Erasure frontman Andy Bell plans to sell honey in Spain.
The 54-year-old star has revealed he is keen to become a beekeeper and make some extra cash by selling the sugary syrup, after he previously revealed how hard it is to maintain his Majorca pad financially in 2014.
He told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: "I want to spend more time at my villa and start keeping my own bees and selling honey."
Asked five years ago what the biggest drain on his resources were, he said: "The upkeep of the Spanish house because it’s big with a huge garden and needs people to take care of it."
Meanwhile, Andy and his bandmate Vince Clarke recently revealed they are set to start work on the new Erasure album this summer.
The British synthpop duo released their 17th studio LP ‘World Be Gone’ in 2017 and the pair have made plans to go into the studio in July to write their next batch of songs once Andy has finished his upcoming ‘Let’s Rock’ festival headline slots.
Andy admitted he and Vince, 58, never have any tracks ready before they reunite and do all their writing in the studio together.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "I’ve got some of those retro gigs, ‘Let’s Rock’ they’re called. I’m doing them around the UK, Vince won’t do them but I do them for some pocket money. Then we start writing in July and we’ll see what comes out of that and then hopefully we’ll have something recorded, or half-recorded, for the New Year and then we’ll aim to go on tour next summer."
After 33 years of working with Vince, Andy says the pair share a "bit of a psychic relationship" and they know what the other is thinking when it comes to where a song needs to go.
He said: "On the first album I was employed as a singer and then there was a song that Vince was writing and he said, ‘Do you know a word for this song for the chorus? I’m missing one.’ I called it ‘Oh L’amour’ and Vince gave me 50 per cent of the royalties, which I thought was very generous and since then we’ve co-written everything, almost, and it’s 50/50. You kind of get a bit of psychic relationship really as musicians."
The ‘A Little Respect’ hitmaker – who can currently be seen starring as polysexual, mythical being Torsten in ‘Queereteria TV’ at London’s Above the Stag Theatre throughout April – revealed he and Vince don’t really keep in touch when they’re not recording or touring as Erasure, but insisted that’s not because they don’t get on, because they actually still really "like each other" after all these years.
Andy said: "We don’t really stay in touch, no. Vince has got his family and his radio shows and things and that’s why I do shows on my own and charity things. We pretty much live separate lives and probably just say hi on Christmas Day and things like that.
"Erasure is Erasure and this way it’s fresh when it is.
"I think most bands hate each other. We’re lucky, because we like each other … Although when we haven’t seen each other for a while it’s like meeting an embarrassing ex-girlfriend, you have to kind of warm up again to the person!"
Erasure’s Andy Bell wants to become beekeeper
