DANI FILTH Says New CRADLE OF FILTH Members 'Excite' And 'Inspire' Him To Come Up With Ideas

Metal Wani's Fernando Bonenfant conducted an interview with frontman Dani Filth of U.K. extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH. You can watch the full interview below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether he thinks music videos are as helpful to an album's promotion as they used to be:

Dani: "Probably not. No, because, the music industry has obviously taken a bit of a slow dive. You've got Spotify and all these other platforms that don't pay you. [Laughs] Record companies I don't think are invested as much — I know they're not. It's just simple math, isn't it? You don't sell as many records, people aren't buying records, so record companies don't invest as much money. So I think it's important when you get the chance to do something, you do it proper, like this video [for 'Heartbreak And Séance'] . Bands earn their money more from playing live and merchandise and what have you nowadays. It's a slightly strange set of events. It's not what you would expect, unfortunately, if it's your job, which is mine, it's about mutating and surviving. That's what it literally means. Like when you get on the tour bus and go, 'I can't sleep in there, it's too small.' You go, 'Suck it up. You've got to.' That's how we deal with the whole music industry nowadays. The fact you just get on with it because that's your job."

On how the band's forthcoming "Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay" album stacks up against 2015's "Hammer Of The Witches":

Dani: "I can't answer that question. We just do what we do and we enjoy it. For example, somebody asked me, 'What album have you played more than any other album in the world?' I'm, like, 'The last one.' Because you do and you love it and you nurture it. Going on press trips, I have to note every single part of it. But that only stays like that until the next record. I know, it sounds awful, but that's entirely the truth. Each album is a step forward. It might not appeal to everybody's ideology of CRADLE OF FILTH. Some people want it to sound like this, or sound like 'Midian' or 'Cruelty And The Beast', but I think what people forget, like anybody in any other band, if I speak to Tom Araya [SLAYER] or the guys from EMPEROR, you write music for yourself. You want your fans to like it, but at the end of the day, you can't…if you don't like what you're doing or if you're not happy with yourself as a person, how can you expect anybody else to be happy with you? It's the same thing with music."

On CRADLE OF FILTH's latest lineup has affected the band's musical direction:

Dani: "I think that's more to do with having a very, very, very good band around me. They keep it fresh. They, without sounding perverse, 'excite' me. They inspire me to come up with my ideas and, yeah, that's what keeps it fresh. Like I said, for example, Rich [Shaw], our guitarist, total prog meister, loves his prog, even plays QUEEN, the musical, then you got Ashok [guitar], who loves his traditional metal. Martin [Škaroupka, drums] is just a musical genius anyway. Dan [Firth, bass], who literally grew up in the last century, he literally discovered heavy metal, because of that, he loves lots of old stuff [like] RUNNING WILD. Who listens to RUNNING WILD? And then Lindsay [Schoolcraft, keyboards] as well, who has a different take on everything because she's very much into this gothic-infused end of the spectrum, but it all works. It's sort of like little pieces of the puzzle."

On the secret to CRADLE OF FILTH's longevity:

Dani: "Hmm… [Laughs] Stuff. Literally, I don't know. Just a passion for what we do and a hunger to just carry on with what we do. We all, like I said, I don't want to over-alliterate this, we just, as a band, we like a lot of diverse stuff. When we go on tour, we will sit down, for example, on the tour bus and we'll argue about music, like 'Who wants to play the next song?' And that's good, that's healthy. I think that all keeps the band fresh is the fact that everyone just wants to just make music, basically. Obviously, not reggae."

On whether he's faced any challenges dividing time between CRADLE OF FILTH and his DEVILMENT side-project:

Dani: "Well, yeah, yeah. Stuff is always challenging, but it's fun. See, CRADLE is obviously my baby and that's where my heart lies because that's my career. Like I said, if I wasn't in CRADLE, I'd probably work at a Burger King or Five Guys. But DEVILMENT, everybody lives in my locality. It's like letting off steam. I'm not going to be rude about it and say I don't think about [it], but it comes a lot easier. CRADLE's got longevity, like it's got a huge history, so a new album is always a challenge because people are expecting so much. With DEVILMENT, we can do what we want, really. Again, a great bunch of people. I'm fortunate to be in two really, well, kind of popular bands with a completely different set of people in each one and all of them are really cool. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be doing it. I've got better things… I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing something I didn't want to do. And I don't. It's hard work, but it's gratifying, like I said. I love what I do, both different kinds of music and a lot of cool people to hang around with."

"Cryptoriana - The Seductiveness of Decay" will be released on September 22 via Nuclear Blast. The album was recorded at Grindstone Studios, Suffolk, U.K. by Scott Atkins, who has been the resident go-to producer for CRADLE OF FILTH for several albums.