Interview Dani Filth
After the sound check was finished the band got ready for all the interviewers waiting in the corridor. In small groups we were taken down to the back stage area of 013, some nervous some not but all excited.
Did you have stage acts from the beginning of the band?
We try to make it as creative as possible without sort of interfering with the idea of being a live show as such. So it’s good to have a balance struck somewhere or otherwise it’s gets a bit too like a circus. But yeah we have been definitely trying to do that
We try to make it as creative as possible without sort of interfering with the idea of being a live show as such. So it’s good to have a balance struck somewhere or otherwise it’s gets a bit too like a circus. But yeah we have been definitely trying to do that
How did this element of your show develop throughout the years?
Well sometimes it’s due to availability. The thing about having anything on stage is, everything has got to be fire retardant and has got to be flame prove so that kind of narrows down a lot of options. And then also your performers; you have to take care of a performers protection thing which in America is crippling, and the costs of course. Subject to availability and these other things, I guess it has just been trying to change your ideas and such with each album I guess and I mean if you have the perfect stage show, you wouldn’t really have to worry about these kind of issues.
Well sometimes it’s due to availability. The thing about having anything on stage is, everything has got to be fire retardant and has got to be flame prove so that kind of narrows down a lot of options. And then also your performers; you have to take care of a performers protection thing which in America is crippling, and the costs of course. Subject to availability and these other things, I guess it has just been trying to change your ideas and such with each album I guess and I mean if you have the perfect stage show, you wouldn’t really have to worry about these kind of issues.
Who designs them, who thinks of them?
Well we just sit and talk with our stage manager, I mean it is not a great deal to actually have to press upon a band to do, just to come up with a couple of ideas, we do sit down with our stage manager and say right this what we want to try and where can we get it from.
Well we just sit and talk with our stage manager, I mean it is not a great deal to actually have to press upon a band to do, just to come up with a couple of ideas, we do sit down with our stage manager and say right this what we want to try and where can we get it from.
So you think of it yourself?
Well yeah I guess so yeah.
Well yeah I guess so yeah.
And the inspiration for it?
I don’t know I guess a little bit of the inspiration was he fact that we shot a video for our track Temptation. Which was set around this garden of Eden vibe and so we took that as a basis really on stage. It’s just, you’re depicting a scene and lighting it to give it various sort of changed effects in order to give the audience a frame of mind a focus point to latch on to, to create their ideas from. And basically just dressing up the stage, give another kind of window than what you are trying to achieve. Playing flat against the stage… they may have seen flat before with another band.
I don’t know I guess a little bit of the inspiration was he fact that we shot a video for our track Temptation. Which was set around this garden of Eden vibe and so we took that as a basis really on stage. It’s just, you’re depicting a scene and lighting it to give it various sort of changed effects in order to give the audience a frame of mind a focus point to latch on to, to create their ideas from. And basically just dressing up the stage, give another kind of window than what you are trying to achieve. Playing flat against the stage… they may have seen flat before with another band.
To emphasis the meaning of the song…
Well maybe just a building block to play the songs from you can’t keep shifting. We kind of tried to achieve that with filmed visuals, to try and relate each song to a moveable background
Well maybe just a building block to play the songs from you can’t keep shifting. We kind of tried to achieve that with filmed visuals, to try and relate each song to a moveable background
How do you find the actors/dancers?
Well actually we don’t have any actors or any dancers on this particular tour we tried to, not make it more intimate as such but a bit more band
We used people like that in videos or sometimes, shoot them for shirts and album covers and such so we’ve got a lot of contacts.
Well actually we don’t have any actors or any dancers on this particular tour we tried to, not make it more intimate as such but a bit more band
We used people like that in videos or sometimes, shoot them for shirts and album covers and such so we’ve got a lot of contacts.
I’ve seen the show at Graspop (a festival in Belgium) and you have walking puppets and gargoyles, you have to bring those people along for the tour…
Yes of course, yes
They are dancers; they are involved in things like Cirque du Soleil and such.
Yes of course, yes
They are dancers; they are involved in things like Cirque du Soleil and such.
Do you have any wishes according to stage performance, what would be the ideal thing to place on stage?
I’d like a giant robot that could just rip the roof of and go around the city terrorizing it, with lasers and all, that would be brilliant (laughs).
I’d like a giant robot that could just rip the roof of and go around the city terrorizing it, with lasers and all, that would be brilliant (laughs).
Would you ever consider hiring anyone from outside to develop a show for you?
Yes of course we would yeah…
It is a case of cost; bands need to keep their cost down.
Yes of course we would yeah…
It is a case of cost; bands need to keep their cost down.
What would your advice be for a person like that?
Work your way up and get a name for yourself because I can say, I think restrictions would be for that band to keep their cost down. They need a balance between availability and cost because some venues have different shapes from others so something that strikes a balance between funds and looking good.
Work your way up and get a name for yourself because I can say, I think restrictions would be for that band to keep their cost down. They need a balance between availability and cost because some venues have different shapes from others so something that strikes a balance between funds and looking good.
There are some guest vocalist on the new album are they ever going to perform with you live?
Yeah maybe yes.
Yeah maybe yes.
Any plans?
Well only that we did some songs that didn’t make the record by default of it, it would have been too long of a record but they’re going to be released some time in the future and one of the guest vocalists is one of the guys from Sabbath and these guys are supporting us in England so he’s just going sing. And I suppose if you do a festival with Him, we’d try and drag Ville on.
Well only that we did some songs that didn’t make the record by default of it, it would have been too long of a record but they’re going to be released some time in the future and one of the guest vocalists is one of the guys from Sabbath and these guys are supporting us in England so he’s just going sing. And I suppose if you do a festival with Him, we’d try and drag Ville on.
Would you ever consider performing with the vocalist of heaven17
(Laughs) I don’t know about that, maybe.
(Laughs) I don’t know about that, maybe.
How do you prepare yourself just before a show, I guess everyone needs their own moment?
Well that is true yes, most of the time I never get that moment, I am always five minutes behind with everybody else. Even though I start two hours early, it don’t know. I think everybody does just take 5 minutes and I go warm up vocally so that is my kind of space.
Well that is true yes, most of the time I never get that moment, I am always five minutes behind with everybody else. Even though I start two hours early, it don’t know. I think everybody does just take 5 minutes and I go warm up vocally so that is my kind of space.
Do you prefer festivals or normal shows, your own concerts?
I did just prefer our own concerts prior to the summer but we had a really good space of festivals and they were really enjoyable so the balance got slightly tipped in their favour. I like them because you get the chance to speak to more people, get to party with more bands but it also deludes your attention on the audience.
I did just prefer our own concerts prior to the summer but we had a really good space of festivals and they were really enjoyable so the balance got slightly tipped in their favour. I like them because you get the chance to speak to more people, get to party with more bands but it also deludes your attention on the audience.
‘I Am The Thorn’, what are your thorns?
Mine? Record company people (laughs), because I am too ambitious for my own good, the band is only too decadent for its own good. Alcohol, I have actually stopped drinking for the tour, this is to be hard, especially in a band like ours.
So no party afterwards?
There will be, it will just be slightly boring (laughs)
There will be, it will just be slightly boring (laughs)
‘Temptation’, what is your biggest temptation?
Cars and women. But I am married so that half thing is ok.
I have got that temptation covered
Cars and women. But I am married so that half thing is ok.
I have got that temptation covered
If you could choose any performer dead or alive to perform with you who would it be?
(Thinking) Stravinsky. I’d like to add some classical music.
(Thinking) Stravinsky. I’d like to add some classical music.
I spoke to some fans of yours in the pub today and I asked them if you could ask Cradle of Filth one question what would it be? And they were dying to know where the skeleton in your kitchen is coming from.
It was applied by university so it didn’t come with a statement of who it was but it came from a university where I guess they dissect human corpses. The thing is it was set under glass, all lit up but, I mean it had loads of old coins in there and sand so it looked more like some kind of pirate. But we had this plumber and he didn’t put the stop back on our dishwasher properly and it flooded and it blew all the lights so the skeleton is in darkness at the moment.
It was applied by university so it didn’t come with a statement of who it was but it came from a university where I guess they dissect human corpses. The thing is it was set under glass, all lit up but, I mean it had loads of old coins in there and sand so it looked more like some kind of pirate. But we had this plumber and he didn’t put the stop back on our dishwasher properly and it flooded and it blew all the lights so the skeleton is in darkness at the moment.
After the news of the poor skeleton in the dark we said goodbye so Dani had some time to eat and get ready for their performance.
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