By BRIAN GIFFIN
DANI Filth doesn’t have much to say about the controversy in which his band was embroiled last year.
“We just ignored it,” he declares, of the very public spat between Cradle of Filth and former members Ashok and Zoe Marie Sederoff. He brushes it all off with the same casual demeanour he applies to the rest of our interview.
This week, he will be in full demonic stage fury mode when Cradle of Filth return to Australia.
Hot Metal: You’re going to be here in Australia again very soon, with DevilDriver. That’s a teaming that I think plenty of people may not have expected. But I know you’ve done it before.
Dani Filth: “Yeah, we’ve done it before. We’ve done two in America, and we wanted to bring it elsewhere. But it’s been about logistics and timing, really. Dez is part of our management team. One of my best friends, as well, and when we found out they were planning on going out to Australia around the same time, it just made sense to collaborate, fill bigger venues, bring a bigger production and I think it makes it more of an event to have two well-known bands. In the scheme of things, even though we’re two different genres, it works very well in tandem. Obviously, we’ve tested it out on two tours before. Fans love it.”
HM: I can remember the first time Cradle of Filth came to Australia, and the bands that appeared with you weren’t exactly all necessarily comparable to your aesthetic but it seemed to work very well. So it’s not without precedent.
DF: “Well, I think Australian audiences are very lenient. They just want to hear good music, whatever genre it comes from. It’s not chalk and cheese. It’s not like DevilDriver are a million miles removed from us. As my grandma would say, it’s all just noise, anyway! I think people will be delighted by it, to be honest.”
HM: I think crowds have changed a lot over the years and many people are less inclined to let genre barriers get in the way. There seems to be less of a definition between many of the genres for audiences – get two great bands together, it will bring people.
DF: “Well I know that from the ticket sales already. What is it today… it’s Friday, isn’t it? I should know that – I’m at home, not on tour, and I actually have a calendar! I pick up tickets this weekend and I know that two of them are on the cusp of sell-out. People are obviously interested or intrigued and I think in the end, it will probably be a sell-out tour. Fingers crossed! Touch wood!”
HM: Now last year of course there was a bit of controversy around the band. That’s not something that you’re a stranger to and you seem to have come through it with your usual aplomb, Dani.
DF: “We just ignored it! We actually, as people, as a band, as me, had done absolutely zero wrong. It was blown out of proportion and obviously the people in question were trying to derail the machine, trying to derail the band. But we took the higher ground, didn’t respond to it. We handled it legally – not that I wanted to handle to legally, because that’s not very cost effective. We won the case. We haven’t made a big deal out of winning the case, because we just don’t want any more backlash: we’ve got better things to do, you know? We’ve replaced those people with two amazing people. We’ve done an American tour, we’ve done summer festivals, we’re firing on all cylinders. Cradle are back! It never went away. It’s a shame, really, that this sort of thing happens. But life throws curveballs all the time. People say, ‘Yeah, you’ve got a new line-up.’ Well, do you want a fucking show, or not? Bands evolve. Nobody really complains, in the workplace, if somebody leaves the office, or the record label they’re working for, or the radio show or magazine. It’s just a case of mutate and survive. We evolve! We evolve and move on.”
HM: Cradle of Filth is a band that has evolved over a very long time now. It’s 2026, so it’s now well over 30 years you’ve been doing Cradle of Filth…
DF: “As other journalists have pointed out, regularly, making me feel old!”
HM: The band has changed a lot, and not just the membership. You’ve changed a lot of the aesthetic around the band, delving into a lot of different subjects and themes from what you began with back in the early nineties.
DF: “Well yes, of course! Being 30 years old will do that. You can exhaust the gene pool, as it were. I think the last record had plenty of elements that threw back to earlier carnations of the band. I know fans were very happy that we didn’t drift too far. We’re in the midst of recording a new album, and obviously that’s going to be on hold while we come to Australia. When we get back I’ll be starting on my vocals. We’re quite far advanced with this album. It will see release next year, and again, it’s a progression. I won’t go overboard on it, because things will change and we won’t be playing anything from the new album. We’ll be playing stuff from Screaming of the Valkyries, but that evolution is continuing. The new songs, the new album is just another step forward in the right direction.”
HM: There was a big gap between Valkyries and Existence is Futile.
DF: “That’s because COVID came along and Existence is Futile got pushed back. I look at earlier incarnations and some of those there was only a year and a half between – in ’96 we put two albums out. Then it was ’98, then it was 2000, with an EP in between. Then an EP, which was literally the record label selling it as an album anyway, because it was a year later. So we’ve been prolific. I don’t want to get to the stage where a band that seems to get into their later career and leave eight years between… and I know it’s something that some bands do to garner more interest from fans, because if you go away there’s more demand for it. But I don’t want to be that band that does – because obviously we’re all aging – an album when you’re 70. Because when does the next album come out? When you’re 85? That makes no sense. I don’t think anybody wants to see us hobbling on stage. It’s our life. It’s also our passion. The two don’t have to go hand-in-hand. The new album has been worked on very consistently. You’ll hear that, when it comes out. So it’s not just a throwaway thing to get material out. We’re just a prolific writing band and we’re just excited by what we do. We don’t want to leave it for years and years and years. Existence is Futile had quite a gap, but everybody did because of COVID.”
HM: As the band has become more established, do you have the luxury of taking more time between albums without so much pressure to keep pushing out new material?
DF: “As a more established band, as well, there’s more demand to play live. So there’s a world tour that is going to get in the way of being in the studio.”
HM: Does that mean you get a bit more time off, as well?
DF: (laughing) “I wish! Everyone always says… our management, which is actually Dez from DevilDriver, says, ‘You’ve got the backend of – whenever, whatever year it is’, and it never really equates to that. I forcibly have to take a holiday because holidays are a total reset. Get out of the mindset, get back into real life, experience a bit of the world and then come back refreshed and carry one. When we’re given three months as a downtime period, I guarantee that three months will be absolutely chock-a-block with other projects and looking forward to what we’ve got coming up next. But I’m cool with it. I’m down with it. I get very bored easily if we’re not working.”
HM: You always seem to have some project or other, not necessarily band related or even musical, that you’re always tinkering away at.
DF: “I’ve always forsaken actually having a life outside the band. It’s always been the band. Recently I’ve started some personal things. I started flying lessons, for example. Not throwing myself off a roof, but actually in planes. My arms don’t beat that fast, as I found out. So, things I’ve put off, I’ve thought well, fuck it, if it’s not going to get done now, it’ll never get done at all. It’s these distractions, they take time up but they refuel you quicker. I think I’ve learnt that over the years. You can be in the mindset of being in the band and you’ve got to get this done, and get this done, and it just takes longer because you haven’t had any time to yourself to refuel and reinvent yourself.”