Cradle of Filth - Storm Before and After the Calm Part I
By: Mike Sloan
Blistering.com: When the band filmed the concert at the Graspop festival – and with all the other shows you film for movie/DVD – is there any added collective pressure amongst the band members? Are there any added nerves because since it’s being filmed, you guys (and girl) want to play as perfectly as possible?
Filth: Well, that’s the thing -- we didn’t know! We weren’t the people who actually recorded it and we didn’t have any plans on having that show commissioned. It was actually shot on the day and we managed to get a copy of it. And we thought, “Wow, this is really an honest-to-God representation’ – pardon the pun – ‘representation of Cradle of Filth live.’ There weren’t any frills as in it’s a big production with 15,000 kids there. There were no over-dubs; it is what it is. There are some mistakes in there and it gives it a real honest brutality to the proceedings. And when we saw it, we were like, “yeah, yeah! Let’s put the whole thing in there!” Obviously it wasn’t as easy as, “oh let’s just go and put that on there,” [laughs] but it works. It’s good.
Blistering.com: I thought it came out well. What I thought was humorous was that throughout the show, you kept referencing A Bullet for My Valentine being over on the main stage. I’m not exactly a fan of their music but I thought it was funny. What’s the story behind the barbs you threw their way? Is there some sort of rivalry brewing between the bands or was it just you poking fun at them?
Filth: Well, they actually weren’t on the main stage and we actually had more people than they did. Judas Priest was actually on the main stage. They were just about to come on about halfway through our set. But no, there wasn’t anything against them. It was more kind of just a jibe at a fellow British band and they obviously aren’t on the same, I don’t know, wavelength as us. They have a completely different fanbase than us. It was nothing nasty at all; it was really just an innocent, I guess, friendly dig-in-the-ribs kind of British humor sort of thing.
Blistering.com: Okay. I wasn’t aware of any kind of rivalry or animosity between the two bands when I watched the video.
Filth: It’s funny because we played to more people than they did, which we didn’t know at the time. It was a small triumph for us because we obviously don’t sell even half of the albums that A Bullet for My Valentine does because they are more mainstream. I guess that’s the irony of the situation.
Blistering.com: When I watched the documentary, I noticed a few of the people had their faces blurred. What’s the reason behind that? They didn’t want their identities revealed or are they no longer a part of the crew?
Filth: I think that’s more of the authorization thing, really. I don’t know what it’s really about, to be quite honest. Sometimes you wind up working with some weird people and they just, I don’t know… They’re just particularly weird [laughs]. Maybe they just wanted their faces to be blurred? I don’t know [chuckles].
Blistering.com: [Laughs] I wasn’t sure if there was some sort of major reason behind it.
Filth: Oh no, no, no! They haven’t been arrested for rape or anything like that.
Blistering.com: How much footage from that documentary was shot but never used for the DVD? Is there anything in particular that you would have loved to have been released but due to time constraints just couldn’t fit?
Filth: Oh, there was loads of footage. There was so much stuff that we couldn’t use. I was actually quite a bit annoyed with it, really, because there were a few people who purposely kind of ruined it and made it socially unacceptable [laughs loudly] to be broadcast. But with the whole Russian tour, many of the people were really just tired and that’s really the whole honesty of the documentary. People would be getting into the hotel half past 1 AM and full of energy, still ramped up from the gig, and we’d have to be downstairs in about four hours for the train and then a plane. This went on for about two weeks. We didn’t want to push everybody too far because everybody was physically and mentally tired by the end.
Blistering.com: I’ve been to hundreds of concerts across the US and the people who attend the shows are pretty much the same sort of person in every city at every show. What about the rest of the world? Are the metalheads in other countries the same as here in the US or are there any cities or countries that are different from the rest?
Filth: Yeah. Well, they are different from continent to continent in terms of their belief system or area or what have you. Obviously the people in India are different from those in Canada. But, essentially, they (metalheads) are all made of the same mold, really. I’m speaking on behalf of our fans, but I have seen other bands’ fans as well. Our fans are pretty much mental the world over.
Blistering.com: What city or country has the craziest, most rabid Cradle of Filth fans?
Filth: I’d say some of the hotter countries. Places like India or parts of South America where it’s really hot. I’m not saying that they are more of fans than any other country but they just seem to be more insane. I’ve seen near riots and I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s something in the water? But places with hot temperaments seem to have more vicious fans.
Part II of Mike's chat with Dani will be posted Tuesday, February 21.
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