It's been a good while since the world first learned that Ed Sheeran is a Cradle Of Filth fan, with much discourse going on as to whether we'd ever see a collaboration between Cradle Of Filth and the pop megastar.
Just before Christmas, Cradle vocalist Dani Filth shared a snap on Facebook of Cradle and Sheeran enjoying pints in a Suffolk pub, and last week, for Saint Patrick's Day, metal's most unlikely friendship popped up again as the artists shared pints (and a seemingly inordinate amount of peas).
So when Hammer writer Matt Mills spoke to the Cradle Of Filth frontman, there was one nagging question on his mind - what’s it like being BFFs with a pop star?
“Weird," Dani admitted. "I’ve spoken to him very regularly over the last two years. Like me, he’s a real Suffolk boy. When he came to the studio that day, he didn’t come down with a cavalcade of reporters: he turned up on his own, guitar on his back, Cradle Of Filth hoodie on, and got on with it. It was fucking great.”
While we still don't have an exact time-frame for the black metal meets pop collab, Dani also offered an update on how it's all coming together, suggesting we'll (finally) hear it this summer.
“Ed’s done all his parts," Dani explains. "It’s just bass and vocals for me to do on my return to England after Easter. It’s exactly how you can imagine it’ll sound, if you can imagine Ed Sheeran with Cradle Of Filth. He plays acoustic guitar on it, but it’s heavy: it’s got a blast beat in there. The plan is to do it as a charity single. We’re hoping for it to be out by the summer.”
Which begs the question: if the single is with us by the summer, is there a chance we could see Cradle and Ed Sheeran pop up at festivals together? We can but dream...
In the meantime, Cradle Of Filth are currently on tour in the US with Devildriver, and will release Trouble And Their Double Lives, their first live album in over 20 years on April 28.
