[Music]
greetings everybody this is Danny filth
from Cradle of Filth and you're
listening to Sonic perspectives
[Music]
Hello everybody welcome back to Sonic
perspectives this is Jonathan and I am
here with the man himself the Visionary
who originally sated our voracious
appetite for voluptuous vixens of the
vampiric persuasion Danny Phil filth how
you doing I'm cool that just rolled off
the tongue that didn't it yeah I've seen
V for Vendetta a few too many
times all right so um to get right down
to it we have got a new album that's
about a little less than two months out
I think um so let's just jump right into
it uh any uh details that you want to
reveal without giving away too many
spoilers um well there's a new video
coming out uh next week I believe um it
should have come out two weeks ago with
the release of the second single but
unfortunately it was being filmed in La
at the time of the fires so they had to
evacuate and it was only actually filmed
filed
um last week and I L just signed off the
edit for it today um so that'll be
coming out and there'll be a third video
for the song White hore that will
accompany the album release on March 2
first wow all right so we got some stuff
to look forward to in the meantime
that's great yeah so um basically um
were there any changes as far as like
the production of the album any changes
in person personel from behind the
control panel I know there's been a few
lineup changes since the last album yeah
no it's the same we Ed the same producer
we just utilize different techniques and
of course writing new songs um yeah uh
Scott Atkins is our resident producer
and I say resident because he's worked
with us probably for the last 15 years
um he's very close to where I live in
England uh in in the
countryside and
um he is involved since you know since
the embryonic stages of writing a record
and uh he helped steer the ship he's one
of those people that doesn't stand on
um uh well put it this way he doesn't
mix words so if it's [ __ ] he will tell
you it [ __ ] which is great um because
everybody needs that um like uh maybe
Metallica could do with a bit of that
and all um but the point of it is uh
he's very um a
stew very creative and he gets the best
out of everybody and we feel comfortable
working with him so um obviously if it's
not broken don't try and fix it um and
uh yeah I mean it's a new album new
techniques new ways of recording um new
plugins that sort of thing uh yeah and
the production's great so it doesn't
really matter yeah absolutely so the
name of the album is um that just
slipped my mind there the screaming of
the Valkyries and uh that didn't have
anything to do with the recent
acquisition of a particular keyboardist
and backing vocalist did it well I I uh
Zoe always struck me as a bit of a
valkyrie or at least she okay I see what
you mean yeah absolutely I mean well
she's she's uh I believe she just come
well I say literally it was three weeks
ago but I came back from her wedding to
our other guitarist as shock
uh in um Arizona so she's from Arizona
but she's got Finnish Heritage as you
can tell by the the the bleach blonde
hair um well not bleach blond it's her
natural hair sorry it looks like that
but um no the the title despite sounding
very heavy metal um I'm ashamed to admit
is uh influenced by I don't know the
political turmoil in the world um in
respect of if you were to hear the
screaming of the Valkyries as a metaphor
or in in actuality it would be
um you would know that it was Ragnarok
it was the end of days because it would
be heaven was being overrun our last you
know source of protection would be o
being overrun and destroyed um and that
was inspired by the fact that we're very
very even infinitely more closer to the
Midnight Hour on the Doomsday Clock um
at present and obviously that's you know
fueled by um the war in Ukraine and
Russia whatever [ __ ] North Korea are
doing at the moment the tensions between
China and
Taiwan
uh uh Palestine and Israel you know I
mean the inauguration of Donald Trump
and his reaction to all of this so yeah
yeah temperamental times and yeah I
guess that's where the um Al kind of not
the album but that title came from and
it was a again like I said it was also a
very good heavy metal title and fitted
uh the artwork that adorns the artwork
because I gave it to the artist with the
lyrics and said do your
worst now his worse was pretty damn good
if you ask
me but yeah so um does the album itself
carry like a recurring theme that
relates to uh sort of the tomal of the
day or is it was that that more of just
a general statement each song is sort of
its own story it's his own story our
modus operandi for this record was
to dispense with the idea of a special
edition or bonus tracks that uh you can
only get on a you know in timbuk 2 or
something like that GNA get what we've
written that's it you know this is the
70s or 80s we've written a lengthy album
but it's nine songs no intro no outro no
you know like uh
halfway [ __ ] video display of the
Super Bowl in the middle it's just the
album and it's a good album and we just
wrote it we WR nine very strong catchy
Tunes um and when when I was presented
with some of the uh embryonic stages of
the
tracks most of them immediately struck
up a cord with me and I was like well I
know what that's going to be about I
know what that's going to be about non
on this Moria I know what that song is
going to be about so um an overarching
theme that
unites uh the tracks but it isn't a
concept record everybody thinks we're
going to do a conceptual record every
time we haven't done one for like 15
years I think but like King Diamond
everybody thinks that's our thing yeah
and everybody complains whenever he
tries to get out of it too and
admittedly uh I'm not going to blow any
smoke up your ass and say I've been
following you since the uh since the
early 90s because I was a 10er old age
of 12 at that time but I did first get
into you guys with damn nation in a day
and was that the last concept album that
you actually did or uh no there was two
more after that the US Ray one uh God
speed on the devil's Thunder and then uh
the one about Lilith um the first
trespasser which was Darkly Darkly Venus
Versa ah all right so um as far as the
songwriting goes it it did seem a little
bit more um I guess you could say more
streamlined a little bit more in your
face uh was there any difference in who
was handling the songwriting duties who
was doing the arranging or was it kind
of the same breakdown and just a
different mindset we've got a different
lineup and yeah um I I should imagine
the new guys uh with their would be
pushing their entry level cradle
Inspirations to the four you know
because they were fans before they
joined the band um and new blood is is
good all the way around you know it
injects a fresh perspective on
everything and you know as a band we we
can sort of um self- cannibalize
ourselves because you know we created
this sound and if we want to Har back to
some that uh music that is you know
reminiscent of some of our earlier works
and then so be it but um we always have
one eye on the future um and when people
join the band they obviously expected to
wear many hats and obviously the most
important one is that you have to ride
you know you're not a pretty face and
it's everybody else's job
um and so yeah the album was written by
everybody and
um we had fun with it I think it's also
a product of the fact that the last
three years we've been pretty much on
the road 24/7 the album itself was it
took a year to recall because of that
because we' like we do the drums then
we'd be away for eight weeks we'd have a
little bit of time off then we come to
do the guitars and then we go on tour
again so that was kind of unique to the
way we um we finished the record as
well great yeah and uh as far as uh the
individual songs go I'll try to stick
mostly the ones that are already out so
again uh as few of spoilers as possible
uh to live deliciously this was the
first one I got a chance to hear and um
I mean for me that's a stake and again
us every night but I think you intended
something a little bit uh deeper than
that when you wrote the song so could
you get into the lyrical content of that
one it's just a it's a it's a a life
Mantra you know it's about I guess it's
like uh everything is permissible you
can do whatever you want uh human laws
are just you know that they they're
they're made by the
majority um and generally you know life
is here to be embraced while while we
have it but not at the cost of um you
know treading on other people's toes you
have to have a little bit of respect I.E
don't be a [ __ ] that's I that's the the
the the moral compass here but yeah just
live life to the fall even and obviously
you're talking about a band that has
sort of a dark Obsession so
um I guess it has a little bit of a
Marky desar quality to it as well but we
wanted something that was
to introduce the album on a positive
note um so yeah it's like a life code a
mantra to live deliciously to indulge
desire and
darken I gotcha and then um one of the
other songs in here that I really
enjoyed and I'm just going to touch on
briefly because it's not one of the uh
singles uh non omnis
morar uh probably the closest thing to a
lullabi I've ever heard from you guys
and definitely earworm material probably
more
more so than even the Wrath of Khan so
uh was there
anything yeah got it yeah anything
unique about the songwriting process
there anybody you have a little bit more
input that hadn't before or well we were
attempting with the album to make every
track an ear
worm but um sorry none on this Mario I
mean that was one of the first songs
like I said that um when I heard the
original composition I was like I know
what this song's going to be about and
non- ominous Moria means um not all of
me will die meaning that I will leave
something with you I leave my heart with
you um and it's uh I guess it's someone
talking to their nearest and dearest
their closest their loved one uh
cherished person a friend they hold
deeply uh on the deathbed saying look
I'm dying but we'll meet again our
friendship or our love is so strong it
will survive the grave and trust me
there's an after life whe whatever it is
we'll find each other there that's one
beautiful lamentation if I do say so
myself so uh anyway just to get into a
little bit of um and you'll forgive
again the uh the pun here but you've
been a hot topic for over 30 years right
now
and I'm night yeah 30 more uh years of
wear and tear on The Voice and yet
you're still tearing it up I can
actually remember first seeing the uh
music video for her ghost in the fog and
my mom overheard it and she said uh well
they look like vampires but what's with
all the high-pitch screaming I'm like
Mom they got to break all the mirrors so
nobody
knows so um over the years have you had
any difficulties in maintaining your
voice and uh particularly in a live
setting is it difficult to pull some of
that stuff off no no not at all I mean I
yeah years have just brought wisdom and
uh I I see a a a a a doctor who does
well he's more of a singing coach doctor
thing you know he does all this vocal
manipulation to and the one time I had a
big problem was uh back in 2008 and we
were no sorry 2006 we were writing oh
we'd written an album we were in the
studio and my voice just didn't work and
they brought in um a vocal coach Melissa
Cross from America and then they even
got me to see a um uh like someone who
you know tests your blood and what food
you eat and that and just by pure chance
of going to see a a a a a vocal doctor
like to to put one of those steep you
know those whever they do they put that
thing down your throat it's horrible
camera he said you know I can't see
anything wrong but I tell you what
here's a number cuz I saw someone not so
long ago who was um an opera singer and
I I sent them along to this person and I
went to see this Jewish guy who
literally just dealt with opera singers
and people on Broad well not Broadway
but the English equivalent of that the
West End and it turned out had like
tennis elbow of the throat I just was
singing from the wrong part and I was
overwearing it like turning a car
battery over continuously or being in
the wrong gear and he corrected that and
I haven't looked back since um yeah and
it's it's it's a it's a thing that hits
a lot of people where they you know they
haven't
mastered their their the Machinery of
what they do and they're kind of like
just ragging it like over revving uh and
when they know where it's from and they
readjust it um it all kind of fell in
Pace not saying that I'm you know um
averse to to wear and tear but over the
years you learn how to deal with it uh I
have my what works for me like people
say you should write book about it and I
said well it would be very thin and also
what works for me doesn't work for
anybody else I've ever spoke to other
than you know steaming and you know
special teas and drinking black current
as opposed to water that dries you out
and avoiding alcohol and you know the
usual stuff I say it's just when I
explain to people how I sing they go
[ __ ] I can't do that and I'm amazed as
well by you know some of these new
people that come out with these weird
[ __ ] frog and pig vocals I'm like wow
that's that's bizarre but um yeah each
to their own yeah I definitely prefer at
least being able to understand what's
being said even if the voice I found
over the years like people say that oh
my you more brutal back in you like well
yeah but you know what it's actually and
this is the truth of it all the harder
to do this with pronunciation to make it
legible is 20 times harder maybe more
than just you know going full out and
sounding like you know a tortured Pig
and uh making it illegible to make it
legible and you know people can hear it
is is is the trick is and It's Tricky
and that's one of the thing I noticed
all the uh the original GRS of both the
death and black metal there was
definitely intelligibility there
sometimes you had to adjust your ears a
little bit but whether it was David
Vincent or if it was Ison I don't know
if I'm pronouncing his name right that
right you could you could pretty much
understand what was being said and on
that note I just wanted to ask you uh
straight out what exactly would you call
the specific stylistic Niche that Cradle
of Filth has because everybody seems to
have a different label for it I you know
what the the the ultimate Accolade would
be to be just remembered you know post
band you know disseminating or whatever
um would just be known by your name
because
and I know it's a big leap but IR Maiden
Metallica For example they go oh have
you ever heard of that new wave of
British well it used to be new wave of
British heavy metal slash thrash Bay
Area thrash slash you know ban Metallica
you don't need to know what music are
you know by the definition of their
title it's become almost like a its own
little power source the same with Iron
Maiden you know what you you know it
says what it does on the tin you don't
have to go into to a diagnosis even with
people are into Taylor Swift they've
heard of the band so that would be the
biggest Accolade because basically when
and with this album as well when we
write music we don't think you know what
by this algorithm we now need to add to
this you know mathematical equation 20%
death metal 30% goth It Rock uh a little
bit new wave of but we don't look at it
like that we write music and if it work
it works and if it sounds good it sounds
good yeah definitely and I think the
original progator progenitors excuse me
of those Styles thought of it the same
way I don't think I think it was more
people like me coming up with labels to
try to understand what we were hearing I
think it's Rec stores coming up with
labels so you can find where the the
records are lying but they're getting
fewer and far between now aren't they
definitely yeah and I think it's
measured now Less in unit sold than it
is minutes spent listening and uh
exactly as you can see this is real this
isn't this isn't a a zoom background I
I'm I'm all for that I'm not I mean just
I owe it to to my brethren in in metal
and music not to have a [ __ ] Spotify
account because you know they don't pay
people and it's not just them it's just
Platforms in general and I appreciate
the fact that from that people can
discover you from another band and you
know whatever whatever whatever whatever
I've heard it a million times but I'm
old school I want CDs I want vinyl I
want my bands to be paid because if
they're not paid they're not bands
anymore and I know so many people from
Big
bands that since the you know the
pandemic have gone you know what I'm
taking a proper job so that you'll see
me less often you know we'll still be
doing albums but you know probably once
every five years um because the you know
music has just been it's just see like
day robbery like if you worked you know
if you owned a a a delicatessen or a
[ __ ] Supermarket even people can't
aren't allowed to just come in and help
themselves to free produce you know
which is what people think they're
entitled to do with music because it's a
periphery thing and it's in the air you
can't physically touch
music but um you know how do you expect
bands to survive without that okay yeah
sure music getting bigger and bigger but
that's because the Taylor Swifts of the
world and the you know the Ed Sheeran
whom we've just done a song with um are
everywhere if you work in a Del tesin or
you work on a building site and you've
got the radio on you know chances are
you can hear one of those two or beonce
or whatever or you know Megan the salum
within [ __ ] five minutes of putting
it on and it's kind of a mind control
because you're adjusted to that you
remember those songs because that's all
you hear
yeah I mean speaking for myself I always
saw radio the same way back in the 90s
and so I ended up amassing a personal
collection of about 2,000 CDs I'm proud
to say that around rough roughly 10 of
them are yours and um I I definitely
missed the days where there were uh
physical charts proper charts so you
knew you know what happened to the 80s
charts now you can have like Taylor
Swift literally having all top 10 you
Know M it's a it's a really weird uh
really weird setup um obviously you know
they they really try with um movies and
there's more money involved in movies
obviously but in England we used to have
these not up to very recently this whole
um advert that had before the movie
starts where video piracy is killing the
movie industry and they even go to the
point where they'd this slamming prison
do you know wolof in IMAX quality sound
you know THX you're going to prison if
you you know watch a bootleg movie but
not the same for for you know I know
they back in the day it was home taping
is killing
music but nowadays it's like a [ __ ]
freefor all yeah you figure at some
point something's going to have to give
because I do still think there are
plenty people of uh plenty of people out
there who want a medal scene that's
actually intact but right now people I
think the metal scene is probably one of
the most um you know loyal and also one
of the most um agitated scenes you know
everybody hate of that band I love Arch
Enemy do you what about inflames oh no
they're [ __ ] [ __ ] you know so the
metal scene so
carnivorous um so cannibalistic yet
probably the most loyal um and yeah PE
people in they want to they wear their
hearts on the sleeves they wear their
their bands on their battle jackets and
they will they'll go and buy you know
the blood splattered vinyl or you know
they'll buy the special edition if there
was
one yeah absolutely and um on that note
I think we you had mentioned this
briefly your name dropped Iron Maiden
and I'm G to do this just as a a favor
to a buddy of mine oh years back you did
a rather impressive cover of Hallowed be
thy name I think it was a a bonus track
on cruelty and the Beast uh and um has
that been rolled out recently in in any
live performances or is that something
you just kind of put on the back burner
after the
90s well actually no though we we were
touring um C in the Beast because we did
a remist which was a a
remastered we took the original album
and totally stripped it back and and
bought it Kicking and Screaming into the
into the present day and uh subsequently
went out and on tour in support of that
and played the whole of the album and
hello be thy name oh right and uh
because we we decided to put that on the
REM mistress version as well um because
we knew how much people loved it um so
yeah we have played it a lot apart from
Dallas Dallas was horrible Dallas was
where somebody start like it was one of
the first shows of the tour and uh are
um a rather overzealous enigmatic um
stage hand decided to run the intro for
that before anybody was near the stage
oh I came on and was like where I
thought the queue was started singing
and then suddenly the band K had to kick
in I was like what the [ __ ] but yeah
fortunately that was the only mistake we
made and uh yeah good fun playing that
song yeah great yeah my my buddy his
name is Jason he's been a long time fan
of yours he caught you on I think you
were oest I think it was back in the 90s
I think he was at uh uh I'm trying to
remember this was before iest it was it
was actually
2003 2003 that's it yeah and I don't I I
think uh he was waiting to hear that one
and I think that wasn't in the rotation
at the time so so he was kind of pulling
on my ear we only we only had like you
know we were headlining the B stage we
had like what 45 minutes or something 50
minutes so we're gonna keep to own stuff
you
know yeah that definitely makes sense so
um moving back to the album itself uh I
know we've we've got an April release
date um uh what's the touring situation
looking like surrounding the album
anything leading up to it or immediately
following it uh what are the
plans well we've got a few months off at
the moment because we've been very very
busy the last three years um but it's
not really time off because obviously
I'm sat here doing
interviews I say there's some videos to
come before the release of the album on
the 21st of March and then mid
April uh we co-headline with dying fetus
the chaos chaos and Carnage touring
Festival across the states then we come
to Europe and we have like we headline
the the 10th stage at download
Donnington um and do a bunch of summer
festivals
a load of gigs that link those up with
uh the great band Noosa in support then
we go to South
America um late August through September
and then we have something amazing
planned for the end of the year but I
can't talk about it because I'll jinx it
yeah definitely not don't give too much
away though we gotta have a little bit
of mystiques around in the band
here all right so um are there any other
things that you wanted to say uh do a
quick shout out to the fans or anything
before we wrap because I think Zoom is
biting on my heels here about yeah I was
just doing an interview and I was really
getting into this this this description
and the [ __ ] thing just went halfway
through and just cut off and it just
sorry your um your Zoom interview has
ended wow um yeah um well no the like I
said the album's coming out we've got
loads of live [ __ ] coming out uh to
livep deliciously the video for that
should be out
even next week or the week after delayed
because of the fires in La was being
shot um and then the third video will
come out uh mid-march um check us out go
to Instagram or our Facebook pages
because they'll have all the news of all
the shows we'll be doing for the next
two years um yeah I can't say much more
than that but go and check out the new
Alum the screaming of the
Valkyries it rocks absolutely my
American fans theck hell yes all my
fellow Americans out there buy this
album just because you're a yank doesn't
mean you have to be a wank get off of
spotify and buy this
sucker could said it better myself all
right well thanks a lot Danny I hope I
didn't come off as too much of a fanboy
here trying to keep it semi-professional
at least I know enjoy it when people are
actually into it you know all right
great stuff all right well uh I'll try
to catch you on the road uh and uh
definitely going to check this album out
and who knows maybe I'll be able to pen
a review for it cool yeah let to see you
out on the road thanks every so much all
right thank you and take care Jonathan
you too bye bye
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