Cradle of Filth, Part III
NadaMucho.com Interview – Cradle of Filth
Part 3 of 3
Q & A with Dave Pybus
By August Mark Thomas Jude Pierre Francis Smith-Arcarese
At this point, again, my tape runs out. Martin, like Paul, is exceedingly polite and even calls me “sir”.
The last person I speak to is Dave Pybus … I am still digging for more information about the concept of the album.
NadaMucho.com: One of the things on my mind is that you guys seem pretty serious about Satanism…
Dave Pybus: Satanism?
NadaMucho.com Interview – Cradle of Filth
Part 3 of 3
Q & A with Dave Pybus
By August Mark Thomas Jude Pierre Francis Smith-Arcarese
At this point, again, my tape runs out. Martin, like Paul, is exceedingly polite and even calls me “sir”.
The last person I speak to is Dave Pybus … I am still digging for more information about the concept of the album.
NadaMucho.com: One of the things on my mind is that you guys seem pretty serious about Satanism…
Dave Pybus: Satanism?
NM: That seems to be the case. Maybe I’m wrong. But the lyrical content is pretty deep in a lot of places. It seems pretty serious.
DP: No, no. Obviously we come off as a dark kind of band, because that’s what we are. But we’re not trying to promote any particular angle on religion or anything like that. We’re just a Halloween kind of band, that’s what we portray. I mean you wouldn’t expect John Carpenter to go and make a Disney style movie or something. I don’t know what kind of person John Carpenter is, but he’s not necessarily a Satanist, and you know he’s going to make a horror film. That’s where we’re coming from, we’re more of a horror kind of band.
NM: I guess maybe I’m just trying to read too much into it because I’m a student of comparative religion, and listening to this album I’ve got to say it’s pretty deep.
DP: Well, sure, it’s all there if you want to get below the surface. Dani reads a lot of different books and things, he’s a pretty smart guy, but I haven’t read those books he’s read so I’m not really certain about his particular influences.
NM: What bands have influenced you?
DP: Well, when I was growing up I was exposed to the rock that my parents were listening to – AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, all the early ’80s metal. Then as I got older, I got more aware of music. At like fifteen or sixteen, bands like Metallica start coming out with Kill ‘Em All and it’s like, wow… music is a bit more serious now. Metallica was just fucking awesome back then. That’s all you really had… Venom and all these new bands, Celtic Frost, and then you get the thrash scene, Bathory, all that other stuff coming out. The scene was really a lot healthier back then. Lot’s of new bands, new sounds, people pretty much just played what they wanted and everyone just accepted it all. You could listen to anything. I mean you could listen to Suicidal Tendencies and Celtic Frost as well, it’s not like you were a black metaller or a punk, you could like both.
NM: That’s the way I’ve always been, I listen to everything.
DP: Yeah, me too. I mean I’m more into Amercian Hardcore myself. Bands like Minor Threat, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Misfits, I’m for more of that. And that’s like third generation Punk. The first wave was American, then the Sex Pistols and then all that other stuff. When I was first getting to know Dani I realized that we both have some pretty similar tastes in horrible music. Tending towards bands like Misfits, really. Have you heard of a band from Oakland called G.G.F.H.? They were a band we were really impressed by. They’re sort of darker kind of electronic-dance music but it’s all about Jeffrey Dahmer and stuff… it’s really sick.
NM: I’ve got to admit to a fascination with serial killers myself. My thoughts on this are pretty deep. I’ve got this philosophical spin on it. Another friend of mine, Russ Kent from Noothgrush, has a lot of books about serial killers and stuff. I’m always checking those things out when I’m over at his place.
DP: Well, be careful…
NM: Oh, I’m a pretty patient guy. I like to talk about this stuff but I’m pretty in control of my faculties. I practice meditation…
DP: Alright. You’ll be alright then.
There’s a big serial killer in England who’s just been caught. Doctor Harold Shipman. He’d been caught because he forged an old woman’s will for like $80,000 and the woman had been killed by a morphine injection, there was nothing wrong with her medically. So they’ve got about 14 cases that he’s been charged on and now they’re looking into like 400 more cases, and it’s starting to come up to about 1400 cases. This guy could be the world’s biggest serial killer.
NM: So many are motivated by different things. This guy was probably just motivated by money.
DP: When they talked to him he wouldn’t say. He just said “no comment”. There’s possibly a link to another Belgian doctor who might have been killing people as well. It’s hard to say what their motivation was. It could be related to a ring of doctors that were trying to get Euthanasia to take off.
NM: That’s a pretty scary thought, especially with us here in California with Arnold Schwartzenegger as Governor. I mean he’s the comic book guy, but he’s spoken about Euthanasia, he’s expressed an interest in it. That’s a little fucking scary.
DP: Really…
NM: Well, the good news is that he will cater to public opinion. If people express discontent with his philosophies, as they have, he will change.
DP: So what’s it like having The Terminator as governor?
NM: Well, he’s only been in office a couple of weeks, but it’s pretty strange. But, like I say, the good news is that he wants a good image, so he will change.
DP: Yeah, that’s what most politicians do anyway.
Somewhere near here my tape runs out again. Dave offers a few parting comments: Says he’s looking forward to getting to the West Coast, that the band has a lot of friends out here. He joked that he hoped they make it because apparently the travel has been pretty rough.
I really want to thank all of the guys for being so friendly, especially to Tour Manager Martin Lamb who was very helpful in all of this. Also thanks to Mark Morton and the others at Chipster for their part in all of this. I’m really looking forward to the show.
Read part one of Mark’s exhaustive interview with Cradle of Filth.
Read part two of Mark’s exhaustive interview with Cradle of Filth.