Erasure Frontman Andy Bell Gets Perry Farrell Guesting on New Album

Posted on Jun 2nd 2010 6:00AM by Jody Thompson
Comments

Erasure frontman Andy Bell admits he's got an unlikely fan in the form of Jane's Addiction head honcho Perry Farrell.

Talking to Spinner ahead of the release of his second solo album, 'Non-Stop,' Bell reveals how Farrell ended up duetting with him on his new record.

Bell says, "It was precisely because not many people would put us together that I thought it would be a great idea. I did True Colors (Cyndi Lauper's music tour in aid of the Human Rights Campaign) on my own for the second time (in 2008) and he came especially to see me. But I was on early and he missed me. I felt awful! Somebody came and told me after. And I thought, well he reached out to me, so I got in touch with his management."

Bell says Farrell replied saying he'd written a song with him in mind, so he'd flown out and met him at his Santa Monica studio.

"It was fantastic!," he says. "We had two days in the studio and we had a lovely meal with him and his wife [Etty Lau Farrell], who is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, and his two children."

The resulting song, Bell explains, is called 'Honey if You Love Him (That's All That Matters),' and Farrell had penned it about a fashion designer friend of his who was in a one-sided relationship.

Bell says, "It's a male-male duet. Perry's lyrics are amazing. He's one of those people who make you feel like you're still earning your stripes."

He also said that the reason for the five-year gap between solo albums -- 'Electric Blue' came out in 2005 -- was due to his continued commitment to Erasure.

He says, "It sounds like a long time, but we had two Erasure [studio] albums in the meantime and we had the Top 40 hits album out last year."

Bell adds that he's going back into the studio with Erasure cohort Vince Clarke in July with a view to releasing the band's new album early in 2011.

"We've got 19 ideas for songs. I'm really excited with a lot of stuff we've done already."

Meanwhile, Bell's new solo single, 'Call on Me,' was released on May 31 in the UK and June 1 in the US, and 'Non-Stop' is released on June 7. Watch 'Call on Me' by clicking here.