Photo: Metropolis Records
“I have made some amazing friends along the way”
We had a great chat with Pete Burns from Kill Shelter. Fresh from the release of new album Asylum.
Hello Pete, how are you?
All good thanks, David. I hope you are well too.
What is Asylum, and what does it offer?
Asylum is my new album and it celebrates over 40 years of alternative and underground music, including collaborative contributions from Ronny Moorings (Clan of Xymox), Agent Side Grinder, Ash Code, Stefan Netschio (Beborn Beton), William Faith (The Bellwether Syndicate / Faith and the Muse), Valentina Veil (VV & the Void) and Antipole. It is the second in a series of collaboration albums featuring like-minded alternative artists from around the world.
The album explores themes and interpretations of the word asylum. It highlights and deals with challenging subject matter such as human trafficking, domestic abuse, political refuge, disillusionment and personal mental health.
Like my previous work, it has a dark energy, though there are moments of hope and euphoria, but, conceptually, it is a very different album to Damage.
Sonically, I like my music to work on various levels so there are tracks that will suit being played in clubs equally as well as being experienced at home on headphones. I like the idea of duality both in terms of purpose and meaning and this is carried throughout the album.
I noticed that there are two versions available, a European and a US version, in this age of popular VPNs and worldwide accessibility, what is the reason for alternate pressings?
My primary reason was that I wanted to make sure that the physical releases were accessible and affordable for people to buy around the world. Global shipping costs can be prohibitive and at times cost more than the product itself which beggars belief really. It made sense to me for non-digital products to be distributed by territory in order to keep the costs down for people that want to buy the vinyl or CDs. Signing with Metropolis clearly helps with that in North and South America and they have very good distribution too so that should make a big difference.
“[I] had a lot of interested parties but the list of contributors changed over the years …”
I also wanted to give each of the labels something unique. It means a lot to me to have support from both Metropolis Records and Manic Depression Records. It is a personal aspiration to make music collectable again and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something a bit different – I am not one for following convention. The tracks, track listings, artwork and liner notes are all slightly different and aligned to each label.
The cover art is part of a sculptural triptych I made and, while I did consider using different parts of that for each version, in the end I decided that might complicate the core idea too much and chose more subtle variations instead.
You have collaborated with some well known figures in the Goth/Darkwave scene on the new album. Do you have any funny anecdotes about the collaborations?
Originally I thought that Asylum might have been a double album. I started the process back in 2019 and had a lot of interested parties but the list of contributors changed over the years. Some people who were really fired up about it just went completely off the radar, some pulled out due to long term illness, hospitalisation or unforeseen circumstances. We even had to pull the album from production as one of the original contributors went into litigation (not with us) and that meant replacing one of the tracks at the very last minute. Perhaps more stressful than funny to be honest, but our life experiences shape us as people so even though it has not been a straightforward process, I love the final product and all the contributing artists were brilliant to work with without fault.
How did you find the collab process different from working on your own?
I love collaborating with other artists – I find it incredibly inspiring and motivating. I tend to write the track and lyrics first then send them to the contributing artist for their input. Hearing someone else’s interpretation of the track takes it to another level for me. It is always beyond what I could do myself and that is what makes it so special. I also tend to rearrange the track once the final vocals are in place which adds another dimension to the process.
“I owe a lot of people a lot of drinks.”
When I write, perform, engineer, produce and master everything myself, I do not think I hear the material in the same way. When someone else is on the record I find I can be more objective. It is more satisfying for me and I am able to enjoy the material more. I really admire the people I have been fortunate enough to work with. They all have something incredibly special and unique that they bring to the process and that is a gift for me as a producer and as an artist.
I have made some amazing friends along the way too so I will always be grateful for that as well as their contributions to the albums. I owe a lot of people a lot of drinks.
In the future, who would you love to remix/work with and if you could go on the road with them who would it be?
I have been listening to a lot of Gary Numan of late (old and new) so he would be very high up my list. I wouldd also love to work with Einstürzende Neubauten given the chance. I think Phase Fatale is doing some great stuff as is Trentemøller (I am totally in love with “Dead or Alive”), KÅLT, The Soft Moon… the list goes on and on. There are clearly a lot of people that I admire for different reasons and that I would love to work with. You never know what might happen next.
Quick game of Remix, Remaster and Refuse (bin:) The Cure – Lovecats, Christian Death – Peek-a-Boo and Current 93 – Crowleymass Unveiled.
What a terrible position to be put in. I would just refuse them all and that way it would be fair on everyone that asked, hah.
Having remixed Christian Death already, I would remaster Peek-a-Boo although I would prefer to mix and produce it. I could not turn down The Cure so I would have to remix The Lovecats. Although it would not be my first choice from their vast discography. And, by process of elimination that, apologetically, leaves Current 93 – Crowleymass Unveiled.
If you can let Robert know I am up for that remix that would be great.
You can find more about Kill Shelter and Asylum at the following places:
Bandcamp: https://killshelter.bandcamp.com/album/asylum-us-version
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hl06hvbtecgkhML5iVf5B?si=nnbz5-KFTmCtifaxgbShTw
YouTube: https://youtu.be/GZ6e7-BslYo
