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When Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver first announced a co-headline tour together back in 2023, some fans weren’t quite sure what to expect.
British gothic extremity colliding with American groove metal wasn’t exactly an obvious pairing on paper. But then, the tour happened.
“We’re tight. We have each other’s back. We like each other’s music”
“It just happened to really work,” DevilDriver frontman Dez Fafara tells Music Feeds. “Our fans love them, their fans love us. There’s something really special. It’s not the same five bands that sound the same every night – you’re getting something very unique.”
Thankfully for Aussie metalheads, it’s finally our turn.
With the acclaimed co-headline package arriving on Australian shores this week, both bands promise fresh material, long-lost fan favourites and the same chemistry that’s made the tour such a hit overseas.
While DevilDriver will be showcasing songs from their new album Strike And Kill, Fafara says local crowds are also in for something exclusive.
“We’re playing a couple of new songs off the record, and then we’re busting out a couple of songs that we haven’t played in a very long time off our early records – certainly not ones that we’ve ever played down under. You guys are going to get a specifically very cool set.”
Cradle Of Filth are also bringing fresh material from The Screaming Of The Valkyries, alongside the fan faves that have cemented them as one of extreme metal’s most enduring live acts.
It Started As A Scheduling Problem…
Ironically, the tour wasn’t born out of some grand master plan.
Instead, both bands realised they were about to tour North America at roughly the same time – meaning they’d be potentially competing against one another.
“So rather than us literally go against each other in the United States… we decided to throw it together,” Fafara explains.
“We were called by a few people like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work.’
“It just happened to really work.”
That success made bringing the package down under an easy decision.
“We were both going to come down at the same time,” he says. “So we said we should just throw it together, get into bigger rooms and do it.”
“We’re Just Guys”
Spend five minutes witnessing Fafara and Dani Filth interact, and it’s immediately obvious why this tour works.
Before anyone mentions albums or setlists, Fafara is already joking that Australia might finally be the place to find Filth “an Aussie wife”. By the end of the interview, he’s promising his own wife will happily play wingwoman while the tour is in town.
To boot, ask Fafara for his favourite memory from touring with Cradle Of Filth and he doesn’t mention sold-out crowds or career milestones.
Instead, he remembers introducing Dani to green chilli soup in El Paso before the pair promptly buying matching black cowboy hats and wearing them for the rest of the tour.
It’s the sort of chaotic, affectionate banter that runs throughout the convo and, according to both frontmen, exactly the same energy that spills onto the road.
“We’re just guys,” Fafara shrugs.
“We get on the phone, we talk for five or ten minutes about business, and then two-and-a-half or three hours about life in general. “We’re tight. We have each other’s back. We like each other’s music. We like each other as people. We want to see each other succeed.”
The relationship also extends well beyond metal bromance.
Fafara also helps manage Cradle Of Filth through his wife’s company, while both touring camps regularly share crew members on the road.
“I’m using Cradle Of Filth’s sound guy. He’s using my monitor guy,” Fafara laughs. “It’s kind of a family affair.”
A Tour That’s Winning New Fans
Possibly the biggest surprise from the original North American run wasn’t simply that the package worked, it was how enthusiastically fans embraced both bands.
“I know that because people have written to me on Instagram,” Dani Filth says of fans discovering Cradle through DevilDriver.
Fafara has seen the same thing from the other side.
“If you’ve never seen Cradle Of Filth, get ready,” he hypes.
“For me, it’s the premier black metal band in the world… nobody sounds like Cradle. Nobody does what Dani does.”
Likewise, he promises Cradle devotees who haven’t experienced DevilDriver live are in for a shock.
“We’re a vicious kind of visceral thing.”
Summing up the evening, Fafara offers perhaps the best description imaginable.
“We’re kind of the meat and potatoes of the show… and Cradle are the dessert.”
All Systems Go For Down Under
Having toured Australia extensively over the years, Fafara already knows exactly what to expect.
“When you come out in front of an Australian crowd… it’s loud,” he says.
“They’re in the pit, they’re going insane, they’re outside early lined up.”
With Sydney already edging towards a sell-out, he has one final warning for anyone still sitting on the fence.
“If I was you guys, I would get a ticket right now. I don’t think it’s one of those tours you can just walk up to last minute and expect the ticket to be there.”
Grab your tickets here and peep all the dates down below.
Cradle Of Filth and DevilDriver 2026 Australian Tour Dates
- Thursday 9th July BRISBANE, The Tivoli
- Friday 10th July SYDNEY, The Enmore
- Saturday 11th July MELBOURNE, The Forum
- Tuesday 14th July ADELAIDE, Hindley Street Music Hall
- Thursday 16th July PERTH, The Astor
Tickets On Sale Now From: https://thephoenix.au/cradle-of-filth-and-devildriver/
Further Reading
Swedish Metallers Avatar Announce 2026 Australian Tour Dates
ALBUM REVIEW: Devildriver – Trust No One
The post “We’re Just Guys”: Inside The Friendship Fueling Cradle Of Filth & DevilDriver’s Monster Australian Tour appeared first on Music Feeds.
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