Foreword

A few days ago I started to work with labeling my live video recordings of the band including line up and setlists which ended up in being a pretty confusing affair. Because of this I decided that I should try to sum up a few things from the bands member history and to at least try to aim the spotlight on the few unwritten and misty chapters of C.O.F history. Now, all this is a pretty hasty draft, written as a discussion. I have mapped out a few key points as well as marking out a few questions along the way to make this an open discussion that will hopefully lead to some conclusion.

Discussion

As I’ve always been told and thought the band was founded by Paul Ryan and Dan with the first members being added were Darren Garden, Jon Pritchard and Benjamin Ryan as a 'session member' to do the orchestrations. When researching and revisiting facts around the first demo 'Invoking the Unclean' I noticed a rather strange thing. In the demo artwork there is mention of a 'Rythm' member (guitarist most probably) named Rob. Now one may think that this is Robin Eaglestone but as far as I know he didn’t came to join the band until somewhere post-august 1992. I’ve also never heard of Robin playing rhythm guitar so who is this ‘Rob’ doing rhythm?

On this chapter I will not go into detail but after the first two demos, as most know by now, Tombstone Records signed a deal with C.O.F to release the band’s first full length album just 10 months after the start. Goetia that were scheduled to be recorded around August 1992 included Jonathan on bass, Darren Garden on drums, the Ryan brothers on guitar and keys resp. and Dani. Somewhere after the unfortunate mischief concerning the financing of the album, leading to its probable destruction, Jon left and Robin Eaglestone joined in filling the bass spot. Now leading up to the ‘Total Fucking Darkness’ recording one may wonder when did Darren Garden get replaced by William ‘Was’ Sargison and when did Paul Allender first came to join the band? My guesses is that Darren Garden got replaced by Was from the band Solemn somewhere around late 1992 or in the first quarter of 1993 and that Paul Allender joined the band somewhere around autumn 1992 but can’t seem to fully confirm this.

The first attempt to record TPOEMF were scheduled to happen around spring or early summer 1993 but had to, due to complications, be pushed back to August same year. The lineup then were as all of us know Dan, Paul R, Paul A, Rob, Ben and Nick replacing Was. Another name worth to mention during this time is Rishi, a friend of the band, who was filling the guitar spot for Paul R on a few live occasions during a brief tour in Portugal 1994. The band then proceeded to record the first version of ‘Dusk…’ but here something happens.

This is an unwritten chapter in C.O.F history. Some say that the first recordings of ‘Dusk…’ in 1995 didn’t please everyone leading to the demise of the first full line up and the break up with Cacophonous Records. Fact seem to suggest that there was an argument and that both the Ryan brothers and Paul Allender decided to leave with the remaining line up releasing V Empire just to get rid of the Cacophonous record deal. I don’t know if the leaving members did try an attempt of converting the unreleased songs on ‘Dusk…’ to The Blood Devine since they did write it but failed to do so for some reason. It seems that I indeed have a live video recording of a show in the Netherlands on the 9^th of June 1995 where I most likely can tell that the TPOEMF line up is indeed still intact so something must have happened during, or short after this tour.

I know this may seem very confusing but there most likely was a tour in 1995 that has been little heard of and one may ask, did this tour ever get completed or did the troubles in the band occur somewhere before or during this tour? During late November, December 1995 C.O.F went on a few dates tour visiting Germany and France ending with a release show on Astoria in London, England on the 15^th December with an all changed line up consisting of Dan, Stuart, Nick, Greg, Brian and Rob. In an interview for German TV coverage Greg states that he has been in C.O.F for 6 months. Now if my live video recording from June 1995 is labeled right Ben is still very much present as are all the other TPOEMF members. What happened exactly during 1995?

After this things seem pretty straight forward with the exception for a few live stand-in members all the way until the year of 1999. The beginning of a new era for the band started with the, for the spectator, rather sudden demise of longtime member Nicholas Barker, leaving room for Dave Hirschheimer and William ‘Was’ Sargison to return for the recordings of ‘From the Cradle to Enslave EP’ and then later to Adrian Erlandsson getting the job for the U.S. Tour 1999 together with Darren who acted as a stand-in for John ‘Gian’ Piras. The year would then continue with events that almost seem to have led to the end of the band. C.O.F had just returned from a rather brief visit to the USA when all of a sudden lightning strikes, not once but twice. The result is the demise of Les ‘Lector’ Smith and Stuart Anstis. Little is known what exactly happened during this time but as it seems blame has been sent bi-directionally to what were the exact reasons for the split. Some state that Stuart who at the time seem to be the force behind most of the music got somewhat tired of the whole situation leading to inactiveness and lack of motivation to take the band further. Other say that Dan did not approve with how things were decided feeling the power over the band slipping on to others as many other miraculous things happened in his life that he decided to regain control by getting rid of the opponents. Just to make myself very clear all this is none more than rumors and few one-sided facts of the story. Either way these tragic episodes symbols an end era but the question still stands, what really happened during 1999?

To sum up the ending months of the last year of the millennia C.O.F did a few shows in late 1999 with Paul Allender back together with Les ‘Lector’ Smith replacement Mark ‘Captain.Keyboards’ Newby-Robson. After this things seem to have been again rather straight forward with inevitable line up changes.

Conclusion:

My unquestioned goal is to sort out what really happened during these dark spots in C.O.F history and write a full biography regarding members to music, artwork and so on and finally publish it all on an fansite I am working on. I will also include interviews with longtime C.O.F fans as myself and bring back memories from the past and look into the future in both picture and writing. I also want to remind everyone that English is not my native tongue in case there are a few spelling errors. I really hope this thread will be able to sort out some of the questions that may have been brought up but forgotten.

Finally I would like to thank every single member, past and present, which has made Cradle of Filth what it is. Especially thanks to Dan, Paul, Nick, Frather Nihil, Adrian, Les, Stuart, Sarah, Dave, Robin and James for all their hard work and many great memories!

Now… Discuss!!!