Post by AndyLaRocque on Jun 12, 2005 19:47:30 GMT -5
It’s a seemingly ordinary Wednesday afternoon by the Waterfront in Portsmouth. Pensioners are taking in the air, while students scurry in and out of the centre’s busy university. The only thing to suggest anything out of the ordinary is the small but clearly very excited group of people huddled around the entrance to the city’s Pyramid venue – one, David Bellingham, has a contact lens in his eye to make it spookily milky, while another, Michael Penfold, wears a T-shirt depicting a masturbating nun. Joined by Kristina White, Lauren Sherman, Dan Hawkes and Francesca Parkinson (who’s beside herself with nerves at meeting her heroes), they’re here for an audience with Cradle Of Filth, on a mission to find out about drunken debauchery, false limbs and Michael Bolton. Once inside the venue there’s a quick round of hello’s, then it’s down to business…
MICHELLE: How did you feel about being nominated for a Grammy this year? Did you go to the ceremony?
DANI FILTH (vocals): “No. We’re supposed to be going with Bam Margera, but we were busy. In fact we’re going over to do Bam’s show, we’re playing on a barge of all things, halfway up a mountainside on a lake, for no reason whatsoever. Well, there probably is a reason, we just don’t know about it yet.”
MARTIN FOUL (keyboards): “Probably that he’s going to blow up the barge halfway through.”
DANI: “We got some medals for the Grammys, they’re like ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ badges, which is cool.”
MARTIN: “I didn’t get one! Where’s mine?”
JAMES MCLLROY (guitar): “Look on eBay.”
LAUREN: What’s the weirdest show you’ve played and why?
MARTIN: “I don’t remember the weirdest show we ever played. I imbibed too much alcohol during the hours preceding the gig, and I actually collapsed onstage after about two songs and lay there for the whole set. I played some of it, but they were the wrong notes in the wrong order. And the wrong songs. It was in Kansas City.”
DANI: “That was the one where I had to stop you swallowing your own tongue on the bus.”
MARTIN: “We’d been having a drinking competition with Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage. I actually won it, believe it or not. But I came off worse in the end.”
DAN: Has Sir Cliff Richard given you his opinion of ‘Devil Woman’?
DANI: “He hasn’t. I’m sure he loves it, though.”
JAMES: “It would be interesting to know if he’s heard it. I doubt he’s a fan. Imagine a collaboration! Christmas number one!”
DAVID: What’s the scariest experience you’ve had with a fan?
DANI: “The Elizabeth Bathory woman. She was convinced that she was Elizabeth Bathory [Countess of Transylvania, vampire] and I was her lover. She used to write us long letters about it. She was dead serious about it as well; she used to follow us around. It was quite strange. But she was in America, and being a witch she was scared of water and wouldn’t come over.”
FRAN: When you were younger, did your parents support what you wanted to do?
DANI: “Yeah, they did. Still do. My mum suddenly got into Slayer because of us. Just because she fancies Tom Araya. She met him at Tattoo The Planet.”
MARTIN: “Dani rang his mum up in Italy and got her to speak to Bruce dickinson live on stage, too.”
LAUREN: Where do you get your influences?
MARTIN: “Don’t ask him, he just sings! It’s varied. We’re all old farts so it’s a lot of early thrash metal and hardcore. It’s so much influence as inspiration; the music you grow up on is reflected in what you write. I couldn’t be specific really. It’s a good thing we don’t bring any of Adrian’s [Erlandsson] taste into it. A six-foot-four Swedish drummer who likes Michael Bolton. That’s Michael Bolton. Good lord. His wife snapped his CDs.”
KRISTINA: What’s the weirdest gift you’ve been given by a fan?
DANI: “A thigh bone, in Mexico. Also we did a signing in Australia and someone brought an artificial limb. Later at the show it came whizzing over. They obviously didn’t want it anymore!”
MARTIN: “There’s a girl in America who follows us around, and she always brings us little dolls that she’s made. And you notice over the past couple of American tours the dolls are getting fatter. Cheers, you don’t have to be that realistic! At least she’s honest.”
DAN: Is it true you’re never allowed on ‘Never Mind the Buzzcoks’ again?
DANI: “Yeah. Lemmy walked off it as well. It was good fun. We had loads of booze under the desk. It got a bit silly, and it’s just so degrading to all the guests. It was really funny at one point. They had these clowns come on, and one of them was from a famous band. Half way through the show I really needed the loo, so I went in and there were these five clowns there going, ‘fucking wanker, I’ll kill him’. It was hilarious, they were all in a row with these big shoes on having a pee.”
DAVID: What’s the worst song you’ve ever heard?
DANI: “I wouldn’t say it’s one of the worst songs because it’s really good, but one of the funniest is ‘Lochness’ by Judas Priest. It’s actually a really great song, it’s just about Loch Ness. And all the riffs sound like they’re geared around trying to take on the form of the monster as it writhes around. An epic chorus, though.”
FRAN: Do you enjoy meeting fans?
MARTIN: “No, it’s absolutely intolerable. I can’t stand it. Ha ha! Of course, but there’s a time and a place. When you first wake up in the morning and you’re just desperate for the toilet or a cup of coffee, and people are going, ‘Sign this’…you just need five minutes to wake up. But other than that it’s great. Apart from the French. And the Germans. And the Swiss. I am joking of course. Apart from the Germans.”
MICHELLE: Whose ideas was it to do the ‘Blair Twit Project’?
DANI: “It wasn’t an idea, it just happened, because of Jagermeister and E. We didn’t have the camera at the beginning, when Martin tried mounting a horse in a field. It kicked him in the stomach.”
MARTIN: “Was it a horse, or was it Paul [Allender, guitarist]?”
MICHELLE: What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done while recording?
DANI: “There were the agricultural bombs we were making, that was dangerous. And when we threw that massive tin of beans on the bonfire and it exploded everywhere. The producer came in from the pub one night and he set fire to the whole desk. Nutcase. There was the incident when James got in the cardboard box and we hit him repeatedly with chairs. And then there was the golf cart incident; driving it through that marquee that collapsed. And Martin set his leg on fire.”
MARTIN: “Two weeks in hospital over Christmas. It was alright, I got lots or morphine.”
LAUREN: What are your future plans for Cradle Of Filth?
DANI: “On behalf of Martin, more skin grafts, less talking. We’ve got a book and a DVD coming out at Hallowe’en. In the meantime we’re just writing for the next record. We’re taking the summer out to write it then going into the studio. We might have another British tour at the end of the year.”
DAN: How much research goes into an album’s theme?
DANI: “Loads with ‘damnation And A Day’, but this one was a lost easier because we didn’t have anything to stick to; no storyline, we just sat down and wrote it. I’d love to be one of these indie bands who just write about crap and put something totally irrelevant on the cover.”
MARTIN: “That’s our next album. It’s called ‘Totally Irrelevant’ with a pair of shoes on the cover.”
LAUREN: What rumour would you most like to start about yourself?
DANI: “We’ve heard all the rumour, there aren’t any left! The gay porno one was the best. That was quite worrying because five or six people admitted to having seen it. What?”
MARTIN: “You think, ‘Well, I’ve been drunk sometimes, there’s a possibility…but no!”
MICHELLE: How hard is it being in a band with a family?
DANI: “Pretty hard. It’s alright. I suppose it’s just the same as having a family where one of the people works on an oil rig.”
MARTIN: “All of the work’s condensed into a few months of the year, so you’re maybe away for a few months, but the rest of the time, even though you’re working you are actually at home. So I guess it works out better than a nine-to-five job in a way.”
LAUREN: IF you hadn’t been called Cradle Of Filth what would you like to have been called?
MARTIN: “Metallica.”
DANI: “Tank Of Hangman. Shaven Eunuch. Gothic Mess.”
MARTIN: “Knackered Slag.”
DAVID: Do you play drinking games together?
DANI: “‘Withnail & I’. You have to drink every drink they drink in the film.”
MARTIN: “But we’ve also got the ‘Scum’ challenge now. It’s not a drinking game, it’s a fighting game. Every time there’s a beating you beat somebody up.”
JAMES: “The point is not to be around when they do the greenhouse scene. But you don’t need drinking games to get drunk.”
DANI: “No, you need alcohol.”
FRAN: What do you think of the English metal scene at the moment?
DANI: “Is there one? I think that’s one reason why we got Mendeed on the tour, to ignite the spark again. Because it used to be really good when we first started. There was Anathema, My Dying Bride, Decomposed…there was a big scene, it was really burgeoning then and now it’s just not really there. They’re just pockets of bands. It would be good to try and re-ignite the flames of another scenes. Cos Sweden’s got a huge scene, and we can’t have that!”
DANI: Dani, would you have liked to have been the new Pope?
DANI: “Well we had a bad gig in Paris, and I think that was the reason the Pope died that day. We were filming it too. We’d had this amazing tour, we brought in nine cameras and loads of lighting, and we forgot that the place didn’t have any air-conditioning. It was so hot onstage you just couldn’t move without blacking out. So just in case another band has a bad gig in Paris and I was made Pope, that would probably make me die.”
FRAN: How did you train your voice?
DANI: “Continual masturbation. I’m masturbating now; this is a fake arm. It’s polystyrene.”
MICHELLE: How did you feel about being nominated for a Grammy this year? Did you go to the ceremony?
DANI FILTH (vocals): “No. We’re supposed to be going with Bam Margera, but we were busy. In fact we’re going over to do Bam’s show, we’re playing on a barge of all things, halfway up a mountainside on a lake, for no reason whatsoever. Well, there probably is a reason, we just don’t know about it yet.”
MARTIN FOUL (keyboards): “Probably that he’s going to blow up the barge halfway through.”
DANI: “We got some medals for the Grammys, they’re like ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ badges, which is cool.”
MARTIN: “I didn’t get one! Where’s mine?”
JAMES MCLLROY (guitar): “Look on eBay.”
LAUREN: What’s the weirdest show you’ve played and why?
MARTIN: “I don’t remember the weirdest show we ever played. I imbibed too much alcohol during the hours preceding the gig, and I actually collapsed onstage after about two songs and lay there for the whole set. I played some of it, but they were the wrong notes in the wrong order. And the wrong songs. It was in Kansas City.”
DANI: “That was the one where I had to stop you swallowing your own tongue on the bus.”
MARTIN: “We’d been having a drinking competition with Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage. I actually won it, believe it or not. But I came off worse in the end.”
DAN: Has Sir Cliff Richard given you his opinion of ‘Devil Woman’?
DANI: “He hasn’t. I’m sure he loves it, though.”
JAMES: “It would be interesting to know if he’s heard it. I doubt he’s a fan. Imagine a collaboration! Christmas number one!”
DAVID: What’s the scariest experience you’ve had with a fan?
DANI: “The Elizabeth Bathory woman. She was convinced that she was Elizabeth Bathory [Countess of Transylvania, vampire] and I was her lover. She used to write us long letters about it. She was dead serious about it as well; she used to follow us around. It was quite strange. But she was in America, and being a witch she was scared of water and wouldn’t come over.”
FRAN: When you were younger, did your parents support what you wanted to do?
DANI: “Yeah, they did. Still do. My mum suddenly got into Slayer because of us. Just because she fancies Tom Araya. She met him at Tattoo The Planet.”
MARTIN: “Dani rang his mum up in Italy and got her to speak to Bruce dickinson live on stage, too.”
LAUREN: Where do you get your influences?
MARTIN: “Don’t ask him, he just sings! It’s varied. We’re all old farts so it’s a lot of early thrash metal and hardcore. It’s so much influence as inspiration; the music you grow up on is reflected in what you write. I couldn’t be specific really. It’s a good thing we don’t bring any of Adrian’s [Erlandsson] taste into it. A six-foot-four Swedish drummer who likes Michael Bolton. That’s Michael Bolton. Good lord. His wife snapped his CDs.”
KRISTINA: What’s the weirdest gift you’ve been given by a fan?
DANI: “A thigh bone, in Mexico. Also we did a signing in Australia and someone brought an artificial limb. Later at the show it came whizzing over. They obviously didn’t want it anymore!”
MARTIN: “There’s a girl in America who follows us around, and she always brings us little dolls that she’s made. And you notice over the past couple of American tours the dolls are getting fatter. Cheers, you don’t have to be that realistic! At least she’s honest.”
DAN: Is it true you’re never allowed on ‘Never Mind the Buzzcoks’ again?
DANI: “Yeah. Lemmy walked off it as well. It was good fun. We had loads of booze under the desk. It got a bit silly, and it’s just so degrading to all the guests. It was really funny at one point. They had these clowns come on, and one of them was from a famous band. Half way through the show I really needed the loo, so I went in and there were these five clowns there going, ‘fucking wanker, I’ll kill him’. It was hilarious, they were all in a row with these big shoes on having a pee.”
DAVID: What’s the worst song you’ve ever heard?
DANI: “I wouldn’t say it’s one of the worst songs because it’s really good, but one of the funniest is ‘Lochness’ by Judas Priest. It’s actually a really great song, it’s just about Loch Ness. And all the riffs sound like they’re geared around trying to take on the form of the monster as it writhes around. An epic chorus, though.”
FRAN: Do you enjoy meeting fans?
MARTIN: “No, it’s absolutely intolerable. I can’t stand it. Ha ha! Of course, but there’s a time and a place. When you first wake up in the morning and you’re just desperate for the toilet or a cup of coffee, and people are going, ‘Sign this’…you just need five minutes to wake up. But other than that it’s great. Apart from the French. And the Germans. And the Swiss. I am joking of course. Apart from the Germans.”
MICHELLE: Whose ideas was it to do the ‘Blair Twit Project’?
DANI: “It wasn’t an idea, it just happened, because of Jagermeister and E. We didn’t have the camera at the beginning, when Martin tried mounting a horse in a field. It kicked him in the stomach.”
MARTIN: “Was it a horse, or was it Paul [Allender, guitarist]?”
MICHELLE: What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done while recording?
DANI: “There were the agricultural bombs we were making, that was dangerous. And when we threw that massive tin of beans on the bonfire and it exploded everywhere. The producer came in from the pub one night and he set fire to the whole desk. Nutcase. There was the incident when James got in the cardboard box and we hit him repeatedly with chairs. And then there was the golf cart incident; driving it through that marquee that collapsed. And Martin set his leg on fire.”
MARTIN: “Two weeks in hospital over Christmas. It was alright, I got lots or morphine.”
LAUREN: What are your future plans for Cradle Of Filth?
DANI: “On behalf of Martin, more skin grafts, less talking. We’ve got a book and a DVD coming out at Hallowe’en. In the meantime we’re just writing for the next record. We’re taking the summer out to write it then going into the studio. We might have another British tour at the end of the year.”
DAN: How much research goes into an album’s theme?
DANI: “Loads with ‘damnation And A Day’, but this one was a lost easier because we didn’t have anything to stick to; no storyline, we just sat down and wrote it. I’d love to be one of these indie bands who just write about crap and put something totally irrelevant on the cover.”
MARTIN: “That’s our next album. It’s called ‘Totally Irrelevant’ with a pair of shoes on the cover.”
LAUREN: What rumour would you most like to start about yourself?
DANI: “We’ve heard all the rumour, there aren’t any left! The gay porno one was the best. That was quite worrying because five or six people admitted to having seen it. What?”
MARTIN: “You think, ‘Well, I’ve been drunk sometimes, there’s a possibility…but no!”
MICHELLE: How hard is it being in a band with a family?
DANI: “Pretty hard. It’s alright. I suppose it’s just the same as having a family where one of the people works on an oil rig.”
MARTIN: “All of the work’s condensed into a few months of the year, so you’re maybe away for a few months, but the rest of the time, even though you’re working you are actually at home. So I guess it works out better than a nine-to-five job in a way.”
LAUREN: IF you hadn’t been called Cradle Of Filth what would you like to have been called?
MARTIN: “Metallica.”
DANI: “Tank Of Hangman. Shaven Eunuch. Gothic Mess.”
MARTIN: “Knackered Slag.”
DAVID: Do you play drinking games together?
DANI: “‘Withnail & I’. You have to drink every drink they drink in the film.”
MARTIN: “But we’ve also got the ‘Scum’ challenge now. It’s not a drinking game, it’s a fighting game. Every time there’s a beating you beat somebody up.”
JAMES: “The point is not to be around when they do the greenhouse scene. But you don’t need drinking games to get drunk.”
DANI: “No, you need alcohol.”
FRAN: What do you think of the English metal scene at the moment?
DANI: “Is there one? I think that’s one reason why we got Mendeed on the tour, to ignite the spark again. Because it used to be really good when we first started. There was Anathema, My Dying Bride, Decomposed…there was a big scene, it was really burgeoning then and now it’s just not really there. They’re just pockets of bands. It would be good to try and re-ignite the flames of another scenes. Cos Sweden’s got a huge scene, and we can’t have that!”
DANI: Dani, would you have liked to have been the new Pope?
DANI: “Well we had a bad gig in Paris, and I think that was the reason the Pope died that day. We were filming it too. We’d had this amazing tour, we brought in nine cameras and loads of lighting, and we forgot that the place didn’t have any air-conditioning. It was so hot onstage you just couldn’t move without blacking out. So just in case another band has a bad gig in Paris and I was made Pope, that would probably make me die.”
FRAN: How did you train your voice?
DANI: “Continual masturbation. I’m masturbating now; this is a fake arm. It’s polystyrene.”