Interview: 07.2005
All hail Mistress Cruella, dark goddess/front woman for the eerie and mysterious By Blood Alone. This formidable mouthpiece cut her teeth (sharpened her fangs?) with stints singing backup for Black Apple and Swamp Witch Revival before fronting femme-heavies Sinferno. Now she has found a home with guitarist John Graveside, keyboardist Jenny Williamson, drummer John Hoerner and bassist Jack Doran. The band is putting the finishing touches on a four song EP titled Eternally, set for release in July.
The songs combine the heavy Power-metal influences of Graveside with Cruella's more deep and haunting melodic sense. "I'm not exactly sure where my music comes from," she says.
"It's very dark and some people say Goth but I hate that. I'm not a Goth, it's just dark music, freedom music." Dressed in black, pierced and tattooed, she has been described as Goth more than once, however.
"It's definitely there," she replies. "I don't know what Goth-ness is really, everybody has a different idea about that. I mean yeah, I wear black and sing about dark depressing things..." she grins, adding the deep, booming laugh that borders on the maniacal she uses to punctuate her comments throughout the interview.
Eternally was mixed in New York by Steve Lacerra, chief engineer for proto-Goth metalers Blue Oyster Cult and personal friend of Graveside. The first single is titled "Every Night" and was inspired by the singer's active dream imagination.
"It's about zombies attacking me," she confirms. "I have crazy dreams, and I often dream about zombies." The group is planning to shoot a video for the song when autumn descends. "We've been recruiting zombies," she laughs, adding that there is already a zombie waiting list. "It's going to be definitely low-budget, B-Movie, very Blair Witch in the woods kind of a thing," she says, "zombies heads flying around, I don't know. There's definitely going to be zombies and flesh-eating."
The title track, "Eternally," is a love song, referred to by Graveside as the band's "Goth wedding song."
"I think there's something for everyone," Cruella states, referring to the group's unique sound. "What we're doing is completely different. In this area especially, we're not doing anything like anybody else. Especially having a female fronted band and playing the music we play."
Cruella grew up singing. She recalls that her mother used to put her crib right next to the stereo console. "She would put on an album and put the headphones on me. So I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, the Beatles, CSNY, and Jethro Tull. I listened to a lot. My mom has a beautiful voice. I learned how to harmonize from her." The young Cruella also honed her chops in church and school choirs, and inevitably, developed her own tastes. "I'm a child of the 80's, so I obviously split off from all that hippie stuff," she laughs. She became inspired by everything from the Cure and Depeche Mode to Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. "All the pop culture icons," she says. She later moved on to Opera, Blues and R&B, devouring the works of singers like Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
This dark lady also takes her inspiration from comics like "Lenore" by Roman Dirge. "It's about this evil little dead girl," she laughs. "So I wrote a song about an evil little girl. I'm very influenced by Edwin Grey, Tim Burton and Roman Dirge. Dark and Funny. I watch all kinds of Horror and zombie movies, B-movies. All that fun stuff influences me."
So if you're out on a pitch black evening this July and the air develops a sudden chill, don't be alarmed by the portentous feeling that overtakes you. Simply quicken your pace as you head down to your local CD shop and pick up your copy of Eternally. And beware of the zombies...