Metal Hammer have spoken to The Rotted frontman Ben McCrow about the story that broke yesterday that confirmed that the band will have their music played in Topshop. There’s a short discussion about it on this week’s Metal Hammer Podcast but we invited the British extreme metallers to defend their decision and that’s exactly what they did.

How did the Topshop playlisting come about?

Ben McCrow (vocals): “Bro, we got a message saying one of our track’s was playing in Topshop. I guess their picker dug our shit!!! Fuckin’ awesome, innit!”

What effect do you think the track is going to have on shoppers?

Ben: “It’s a proper mellow and trippy track with some very subtle clean vocals on it. We put it on there as a kind of interlude, like a mood song. There’s also 4 layers of my voice talking about having the chronic fear after a bad comedown, so maybe the old subliminal messages are gonna infect their heads, and they’re gonna feel total remorse for a night spent assaulting their sinuses that they never had!”

Are there any actual benefits for you or Topshop or are you happy to go with the whole surrealism of it?

Ben: “I guess if someone likes the sound of the song and shazams it, they might go out and buy the album, then get kinda grated when they hear the rest of the album is aggressive, punk-fuelled, extreme metal but by then it’ll be too late. No refunds, sorry! There’s probably not a huge deal in it for Topshop if I’m honest though.”

The Rotted will be on tour with Ted maul in the first part of July.

Buy tickets for these shows right here