Back in 2021, Dani Filth revealed that he had been in contact with Ed Sheeran, and that he thought working on a project with him would be “great fun”, following the pop megastar’s declaration that he was secretly a Cradle Of Filth fan.
Since the frontman revealed the unexpected news, the music world has been curiously watching their friendship blossom, with Filth even cementing his status as Ed Sheeran’s new BFF with a photograph of them enjoying pints in a Suffolk pub together.
Meanwhile, the two musicians have been working on a charity project, which, as revealed to Metal Hammer in March, is likely to arrive over the summer.
In a recent chat with Metal Injection, Filth offered further information on the long-awaited collaboration, such as what the song sounds like, and how the project between the pair turned out like a “marriage made in heaven”.
“Well, aside from my contribution, everything’s done. The bass was the last thing to go on. Ed did his stuff before Christmas, laid down acoustic guitar and his vocals. It’s a collaborative single, but for charity, because we wanted to use the opportunity of working with one of the world’s biggest artists for a good cause, really” he explains.
“And we also didn’t want to give people cause to think that we were jumping on the bandwagon and trying to do it for our own benefit financially. And I think we’ve got a very good cause we wanted to donate to; he’s got a great cause he wants to donate to. And I think it would just garner more attention and seem less of a novelty if it’s something that is done for charity.”
Speaking of what the track sounds like, he says: “It’s not like an Ed Sheeran song, and it also doesn’t sound like a Cradle Of Filth song. It’s got acoustic guitars, it’s got clean vocals, but it also has got a blast beat and unclean vocals and a very long scream of mine.
“So yes, I’d like to say it’s a marriage made in hell, but it’s probably a marriage made in heaven, actually. And hopefully, once I finish it, once it gets mixed, then it goes to his management and our management to decide how the thing’s going to be tackled.”
Elsewhere, Filth also spoke about the unlikelihood of the collaboration, and of how the pair of musicians were attracted to each other professionally as “opposites” from different musical worlds.
“I think opposites attract. I like a marriage of weirdness. I like people to go how the fuck would that work? What the hell? And the fact that Cradle Of Filth and Ed Sheeran, when we found out that he’d grown up being a fan of the band and by a fucking hair breadth we hadn’t met in the past, we started getting in contact, and I’ve been emailing him on and off for about two years now.
“So we became sort of penpal friends, and then the idea just came about. I think he just wants to expand his musical horizons so people don’t just think, ‘Oh, well, that’s Ed Sheeran. I know what he’s like, I imagine.’”
The vocalist adds: “I think this is a very bold move for him because, attributing himself with a band like Cradle Of Filth could go either way. You know, people might go, ‘oh my God, what the fuck? This is the band that had a ‘Jesus Is A Cunt’ shirt!’ But at the same time I think it’s a very cool move for him.”