Interview met Lindsay Schoolcraft
Lindsay Schoolcraft: “Thank God I finally have a band that I can be in, ’cause usually it doesn’t go well“
Liefhebbers van duistere muziek kennen haar van Cradle Of Filth, maar Lindsay Schoolcraft heeft veel meer in huis. Een deze dagen brengt ze een nieuwe plaat uit die heel ver af staat van eerder genoemde band. Ze heeft dagenlang interviews gegeven en ik ben een van de laatsten in het rijtje. Dat is meestal het moment dat muzikanten het moeilijk krijgen. Lindsay is echter in een uitstekend humeur en oogt alsof ze net aan de reeks begint en heeft er duidelijk zin in. Ze blijkt een fijne gesprekspartner, anders dan de meeste muzikanten waar enige gereserveerdheid in zit, is zij een heerlijk enthousiast en nieuwsgierig open boek. Van haar jeugd tot de Dragonforce spelende harpiste Michelle Sweegers uit het TV programma Maestro en Disney, alles kwam voorbij.
Willam Pezy Ι 8 juni 2026
A good day wished to you from the Netherlands. You might know it.
Ah. Yes, I miss the Netherlands. If I could, I’d move there. (laughs)
Well, you’re in Canada. In Holland we say, “Let’s move to Canada.”
Oh, that’s so funny. You don’t want our winters. Just stay where you are. You’re good. (laughs)
I saw your schedule of interviews; you’ve had a lot of interviews these last few days. What I’m always curious about, what was the worst question so far?
I don’t think there’s been any necessarily bad questions. However, a lot of re- repeating questions and even a question twice in the same interview. (laughs) Nothing, that I’m uncomfortable with, someone asked me if I liked cats, and I’m like, “Yeah.” Of course I like cats. I’ve had so many of them. So maybe that was, like, not necessarily a bad question, but a very obvious one. (laughs)
So for me, you are a new artist to get to know, and so far listening to your music it is a nice exploration. But I was wondering can you tell me about the child that Lindsey Schoolcraft was and how she discovered her love for music?
Oh, wow. I mean, it is all about growing up in the ’90s, I was born ’86, but, you know, you don’t really retain any memory until you’re, like, four to six years old, so-… I just lived through the ’90s, like, experiencing it. And during that time, my parents exposed me to quite a bit of earlier pop music from the ’70s, and rock bands. Like, there would be ABBA and Cher and Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash playing. It was really weird. It was a weird mix of bands, like The Eagles, you know? (laughs) It was just so weird. But then that was during the time when Disney films, which was pretty much theater cartoons, you know, like theater music. That’s what greatly influenced me as a kid to sing and, and what started me to care about classical music. So I had a very interesting childhood to say the least. Uh, the ’90s were incredible for art and media and everything that was being put out, and I, I miss it greatly. We didn’t know how good we had it until it was gone. (laughs) So yeah, that was, that was my childhood essentially. Like, I’m very much a product of the ’90s, and
I’m happy to say I got to live through it.
The next step was starting to try to play some instruments, in your case the harp and piano besides the vocals. How did you find out you wanted to play these instruments?
Oh, it’s been a journey. I mean, my dad gave me a guitar when I was really young, and I just felt like it was too difficult of an instrument to play. So, I tried out piano for a bit, but I didn’t have the right teacher, so that didn’t last very long. She didn’t know how to keep me interested. It was very boring, like, scales and just boring homework. And I’m like, “No, I know the piano is meant to be a beautiful, fun instrument,” and I wasn’t getting any of that. When I was 15, you can see I have my bass guitar here. I decided, I wanted to be in a rock band or a pop punk band, and that’s when I found the bass guitar and the love of the bass guitar and formed my first band. So it’s just been a journey. You know, I played cello for a bit there. But the instruments that have remained my constant have been the, obviously as singer, but just the piano and the harp, they never, never gone away. I did play and write a lot of the bass guitar on the new album, ’cause it’s my first instrument that I really took seriously and studied for, like, four years. Piano was something I wanted to pursue to become a better singer and composer, ’cause piano is like a map. So that’s why I took conservatory training for that. And then the harp just kind of came as like a quarter-life crisis, like, it’s now or never. Just go, go do the damn thing. Get the damn thing. I’ve been punished for it ever since. I’m working on someone else’s album right now on, like, six songs. The damn thing, she needs some fixing, and I’m not bringing her to the shop, and she’s not staying in tune. We’re just kind of battling it out right now to finish this album. (laughs) But it’s a beautiful instrument. When it works for you, it’s, it’s such a beautiful instrument. I love it. Not that much used in metal unfortunately.
In Holland we have a show called Maestro, where the well-known people are put in front of an orchestra and have to conduct. There’s a young woman by the name Michelle Sweegers playing harp and, she loves metal. So she’s playing Dragonforce on harp and stuff.
No way! You have to send me her socials. I don’t know if I know about this woman yet, but that’s exciting. (The day after the interview we discussed her performances and metal covers, WP)
Out of all the instruments you play, what’s your favor- favorite instrument, and why?
Um, well, it’s obviously it’s… I love the piano and the harp. I, I’d say they’re tied, but two instruments that I really, really love that I can’t play is the duduk, which is the Armenian flute. It has its own kind of sound, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful instruments ever. Any time I’m watching the Avatar cartoon or, like, a show and I hear the duduk, I’m like, “Oh, I… That’s… What an incredible instrument. I love that. I love listening to it.” And then also the Chinese lap harp. I’m, I’m not gonna try to pronounce it because, I’m gonna completely botch it and say it wrong. But I think it’s also a beautiful instrument. It might be one in the future that I might actually go purchase one and learn myself. I just don’t have a lot of time right now. I think I’d rather go back to school and finish my degree in musical theory (laughs) before I take up another instrument. Two’s enough. It feels like having two children. Two’s enough right now. You know I still love the piano. I love listening to it and producing it, engineering it, playing it. Same with the harp, but it’s always, like, you kinda love what you don’t have. You know, you get to still enjoy it. And that’s how I feel about the, the duduk and the Chinese lap harp, for sure.
You mentioned something earlier. You started playing music, and you wanted to play in a band. It should be a pop band or a punk band. That’s interesting. Why do you want to play in a punk band?
Yeah, I was in high school. I was 15, and at the time it was so weird. I was listening to nu metal, but I was also listening to, like, tons of pop punk like Blink-182, Green Day….New Found Glory, the list goes on forever. Representation is so important, my sister dragged me to the movie theater to go see this movie Josie and the Pussycats, ’cause she was really into the Archie world and the Archie comics. And I was like, “Okay, cool,” like, “Well, let’s go.” And I watched that film, and I decided from there that’s what I wanna do. And seeing other women do it, even though it’s such a outdated cult classic movie. Like, it’s really silly. It has silly humor. That was the moment and I even cut my hair to look like that. It was hilarious. But I just knew, I had to look like Josie, the main character. I had the short, like, flippy hair. It was actually not that fun to maintain ’cause you had to put it up with product every morning. I felt like a clown. But I just decided I wanna do music, you know? I’ve always found it quite difficult to be in a band though, because I’m very much, like, a big vision, have a plan, move forward, let’s do something. Doing something is better than being stagnant. I’ve been in many bands. I just find I do a little bit better as solo artist than to be in a band. I do have a supergroup called Antiqua, where everyone has successfully established themselves in the industry, so they know what it means to push everything forward. Thank God I finally have a band that I can be in, ’cause usually it doesn’t go well. (laughs) But you know, it was a learning process, and I learned so much. It’s a lot of psychology with dynamics and who you’re working with and how you’re writing and how you’re recording and how you travel and how you market everything. So yeah, I mean, I got my start very, very young. By the time I was 18 I got to do some one-off dates on Warped Tour, which is, a big deal over here. It’s, like, this big traveling tour for punk music. It’s evolved over the years. It includes many more genres now, and I believe it’s still going. I don’t know. I haven’t really kept up. But so, I just wanted to make music and play music with people. And even if it was pop punk, eventually, like, to who I am now, that influence of classical and nu metal and electronic music is all fusing on the new album. But yeah, that’s where I got my roots and I’m proud of it. It was fun. It was fun while it lasted.
But the problem with band is when you are ambitious and you want to grow and have all these experiences like touring all over the world with the band and trying to grow as a musician, as a person. How do you keep all these people together?
I think the reason that my current band with my two band members is working along with Antiqua, it’s just all about communication. It’s clear communication. You know, letting people know if you’re going through a tough time, letting people know if you’re available, what you can and can’t do. Also communicating what each person is good at and what tasks in the band, like, they want to take on, whether it’s the graphic design or the marketing or the social media or the tour logistics or, you know, overseeing production of the album in the studio or being the sole writer of, like, the foundation of the music. I think it’s an ever-growing and evolving and changing thing being in a band. And if you’re not communicating every step of the way, every detail, that’s where things tend to fall apart, you know? And it’s also making sure that everyone is being treated well and paid well and there’s mutual respect. People feel that if they can take a break, if they need to take a quick break, they can. Because once your band gets to a certain level it can become a nonstop machine. And especially today, I don’t know how bands are out there grinding the way they are. To me it just feels and looks exhausting. (laughs) Doing music is, like, 50% psychology, whether you are creating it or you’re on the final step to bringing it to the stage. You’re dealing with a lot of people and you have to essentially understand how to work with a lot of different personalities and people at different walks and stages of life. And that’s kinda, like, being able to do that and also just being a good hang. Like, not being an asshole is just the recipe to surviving in this industry and having a good time. (laughs)
In a, in a very, very harsh industry.
Yes. (laughs)
So years ago you applied to the Royal Conservatory. Doing an education musically-wise, I learned from musicians that this might may be a very hard decision. A hard decision because, you love music, you have a great hobby, and then turn it into a career with the possibility that you may lose your hobby and the love for music and so on. How has this been for you?
I mean, I never really burned out or lost my love for it. Sometimes I needed a break, but I, I love learning and I love history and I love to learn new skills and try new things and be challenged. And if I’m not in that place, especially with music, I feel life can get quite gray and makes me feel stagnant. So I actually enjoyed going to school for music. I really, really miss it. Whenever you study music, no matter what you play, it always makes you better at what you do. Like whether it’s theory or learning another instrument, I’m in the position of being a singer. Any other training in music just makes you a better singer. You know what I mean? So I loved it. I did four years of really intense opera studies, but also trying out other styles like theater and folk and country and jazz and, oh, my gosh, soul. Like, you name it. I worked pop, obviously pop, belting, all that jazz. I’ve always enjoyed learning and I’ve always enjoyed the challenge. But something that I notice is that classical training really cripples in some people if they have perfectionism and OCD. OCD is actually a beautiful skill for music, ’cause you can just repeat. You can keep repeating and doing the same thing over and over again until you get really good at it, and it feels really good. But, in other places of life, not so much. (laughs)
It can actually be quite the horrible experience, especially as an overthinker who monologues, you know. Being on the spectrum, it’s rough. OCD is like, it’s such a bitch to have an OCD brain, I guess. But the perfectionism and then just holding yourself to such a standard that you’re not human anymore, that can affect your mental health. So, you know, I say if anyone’s wanting to go into classical studies or going to school for music, you just have to be very aware of these things and give yourself grace and remember you’re human and, you know, it’s gonna be a journey. It’s gonna be an experience, and you still have to find those things that make you still love doing the music, which for me was studying other vocal styles and genres, and that kept things really interesting. And thank goodness, ’cause if I did just classical for four years, oh, my gosh, I just would’ve been miserable. (laughs)
So, if I listen to you correctly, there are a few things that mark you as a person. You have a lot of subjects of interest. You want to learn it all. Uh, it’s just not classical or pop. It’s the whole bunch.
All of it. I want to learn all of it and be very good at all of them. So when you develop yourself, you develop yourself not only with all these different instruments. There are all these different, genres and you want to be extremely good at them. If possible. (laughs)
If you look at that and you look at your resume, off course that one’s quite impressive too, how difficult is it then to stay humble in life?
I mean, I don’t know. Being honest with yourself and honest with everyone else. That’s why I say it’s possible, ’cause I just study and learn something to a point where I’m like, “Okay,” like, “I’ve learned everything I need to hear and I’m good and I wanna move on to the next thing, you know. That was interesting. Thanks for teaching me.” With turning 40, like my ego is very much left at the door. Your ego’s there to protect you and help you survive, but in a lot of scenarios it doesn’t necessarily contributes to the bigger picture. It’s a, it’s a very selfish thing, which can be extremely destructive. When you’re making music, even though I am a solo artist, I do have a community. It takes a village to prop up one artist. And if your ego’s gonna interfere, you’re gonna lose all the good things you have and those good people. Like, you have to remember it is a community and it’s a group effort, and I have my marketing team, I have my record label, and I have my band and my whole production team. And I have to take care of those people. So when it comes to staying humble, I mean, I just, I wake up every day with gratitude that I’m here, I have my health, I have beautiful people around me. I’ve got to be on so many cool albums and great adventures and travels, and I get to just keep doing music. As long as I keep that as my foundation and I don’t get caught up in the fame or the money or the any of that crap, ’cause at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter and it doesn’t really bring you any fulfillment. It’s good to get paid, but like hoarding tons of money just doesn’t make sense to me. I think that’s just important. It’s just where you know, someone is humble based on where their moral compass sits, and I’d like to think that I fine-tune it every now and then, but I like to keep it in a good place ’cause it keeps the community happy, it keeps me happy, and I can sleep at night knowing that I’m doing good for myself and doing good by others.
In preparation of this interview, I read about you, read about your history, I read about your resume. Then listening to the album, which is quite different than for example the Cradle of Filth music. I was wondering if you could tell me something about the writing process and where the inspiration came from.
Oh, goodness. I mean, it, it took four years to make this album. It was a little bit of a mess, but you know, 2022 rolled around and I realized: oh, shoot, like I haven’t done a heavy album since 2019, (laughs) and it was just time, you know. So I called up Rocky Gray and I said, “Hey, you got any riffs? You got any song ideas? Like, let’s go.” And I just started writing, you know, heavy, angry, dark music ’cause it was just the time. It was a long process of four years working on it. We had a lot of obviously different people come in at different times. But it was time. It was time to do an album like this.l What I really wanted to do on this album was really infuse a lot more of the electronic element, ’cause I felt like at this point we really got down the rock band aspect, or I guess the metal parts if you wanna say that. And then we always have that classical element, but it’s like this third element that I love, I love electronic music, like we’re not infusing it enough. That was like the only real go… Oh, sorry. The only real goal going into this. Everything else, like I didn’t plan for it to be a concept album or anything. That just all came naturally later. It was just more of like it’s time and I wanna do this, and let’s just start working on this, and that’s essentially what came of this. But it was a bit messy. (laughs)
You mentioned how the music was written, and it came concept later. So where did the ideas of the concept come from and how did you came to the lyrics?
I would say I spent 2022, 2023, like, working on these songs, and pretty much it was between Rocky and Brian and Cody just putting forward ideas. Anything that they brought forward, if I liked it, if I felt something, if like the lyrics and the melodies were coming naturally, I just said: “We’re gonna throw this in the pile.” For those two years all I really did is I just kept writing and recording music demos and working on whatever demos we had. Then there was actually quite a few songs that didn’t make it. Like, they just, I just didn’t feel like they matched the vibe. I didn’t feel like they, you know, made sense for me. Some of them were really weird and heavy, almost like borderline slipknot, and I’m like, “I don’t think I should (laughs) be working on this.” I don’t know, maybe now. I have no idea ’cause this is all like four years ago. Things change, right? But then around the third year when I was really wanting to wrap up, and unfortunately things got quite delayed. That’s when I started seeing these songs, you know, each one is a chapter and they tell a story. There’s actually a concept here. I didn’t think about it. I think that we had the goal of the electronic music, but we also had the goal of we don’t want same song-itis. Like, we don’t want two songs to sound exactly the same. I could have gone and written three more songs like Vague, like sad, heavy songs, but I already had Vague doing that so I didn’t really see the point. It already got the message across. I didn’t wanna like write-… three more songs just so the album had filler. I felt like with each song being so different, they all really shine on their own. So the way it came together was really interesting. It was very aligned, and then we found the title for it and the artwork all in that year. Then of course we had to wait another two years to finish it. (laughs) But it’s here now. It’s like I can’t believe it’s almost out. I’m just so happy people are gonna finally hear it, and I’m relieved that it’s out there. But yeah, it was more of like by the third year when you get to that point of overthinking it, you’re like, “Oh. Oh, okay, I see what’s going on here. Well, I’m gonna put it together this way and present it to the world this way.” I think that’s important.It took so long, and we’re obviously very excited about that. But also, like, we have to honor and respect this body of work and give it the love it deserves. And I’m… I am proud of it, even though it was, like, who I was four years ago. I’m still proud that I did it. I finished it. You know, I, I forget, and I always have, like, one of my best friends reminding me, like, “You know, there’s so many creative people out there who, like, never finish their project and never release it into the world. Like, you should just be proud of yourself that you finished it and put it out there.” And I’m like, “Oh, yeah, I never think about that.” (laughs) So I’m just celebrating it. And I know I can explore new spaces and bring in new elements. I mean, I definitely, I… You know, I just turned 40. I really feel like authenticity just comes naturally to me now. And I’ve really looked into my ancestors on both sides of my family and, and, you know, really looked, dug into, like, who am I and what do I embody and what do I love and what is my message? And that’s slowly starting to form right now. I feel like it’s in its baby stages, but I definitely want to bring in, you know, more of the harp and actual harp pieces written throughout the whole songs. Um, I want to go heavier, but I also wanna bring in, like, my love of world music, and it’s gonna definitely be a darker, more mature theme on this next one, just with who I am now. There’s gonna be a few, a few new elements that I don’t think people were going to expect. But I’m looking forward to them, you know, hearing it. It’s definitely gonna be very primal (laughs) is probably the best way I can put it. I’m definitely… You know, I love metal. I, I feel like the classical musician who just got sucked into metal, and metal won’t let me go. I’m gonna stay here and continue to explore that in my own way. It’ll be interesting. The new stuff will probably be out sometime next year, so we’ll see. We’ll see what people think of it. But I’m just at a point where I gotta do and make the music that makes me happy, that resonates with me, and if it’s just gonna be a little bit of a push into a different direction, then that’s okay. You know, my voice will always be my voice. It might be in higher registers. It might be in completely different techniques. But it’s still gonna be me, so hopefully, you know, people will still dig it. I feel like it would be so silly to write the same-sounding album over and over again. I, again, I fear same-song-itis, and I don’t I don’t wanna do that. So we’ll see how it goes. Wish me luck. I feel like a scientist experimenting on a new project. (laughs)
With for example the harp in the music. I was also wondering, can we expect some, if I’m correct, Native American ingredients? If I’m correct, you have some Native American roots
I actually don’t. We did a blood test and I don’t. Sadly, we had some forged documents that we thought we were First Nation related, but it turns out we weren’t. I have all the love and the respect in the world for my First Nation friends and family. Distant family but not direct blood related. My dad’s side is mainly Celtic from Ireland to Scotland and Wales, so that’s where my harp comes in. Will I be trying some, like, medieval-esque chord progressions? Maybe. But also my mom’s side of the family comes from Transylvania, and I’ve definitely been exploring the folk music of there. I do love Balkan choir, which is, like, directly related to my lineage. So you’re probably gonna hear a little bit more of that fused on the next one. I don’t wanna give away too much, but it’s gonna be really interesting.
And is there anything I forgot or you, uh, uh, think that this, this should be mentioned?
No. Honestly, I think we’re good. The only thing is, my super group Antiqua, which is chamber black metal, like we’re working on a new track right now. We’re hoping to have it out this year. We’ll see. We’re slow as molasses to do anything, ’cause we’re all so busy with everything else in life. But no, I think that’s it. If people are interested, they can go grab a copy of the album at skullcraftshop.com. We are donating $2 of every unit purchased to help a local shelter here to help minorities escape really difficult situations, and it gives them shelter and laundry and food and counseling and protection. I think that’s really important to give back to the community.
Yeah. That’s really the initiative there. Just keep, keep listening, keep liking the posts. And if you purchase a copy, amazing, and that’s just what’s gonna get us back on the road. And we’re hoping to do more in 2027, which the state of the world, uh, doesn’t put us at risk of bankruptcy if we try to do anything. (laughs) We’re doing our best, guys. We’re doing our best.
