Well, not next to each other, at least. I say that because we’ve just come back from remixing some tracks at Andy Sneap’s studio, it’s the guy that mixed the album. There are three tracks that didn’t make it to the album, and it’s not because they’re substandard, it’s just because there’s no more room. We now plan them for a special edition, there are three new tracks, two cover versions and an orchestral piece, sort of weird horror intro. The new songs we’ve done are very much like “Thornography” sound-wise, but structure-wise they are much like our old stuff. The actual music sounds a little like our first two records, the tracks are very fast. So two albums may sound the same, but not next to each other.
But do you pre-plan the evolution of your music?
No, not at all! I know it sounds like we’ve been careless and not thoughtful, but in fact, by not defining it, by not writing in a certain area – “Oh, we have to do this, we must do that” – I think we keep it fresh and exciting. The reason the new CD is different is just that we’re at a different stage in the evolution of Cradle Of Filth, somewhere at a different time. For example, when “Nymphetamine” (2004) was recorded two years ago, in a different place to where we recorded “Thornography”, we were in a different place in our heads as well. I just think there’s a progression from album to album, and also by changing - I would not say “changing” at all, we’re rather evolving than changing – we keep the audience interested. You don’t wanna hear the same old record, I personally don’t.
The CD contains some of your heaviest songs, and at the same time it’s probably your most melodic album…
Yeah, crazy, isn’t it? (laughs)
What parts are more difficult to compose and record – heavy or soft ones?
(sighs) I think our music is difficult at the best of times. But that’s why we’re Cradle Of Filth, we try and keep originality. If it was easy, then everybody would be doing it. But that’s our job, and every person in Cradle Of Filth is attuned to and obviously capable of being part of it, so it’s not necessarily that hard to us. I think in the long run it’s very hard to make simple songs. It’s very easy to be metal till the end and have a nine-minute track, you don’t have to be very clever to do that, because you’ve added so much in, you get away with so much more. When you have to make a song short and memorable, heavy, and all the things that people expect from Cradle Of Filth, or a band of our ilk, it becomes quite difficult to get all those elements in in a short space of time. You have to make sure that every single part of the song is exciting, you have to captivate the audience all the time.
I heard that there were some weird moments during your work in the studio, when you heard weird noises and stuff like that…
Yeah, there were. There were some particularly weird moments – we were haunted by… whatever, I’m not sure. Me and the producer (Rob Caggiano, former guitar player of Anthrax – ed.) fortunately were able to stay in this glorious house called Darahouse (not sure about the spelling – ed.), which is actually one of those houses that somebody inherited from a large mansion, and the rest of the mansion burned down in the true King Diamond fashion. Everybody else was in another building, but me and Rob, the producer, were down that country lane, very atmospheric, and there was some really weird shit going on. Although I didn’t believe it, I thought Rob was cracking around, because at first we were winding each other up by hiding things or buying stuff from shops and putting them in drawers, making it look like somebody had left them there. So I didn’t believe it when somebody said they could hear something like a child’s wind-up toy, I just said, “Oh, shut up!” And then one night I’d gone into bed, and I heard this sound there right above my head, clear as a day. I ran into Rob’s room, where he was editing some stuff, I went really quiet thinking I’d catch him. And he was completely baffled. I made him come to my room and search with me, so that I knew he hadn’t hidden it there. And we heard it all over the place after that. Somebody came to the studio and said, “What’s that weird sound? It sounds like a child’s wind-up toy!” Then we had a bass amp catch up fire, which was the third time that happened. It is quite rare if it happens once, let alone three times. That’s the weird shit that was going on. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t shatteringly or ghostly, it was unusual. It wasn’t creepy either, only for one instance I thought, “That’s weird,” and we never felt like we were being impo
sed upon.The album contains two tracks based on the vampiric theme – “Cemetery And Sundown” and “Lovesick For Mina”. Do you consider vampirism an integral part of your lyrics that just has to be there, that you will never completely abandon? Or was there any different reason to write about vampires this time?
Like I said, when we wrote this record we felt quite free as what we were going to do. And I just felt the longing… I felt that we deserted from this kind of vampiric origin, but I’ve always been and I still am fascinated by every facet of the vampiric culture. I thought it was nice to revisit it, and it kind of adds to the record, it gives it the creepiness back. We’ve been away from this vampiric genre for quite a few records, and I felt this was something integral to Cradle Of Filth. The whole vibe on this record is quite retro. Well, the production isn’t retro by far, the production is crystal clear, with Andy Sneap mixing and Rob Caggiano producing it’s gonna be brilliant. But some of the riffs and some of the ideology are, in fact, almost reminiscent about glory days for our music. In this respect, I was reminiscing by revisiting some older themes, such as, as you pointed out, vampirism.
You said that the album title and each song are open to interpretation. But doesn’t it concern you that people often find in the songs the meaning that you never intended to be there?
Not really, that would be great! (laughs) I think my lyrics are working on two levels, but if I can make them work on three levels and I don’t even understand it (everybody laughs), that means I’ve achieved a little bit more. Everything is open to interpretation. Some people will say, “By making this comment you basically avoid the issue of explaining your songs,” which is not true. My definition of each and every track can be found on the website, which I have done for the last two or three records. When I was a youngster, they didn’t have lyrics and stuff like that in some records, so when I found out what the lyrics were, I’d go, “Oh, that’s not what I was thinking, my vision is different from the viewpoint of the band.” And most of the time I really did read the lyrics, I was very disappointed, because I heard words in them that actually weren’t there, and thought things that were slightly different. In my head everything was a little bit creepier, more gothic and a bit more adult. So when I read the lyrics, I would go, “This is a bit childish, or this isn’t what I expected it to be about.” I think it’s important that everybody has the opportunity to find their own world in everything.
The Cradle Of Filth line-up changed once again for this album. What happened to David Pybus, why was he away for half a year?
Shortly after the return from the Nymphetamine tour, David said he wanted to go back to the university and finish his degree before he got too old. He was a lot younger than us, he was about 25 at that time, he’s 26 now. So he decided he’s gonna finish that and then restart music. No problem there, it’s just one of those things that happen, there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s what he wanted to do. Fortunately we had Charles Hedger, our new guitarist – I say “new”, though he’s been a part of the band for about two years. He was a good friend of one of our older friends, that guy was around when we were just about doing our first record. But unfortunately he died recently, so it’s really nice that his brother is joining Cradle Of Filth as a guitarist, this makes everything come full circle. We’d all like to think his brother would be quite proud of him.
What is the status of the new keyboard player Rosie in the band? Did she actually play on the album, or is she just a session live member?
She didn’t play on the album, because she wasn’t privy to the writing process. Rosie became part of the band after our keyboardist was actually sort of instigated. She’ll be writing towards the new record, but we have yet to release this one, and we’ve got the special edition six months down the road with over half an hour worth of material on it. At the moment, we’re sort of messing around, and the whole idea of writing new material is completely alien to us. (laughs) We have a year and a half of constant touring in a pipeline, so by the time we’ve been through with that, she’ll pretty much wanna kill herself. (everybody cracks)
It’s a bit surprising that you decided to add a female keyboard to the all-male line-up…
Yeah, but we have Sarah (Jezebel Diva), the backing vocalist, on tour with us, so it’s a lot better for her. There is a sort of female front going now, there are two of them. And I would say Charles is a big girl. (laughs) It’s different, it’s good, I think it adds a d
ifferent element. I know it may sound a bit sexist, but the fact that there’s a female keeps people on the toes. We’ll have sort of Venus and Mars on stage, it adds a new flavor, a new interpretation to the side of things. If the band is kept fresh and awake, then it’s gonna translate through to the music, isn’t it? If the band is not fond of one another, if the band is lazy and not inspired, it’s hardly gonna translate through to a good record and then on to the fans for a good live show either. Line-up changes are a constant feature of your band…
Well, it’s not a feature. We don’t go like, “Hey, look!” Other than wearing leather gear, that’s anything we’ve got going for us. This is one of the small things that happen in Cradle Of Filth. I’m sure a lot of other bands would do it if they had the balls. You know, we’ve got a lot of things going for us, and I consider a line-up change to be such a miniscule part of the whole thing. I don’t think people really are that bothered. It’s not like the major core of the band ever disappeared, there are always at least three major players in the band, and at the moment there’s myself, Adrian (Erlandsson, drummer, who had left the band by the time the interview was published – ed.), Paul (Allender, guitarist), and Dave. And that’s four of the six people that were on “Nymphetamine”.
But do you think you could have gone even further if you had found the right people from the start?
No. (pause) I think that’s a silly question, sort of “How far is it to the Moon?” I think we’ve given ourselves a new life by having these line-up changes. It hasn’t always been the case of people being sacked, sometimes people just grow apart. It’s like working at a TV station or a magazine – a magazine comes out once every month, a TV show might come out once in a week, there will be different people producing that magazine or that program, but you expect the reporter to be the same. It’s not exactly the same here, it’s a band, but I don’t really think that’s an issue. It hasn’t really crossed any of our minds, it’s not like, “Oh Paul, that’s something we really need to worry about!”
You also changed the cover artist this time…
We really keep using different people every time.
OK, I see, so how did you find Sam Araya, what else is he famous for apart from the Cradle Of Filth cover?
He has his own website, and he was introduced to us by a friend called Dave, who runs 666 Records as well. He figured out that this is a great artist and we might want to work with him, and he kept mentioning this guy and how he is great. We had a look at the stuff, we got in contact with him, and he turned out to be a fan. We kind of just clicked. We liked what he was doing, and it all went from there. And he was kind of integral to the album title as well, because I sent him a lot of lyrics before we didn’t even begin recording, and as he worked his way through the artwork, so the album developed, and when the two kind of met, it shaped the name of the album. There’s a kind of theology about the album as well, one side of the other.
I heard that the first variant of the cover was banned in the United States…
Yeah, it is a minimal thing. I think the record company made too big a job of it. It was mentioned, and then everybody’s blowing it too much up. There was a very small amendment, and at the end of the day, that didn’t make the cover any safer, that didn’t make it any more dangerous. I think it was just Americans strutting around.
Speaking about legal problems, how do you react when you hear that once again somebody gets arrested in Britain for wearing a Cradle Of Filth t-shirt?
It’s sometimes understandable. If people are wearing the “Jesus Is A Cunt” T-shirt, you can understand why in some parts other people would take offense to you. But at the same time, I don’t like the fact when people get beaten for it, that’s ridiculous. If people are told to turn the shirt inside out, they can comply with that, but they decide not to, and keep aggravating the police officers, the police just do what’s part of their job to do. It’s kind of the same thing as if you buy a knife – you can walk around with a knife in your pocket, nobody would know it’s there, but at the moment you bring it out, your provocation’s gonna stir up a reaction.
Let’s now get back to the new album. How did you get Ville Valo (H.I.M.) involved in the recording of the song “The Byronic Man”?
He’d expressed the desire to work with the band for a while. I think he’s been a fan of the band for a while, and I’ve been a fan of H.I.M., so I guess it was just inevitable that at one point or another something like that would happen. That part of th
e song wasn’t written for Ville, the part was just written, and the expectations I had for it by far exceeded my abilities, it was beyond my range. I’m a heavy singer, and I can sing straight, but I will sound like a little girl, because my voice isn’t built for that role. The first thing I thought was, “Ah, this is a perfect part for Ville! It’s about Lord Byron, and Ville Valo is like a Lord Byron today. He even looks like one, so he’d be the perfect choice, and as he’s expressed the desire to work with the band, so let’s ask him!” We did ask him, he agreed, and there you go!What is your own opinion of Byron, his works and lifestyle?
I mean, my opinion – I love him to death! I love him as I do most of historic literary figures, and I think he’s among the most interesting ones. He kind of reminds me a bit of myself, a little self-destructive. Obviously, I’m not even anywhere near his talent, but his background and the things he did – I can relate to it.
And apart from Ville, who else would you call a Byronic man of the present time?
(sighs) Actually I would go for Johnny Depp. I think Johnny Depp is a perfect example as well. In his own way, in the way that he does things for himself. He doesn’t jump on blockbusters and stuff like that, he’s done some really interesting movies, and he didn’t get any money for them. He just does what he likes to do, and everything he does is great. I’d call him a bit of Lord Byron as well.
It has become a tradition that you have interesting guests on your albums. But if Ville Valo invites you to take part in the recording of his album, what will you say?
Well, of course, if he loves it, he can always get my screaming voice. But I doubt that it will be the case. They haven’t had any guests for now apart from pop female vocalists. I don’t have anything against guest appearances, but they have to be reasonable. I did a track for the 25th anniversary of Roadrunner thing, which was good fun, and it came out pretty extreme. It’s interesting to work with people, it’s good and exciting and different to work with the stuff that it’s not in our vein. We’ve done our Slayer cover, we’ve done “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, we’re done Bathory, Satan, Venom, and now we chose this track “Temptation” (by the 1990s pop band Heaven 17 – ed.) because it was something completely alien that we could feel fun while working on. The same goes for working with people that are completely different. What’s the point of us having, for example, Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir on our record? He’s gonna sound like me singing! (cracks) It would be pointless. I think people like the marriage of weird and wonderful people. You know, I’d love to work with Diamanda Galas, and I’d love to work with someone like Charlotte Church – I’m just thinking of pop, for God’s sake! – who is a 20-year-old pop idol, in England she’s been in Hit Magazine every week, where they report how much weight she’s gained or what gear she’s wearing. The beauty and the beast marriage may be phenomenal, I think it works, and this is the thing behind “Temptation”. It was an experiment that just got really good, and we decided to use it. I think Harry (Dirty Harry) is a stunning girl, and she’s got a great voice. The fact that she’s singing alongside me on this track gives it that kind of “beauty-and-the-beast-fairytale” romanticism. I think the track will appeal to a lot of people – the Yin and Yang, the dark and light, that’s a weird fusion, and I think that’s exciting.
And how did you end up recording “Stay” by Shakespeare’s Sister (another pop hit of the 1990s – ed.)?
That was another thing we were fucking around with, because it’s a very gothic song. It was a pop song, but we’ve done it in a way that’s really goth just like Dracula. It’s a bit more like Type O Negative than Shakespeare’s Sister. Again, we’re Cradle Of Filth. But that’s another thing to the special edition – we will make a big deal out of that. That’s just another track that’s been tackled.
When you recorded “Temptation” and “Stay”, did you contact the authors of the original songs to show them your work?
No, but it’s funny that Terrorizer Magazine has contacted the singer from Heaven 17. They gave him the song and he loved it, which is quite cool. You know, I was never a fan of Heaven 17, I just saw the potential in the song. I consider it a very catchy song, and we did a different translation. And that was the appeal – we did something completely different with it. But it’s still an honor that the original people who are very far from the genre go, “Wow, it’s great!”
You said that when Cradle Of Filth got started back in the early 1990s, you took a one-year break from English studies and then never came back…
Yeah, I was gonna become a journalist, that’s what my intention was, I had a temporary post in a local newspaper. But I decided not to do that, I wanted to keep the band afloat. I don’t know why, a crazy thing to do, because I didn’t have rich parents. They were not poor, but they said, “Right, you’re not living in our home, if you’re gonna do this, you’re gonna stand on your own two feet.” So me and my girlfriend found our own flat, she worked and I ran music, wrote letters and stuff. If you’re gonna do anything in life, then work really stupidly hard on it, and hopefully you excel. We never gave up, and because we gave all our energy to it, we were able to secure a deal within the first year and have never looked back.
Do you think these English studies helped you in your musical career?
Well, lyrically, yes. I don’t think they helped me musically. If I hadn’t been studying all the time, I would have had much more time to listen to music. (cracks)
You’ve tried yourself in many occupations – you worked as a journalist, you starred in a horror movie, you wrote a book…
I’m still writing a book, it’s not yet finished. I’m also writing a poetry book, but I might put a lot of the poetry in the main book as well, because I want the book to be amazing. If that means waiting a year or so to do a solo right, that’s not bad, because the band and everything that has to do with the band is the most important thing.
Yeah, that was what I wanted to ask you about. Having tried all these occupations, you still remain primarily a musician – why? Do you think that music is the most interesting of all arts?
Yes, I’m gonna be loyal to my bread and butter, so to speak. I mean, the music has generated all these options. If it wasn’t for being in Cradle Of Filth, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to write a book. If I wasn’t in Cradle Of Filth, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be in “Cradle Of Fear” and wouldn’t have the opportunity to write for metal magazines. I also ran a column in the Hustler magazine in the States, and my payment was basically just big bags of porn, sex toys, all kinds of weird and wonderful things.
What a great job! (laughs)
Well, yeah, I guess part of the time. (laughs) Like I said, they are all secondary, because I got them all from being in Cradle Of Filth. Music is the most important thing.
You will be touring with The 69 Eyes next year…
Yes, The 69 Eyes will be supporting us in America. The tour actually stars in the end of January, but before that the European tour will take place. It begins on November 11, and (speaking in an MC voice) the support comes from the Deathstars. I guess they are kind of similar to The 69 Eyes in a way.
I don’t know about America, but in Russia the audience of Cradle Of Filth and The 69 Eyes are two different crowd, they very seldom mix. What motivates such an interesting choice of the opening band in this case?
We’re gonna take another band that is a cross between the two. But in America they are a lot more liberal anyway. In America you get punk and hardcore kids, you get people who listen to Avenged Sevenfold, Murderdolls, Misfists and Danzig, as well as black metal kids. The gothic scene seems to envelop a lot more people there. I think it will work very well, and The 69 Eyes will only bring more people to the shows. And you don’t want three bands that all sound the same. You want three bands that all have a similar vibe.
And finally I cannot but ask you about your impressions from playing in Russia. You have visited Russia twice – back in the late 1990s and in 2004…
We were coming to Russia earlier this year, but we had to cancel it, because I got slightly sick and had to go and finish my vocals in the States. Then we had press time and some of the festivals, so the show got moved. The new day isn’t set yet, but it’s gonna happen in spring. The impressions have been great, though a little tiring, because everybody was having a really bad jet lag. I preferred the first coming for some reason, it was really magical. During the second visit, I saw a side of Russia that I didn’t like. I guess the first time is always a little more magical, and though in common the second time was a lot better, I just saw the city underbelly, the money-grabbing side of it, and I don’t like it. There was a sort of “nobody gets anything for nothing, so fuck everybody else” attitude. That doesn’t apply to everybody, there was just a few people, but…
I guess if you take a closer look at any big city, there will be two sides of it…
Yeah, of course, I wouldn’t even dare to peel backwards beneath the L.A. surface. We’re going there next week, and it’s gonna be lots of fun. I’ve never been to America on Halloween, and we’re doing a big signing, going to a couple of parties, and it’s gonna be our anniversary, so it’s gonna be a completely mad couple of days. We’re gonna see how money-making that place can be.
Special thanks to Universal Music Russia and Irond Records for arranging this interview.
Interview by Roman “Maniac” Patrashov
Photos by Daragh McDonagh
October 24, 2006
22 íîÿ 2006
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