Erasure4Rum

1. Did you think that only 6 months ago you were only guys who collaborated with Andy Bell on iPop,and that was it. Now since then your known as the guys who supported Erasure on tour to great fan acclaim and have an excellent debut CD out?

Yes, we hadn't really legislated for folk liking us & our own sound. We saw Shelter almost as a kind of collaborative project bi-product. We still can't grasp the concept of having supported Erasure on-tour not before, during, even now it's over. The dip you encounter at the end of the tour knowing it's sadly over is the real reminder of what just happened! Our debut album 'emerge' has been so well received, I think we always plan for the worst & hope for the best, that way anything positive is a bonus

2. How did the effect of the 'Erasure family' have on the reaction to your performances on the Violet Flame Tour?,the Wolverhampton gig did seem to reduce you to tears at one point.

As just mentioned, we saw ourselves as being incidentally synonymous with our collaborative Andy Bell body of work. When we 'emerged' onto the Wolves stage, little did we realise the rapturous reception we would receive, as you now know so-much-so, yours truly might have had a teary moment simply from the overwhelming wave of warmth & affection we experienced first-hand. It's a terrible flaw being human!

3. It was a shame you couldn't have done more UK dates,but the reaction from the fans that you did meet in the UK seemed to be quite overwhelming,I've never seen a reaction to a support band like this before?,that seemed to spill over into the European dates too.

Rob & I have never experienced anything like it. The UK, German & Danish audiences were absolutely electric. Our confidence grew slightly as the tour progressed but it never stopped feeling scary! We had numerous standing ovations, chanting for more at the end of the set & our album 'emerge' sold out on numerous dates, in the spirit of us being on the tour at all, felt very surreal. We have been inundated globally with such lovely comments since the tour, we can't wait until we play again now!

4. Whats your feelings now since we did Ask Shelter now that 'Emerge' has well ….. emerged into the public domain?



Rob & I have very working-class roots, and we remain very grounded, balanced people because of that having had to do things via the 'school of hard knocks' way just to get to where we are now over the last 15 years. It has been a very organic progression for us but one that we hav been working out butts off to aspire too. 1% inspiration 99% perspiration (lyrics for 'diablo') sums up the path we've taken thus far. How does the saying go, nothing that was ever worth having ever comes easy...or something like that! We do everything by 'keeping it real' & with appreciation, humility and of course 'a little respect'...every pun intended! Lol

5. Emerge has a vast amount of tracks on it,including new versions of iPop tracks,it really does showcase your range of styles,what is your favourite genre?

yes! Lol Rob is the kinda controlled element of Shelter, I (Mark) tend to be the decadent force. In essence that means that whilst Rob would have liked to make 'emerge' a more standard (sensible) selection / number of tracks, as I find the 'selection' process to difficult, the album inevitably keeps getting bigger until we're both happy that we meet sum where in the middle. Our manager Simon was very instrumental in the selection process and track list order for emerge so it was great having someone objective to mediate the process which made our lives easier! I think Rob & I both have electronic pop as our first loves, so guess that as long as the genre lies somewhere within the parameters of electronica it's more dependent on the strength of the song rather than the genre, it's all about the song.

6. The Neil Francis viral video just showcased his voice in a simple mobile clip,this will be the next release for 2015 on the Ministry Of Pop label,how did that collaboration come about?



During the week Neil Francis's Kentish Town tube station video went viral, Neil was messaging me asking if we could write him a track in order to capitalise on his wave of exposure. Typically, this wouldn't be something of genuine interest to us, but Neil was already a friend of ours who's voice I already knew. As he's such a great guy, Rob & I thought we had nothing to lose in giving it a shot as random as it seemed. Neil came down to our Ministry Of Pop studio in Wales & we wrote a track and recorded him quite quickly (as Neil was very studio adept having his own studio) & was a real lovely guy 2 work with, the whole process only took about 3-4 hours, job done. The jekyll is now working up the music but we're quite excited to see what the track will sound like whilst trying to remain sympathetic to Neil's voice. Life's all about sometimes throwing a curve ball


7. BAS 2015 will see Shelter's unique brand of future/retro synth pop do you have any plans for any other live dates?

Yes really chuffed RE: BAS2015. Yes could be a 2nd festival date (awaiting confirmation) & possibly one in Denmark (awaiting confirmation). We hope to get back over to Germany too next year and something in the midlands UK would b great too. Just heard might be something in London too. Don't wanna say to much right now for fear of jinxing anything! Lol

8. Do you have plans for any other single releases from iPop or Emerge in the distant future?



RE: any further single releases from iPop or Emerge, hmmmmm we're kinda still deliberating over that one at ShelterMusicHQ....will get back to you on that front once we know ourselves!

9. Erasure4rum campaigned for the iPop album to get a CD release,this february will see details and a release for this album,do you have any snippets of info you could share with us to make us even more excited?



The iPop album physical release will be CD and contain a number of discs (number undecided) but will be determined by final track / mix selections. It will contain the 8 main tracks as well as the remix tracks from the digital release. It will also contain some mixes - versions never previously heard or released and some brand new artwork. We're all quite excited about this one. We've been approached by a brilliant label who wanted to sign us for this release but have decided to keep this a home-grown Ministry Of Pop release as we have to-date to keep things true to us and our roots. The album will probably be fulfilled via another Crowdfunder campaign which will possibly commence in January 2015.

10. Erasure4rum would like to wish Shelter a very happy new year for 2015 and look forward to any future events either music releases or live outings. Do you have a new year message for our loyal band of fans still keeping the Erasure flag flying?

2015 is the 30th Anniversary of Erasure so will be a very special year all round really. Shelter have a very busy year planned already with lots of new releases & working with some amazing producers & artists. Call yourselves a Llamacab right now guys, things are about to shift up a gear!! We wish all our Shelter / Erasure fans an amazing 2015 around the world and thank you all so much for allowing us to "emerge" this year. Mark, Rob & Si (Shelter) xxx

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Erasure4rum would like to thank Shelter aka Mark & Rob,and Simon for this remix Ask feature