Interview: Lindsay Schoolcraft

In October Lindsay Schoolcraft will be releasing her new album, titled Martyr. Recently, DutchMetalManiac’s Henric van Essen reviewed Martyr, as you can read here. Now he also interviewed Lindsay Schoolcraft.

First of all, thank you for the opportunity to interview you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Hey! Thanks! Well, my name is Lindsay Schoolcraft and I’m a singer and harpist from Oshawa, Canada. I’m probably best known for being the keyboardist for Cradle of Filth.

I would like to congratulate you with Martyr, it really impressed me greatly. On your website you state it feels like it’s been such a long time coming. That raises to the obvious question why it didn’t come sooner. Can you explain that to us? And what made you decide to start a solo project in the first place?

Thank you! It took me all of 2016-2017 to finish that album around touring with Cradle. The release also took forever waiting to see if labels would bite, but I stoped waiting and decided to do the release independently by myself. I was a solo artist years before I joined Cradle so that’s always been there.

So about Martyr. I noticed neither of the songs is called Martyr, while in 99% of the cases there is a title song on any given release. This leads me to conclude, though not very well substantiated, there is a reason you did this. Why did you pick Martyr as the title and what, if anything, is the significance behind it?

I was told back in 2017 that my health was very bad and before we had any answers that there was the possibility that I may have only had a few months left to live. That helped me hit the reset button mentally and made me realize this was the last thing I wanted to get done if I only had three months left. I saw a consistent theme in the songs too and that was “standing behind what you believe in” and in my case I was “dying for what I believed in” so I felt the title was very fitting. Of course my health is fine now and I am still here!

This is a solo project, which obviously means you put a lot of yourself in it. The music on Martyr struck me as full of emotion, something you pretty much confirm in your comment about See the Light where you describe the greater influence of greed and prejudice compared to compassion and doing the right thing. This implies your music and lyrics are greatly influenced by your personal views. Can you tell us how and to what extend that reveals itself in your music?

I wanted to write something that was vaguely open ended and the listener could come to their own conclusion about it. Of course everything on this album is about topics that are very close to my heart.

Who or what band has had the greatest musical influence on you and your composing and why?

That’s definitely been acts like Evanescence, The Birthday Massacre, and The Weeknd to name a major few. I know the Weeknd is a weird one, but that guy really knows how to get to the point and his melodies and harmonies are incredible.

For Martyr you have teamed up with Rocky Gray, a multi-instrumentalist like yourself. Where did you find him, how is it to work together with him and who was responsible for what part of Martyr?

He found me online and we just started working on music together! I was so shocked as honoured that he wanted to! He’s really incredible to work with and pushed me to be a better musician and writer. We co-wrote the entire album together. Of course Rocky took on more of the band aspect, but I also made sure the structures and arranging had flow.

One of my two personal favorites is See the Light because of its power, its darkness and the interactive combination between your and Xenoyr’s vocals, while the other is Dawn because of the emotion it breathes. What is your favorite and why?

That’s really cool that you like those tracks! I think my personal favourites are Savior because I can’t get sick of the melody and also Blood From a Stone because I think that is the most honestly open song I’ve ever written. 

You are a busy woman with your key role in Cradle Of Filth, do you see Martyr as a one day fly or do you plan to make this project last?

I plan to continue with my solo work around Cradle where I can. I already have started demoing my next release and I’m really excited about it.

Composing and releasing a more or less solo album poses a few problems when you are to perform live. Do you have plans to take this project on tour? And if so, what will be your role(s) and who do you plan to take with you as live artists?

We want to do this live and I will definitely be singing as the front person. I also plan to take my electric harp along with me where I can!

One last question, just out of curiosity: are you a cat person or a dog person and do you know why?

I love both. But I really love my cat.

That would be all, thanks for the interview. Is there anything you would like to say to our readers?

Thanks so much for reading and thanks for your support!

Here you can read our review of Lindsay Schoolcraft’s Martyr, while you can read our review of Cradle of Filth’s Dusk…And Her Embrace The Original Sin here.

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