Ahead of their July Australian tour, we speak to Dani Filth about Cradle Of Filth's cinematic live show, their partnership with DevilDriver and what to expect from their most riotous run of dates here yet.
Two years after their last Australian tour, Cradle Of Filth return this July alongside American groove metal band DevilDriver, whose frontman Dez Fafara also manages Cradle Of Filth.
With the band now in its 35th year, having sold over four million records since forming in the fabled ‘witch country’ of Suffolk, England in 1991, Cradle Of Filth are synonymous with one man – frontman, co-founder and sole remaining original member, Dani Filth. His band’s macabre, gothic allure is well matched to the ornate archways, marble and masonry of the historic venues hosting the tour, four of which first opened before 1930.
That atmosphere gets a physical boost from the rooms themselves – the Tivoli, the Enmore, the Forum and the Astor – when the tour kicks off on July 9. Perth closes the run on July 16, with Adelaide’s Hindley St Music Hall, opened in 2022, serving as the second-last stop. “The aesthetics help,” Filth explains. “I think the fans will like it.”
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Part of what’s driven the band’s momentum over the past eleven years is knowing who to share a stage with. Both bands first co-headlined in the US in 2023 across a two-leg tour, and the pairing stuck. Filth describes DevilDriver as the “meat and potatoes” to Cradle Of Filth’s “exotic dessert” – and the groove metal four-piece from Santa Barbara, southern California, isn’t short on their own talking points. Their city sits near The Lost Boys’ fictional vampire-riddled Santa Carla, AKA Santa Cruz, which feels appropriate. One of their most-streamed songs is a cover of AWOLNATION’s ‘Sail’, and they’ve put out two star-studded outlaw country cover albums, the second instalment of the Dealing With Demons double album arriving in May 2023.
DevilDriver formed in 2002, eleven years after Cradle Of Filth, and have been led since day one by Dez Fafara – who also happens to have managed Cradle Of Filth since 2014. Fafara runs The Oracle Management alongside his wife Anahstasia and counts Sharon Osbourne as a mentor. Before DevilDriver, he spent a decade fronting ’90s nu-metal outfit Coal Chamber, with two reunion stints following their original breakup.
“Dez is my manager and one of my best friends, so it’s good to hang out… our bands are slightly different, but they’re not a million miles apart sound‐wise, and the fans get on well,” Filth says.
Having now played every continent bar Africa and Metallica’s 2013 stomping ground of Antarctica, Filth is a long way from the self-confessed naivety that complicated his first Australian tour in 2001, supporting Cradle Of Filth’s fourth album Midian.
Filth tells us, “I don’t drink anymore, which is a good thing, because I once accidentally flooded the whole floor of a hotel by running a bath, then going back to bed and leaving the plug in… I woke up to banging on the door, jumped out, burnt my feet [in the water] on the floor [and incurred] about four and a half grand’s worth of damage… it wasn’t great.
“I don’t think it was drinking, I think it was more the fact that I had intense jet lag after [flying in] from Japan.”
Cradle of Filth x DevilDriver tour dates
- 9 July: The Tivoli, Brisbane
- 10 July: The Enmore, Sydney
- 11 July: The Forum, Melbourne
- 14 July: Hindley St Music Hall, Adelaide
- 16 July: The Astor, Perth
Even Cradle Of Filth’s most casual fans would know Filth for his trademark ‘boiling tea kettle’ scream – the jewel of a five-octave vocal range that spans vile, swampy growling all the way up to notes that trouble neighbouring dogs. It’s a technique front and centre on the band’s acclaimed fourteenth album, The Screaming Of The Valkyries, which landed high on global album charts.
In the wake of the album’s impact, “the shows are going to be big,” Filth says. “Very riotous and very cinematic… they’re going to be great.”
By most accounts, their latest album is one of their strongest in decades. Certain tracks, like ‘Malignant Perfection’ and ‘To Live Deliciously’, are now nestled online amongst classics like ‘Nymphetamine Fix’ and ‘Her Ghost In The Fog’. Cradle Of Filth are working on a studio-length follow-up, alongside a reissue of a 1999 EP, From The Cradle To Enslave. Their upcoming July tour marks the shortest gap between their visits to Australia.
“It may seem this way, but we’re not a band that goes out of their way to shock people,” Filth explains. “If we do, then it’s just part of what we are.” In fact, Filth is very charming, friendly and funny. He even has taxidermied butterflies on the wall of his living room in rainy England, next to a shrunken head and a mummy’s sarcophagus.
“[I’m] looking forward to coming to your beautiful country once again,” Filth says, in closing. Are sunshine and beaches on the menu? He counters the suggestion with a mention of “killer sharks.” Touché!
Presented by ThePhoenix.au and Metropolis Touring, tickets for Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver’s July tour of Australia are available through Ticketek.
