In his previous incarnation Daniel J Finch worked with Dani Filth (of Cradle of Filth fame) but ended up walking away from his own project… this did however pave the way for Daniel to take with him an albums worth of material, enlist an array of alternative singers and launch what has become the Devils Music.
Hi Daniel,
Hope this finds you well and wherever you are at the moment, thanks for taking time out to speak to Mr Teeth…
- With goth, black metal and death metal etc often being seen by outsiders as satanic, evil and indeed the devils music, from your perspective how would you describe the culture behind the music?Danny: “I’ve always had a dark sensibility when it comes to my music. Music tends to come from a dark place within myself. During the writing of both the Devilment record and the Devils Music record, I was in a pretty dark place. But out of that darkness comes a sense of something positive. I believe strongly that when I’m not creating something, I’m destroying it. I don’t think what I do is evil, but I love the darker side of life. This is not a satanic record by any means. But I love all that imagery.”
- You’re previous band Devilment of course feature a key figure of the scene with Cradle of Filth singer Dani Filth, despite the image I’ve always heard he’s a really nice bloke – what was it like working with him?Danny: “At first when Dani came on board it was great, but near the end he brought his own problems into the band. He’s one of the nicest guys I know sober. But he has a few issues, and those issues caused me to walk from my own band.”
- How was your relationship with Dani, both professionally and on a personal level?
Danny: “We were great friends, almost best friends. But there’s a lot of problems near the end. We communicated a lot between emails, us the band, the managers, label etc. But sometimes you need to get on the phone and talk things through. He would ignore my calls near the end. It just wasn’t healthy for anyone. Something had to give I guess, and I just wanted out. There was an amount of shit thrown from their camp and I retaliated back in anger. Which was not a wise move on my part, as I ended up being seen as the bad guy.”
- What finally lead to your departure from Devilment?
Danny: “Devilment was mine band, I wrote 70% of the songs for the first record. Filth took over, the label took over. Everyone turned into ego manics. I was pretty much pushed out. So I walked. I couldn’t be in a band like that, and I certainly didn’t want to surround myself with people like that. I know since I left two more members have walked, and a third one is considering it. It’s just like the 100 odd members Cradle of Filth have had. I have my own demons, but Filths demons come out when he’s drunk. I tried to talk to him about it, but he denies it. Saying it’s “Rock N Roll” , that’s just bull shit. It doesn’t give you the right to be a dick.”
- Although the tracks for the Devils Music were originally written for Devilment, once they became your own was it always the plan to have different vocalists for each song?
Danny: “No not at all, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with them. I knew I wanted to put the songs out, but the question was, was I going to sing or get just one singer in. Like with Devilment I didn’t know what kind of vocalist I wanted. After some time of thinking, I put out the call for vocalist and I thought fuck it I’ll have a different vocalist on each track, and that’s one of the big positives that’s came back from this record. You may not like power metal singer, or death metal singers or goth singers etc. But my hope is that there is something for everyone on this album. People hate certain tracks , but love others, and that’s a good thing. Everyone has their top three songs they like, and it’s different for every person. We did our job you know.”
- Given the guest singers aren’t all based in the UK, how did this effect the writing/recording process of the album logistically?
Danny: “The power of the internet my friend. I just sent out a instrumental version of the track, and they sent me back their vocals. Its so simple to do. And the recording process didn’t even feel like work. I didn’t have to worry about setting up times to record. I have a studio at home, and I could just go and record when I wanted to.”
- Is there anyone else you’d love to work with?Danny: “God so many people. I’ve always been a massive fan of Devin Townsend and it would be cool to do something with him.”
- Musically how does the Devils Music compare to your other projects?
Danny: “I think since 2001 when the ideas for the original devilment came together, I’ve kind of done this groove metal thing. Devils music is not so far away from my other project THE DEAD SOUL COMMUNION. I sent one of the tracks to Colin Park (Devilment Guitarist) and he said “Its SO YOU” ha ha”
- Also, as a side note is there any meaning behind the logo that makes up the albums artwork?
Danny: “I just wanted a strong logo. I don’t have a band logo as such with regards to the name. But I wanted something simple. SO people would recognized it, and know it was DEVILS MUSIC”
- The Devils Music features Paul Jensen (bass) and D-Rock (drums), how do you know those guys and are they involved in any other bands?
Danny: “D-Rock is the name for the drum machine and samples we used. D-Rock kind of been an alter ego of mine for a few years. Paul Jensen is one of my oldest dearest friends. We’ve been writing and recording together since around 1995. I remember when he brought a four track tape machine. We’d go over to his house to write and record songs. I remember recording an acoustic guitar part in his bathroom so we could get a reverb etc. Its’ pretty funny. Just yesterday he dug out the old four track tapes and we’re going to transfer them into my studio and play around with them. Paul knows me, and knows how I like things to sound and be. He gets it. He was so much help with this record and the DEAD SOUL COMMUNION stuff , helping me get to where I wanted to go.”
- What else are you listening to at the moment?DANNY: “Everything, I have my IPOD on shuffle at the moment. So I’ll being listening to some death metal, then folk music, then some soundtrack, then a pop songs. Just everything. I was making some Props last night for my other band THE BLOODSHAKE CHORUS and I was listening to a few CANNIBAL CORPSE albums.”
I was going to ask Danny about taking The Devils Music out on the road but as it stands this is remaining a studio project, so for anyone hoping to catch the band live best you get on the case and buy the CD instead (available via www.coffeejinglerecords.com for £6.66).
So thanks for your time Daniel J Finch, it’s been a pleasure and as they say, the Devil always has the best tunes… \oo/
Pre-order here: www.thedevilsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-devils-music
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