CRADLE OF FILTH's DANI FILTH Denies Former Bandmembers' Accusations: 'We Had Done Absolutely Zero Wrong'

In a new interview with Hot Metal, vocalist Dani "Filth" Davey of British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH spoke about the controversy surrounding the fact that several former members of CRADLE OF FILTH filed a lawsuit in 2025 against Dani and the group's management. It followed allegations levelled at the vocalist by guitarist Marek "Ashok" Šmerda and keyboardist Zoe Marie Federoff. The pair quit the group in August 2025 over alleged poor pay and "psychopathic" contracts.

Dani said: "We just ignored it. We actually, as people, as a band, as me, had done absolutely zero wrong. It was blown out of proportion …

"We've done an American tour, we've done summer festivals, we're firing on all cylinders. CRADLE are back," he explained. "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 lineup.' Well, do you want a fucking show or not? Bands evolve," Dani added. "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."

Last August, Šmerda and Federoff — who are husband and wife — both announced their intention to leave CRADLE OF FILTH, after 11- and three-year stints with the group, respectively. Federoff revealed she would be leaving the band immediately, while Šmerda said he would finish the band's then-in-progress tour.

In an initial post, Federoff stated: "For personal reasons, I am unable to continue this tour and continue in general with CRADLE OF FILTH." Šmerda, for his part, wrote that "the reasons" for his departure were that he and his wife "simply do not feel like CRADLE can provide for our future, and in fact hinders it. Among other reasons, it is a lot of work for relatively low pay, the stress is quite high, and we haven't felt like this band actually prioritizes/cares about its members. It has been years of unprofessional behavior from people above us that led to our decision."

CRADLE OF FILTH later issued a statement of its own in response to the posts, claiming that Šmerda had been fired following "attempts to illegally defame and derail the band".

In October 2025, Šmerda and Federoff filed a legal complaint against CRADLE OF FILTH and their management company Oracle. The following month, that complaint was amended to include additional plaintiffs: fellow ex-CRADLE OF FILTH members, guitarists Richard Shaw and Paul Allender, keyboardist Lindsay Matheson, as well as Sasha Baxter, a.k.a. Sasha Massacre, a model who had appeared in the band's music videos for "To Live Deliciously" and "Malignant Perfection". The lawsuit alleged unpaid royalties and "unauthorized use and ongoing commercial exploitation of Plaintiffs' likenesses and images in merchandise." It claimed that some of the former bandmembers were never compensated for studio time for CRADLE OF FILTH's past three studio albums — 2017's "Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness Of Decay", 2021's "Existence Is Futile" and 2025's "The Screaming Of The Valkyries" — and that Baxter was never compensated for the two music videos she appeared in, or the merchandise sold using her likeness. Matheson also claimed that CRADLE OF FILTH had used sigils she created without compensation or approval.

Šmerda and Federoff filed legal papers in Arizona, where they currently reside.

Allender was in CRADLE OF FILTH for two spells (1992-1995 and 1999-2014) while Shaw was in the band from 2014 though 2022. Lindsay was CRADLE OF FILTH's keyboardist from 2013 to 2020.

CRADLE OF FILTH's latest album, "The Screaming Of The Valkyries" was produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Scott Atkins at Grindstone Studios in Suffolk, England.

In 2023, CRADLE OF FILTH released its first live album in over 20 years, "Trouble And Their Double Lives", via Napalm Records. The LP was recorded between 2014 and 2019 at different performances in the USA, Europe, Australia and beyond during the band's "Cryptoriana" world tour and dates following.