CRADLE OF FILTH Members Talk 'Star Wars'

Star Wars.com reports: Along with their darker influences such as H.P. Lovecraft, John Milton, Clive Barker, "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory, and werewolves (their music found its way on the soundtrack to Ginger Snaps),a few of the CRADLE OF FILTH band members — Dani Filth (vocals),Charles Hedger (guitar) and Dave Pybus (bass) — also are die-hard "Star Wars" fans with impressive toy, comic, book and game collections. All three began their quest as fans at an early age, often daydreaming of Star Destroyers before they could run to the local theater.

"I was into 'Star Wars' before I could walk," Hedger says. "I have no memory of the first time I saw 'A New Hope' or 'The Empire Strikes Back'. I just grew up knowing them."

"I remember my father taking me to see the first film back in 1977 when I was five and being so overawed by the whole thing," Filth says. "I suppose you could say my first memory would've been seeing the seemingly never-ending underneath of an Imperial Star Destroyer!"

Pybus' induction into the Force centered less on the films initially and more on the mysterious merchandise. "Way back in late 1977, just before the first movie was released in the U.K., the collector cards appeared in my local newspaper store," Pybus recalls. "They became popular around school (I was seven at the time) and I managed to save up and buy a few packs. I remember looking through them with my grandfather who unfortunately died before the movie was released a few months or so later. I just remember him being quite interested in the cards with R2-D2 and C-3PO as he'd never seen anything like that before. Saying that, neither had I. Shame he never saw the film. I think he would have liked how it made us kids so happy."

Read the entire article at Star Wars.com.