Cradle Of Filth
WITH a career spanning more than 15 years and eight albums under their belt, Cradle Of Filth are one of the most successful metal bands Britain has produced since Iron Maiden.
Their latest album, Godspeed On The Devil's Thunder, is a concept record based on the life of the infamous 15th century French nobleman Gilles De Rais, who fought alongside Joan of Arc.
Prior to a tour which will take them across Europe and America, the band play the Northampton Roadmender.
Jamie Harper spoke to frontman Dani Filth about his expectations for the tour and their latest album. "We wanted to try something a little different," says Dani - explaining their warm-up show in the county.
"We've never played in Northampton before and it's quite a good area for us, on the very fringes of East Anglia and the gateway to the North really.
"It should be good fun and we're looking forward to it."
Having embarked on multiple world tours and sold millions of records, you would expect a performance in front of a few hundred people would be a walk in the park for the band.
However, Dani reveals he finds the smaller venues still just as challenging.
"Playing the smaller, more intimate venues is actually in some ways more terrifying," he says. "You could argue the larger performances make you more nervous because if you make a mistake it's in front of many more people.
"I probably prefer playing the more intimate gigs because it kind of brings you back down to ground level in a way. It's also a pretty good basis to springboard from if you're then on quite a large tour."
Cradle of Filth's new album saw producer Andy Sneap at the helm, marking a new collaboration for the band.
"We also made changes to the whole recording process," explains Dani.
"We had to demo everything so extensively on this album.
"Being a concept album we had to make sure it all fit together properly and that everything was working and that ultimately it made sense.
"We had two recording studios set up, which meant I was able to record vocals at the same time that the guitars were also being recorded.
"It was a totally new approach to recording really. It meant that the overall process was a lot quicker.
"We didn't really get to the stage where getting up in the morning becomes a drag, which, when you are recording for months on end, it really can be. You get sick of the place."
Cradle of Filth have been criticised for becoming progressively more commercial over the years, something which frustrates Dani.
"Becoming more commercial is something that has been leveled at us for the last 10 years and to be honest, it's becoming quite tiring," he explains.
"We've not made any effort to specifically go back to our roots at all, I guess it's just progressed naturally this way.
"It's more reminiscent because of the faster drums, more symphonic nature and the fact that's a concept album.
"You'll always find someone to criticise it, it'll be too fast or slow for someone."
The band's 2006 album Thornography was one of their most successful albums.
The record left fans wondering if their new album would continue in the same direction or see the band return to their earlier sound.
"The new album is certainly different from Thornography; that one was more jaded, perhaps it was more commercial," says Dani.
"This one is going back to our roots and probably more gothic. I guess it's easily summarised as mixture of all our other records, perhaps more streamlined.
"Put simply, it's modern Cradle Of Filth with ancient sensibilities."
The band hasn't embarked on a full tour since September last year, with the Roadmender gig paving the way for a series of December gigs across Europe before the band heads to America.
"We're really looking forward to getting back into it," says Dani.
"It will be one of the first times that we play our new material.
"The following European tour is very similar to a festival in a way as we only have an hour set so there will be new tracks but obviously we have a duty to play the classic Cradle songs too.
"The good thing is that we can play a whole hour-and-a-half set in Northampton,
which is something won't be able to do for the rest of the tour.
"We're looking forward to it, let's hope Northampton's ready for us." Cradle of Filth plays the Roadmender on Sunday, November 30.
Tickets cost 11 and doors open at 7.30pm.
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