On the exciting day that Humanist released their Shock Collar collaboration with Dave Gahan, Rob Marshall, the mastermind behind the project, conducted an interview with Strangeways to tell us how this project came to be.
Strangeways: How did the idea of working with Dave come about?
One of the first tracks I ever did with Mark Lanegan was a song called ‘Kingdom’, which is the first track on the Humanist record. From the moment I heard Marks voice on the track, I knew we had something special. He elevated it to heights, way beyond anything I could have done on my own. And from that moment, it was always in my head that it would probably be the first single on the record. Fast forward in time, we looked to be having a collision of album/single releases with his own record and mine. Mark is such a sweet/generous guy, and offered to help me find someone else to sing something on a new track. I had a recorded version of Shock Collar down, and so Mark suggested Dave Gahan. And too my surprise, Dave liked the track. And within a couple of days, I had a vocal from him back. I’m a very lucky guy.
– Rob Marshall
Strangeways: What can you tell us about the experience working with him?
So the video happened in October and was shot over a 2 day period in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. I had never met Dave in person prior to this, but had heard nothing but lovely things about the guy, from a few people I know that are friends with him. And he really is. So down to earth and very kind. He’s a achieved so much over the years, an incredible frontman, voice and presence but carry’s no arrogance whatsoever. Very humble, gentle and giving. It was great moment in time – I’m incredibly lucky to have worked with both Mark and Dave – 2 people I look up too. Dave was very engaged in the track/video and moment and gave it his all. A genuinely great guy with a big heart. The video was shot and directed by the great Derrick Belcham (Brian Eno) and Tracy Maurice (Arcade Fire) who did everything they could to make the day run as smoothly as possible
– Rob Marshall
Strangeways: Do you have plans to continue the trend of using guest vocalists on future albums?
I do – I have at least 2 more albums worth of recorded fully formed ideas already written. I have a couple of tracks/ideas that I’ve written with Mark that sound great that I haven’t used yet. This is the beginning of much more to come
– Rob Marshall
Video Review of Shock Collar
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