Strange Lives
[No. 1, 23rd May 1987. Words: Uncredited. Pictures: Uncredited.]
THE EARLY DAYS
Martin Gore, raised in Dagenham (new town famous for its Ford factory) discovers his life-long love for Germany on a school exchange visit to Schleswig Holstein where he stays on a farm. "I liked to milk the cows," he recalls.
Martin stars for his school cricket team and passes French and German 'A' levels. He collects Disco 45s and sticks posters of Bryan Ferry on the bedroom wall.
Martin buys his first synth for £200 and forms various bands like Norman And The Worms, Composition Of Sound and French Look with Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher. The trio are pals from school and the Boys Brigade.
After a residency at Crocs in Rayleigh, Essex the early Mode meet Daniel Miller, boss of Mute records, at the Venue and the Bridge House, Canning Town, where they are supporting Fad Gadget (early electronic pop group).
Depeche Mode are now Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, Vince Clarke and singer Dave Gahan. Dave joins after auditioning singing Bowie's "Heroes". He is studying fashion design at Southend Art College and brings along the French magazine Depeche Mode which gives the group their name. It means Fast Fashion.
BASILDON, BANKS AND BIZARRE BEER-BOYS
Dave Gahan is an ex-beer boy and punk with a list of juvenile felonies including "nicking cars, setting fire to them and spraying walls. I was a regular juvenile delinquent."
Dave works for Sainsbury's, North Thames Gas and a Basildon builder before mending his ways as a pop star. He is an acquaintance of John Lydon and Boy George.
Andy Fletcher, known as Fletch, is another Basildon boy. He describes the new town that forms Mode's sound as "a horrible place with 200,000 people and one cinema". He is in the same class as Alison Moyet and Martin at school and takes politics 'A' level. His first group is No Romance In China with Vince. They play Cure songs. After school Fletch works for Sun Life Assurance as a clerk while Martin works for the Natwest bank.
Depeche Mode make their recording debut with Some Bizzare records - a version of "Photographic" - even though Gahan later says "there was nothing bizarre about us. We were post Blitz kids in frilly shirts for a while but I never believed in all that new romantic futurist stuff myself."
Martin Gore says of Mode's early image, "We were very sickly and wimpy, it even makes me feel ill to look at old pictures of us then."
VINCE QUITS SHOCK!
Influenced by OMD and Human League, Mode sign to Mute, the independent label. To this day they have no written contract with Daniel Miller and split all profits 50/50.
Their debut single is "Dreaming Of Me" which Vince calls "a pop song. I think pop is a really nice word. It's light and happy." The boys support Ultravox and play at Rusty Egan's Flicks club in Dartford. New Romance is in the air in 1981.
Just before their first British tour Vince Clarke announces "I've just had enough." As songwriter for Modey everyone expects this to herald the end for Depeche but he says "Martin is a better writer than me, they'll be alright". The split isn't all amicable. "It took over a year for the bad feeling to die down and there was a rivalry between them and Yazoo. I'd offered them "Only You" and when Yazoo had a hit with it, that didn't help much."
Daniel Miller looks on the bright side. "Vince leaving is good news for Martin, he needs a push." Martin agrees. "It was exactly the kick up the arse I needed to start believing in my own songs. I was like a Before and After advert."
MODEY GET WILDER!
"Name band require synthesiser player. Must be under 21" read an ad in Melody Maker. Alan Wilder, Acton boy, ex muso with the Dragons and the Hit Men replies and gets seat. He is 22 and isn't accepted into the group for 18 months but hired as a session player.
"That hurt for a bit. They were a very tight knit bunch and it took me a while to become one of them. I'd always thought they were pretty weedy before but when we played together I sensed we were capable of a much harder sound. Between 1982 and 1983 I was never sure whether I was in or out until one day Fletch told me I was a full time member."
Modey play their first American dates in 1982. While they turn away hundreds of fans across town Duran Duran fail to sell out their first US dates. On their return, Mode play a secret Bridgehouse date and give all proceeds to the club's restoration fund.
"Get The Balance Right" is the first single of 1983 and shows Wilder's influence. "It was a lot tougher than anything we'd done," says Gore. "There was a lot more to us now than a little pop group."
[No. 1, 23rd May 1987. Words: Uncredited. Pictures: Uncredited.]
Whistlestop b(l)and biography from the beginnings to 1987. Rather than concentrate on the more important developments the band had made in this time, the author has tried to cram as many historical details as possible into this short article, with the result that everything is mentioned, but virtually nothing discussed. If you are new to Depeche Mode this is OK for getting a basic idea of the band's history, but veterans will gain only a few bits of trivia.
THE EARLY DAYS
Martin Gore, raised in Dagenham (new town famous for its Ford factory) discovers his life-long love for Germany on a school exchange visit to Schleswig Holstein where he stays on a farm. "I liked to milk the cows," he recalls.
Martin stars for his school cricket team and passes French and German 'A' levels. He collects Disco 45s and sticks posters of Bryan Ferry on the bedroom wall.
Martin buys his first synth for £200 and forms various bands like Norman And The Worms, Composition Of Sound and French Look with Vince Clarke and Andy Fletcher. The trio are pals from school and the Boys Brigade.
After a residency at Crocs in Rayleigh, Essex the early Mode meet Daniel Miller, boss of Mute records, at the Venue and the Bridge House, Canning Town, where they are supporting Fad Gadget (early electronic pop group).
Depeche Mode are now Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, Vince Clarke and singer Dave Gahan. Dave joins after auditioning singing Bowie's "Heroes". He is studying fashion design at Southend Art College and brings along the French magazine Depeche Mode which gives the group their name. It means Fast Fashion.
BASILDON, BANKS AND BIZARRE BEER-BOYS
Dave Gahan is an ex-beer boy and punk with a list of juvenile felonies including "nicking cars, setting fire to them and spraying walls. I was a regular juvenile delinquent."
Dave works for Sainsbury's, North Thames Gas and a Basildon builder before mending his ways as a pop star. He is an acquaintance of John Lydon and Boy George.
Andy Fletcher, known as Fletch, is another Basildon boy. He describes the new town that forms Mode's sound as "a horrible place with 200,000 people and one cinema". He is in the same class as Alison Moyet and Martin at school and takes politics 'A' level. His first group is No Romance In China with Vince. They play Cure songs. After school Fletch works for Sun Life Assurance as a clerk while Martin works for the Natwest bank.
Depeche Mode make their recording debut with Some Bizzare records - a version of "Photographic" - even though Gahan later says "there was nothing bizarre about us. We were post Blitz kids in frilly shirts for a while but I never believed in all that new romantic futurist stuff myself."
Martin Gore says of Mode's early image, "We were very sickly and wimpy, it even makes me feel ill to look at old pictures of us then."
VINCE QUITS SHOCK!
Influenced by OMD and Human League, Mode sign to Mute, the independent label. To this day they have no written contract with Daniel Miller and split all profits 50/50.
Their debut single is "Dreaming Of Me" which Vince calls "a pop song. I think pop is a really nice word. It's light and happy." The boys support Ultravox and play at Rusty Egan's Flicks club in Dartford. New Romance is in the air in 1981.
Just before their first British tour Vince Clarke announces "I've just had enough." As songwriter for Modey everyone expects this to herald the end for Depeche but he says "Martin is a better writer than me, they'll be alright". The split isn't all amicable. "It took over a year for the bad feeling to die down and there was a rivalry between them and Yazoo. I'd offered them "Only You" and when Yazoo had a hit with it, that didn't help much."
Daniel Miller looks on the bright side. "Vince leaving is good news for Martin, he needs a push." Martin agrees. "It was exactly the kick up the arse I needed to start believing in my own songs. I was like a Before and After advert."
MODEY GET WILDER!
"Name band require synthesiser player. Must be under 21" read an ad in Melody Maker. Alan Wilder, Acton boy, ex muso with the Dragons and the Hit Men replies and gets seat. He is 22 and isn't accepted into the group for 18 months but hired as a session player.
"That hurt for a bit. They were a very tight knit bunch and it took me a while to become one of them. I'd always thought they were pretty weedy before but when we played together I sensed we were capable of a much harder sound. Between 1982 and 1983 I was never sure whether I was in or out until one day Fletch told me I was a full time member."
Modey play their first American dates in 1982. While they turn away hundreds of fans across town Duran Duran fail to sell out their first US dates. On their return, Mode play a secret Bridgehouse date and give all proceeds to the club's restoration fund.
"Get The Balance Right" is the first single of 1983 and shows Wilder's influence. "It was a lot tougher than anything we'd done," says Gore. "There was a lot more to us now than a little pop group."
