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DANI FILTH Talks New Album, Religion, And Future Collaborations · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Greetings. This is Danny Filth from Cradle of Filth.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Beautiful. Thanks so much, Daddy. The Screaming of the Valkyries
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: is your fourteenth studio album. What does it feel like?
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: What do you feel this album brings to the table
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: that's unique compared to your previous works.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Well, it's got new songs on it, Yeah, very important
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: for a new album. Yeah. I think it's just got
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: very modern sound. It's very current, but it has a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: nod back to previous Cradle manifestations. And I don't think
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you can be I don't think if a band's got
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: a stronger identity and they've forged it themselves and it's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: been going on for let's just say thirty one years,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: that you shouldn't self plagiarize. I think it's okay to
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: borrow some of your own ideas. I mean, some band's
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: been doing it their entire careers, So I think, yeah,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: it's a modern sounded record, one step forward, but it
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: also has a passing nod back to previous incarnations. And
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I think you could attribute that to maybe having some
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: fresh blood in the band in the shape of Donnie
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and Zoe. Yeah, or it could just be that we've
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: been playing a lot since the pandemic in a sort
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: of futile way to make it up to everybody on
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the planet. And that's probably when the album took a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: little longer as well, and that we just garnered this
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: new sound and a nod back to the older sound
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: from just playing lots of older material. Who knows, who knows.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: It's awesome.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I think how you have blended the two together and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: put a fresh spin on things whilst keeping it, you know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in your signature sound. Oh, thank you, yeah, And can
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: you tell us a little bit more about the concept
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: behind that album.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: The concept, there's not really a concept around the album.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: It's just a celebration of escapism. It's all quite positive,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: to be honest. It's about indulging. It's about ritualizations and
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: vampoism on their uh. Stuff. That just garnered inspiration from
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: hearing the songs when they were first written. The title itself,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Screaming of the Valkyries, comes from the last song where
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Misery was a Stranger. It's part of the line from
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: that song, and it was inspired by finding out that
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: we were seconds away mankind, that is, seconds away from
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: midnight on the doomsday clock, so that got me thinking,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and I thought about this great metaphor about the Valkyrie
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: screaming when as Guards attacked, which brings around Ragnarok, And
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: if but he could hear that screaming, it would be
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: almost likened to other cataclysmic events, like walking down the
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: street and seeing a nuclear explosion go off above a city,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: or witnessing a tsunami or a tidal wave. You know,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: it's that an inevitable moment where you like in a dream,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: where you go, shit, that's it, you know, this is
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the end. So yeah, the screaming of the Valkyries would
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: be like a death knell. Hearing it would be like
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: a death knell, or like a Bansheek care which never
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: boats well. Or it could just be a very heavy
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: metal album title. Yeah either all.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, crazy to think about really, as humans, the end
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: of days something that I don't think we could ever
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: fully wrap our heads around. But yeah, definitely an interesting concept.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And you guys have been known to be just a
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: little bit blasphemous and all of that sort of thing.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: What do you what is your take on religion blasphemy
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: what you guys put out.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: There, It's only blasphemous to certain people. You know it's pigeonholed.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Really well, I don't really view it as that as such.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you're not confined by religion, this sort
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: of thing doesn't really enter into everyday life. So you know,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: you're not actually are you actually being blasphemous if you
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: don't think you're being blasphemous. If you're blasphemous to one religion,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: surely that would be blasphemois to all religions, which it
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: evidently isn't because all religions essentially are different. But they
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: just argue about God's messenger. They can never just you know,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: which one's the true what they can, but it's always theirs.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't give it. I don't really give
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a shit about religion. I do love the icography, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I love the fact that it's for the great that
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: you know, there are good messages in it. I just
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: think that I think time has just worn out the message.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I think there's just too much blood, too much misery
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: in religion's name to warrant it being a warrant it
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: being regarded as a as a modern thing. I mean,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: surely nowadays everybody can see the world is not flat
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and that you know the world wasn't born two thousand
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: years ago or four thousand years ago or six thousand
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: years ago. The you know, the dinosaurs weren't part of
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the Bible. I don't mean they even got a looking
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: did they. It's just, you know, what I'm saying is
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  Speaker 1: it's just it's ridiculous. The notion of it all the message,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: I get it, but the notion of it being still
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: value today just makes no sense in an age of science.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: It's no sense. So that being mind, it's totally invalidated
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, and I don't give you two shits
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: about it. I respect it, don't get me wrong. I
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: respect people's belief. Yes, it's the belief that's the most
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: important part of it, and I respect that, yes, But
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: all the rest is utter garbage.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you there. How has the dynamic
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: within the band evolved over the years, especially with the
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: lineup changers.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Really well, it's like weeding out the weird and eventually
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: ending up with and not just the band, the crew management,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: people on the periphery that work, you know, work with us.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Over the years, we've managed to hone it. So now
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: we've got this great family. Everybody's really cool. There's no
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: square pegs and round holes and proof is getting you know,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: the things have been going very well. We had a
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: wedding in the band at the beginning of the year
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: which we all attended, which was Green Ashark. Oh, so yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: evidently things are going pretty well at least between those two. Yeah.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: And you guys have been such a huge influence for
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: many bands over the years. How about you, guys, What
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: is some of your musical influencers at the moment or
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: what music do you like. I listened to all kinds
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: of music. I love soundtracks in particular because I can think.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: And work whilst playing soundtracks, and they can cover your
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: entire life. It makes you feel very epic getting up
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: to a soundtrack. But I don't know, I like black metal,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: death metal. I don't get all this scream called whatever
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: def cord. There's stuff that's just sort of melding into one.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I'm still a massive fan of flash metal and music.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I grew up listening to a new wave of British
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: heavy metal. I like gothic music. I like punk and hardcore.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: You know, I just if it's good music, I like it.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I like it being a bit raucous though, so about guitars.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: If it's not soundtracks, it's gonna be something guitars in it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, awesome. And the album seems to sort of
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: elements of your older works. As we discussed, this was
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: obviously intentional, But what was the driving force behind revisiting
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: that era.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't think there was. There's not wasn't a
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: checklist when we wrote the record and say, oh, you
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: know heavy drums owed back to previous works. I think
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: it's just the way it grew. And that could have
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: stemmed from, like I said, new Blood, or from the
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: fact that we were touring a lot and playing older
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: material as well, or that, you know, we just stumbled
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: upon the same formula that we had twenty five years ago.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I was definitely filled with nostalgia when I heard some
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: of the songs, and those songs when I first heard
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: it also suggested the subject matter, so some songs were
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: easier to to define and write solely because of that.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: I just got into that mood. It was like, Wow,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: you know, there's a vibe and you know it and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: you feel it and if you know that, you it's
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: happened to you before. Yeah, and I often shift things
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: in places. I don't know why. I always have a
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: backdrop of a place when I'm writing. I don't know what.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: It just I don't choose the place. It chooses me.
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  Speaker 1: It could be like a bloody junction in my old
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: village or something like that. It just, for some reason,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: it just stays in the background, and that background reappears,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so these places that they're not fictional, they're like
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: real places.
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: Are they're not fans at the sea? Yeah yeah, I
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: mean it's just a backdrop for whatever's happening in my
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: tiny mind. You know. What I'm saying is that I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: was familiar with that feeling and that vibe, and it
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: reminded me of the time when we were doing it. Yeah,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I know, round maybe ninety six, ninety eight, that's sort
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of era. Yeah, yeah, awesome.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And what was it like working with Scott Atkins on
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: the album.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Fucking awful? I just wish you'd go away. We've been
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: working with him for about eight albums and he's still here. Yeah,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: he's like the seventh member of the band, and we
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: kind of confided in him because he's got nothing to
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: lose by I mean, he's a friend. So it's got
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: nothing to lose by tending us how and he never
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: molly cuddles us, which is the greatest thing. If it's shit,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: just say it's shit. Yeah, And that was dispensed with
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the hours trying to argue about shoehorning it into the album,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: whatever that may be. And he's very astute, and he's
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: one of these people that has a good sense of
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: how it should sound and what direction we should push
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: it and what to do to achieve that and how
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: to mix it. And he's patient. So the production is
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: amazing because he's chipped away at it and he's got
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: some maxims he works by, like less is more and
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: don't pollute the metal highway. So yeah, no, he's imperative.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: You know, he's good. We may not always work with him,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: depends how nice he is to us. He's he's rightly
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: fanked on the back of the record for his work,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: you know. So it's produced by Scott Atkins's and the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: production is amazing, So.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. It sounds like it's nice for that.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: He is like sort of an external force that can
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: kind of tell you, guys, yeah, this is working or
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: it's not working. Yeah, yeah, and for you, is there
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: a favorite song on the album that you're excited to
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: play live?
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know what we're playing live, to be honest,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I should imagine it will be the singles to start with,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: because people are familiar with those. But my favorite song
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: on the album, which I'm ashamed of me because they
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: are all my children and should be loved equally, is
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: ex Sanguine Dracula And I just love that song because
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: it was one of the first written for the album,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: courtesy of our bass player Google, and I mean it's
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: been adjusted since, but it just reminds me of the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: era that we the dissection toward with us and it's
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: just very intricate and fast and lots of time signatures
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: in it. And yeah, love the subject matter.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that one really does sound like a hark back
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: to your older stuff, if I can say, it's great
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: and incredible of filth. We're to do a collaboration with
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: any non metal artist. Who would you choose and what
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: kind of music would you create together?
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Well, obviously we've done the single with Ed Sheeran. Yes,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: with a bit of a wild stabbing the guitar, but
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: sounds amazing. And before you ask it. We've got this
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: album coming out, so that's why that's not out, Okay.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I mean it's evidently going to be overshadowing because it's
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: you know, we've done a song with a megastar, is
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: back to tension, and then there's a blast radius around
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: whatever he's doing in a couple of months, which I
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: presume it is another record, So it will come out
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: maybe this year, maybe next year. It sounds amazing and
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. It's timeless, so whatever. But if I
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: was to choose someone else, strangely enough, it would be
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Lana del Rey, and I'm not a massive fan. I
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: find her a bit whiny, no fair enough, It's no
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: good way enticed to be on your record, is it? No?
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: My my partner, she loves loves it, and I know
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: she's great, and I love a lot of her stuff
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: as well. Just too sugary after a while. But I
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: think she's got some Gothic sensibilities about her, and she
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: does have a lovely voice, and I think it would
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: work really well. We could do something I was experience.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I'm actually speaking as if I kidnapped her and she's
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: like behind the sofa, I'm taped up ready dragged into
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the studio. Happened, and if into Pole do contact you?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I know nothing.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that's amazing and she's so talented. That would
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: be amazing to hear. I really hope one day in
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: the future.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I think of all the things, I think it would
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: really work. Yea, you asked, and I.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Said, yeah, that's it, and we'll just cut out a
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: bit about her having a whiny voice. Okay, what's the
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: coolest or weirdest thing a fan has given you?
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Oh? Well, the weirdest thing was we were doing a
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: signing strange enough in Australia and we I think it
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: was a Lethal Records. If that in Sydney, if there
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: was ever such a place, I might have just made
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: it up. I think it was called Lethal and they
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: had a fake limb, you know, leg prosthetic leg, not
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: perfect leg, aesthetic and we signed it and then later
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: on that evening it came sailing on stage. Someone had
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: like ripped it off him, which I think I doubt
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I would have happened. I think he was swinging it round.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: He just threw and I don't know whether it's a
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: gift or whether we should have put it back. Gave
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: it back. I think we gave it, but yeah, strange nonetheless,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: but we do get a lot of cool stuff Russia,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: like whole skulls this size, you know, of massive oxen
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and had to break it up just to bring it
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: on the plane, which is weird. Outside the airport, everybody's
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: standing on it trying to snap the horns off. And
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: somebody got me this massive cyber manga cyber demon like
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: statue and it's huge. It's like it's big, and then
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: the box is even bigger, and yeah, just cool stuff.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: They always get cool stuff from our fans.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's awesome. How did you bring that statue back?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Or was that? Well, that's the thing. They funny enough.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: It was for a signing in La and the guy, uh,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: some message came through to us. It said, this guy
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: out of the front, he's coming to the meet and green.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: He's got a present for you, but security aren't letting
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: him in with it. So I got our tour manager
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: to go and have a word. So, well, you know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: why not. And then that was the reason, because it
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: was so big. Sorry, you can't bring that in here,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: there's no where to put it. Yeah, but we were
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: cutting so much stuff back on the airline to England. Anyway.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: The airline actually let us off and flew it for nothing.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Oh that's nice of them for once. And last question,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: if you could swap places with any historical figure for
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: a day, who would it be?
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: And why I've got to talk about putting someone on
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the spot. I don't know. It had to be someone
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: like really worthwhile, someone that makes it a real difference.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: So it had to be some political figure or Alexander
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: the Great or someone like that, you know, just someone
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: very interesting Marcus Aurelius maybe great.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Answers, Danny, We're loving Screaming of the Valkyries. Thanks so
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: much for your time today, No.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: My pleasure, thank you. Don't get album comes out Friday,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: which is actually the beginning of spring. And you know,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: I said that maybe it will be a conduit for
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: the album and there may may be another video of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: certain Persuasion coming over the next couple of weeks. God gossip.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for that. We can't wait.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool anyway, thanks and I take my leave.