CRADLE OF FILTH : you are right to be terrified

You're about to release a new live album. The last one was twenty years ago. During these two decades, have you changed anything in the way that you prepare yourself before performing live?
It's hard to remember, to be honest... I can't remember ! Probably. It's a very difficult question really, because I'm not absolutely sure. I don't think I have, no. I think you just get comfortable with the scenario... I probably don't get as nervous as I did before but I can't remember changing anything specifically, really.

What kind of involvement does a live album demands from you? I guess that it must be easier than a studio album...
Well, obviously, it's easier, yeah. I mean, we did write two new songs that are on the album. It was a considerable amount of work. We didn't plan this live album, we found ourselves with some free time and it was suggested as an idea by our live sound guy who recorded a lot of shows during the Cryptoriana tour that started in 2015 and was extended to 2019 because we released ReMistressed, the remix version of Cruelty and the Beast. We gave all this wealth of material to our studio engineer Scott Atkins who found the good performances... We also had to come up with a tracklist that defined our career, didn't repeat anything and had a nice spread of material from across our entire back catalogue. Scott had the unenviable task of bringing that into fruition. Aside of that, like I said, we had two new songs that we decided to put on the record. A live album demands a mix because you are taking information literally from the desk, from a live concert. So it was still a considerable amount of work, being a double album as well. Obviously not as hard as a regular album but hard nonetheless!

Were you nervous to go back on the road after two years of pandemic?
Well, we were quite fortunate in fact. We entered the studio just before the pandemic started and finished Existence is Futile during the pandemic. Obviously it had to wait for a year for being released because we couldn't tour it. We were fortunate to get to America at the tail end of the pandemic... So far now, since the pandemic, we've done three tours in America, one European tour, a bunch of summer festivals. Obviously everybody was worried, whatever career you're in, everybody was speculating about the future, particularly in the entertainment industry and especially since there's been Brexit and now the American government trying to up the costs of visas for visiting performers... So it's been trialling, it continues to be trialling I should imagine, but now we feel quite comfortable. They had a lot of covid protocols on the first American tour and because of that it meant that everybody had to be tested in and out of the venue. It was very laborious and at one point both our support acts, which were Once Human and 3Teeth, contracted covid and had to leave the tour... It was annoying and confusing... and a pain in the ass.

Your video clips have very strong visuals. Are you not tempted to bring more props on stage and have a more grand-guignol show?
Yeah, we have done that from time to time. During the pandemic we did two huge... whatever they called it, I can't remeber, showcase shows, you know, that people could buy online. In big festivals we bring a lot of props and firepower. If you're a theatrical band, you want to bring a lot of stuff on the stage but it's about costs as well and touring is a very expensive business. On the last tour with Alcest in support, we've brought another truck with a big stage show but it was very expensive to do that. Touring costs are a real problem at the moment.

Your universe is mostly fantastical but it seems to me that Existence is Futile was a bit more grounded in reality, with its apocalyptic tone and a song like Suffer Our Dominion where we can see an ecological theme. Is it something you might explore more in the future?
Yeah, possibly. The new album will be a bit more fantastical. Lyrically it's more in the avenue that Dusk and her Embrace was about. It's about vampiric imagery. We're not a political band, we don't want to get too maintream. Really our music is about escapism. We all have to deal with everyday life everyday, obviously, and I don't think there's a real point unless it's a major issue dipping your toe back into that water. I like escapism. I think my life is somewhat different from a lot of people. It's not dictated by timelines, I usually write until three in the morning, get up at ten... I haven't had a proper job since I was sixteen ! My whole life has been about escapism because really, at the end of the day, you only have one stab at life so I enjoy what I what when I want ! It makes me sound silly and selfish but I assure you I'm trying not to be!

You're talking about having fun and doing whatever you want. Is it the reason why your covers and featurings are very different than what you do with Cradle of Filth?
I think so, yeah. I like the juxtaposition, the marriage of extremes. Doing stuff with Bring me the Horizon or Twiztid or even Ed Sheeran is much more excitement than doing it with another band that sounds very similar to us or that is in the same genre. Don't get me wrong, because I love these musicians, but I think having Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir or Glen Benton from Deicide or George Fischer from Cannibal Corpse on one of my records wouldn't bring anything new because it's kind of what I do aswell... even if I can't go as low as George ! All I'm saying is that I appreciate and I think it's great to do something strange where you're taking a genre that doesn't really belong to the one you're in and creating something fresh out of it. I think it brings interest and I think music is great wherever it is. We'vre already recorded drums and stuff... I don't know when it will come out, you know sometimes we record things that don't get released before a couple albums but we covered Dio and a band called Ultravox which is a nineties electronic band and the reason we covered these two tracks is because they're really good songs, regardless of what genre they're in.

Do you sometimes dream of doing something really different with Cradle of Filth?
Yeah, sometimes. People say "why don't you do this, why don't you do that..."... An album is a process about a year. We'll be in the studio all in all for about four months. We don't work week-ends and we space things out, we want to make it sound great, we don't want to rush it, we put a lot of work into the tracks... it's not a thing you can just bang out. People sometimes think that's how albums are born and they're sadly mistaken. But yeah, obviously there is some things on my mind but I think Cradle of Filth has a defined sound you can't go off and suddenly start to do reggae or I don't know... ska. I think it would be ridiculous.

There is a cliche saying that the metalhead community is a big family, even if I'm not too sure about that...
I know what you're saying when you're being a bit hesitating about that. I mean... People talk a lot of shit ! If you go on Blabbermouth, you'll see how much hate there is for bands that sound pretty much the same. There's not much distinction between, you know, for example Arch Enemy and another band that sounds very similar to Arch Enemy... I'm not finding anyone, but you'll see on Blabbermouth people saying "oh I love this band - Oh no this band is fucking awful, I fucking hate them". There's no middle ground, no appreciation for everything. I'm not saying that's the same for everybody but I do find a weird amount of apathy in the metal scene. They're very loyal to the bands they like but sometimes very disloyal to the genre as a whole because it's always bickerings and fightings : "you're not true, you're a sell-out"... And then Metallica comes out and everybody goes "hell yes, this is great, this is fine !". We had a lot of shit back in the day breaking into mainstream. Well, I'm sorry about that, I can't dictate how people are. If I wan't to carry on making this music, it has to make financial sense, it's not a hobby. You can't go on the road and decide "we're gonna go on tour but we're not doing it for any money". Well, how the fuck are you gonna live ? It's the same with everybody.

... and are you a bit nervous about what this big family might think about your song with Ed Sheeran?
No, absolutely not. In fact it's the complete opposite. I really don't give a fuck what people think. It's gonna be for charity, two very good charities. One which supports metal community and alternative people and has done some great work for them. I don't know when it will be released... Basically two managers have got to get together and sort out a game plan for the release because we can't just put it out and hope for the best. And yeah, it will get some sticks because we're working with one of the biggest artists in the world and he's a pop guy and he plays acoustic and blah blah blah blah... But it's good. It's a great song, it's catchy, it's a metal song, it's got acoustic guitar but essentially it's a metal song, it has a blast beat on it, it has a scream on it. It's not a sell-out, you know, in fact I would say it's less than a sell-out. Who else would have the opportunity to do such a thing? It's a a thing of hideous monstruosity and it will be a wonder to behold!

When you released Existence is Futile, you said that everything that defines Cradle of Filth was in this album. How do you go from this to create someting fresh?
Well, we've got two new members and that's the reason why we decided to put those two new songs on the live album because we felt that we had a need to start fresh with the next album. We didn't want to have anything attached to the previous members. It just didn't feel right. The album wouldn't feel complete if it was made of borrowed attributes from past incarnations... Those two songs were originally recorded for a future album but everything was delayed with the pandemic. To create something new, it's a question of setting down with everybody, it's a process. We had to integrate two new people into the writing process but that's kind of made easy by the fact that they've been out on the road, touring with the band, playing the songs from our back catalogue so the ideology of Cradle of Filth infiltrated those beings, whether they wanted it or not. It takes a while, you don't want to repeat yourself, you want to do something fresh but you don't want to drift too far away from what you did before... You can't just know! For this next album, we've written a lot of material and a lot of material has been pushed aside. We could actually have started recording this half a year ago but I think it wouldn't has been this good because I wanted to be very finite about the quality of the material going on the record and not be "well, that will do"... It's gotta be perfect. And actually, yeah, there's everything that Cradle has ever done in this record again and it's just different songs, different temperaments, different plays...

I know that you read a lot and watch a lot of films. Have you seen or read anything lately that might inspire you for the future?
Not really. I get inspired by all kinds of things. It's never a specific book or a film. It's a bit of everything. You can also be not inspired at all. Most artists write their own scenarios but then you can also find utmost inspiration in the tiniest things. That's just how creativity works. It would be better if you could just switch it on you know... But if you write lyrics, that's very hard to actually switch on and off and that's why I work primarily at night because I'm not influenced by the daytime and things that are going on like traffic... Creativity can just play on your nerves!

When I was a teenager, I thought your music was very dark and quite scary. Now I still appreciate the darkness in it, but I'm not scared anymore, I find it fun like a good horror film can be fun. Is it me who grew up, or is it you who is maybe less self-conscient?
Well, I'm getting older. I used to be terrified by the likes of An American Werewolf in London and Evil Dead when it first came out but I think it was more about the whole ideology behind those films and what you've been told about it prior to watching. Now I can watch those films anytime of the day. They're both dark comedies.. I knew there was a reason why I mentionned those both ! But at the time... I remember American Werewolf in London, I was about 9 when I saw a trailer for it on the back of Michael Jackson's Thriller. My dad got it from the video store and then had to pick my mama in a neighbouring town. I was in the house on my own and I watched this movie. It scared the shit out of me ! When my parents came back they decided to turn out the lights in the car so I couldn't know they were coming. They crept and came scratching at the windows, I literaly died of fright ! So I think it's about perception. Obviously, there has been some elements of sardonic irony is some of what Cradle of Filth does but generally you were right to be terrified when you were young...