah it’s still going. I was with Cindy [Frey, fellow artist on ‘Vomitorium’] the other week, and we had a photoshoot in London where we had models doing loads of weird positions and all that kind of stuff, so I’ve just had a whole load of new photographs off of her and we’re going to put together a book. We’ve already got some of the artwork and we’ll see if we can get that out. You’ve also learnt martial arts in your time, ever had to kick the living shit out of someone? Yeah I’ve had to use it a couple of times and it works. I’ve been training since I was six years old. My whole family – my dad, my granddad, his dad – were all boxers, and I fancied doing something a bit different. I never wanted to do boxing, I was never interested to be honest, so my dad took me to karate lessons and I’ve been hooked ever since. There’s myself and two other instructors that teach the Essex police. Wow! You’re obviously a very busy man, so we’ll leave you to get ready for the show. Cheers! Interview by Merlin Alderslade
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