Devilment are a new band fronted by Dani Filth, the instantly recognisable lead singer of Cradle of Filth. The band was started by guitarist Daniel Finch, who quickly enlisted his friend Dani to help when it was clear that finding a suitable vocalist for the project was going to prove difficult. From there they rounded up a stable of talented musicians to play in the band and Devilment was born. What was initially supposed to be a project that spawned one album and maybe a couple of festival shows then received an unexpected boost, as they were chosen as the main support for Motionless In White and Lacuna Coil’s enormous, Europe-spanning co-headline tour. The Edge caught up with the band (minus Mr Filth himself) recently to find out a bit more about how what the Cradle of Filth die-hards think of Devilment, what they’re planning next and much more.
How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before?
Daniel [rhythm guitar]: Probably just metal, I don’t really want to put it into a category like death metal or thrash or anything like that. All of us try and bring different influences and genres to it and that’s what makes Devilment, that sense of everybody putting their part in. You’ll hear a bit of thrash, a bit of goth, some industrial as well, a bit of everything in there.
Colin [lead guitar]: Yeah, what you hear in our music reflects everyone’s different tastes and different writing styles. That’s the main thing for us, to make sure everyone gets involved, because that has a bearing on the music.
How did you get the band started and initially get everyone together?
D: Well, I’ve been writing material for it since 2001, but it took about ten years for me to get round to getting a band together. I got the first line-up together, but that didn’t last. Then I went to a show with Dani [Filth’s] wife and saw Colin’s previous band play, and she said to me, ‘If you ever need a guitar player, get that guy’ And to get Nick [bassist], well, he can tell it better than me!
Nick [bassist]: I’d played in another metal band for a couple of years, but we’d split up, so I hadn’t played metal for a while, and I felt like I was really missing out. I started looking round for other metal bands, ones who were really doing it properly. Then I emailed Dan after I saw his ad and I spoke to him. It was all initially quite secretive because of Filth’s involvement, but I did some quite extensive Facebook stalking of Dan, saw the pictures of him and Dani Filth together and decided that this was definitely something I wanted to be involved in, so I went and had an audition, and here we are. So, yeah, I basically found out Dani Filth was involved purely through Facebook stalking, I’ve obviously got a talent for it! [laughs]
D: To be honest, I’m surprised we’re even here. The initial idea was just to do an album and maybe a couple of festival shows, and then suddenly we’re sitting on a tour bus doing this. It’s kind of a weird thing that this has happened in three years. We’ve got a two album deal now, so we’re definitely going to record another album.
How’s the new album been received so far?
C: It’s been pretty good so far, well, no-one’s thrown any chickens at us yet anyway! [laughs]It’s a little bit of an awkward one really, as our album’s not technically out in the UK to buy yet, but there is a stream of it available.
Has there been a backlash from Cradle of Filth fans?
C: Generally the response has been quite positive, although we’ve come up against some people who were expecting Cradle of Filth 2.0, and of course that’s not what it is. I think in 6 months’ time or so, when Devilment’s more of an established act, then it will get judged a bit more on its own merits. We’re hoping this tour will move it more away from the Cradle of Filth Shadow as well. We do have some Cradle of Filth fans who don’t like it because it doesn’t sound the same, but there are plenty of people who don’t like Cradle that love Devilment.
Lauren [keyboard]: There’s also been people that like Cradle that really love it as well, like we had one girl come to the Bristol show specifically to see us and she said that she’d loved Cradle for years and years, and she was surprised by how much she loved the Devilment stuff when she heard it, even though it was so different. You get people having arguments and battling out on YouTube comments, but you just have to take from that is how good it is that people are really passionate about your music and they’re willing to get into an argument about it. It’s better than having no views and no reactions!
D: I like to join in and troll my own band occasionally! It’s fine though, I do it with my picture attached so everyone knows it’s me [laughs]Some bands to get upset by trolls, but we don’t really care, because they slag everyone off, but the people that like you tend to stick around and actually listen to your music. I keep some of the really nice comments we get saved actually.
What’s your favourite song on the new album?
D: Well, we haven’t actually played it live yet, but I think ‘The Great and Secret Show’, the title track is probably our favourite. It’s one of the last songs that we did, and it was the one song where everyone really put their own part into it. To me, that song is Devilment.
L: Yeah, that’s definitely the group favourite, it’s the one we all love.
So, what’s coming up next for Devilment then?
D: Sleep! [laughs]
C: We’re going to take a few weeks off, and then we’re going to get back together in January and start writing the new album, and we’re just waiting to hear back what we’ve got going on in terms of live stuff.
