Mr. October: Dani Filth

Either you’re a Cradle of Filth fan, or you’re not, but even if you don’t listen to the music of the amazing metal band fronted by Dani Filth (sort of a cross between a musician, an evil warlock, and a British person), you won’t be able to deny Dani’s filthy charm. The dark enforcer of heavy metal and all things darkness has a surprisingly funny side to go along with his incontrovertible sex appeal. In 2003 he voiced the "Dominator" in the feature-length animated film of the same name and starred in the horror film Cradle of Fear. You can hear his collaborative work with Claudio Simonetti and the band Daemonia on the soundtrack of the Argento horror film The Mother of Tears. Now Dani’s latest creation, The Gospel of Filth, is causing us to get our panties in a tizzy. This collection of essays on the occult, arcane, vampiric, serial-killing, and darkly erotic by contributors like Christopher Lee, Clive Barker, and Anton LaVey is about the influences on Cradle of Filth all infused with Dani’s wicked sense of humor. For all you girls who wanted Red Riding Hood to go home with the Big Bad Wolf or wished that those evil Victorians would just let Dracula and Mina have their little love story, I give you Mr. October, Dani Filth...

What's the sexiest thing you've ever done for a woman?

Licked thick clotted cream off all her pink bits dressed a see-through scone.

In "Gospel of Filth", what can women expect to learn about you as a person?

The book is more a compendium of the dark-side rather than being autobiographic, so the emphasis is on the fun stuff all the time. I suppose there are some juicy insights, thankfully only a handful of conspirators have perused it so far, so I haven't been committed to an asylum yet.

Why did you choose some of the contributors that you did for "Gospel of Filth"?

I haven't slept with any of them if that's what you mean, but I once snogged Ville Valo for my wife.

Some of the contributors are indeed friends or the band has had connections with them in the past, but they are all there to contribute to the subject matter, be it Vampyrism, the black Arts, sex and illicit opiates, femme fatales, serial killer chic, Satanism, Gothicism, film, music, art... to lend the topic legitimate weight. This book is akin to a black bible and a roadmap to hell and is fun for the whole family, not just great Grimoire!

In your opinion, who is the sexiest woman in a horror film ever? And why?

To name but a smattering, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Aliens, Ursula Andress in She, Monica Bellucci in Brotherhood Of The Wolf, all the Brides Of Dracula (He always has impeccable taste in the fairer sex), Tippi Hedren (The Birds), Jane Seymour in Jack The Ripper, Ingrid Pitt and Britt Ekland in The Wicker Man and Sil in Species (both alien and blonde supermodel versions). Why? Are you insane?

What is the exact proper temperature at which to cook a Sunday Roast?

In a slow cook oven (my favourite), it will vary depending on the size of the meat and how well roasted you want it. I prefer mine a little bit bloody, so probably going on a small child, twenty good minutes per pound?

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: "Death to false metal". Why or why not?

I thought I did... (eyes misting over). Before the war against Emo, we lived a fragile existence, the thrashers, the nu-metallers and the glamsters, but it was all for a common dream.... Now, in these dark, oppressive times, what is right and what is wrong? What is pop and what is metal?

For those who are not British, please choose the correct definition of the term 'Clotted Cream'.

a) An unhealthy vaginal discharge

D... (Said in the velvety voice of Dracula).

You may mock, but clotted cream scones are a delightful afternoon treat in the village, served with hot sweet tea on the vicarage lawn, watching the local Nordley Willow college firebrands playing at their cricket.

You live in Suffolk. Please tell us if the following statement is TRUE or FALSE about Suffolk:

Much of Suffolk's geology is low-lying Eocene sand and clays, but the west of the county lies on more resistant Cretaceous Chalk.

Well there's two schools of thought on the subject. Some say there is a more Jurassic enclave jutting into the south-east Suffolk Babergh peninsula near Felixstowe and Shotley where the Orwell forks, but I say they're just talking bollocks.

If you could write your own soundtrack for any silent horror movie, which film would you choose and why?

Haxan. Because it best sums up our ancestry and imagery as a band and it's pretty darn freaky in places. A bit like me.

If you had to get in a fist fight with one of the following, which would you pick?

c) Billy Idol

A fisting fight might be more appropriate! I guess it'd have to be Glenn Danzig, as I've seen him getting knocked out on YouTube before so I know he's only human. Plus he offended me by trying to charge us 10 times the amount of cash for a guest part on 'Halloween 2', which is a cover of one of his tracks anyway, so it was kinda doing him a favour. The original figure was for 1,500 of your US dollars.

Extra credit: Please describe the modern state of heavy metal using each of the following phrases at least once: "Clotted Cream", "death metal", and "black metal":

Death and Black metal are both doing rather well, if not a little saturated from some overwhelming pap. Aside from that I like licking the clotted cream fresh from the bun!

Keep in touch with Dani on www.cradleoffilth.com, the official Cradle of Filth site