Name: James McIlroy

Birthday: 7th December 1977

Place of residence: 7th Circle of Hell, London, United Kingdom

Hobbies: Music, guitars, films, drinking, travelling

Musical background: Taught myself to play in my mid teens, took a few lessons early on, then continued to just learn by myself. Played in a few bands back in Belgium (Ashmolean, Aggressive Culture and a few others that were trly crap), moved to England, and after a few musical adventures and bands auditioned for Cradle in the summer/autum of 2002. Joined them for the Damnation and a Day tour which started in February 2003 in St Petersburg, Russia, and took in europe, the Ozzfest across the US. Was present for the Nymphetamine album and the consequent tour which spanned Europe and bot Noerth and South America before calling it a day during the Thornography sessions. From 2005 onwards I started my own band, Chaosanct, and played in Matron untill recently. At present I've got a few other bands I play in, Chaosanct, Order of Apollyon and NFD, and now back in the fold of darkness again so to speak ready to unleash the opus that is Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa upon the world!

Equipment: Ibanez guitars (Falchions, RG's and the custom they kindly made for me, and s-series) for any 6string stuff, Ibanez Universes for 7string, Mesa Boogie Amplification (Roadking mkII's) and Cabinets, Peavey 5150's, D'Addario Strings, Planet Waves Cables, Toontrack Software, Ibanez tubescreamers, Dunlop wahs, TC Electronics effects, Dimarzio pickups, Dunlop tortex or Jazz III plectrums, Bodenheimer custom effects, ISP ProRack G Decimators, RJM amp gizmos, tremel-no and most importantly my hands!

Idols in Music: Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Trey Azagtoth, Bill Steer, Blakkheim, Peter Tagtren, Dave Mustaine, Greg Mackintosh, Stevie Ray Vaughn and anyone else that's inspired me

Best CoF show so far: St Petersburg 2003 (first cradle show I played), Serbia/St Petersurg/Moscow 2009. Also the first show in mexico of the 2004 south american tour, crowd were so loud they drowned out the PA and monitoring, was amazing! I am sure there were some other excellent shows during 2003-2005 but I can't quite remember them!

Fave CoF song to perform: Ebony Dressed for Sunset/Forest Whispers my Name, Twisted Nails of Faith, Promise of Fever, Cruelty Bought thee Orchids, Honey and Sulphur and there's going to be a few of the new album joining this list!

How do you kill time on tour: Antagonise the road crew, speak to random people, explore the venue, pester the guitar tech, lawn bowls, look at crap on the internet, knitting, and explore the city if it's nearby.

Strangest experience on tour: Watching martin powell wash his face in my sick. Or watching him shit in an adult diaper. Or... loads. Strange boy.

Place you would like to visit: Japan, Australia and Asia

Your top albums:
Iron Maiden - Powerslave/Number of the Beast/Somewhere in Time
Arch Enemy - Stigmata
Carcass - Heartwork/Necrotism
Diabolical Masquerade - Nightwork
Katatonia - Brave Murder Day / Discouraged Ones / Tonight's Decision
Paradise lost - Icon
Death - Symbolic
Megadeth - Rust in peace
My Dying Bride - The Dreadfull Hours
Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics
Morbid Angel - Domination / Covenant
Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses/World Coming Down
Anathema - Alternative 4
Strapping Young Lad - City
Scarve - Lumineforous / The Undercurrent
and tons more. Will add to this list, as there are so many of them

Your current playlist:
here's a list of stuff I've been listening to recently, that'll update from time to time for anyone that's interested:

Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy
Sonata Arctica - The Days of Grays
Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis
Triptykon - Shatter EP
Secrets of the Moon - Privilegivm
Suicide Silence - No Time to Bleed
Secrets of the Moon - Privilegivm
Swallow the Sun - New Moon
Deathspell Omega - Kénôse

Fave film: Star Wars, the original trilogy

Fave book: Posion Elves by Drew Hayes

Fave food/drink: Steak, done rare (needs to bleed or it's no good), Sushi / Jim Beam and diet coke or jaegermeister. Also good Belgian Beer!

Thanks List: My family and close friends (you all know who you are). My canine companion Grymm. I'd like to thank all of them for supporting me in my adventure and putting up with me.

Also all the highly talented people I have played with both past and present in this illustriious band for making the ride one I'll never forget, as well as my partners in crime in Chaosanct (Dave, Tilman, Matt and Paul) , Order of Apollyon (Seb,Dan and Pete) and NFD (Bob,Luca,Tony and Chris). Mike, Rocky and Mick at Ibanez for providing me with the coolest guitars, Tim, Mark and all the guys at Mesa Boogie, Frank and co at D'Addario and Planet Waves, Dom F for helping me out with getting to play through cool gear that I love, all the crewdle for making sure everything runs smoothly live, and anyone else not mentioned here that has helped me out oover the years.


Message to the fans: Good to be back, thanks for all the support, see you out there for some mass metal mayhem!