Cradle of Pagans
Drowned in Sound interviews Cradle Of Filth frontman Dani Filth. The heavy metal singer weighs in on the use of voodoo dolls in keeping his band together, and reveals a bit about his own personal belief system when asked if he believes in a God.
Dani Filth
“Yes I do, although it is an amalgam of all the relevant bits of other religious deities, including of course, the nasty ones. To avoid debates with so-called people-in-the-know, I get away with saying I’m a pagan.”
This includes Dani Filth in the rare company of eccentric musical artists who use the “p-word” to describe their eclectic or unorthodox religious beliefs. Other famous “pagans” include Neil Young and Bjork. Somehow, despite their individual statements of pagan identity or influence, I doubt we’ll be seeing any of the above playing a Pagan festival at any point in the near future.
7 responses so far
Why not?
From most accounts, festival music is stuck in a tribal drumming and folk-singing rut of sorts.
After “Achtung Baby”, I thought for a while Bono was a pagan. Guess I was wrong, but I still consider “Mysterious Ways” one of the best “pagan” songs I ever heard. Too bad most “real” pagan music seems to be quite formulaic.
I thought that Bono’s claim to be a Christian was very well publicized.
“If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel
On your knees, boy!”
Emerson Avenger-You’re right, but “Achtung Baby” was my first exposure to U2, and I heard it-over and over again-before I read the publicity.
It was dissappointing, and changed the way I viewed Bono and the band, but I still love that album, especially “Mysterious Ways”.
Another famous pagan- Sully Erna, lead singer of the band Godsmack, is (or was) a Wiccan. Also- though I’ve never seen or heard confirmation anywhere- Mudvayne’s lyrics, mostly written by lead singer Chad Gray, seem to be full of thinly veiled references to Thelema.
Well “Mysterious Ways” is a great song and one of my favorites too. I have good reason to identify with it considering the amount of synchronicity and other “mysterious ways” I have experienced. In what way was it “disappointing” to learn that Bono identifies as Christian?