SEM'S APOCALYPTIC DWELLING | home
Current line up- 
Dani : Lycanthroat
Gian : Minor Frets
Martin : Suicide Notes / Broken Heart Strings
Paul : Discordant Abortion
Adrian : Nordic Thunder Cracks
Robin Graves : Nocturnal Pulse
Sarah Jezebel Deva : Female vocals
Pics 
band pics flags vamps /girls
elizabeth various pics dani pics
Band Bio Cradle of Filth was formed in the summer of 1991 with Dani Filth as the vocalist, Paul Ryan on guitars, John Richard on bass, and Darren White as drummer. In 1992, the Demo, Invoking the Unclean was released. Robin Graves then basically became the bassist and the 1993 demo, Orgiastic Pleasures was released. Ben Ryan then joined on keyboards and Paul Allendar arrived on guitars. In December of 1993, the only important demo according to Dani, Total F**king Darkness, was released. By marketing themselves as Supreme Vampiric Evil, the band generated much interest from record labels. Finally, in 1993, Cradle of Filth signed with Cacophonous Records. At that time, Nicholas Barker joined the Filth and what has been called the "greatest Black Metal Release ever," was produced. In 1994, the world was ushered into The Principle of Evil Made Flesh., CoF's first album. Cradle of Filth then became known for their extravagant live performances. On Principle, the use of beautiful instrumental interludes allowed Cradle of Filth to set the mood for their next series of sngs. With this fame, disputes between the Filth and Cacophonous began over lack of promotion and money. Lineup changes also occured during this time. Paul and Ben Ryan left the band also with Paul Allendar. John Richard went on then to form Hecate Enthroned. The members were replaced by Stuart Anstis on guitars, Jared Demeter temporarily on guitars, and Damien Gregori on keyboards. As a compromise with Cacophonous, Vempire or Dark Faerytale in Phallustein was released to get the band out of its contract. Vempire allowed to band a transition to their next release, Dusk and Her Embrace, a compilation deemed "too good for Cacophonous." With 100,000 copies of each cd sold, Cradle of Filth were fast becoming the Biggest Black Metal band in the world. The band signed with Music for Nations in 1996, and with the labels Mayhem Records U.S. connections, atmosphere was broadened for Cradle of Filth. Gian Pyres then joined the band. Dusk and Her Embrace was released on Monday, December 18, 1996. With vampyric cover art by Simon Marsden, Dusk became an instand undergroudn classic. The release of Cruelty and the Beast in 1998 added to the success of Cradle of Filth, making them widely popular among the Black Metal scene. The band was questioned in the Vatican because of their questionable attire, consisting of Dani's "I love Satan," t-shirt. Through the controversy and censorship, Cradle of Filth has come out triumphant. With the recent departure of Nick, Stuart, Lecter, and temporarily Gian, the band was strained. With the addition of Was Sarginson of Robin Graves' project, December Moon, things seemed to be on the repair, but he left and Dave Hirscheimer replaved him, and can be seen on the Pandaemonaeon video. Gian returned after certain situations were resolved and Paul Allendar returned to the band, new members Martin Powell, and Adrian Erlandsson seem to have brought new vitality to this decade old band. Let's only hope the peace lasts...
interviews Interview with GianWhat exactly was the problem with Cacophonous, your previous label?
There were several disagreements between the band and the label, a few of which involved disputes over money. It's pretty much over and behind us now and I don't really feel like talking about it.
Has your partnership with Fierce/Mayhem been a good one?
I've not been to the States, but Dani has and he was impressed with the way the American record company was handling things. So far things have been going well.
Where does the lyrical influence come from?
The overall theme originates from the 19th century literature written in England. Essentially eroticism was disguised by using gothic poetry. It's Dani who writes the lyrics in the band and he reads the most gothic poetry but everyone has interest. I'm more of a reader of books.
How would you compare Dusk and Her Embrace to Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein?
I like them both. As a guitar player I think Dusk is probably lot better. I was able to overlay many harmonies and there is a lot of aggression since when we recorded we were really pissed off about our label situation and the management.
Do you have any plans to release your demo recordings?
We talk about doing it with different people, but they're not of a good enough quality. We're very picky about quality.
How about a home video of some sort?
That's sort of going on right now. We had disagreements with the director we had hired which led to questioning what we wanted to do and what he wanted to do. We're looking at what we can do now with a different director. We have to have maximum input on everything we do. Some of the people we work with have a shaky grip on what this band is about. We plan to have a proper video for one song that will include live footage. We have some footage from the live shows in Europe last year which were filmed using a camcorder. We hope to have the video out by the end of the year. There will also be an edited version of the video for MTV.
So what is the band about?
It's about hedonism... enjoying yourself... self-indulgence. We play music we all like and we enjoy ourselves with it. We try to create the atmospheres similar to the horror films we're into.
I've heard rumours about a Dusk And Her Embrace: The Movie?
That was the plan before we ran into all these label difficulties. But we would not call it "Dusk and Her Embrace: The Movie". That was a record company name and I think it's a bit tacky.
Now, about the censorship issues... what are your views on the Kerrang ban [The front cover of Kerrang featuring a blood splattered image of Dani and Nicholas]?
The front cover? It's plain commercialism. Kerrang is the biggest selling rock magazine in the U.K. and they have to pander to the newsagents who carry their magazine. We don't care it was banned. It's cool to get coverage and stuff from them. The original cover is a poster which is available anywhere. Nicholas was arrested on the way to the Dynamo festival. We had our tour bus parked near a police station and a police officer cames to us and said "I don't want to arrest you but our sergeant is a Christian and he has asked me to arrest you." Nicholas was wearing the Vestal Masturbation t-shirt at that time...
There was this guy Rob Kenyon who was also arrested in London for wearing the same T-shirt...
Yes, he was fined some ridiculous amount [150 pounds]. There was bullshit here. He lost his rights to appeal. He was unemployed in England and they were not granting the government support for the legal fees to appeal. The legal fees are too expensive for anyone to afford. He was arrested in the red light district, which is simply stupid. We still continue to print the t-shirt.
Kerrang said the "cover was likely to cause offense". What is your advice to people who may be offended by your art?
If you're offended it's your problem. If you're Christian forgive me. None of us are stupid enough to do anything we do. All I can say is to go out and use your brain.
What is the state of metal in the U.K.?
It's not so bad in England. There's a band called Phine (?) from Yorkshire who are very progressive. I think they're exceptional.
What other bands do you like?
Emperor, Celtic Frost, Anathema, My Dying Bride... I also like the Mortiis solo stuff and his side-project Vond. It's not the kind of stuff I sit and listen to, but I like it. The black metal scene sort of caught up with me, but I wasn't part of the black metal. It was the way things were going at that time. I played in extreme metal bands since I was 14 years old.
Do you use standard tuning for your guitars?
No, it's a whole step down across the guitar strings.
How does Dani's voice stand up to singing live?
Pretty well, as long as he doesn't exert himself too much. He has to give it 100% all the time. Sometimes his vocals are drowned in the mix and if he tries too hard to make himself heard he can hurt himself.
Some people would claim you're pretentious and pompous; would you agree?
I think we're pretentious and pompous. That's the problem with black metal. The thing is that we have very black humour and certain things are said tongue-in-cheek just to annoy the Christians or the other metal bands. You need to use your brain and decide what we say is serious and what is not.
What has influenced you musically?
Heavy metal, early black metal, and we're also into a lot of soundtrack music, like the music in .
Have you had any formal musical training?
I've had a little and so has Damien, but most of it is self-taught.
How would you contrast your version of Hell Awaits, which is extremely raw and aggressive, to others on the Slayer tribute album?
I think it's cool to do a cover if you do it in your own style. I got the whole album and there are some really really good versions of Slayer songs on there. Most of them are good tracks, but they sound like Slayer. And those bands are really capable of doing something new with the songs. I think it is good to have a little bit of disrespect when you're doing covers. I've heard that Slayer hate our version [according to a journalist Dani spoke with]. Well, I think Slayer's last two albums particularly sucked. I enjoyed doing the cover though.
If you had the capital to put on a show of your choosing, what kind of a show would it be? Would it be more like the shock-rock of W.A.S.P. or more conceptual?
It would much much more tasteful. The sort of horror we're influenced by is gothic horror. I don't believe in shock for shock. We'd like to do a full stage show with extensive lights that ties in the music and lyrics in the albums. We've been working on designing and constantly redoing these shows and we have million ideas for things you can do on stage, but we lack the capital.
What motivates you to keep making music?
We have a passion for it. That's a great deal of what it is. There are plenty of bands that give up all the time and most bands would if they'd had a third of the shit we've had. I think life is better off. I don't have a great deal of money, probably less than people who have a regular job, but I'm fairly satisfied.
Interview with Dani, Stuart and GianHow did it start?
Dani : The things we grew up on was the isolation, in the area which we live. We live very much in the heart of the countryside. And although it is only 70 kilometres from London, it is very rural, so there is those feelings of isolation, but it is very beautiful, and it is beautiful at night, and this is something we've grown up with. Also the quality of English Litterature, as well, especially from the last century.
Stuart : I think a great thing is that most of us have a healthy disrespect for modern society, and behaving in a civilized manner, to actually answer your question I think how it started was, whenever you developed logical thought we decided that something was a miss, and we lost interest in the normal system of things.
Satanism
Dani : Firstly the term Satanism or Satanist is refered to anyone that lives outside morality. And the maxim of this band is to do what thou wilth, we do exactly what we want to do, all the time. And we get a lot of bad press for it, from the people, but if you can't enjoy yourself or live your life to the maximum of its ability, and make people do what you want, rather than the other way around, to us it's a negative concept to live our lives like that, so that's the maxim, do what thou wilth, and basically because of that we do piss a lot of people off, and people label us as various things. But Neo-Nazis, No! Nein! No way! That's a concept generated by the whole Norwegian affair. Satan is a tag, as I said, the people just use it to describe people that are irreligious or free thinkers. It's literally a Middle Age, isn't it a Dark Age concept?
The Vestal Masturbation T-shirt affair
Stuart : He was arrested in a red light district of London, at about midnight, with the Jesus is a Cunt/Vestal Masturbation T-shirt.
Dani : But they didn't see the backprint of the shirt which reads: Jesus is a Cunt, all they could see, because he had a coat on, was the masturbating nun, in the middle of an area that is associated with Hardcore sex, which is peculiar.
Gian : And we have as much respect for the church as the Church has respect for anybody else.
Dani : And that's my point, the Church is not important. The power of the Church of England is weining considerably due to all the sex-scandals that keep coming up, which is totally ironic. The whole business about this T-shirt scandal was, that it would affect art in general, in talking about any media interest, films, books, just cencorship in general. If they can bring back laws that are a hundred and fifty years old, and then throw them out the window again, just for rare cases, where is it going to end?
Black Metal music
Black Metal music is really rising and shining in Finland at the moment, and it seems that Black Metal music is getting more and more people surrounding around it. Why do you think this is like this?
Dani : Because I think it has passion and it hasn't got any barriers, and it hasn't got anyone saying: It has to sound like this... Burp! ... Excuse me. There's no barriers, it transcends certain characteristics i.e. guitars, drums, it could be anything. We use orchestration, we've got a celloist, we bring in a violin, we also use sequenced stuff, female vocals. It's got nowhere to finish, and it's all atmosphere. The whole thing springboards from atmosphere and the invication of emotion, and I think that's what people like, the fact that it's just raw, untamed emotion.
Various InfoWhat are the bands musical influences?
Bathory, Celtic Frost, Sodom, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Venom, Iron Maiden, etc.
Why is the band called Cradle of Filth?
Dani thought the name up during his school days. The name has no special meaning. Dani sayed this about it: "'It was a band I made up while doodling on my exercise book at school".
Did they ever have another name?
Originally, they were called PDA. "It could mean anything - Positive Drinking Attitude, or Proper Drug Addicts...".
Why are there so many line-up changes?
The sad fact is, Cradle of Filth is an inherently unlucky band. John left for university, the Ryan brothers were thrown out due to personal differences, Paul Allender followed the Ryan brothers, Damien left due to musical differences, Nicholas left because of other interests and so did Gian. Read for the latest line-up troubles the news.
What happened to all those people?
John formed Hecate Enthroned, a CoF-clone. The Ryan brothers formed the Blood Divine together with Darren White (ex-Anathema). They released 2 albums, after which they split up. Nicholas is the drummer of Dimmu Borgir nowadays. Paul A. is back in CoF.