Charles Edward Alexander Hedger (born 18 September 1980) is a British guitarist who is known for his stint in the

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band

Cradle of Filth Cradle of Filth are an English extreme metal band formed in Suffolk in 1991. The band's musical style evolved originally from black metal to a cleaner and more "produced" amalgam of gothic metal, symphonic metal and other metal genres. Their ly ...

and his work with

Imperial Vengeance Imperial Vengeance are an English heavy metal band, from Colchester, Essex, England, formed in 2007 by former Cradle of Filth guitarist C. Edward Alexander (b. Charles Edward Alexander Hedger, 18 September 1980, Colchester, Essex/ Guitars, Voc ...

. He currently plays with Norwegian black metal band

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dra ...

under the alias Ghul. In the past he also performed live on stage with bands like Tormentor and Shining, and continues to do so occasionally.

Early life

Hedger showed musical interest from an early age. When he was 13, his brother gave him a copy of a tape from a local band that some of his friends were in, the demo tape was called '' The Principle of Evil Made Flesh'', from an at the time fledgling British heavy metal band,

. After learning much about guitar playing, at 19, Hedger decided to take his guitar playing seriously, and he moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he was accepted into the Guitar Institute in London to study a degree course in Popular Music Performance BMus on guitar. He graduated in 2004. The following year his brother died, and Hedger became greatly influenced to continue his guitar career in honour of his brother. He then started his own band, End of Invention, in which he played

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

and vocals. He also began teaching guitar lessons at

Colchester Institute Colchester Institute is a large provider of further and higher education based in the city of Colchester. Colchester Institute provides full-time and part-time courses for a wide variety of learners including 16 to 19 year olds, apprentices, adul ...

, and studied

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

Cradle of Filth

In 2005, Hedger was asked to fill in on

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

for

Dave Pybus Dave Pybus (born 4 June 1970) is a British extreme metal musician, best known as the former bass player of Cradle of Filth. Career Pybus's first band was called Anul Death (1988–1991) which later changed its name to Darkened. From 1990 to ...

, who made a short leave from the 2005 Cradle of Filth tour. Upon the return of Pybus, Hedger played

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

along with Paul Allender. As well as Cradle of Filth, Hedger has his own band,

, plays guitar with Mayhem, as well as composing for TV and film, and has written music tuition articles for Terrorizer magazine.

References

External links

* Faceboo

* Websit

English heavy metal guitarists English male guitarists 1980 births Living people British rock guitarists British male guitarists Cradle of Filth members Place of birth missing (living people) Black metal guitarists {{UK-guitarist-stub