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Dave Gahan 1989-02-xx In Movie Mode, TV-AM, ITV
In Movie Mode
["TV-AM", ITV, February 1989.]
I'm working from my own memories of TV-AM calling one presenter Geoff (Drewett). The programme was in magazine format, meaning the interview is cut into sections, and as I was working from a home-made video, a few seconds at the beginning of each section have been chopped off.
["TV-AM", ITV, February 1989.]
Dave Gahan chats to the presenters of a British breakfast television programme in the run-up to the cinema premiere of "101". He covers in general detail the highs and lows of touring and of working in the music world in general, and a little on the making of the film. Nothing too deep, but very relaxed and enjoyable.
" When the curtain goes down and you see that amount of people going crazy it’s very, you know, lump in the throat stuff. "
I'm working from my own memories of TV-AM calling one presenter Geoff (Drewett). The programme was in magazine format, meaning the interview is cut into sections, and as I was working from a home-made video, a few seconds at the beginning of each section have been chopped off.
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Cathy: … Where are the other three?
Dave: Andy’s skiing somewhere, I think, in France somewhere, if he can find some snow; Martin’s I think in Paris at the moment; and Alan I think is at home. Hopefully watching this, but I doubt it.
Cathy: Leaving you to do all the hard work then.
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: Well in fact what you’re doing at the moment is promoting a new LP and a new film, aren’t you?
Dave: That’s right.
Cathy: Tell me about the film.
Dave: Well the film is something that we’ve been working on for a long while, all in all about six months. We started to work on it during the tour – the tour lasted around ten months – and so we felt we had to sort of document the whole thing, because it was such a big thing that we were doing in our career. And then we decided to do this big show at the Rose Bowl to finish the whole tour off - -
Cathy: The Rose Bowl where?
Dave: In Pasadena.
Cathy: In California?
Dave: In California, yeah, and that was like the biggest crowd we’d ever played to, and we felt that we should really get it on film, and record it and everything, and that would hopefully go down in history as being one of the big events of last year.
Cathy: And the film is called 101?
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: Why?
Dave: Well it was in fact the hundred and first concert of the tour - -
Cathy: Oh really?
Dave: We were hoping it to be a hundred, but somewhere another one got added.
Cathy: Oh, I think “101” actually has a lot more ring to it than “one hundred”. And the film is being premiered in London next Wednesday, isn’t it?
Dave: That’s right, the Dominion, yeah.
Cathy: And what happens with it after that?
Dave: Well it depends on whether we get backers to take the film into cinemas. I mean it’s going into cinemas in America, but in this country it’s a whole different scene. It will eventually come out on video anyway, with the album and stuff, so - -
Cathy: Well, much later in the programme we’ll be seeing a clip from that film.
Dave: Ah, good.
Cathy: Let’s move on to the actual music rather than the film. Now in America, you are incredibly successful as a live band, aren’t you, more than eighty thousand fans were watching you and cheering you on at the Pasadena. But not so much perhaps in the charts – why do you think that is?
Dave: Well we’ve always toured as a band, we’ve always constantly toured, everywhere we’ve gone we’ve treated in the same way. It’s not like we’ve been successful in Britain so we don’t go anywhere else – we’ve always had success abroad. So America’s taken a long while, it’s not just happened overnight, it’s something that we’ve been working on, really, for the last nine years. And now suddenly the record company have realised that were’ actually almost playing to more people than we’re selling records, so suddenly we’ve started to sell records as well, which is nice, but it’s taken a long while.
Cathy: Why does it take so long? I mean, you’d have thought first the charts, and then the live.
Dave: Yeah, it doesn’t really work like that in America, and I think in some ways that’s a good thing. It’s very frustrating because you’re out on tour and you’re not seeing your records in the charts, but I think in the end you have a loyal following, and the records will come after a while. And there’s no - - I don’t know why, really.
Cathy: Now people say there’s a lot of hype involved in selling records. Do you agree with that, and is that maybe why have you – your record company – not hyped your records and maybe that might explain it?
Dave: Well maybe they haven’t spent enough money on us, no. (laughs) I think they will now, now that we’ve started to do things. But there is a lot of hype involved in the music business – there always has been. Bands use the press and the press use the bands, but it’s all part of the game really.
Cathy: Not, of course, suggesting either that you haven’t had some success in the charts – in the British charts you’ve been around for years, haven’t you?
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: More chat later on, I know you’re coming – well in fact you’re staying on the sofa…
[break]
Dave: Andy’s skiing somewhere, I think, in France somewhere, if he can find some snow; Martin’s I think in Paris at the moment; and Alan I think is at home. Hopefully watching this, but I doubt it.
Cathy: Leaving you to do all the hard work then.
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: Well in fact what you’re doing at the moment is promoting a new LP and a new film, aren’t you?
Dave: That’s right.
Cathy: Tell me about the film.
Dave: Well the film is something that we’ve been working on for a long while, all in all about six months. We started to work on it during the tour – the tour lasted around ten months – and so we felt we had to sort of document the whole thing, because it was such a big thing that we were doing in our career. And then we decided to do this big show at the Rose Bowl to finish the whole tour off - -
Cathy: The Rose Bowl where?
Dave: In Pasadena.
Cathy: In California?
Dave: In California, yeah, and that was like the biggest crowd we’d ever played to, and we felt that we should really get it on film, and record it and everything, and that would hopefully go down in history as being one of the big events of last year.
Cathy: And the film is called 101?
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: Why?
Dave: Well it was in fact the hundred and first concert of the tour - -
Cathy: Oh really?
Dave: We were hoping it to be a hundred, but somewhere another one got added.
Cathy: Oh, I think “101” actually has a lot more ring to it than “one hundred”. And the film is being premiered in London next Wednesday, isn’t it?
Dave: That’s right, the Dominion, yeah.
Cathy: And what happens with it after that?
Dave: Well it depends on whether we get backers to take the film into cinemas. I mean it’s going into cinemas in America, but in this country it’s a whole different scene. It will eventually come out on video anyway, with the album and stuff, so - -
Cathy: Well, much later in the programme we’ll be seeing a clip from that film.
Dave: Ah, good.
Cathy: Let’s move on to the actual music rather than the film. Now in America, you are incredibly successful as a live band, aren’t you, more than eighty thousand fans were watching you and cheering you on at the Pasadena. But not so much perhaps in the charts – why do you think that is?
Dave: Well we’ve always toured as a band, we’ve always constantly toured, everywhere we’ve gone we’ve treated in the same way. It’s not like we’ve been successful in Britain so we don’t go anywhere else – we’ve always had success abroad. So America’s taken a long while, it’s not just happened overnight, it’s something that we’ve been working on, really, for the last nine years. And now suddenly the record company have realised that were’ actually almost playing to more people than we’re selling records, so suddenly we’ve started to sell records as well, which is nice, but it’s taken a long while.
Cathy: Why does it take so long? I mean, you’d have thought first the charts, and then the live.
Dave: Yeah, it doesn’t really work like that in America, and I think in some ways that’s a good thing. It’s very frustrating because you’re out on tour and you’re not seeing your records in the charts, but I think in the end you have a loyal following, and the records will come after a while. And there’s no - - I don’t know why, really.
Cathy: Now people say there’s a lot of hype involved in selling records. Do you agree with that, and is that maybe why have you – your record company – not hyped your records and maybe that might explain it?
Dave: Well maybe they haven’t spent enough money on us, no. (laughs) I think they will now, now that we’ve started to do things. But there is a lot of hype involved in the music business – there always has been. Bands use the press and the press use the bands, but it’s all part of the game really.
Cathy: Not, of course, suggesting either that you haven’t had some success in the charts – in the British charts you’ve been around for years, haven’t you?
Dave: Yeah.
Cathy: More chat later on, I know you’re coming – well in fact you’re staying on the sofa…
[break]
Geoff: … documentary you’ve made of the tour, my spies tell me it’s a warts-and-all – there’s all sorts of things going on on this film, aren’t there?
Dave: Yeah well we didn’t want to make a sort of run-of-the-mill band-on-stage type film because it’s been done so many times and it’s very stereotyped now. So we wanted to make an honest film about what’ it’s really like. To see everything, you know, the things that go on backstage, like the accounting, as well as us on stage. The amount of people that are involved on the road – there are about thirty people that we employ when we go out on the road. It’s a big organisation.
Geoff: There’s a sort of negative and positive to touring, isn’t it, when a big group like yours tours. Let’s deal with the negative first, it must have huge stretches of boredom – miles and miles of road work you do.
Dave: Well you definitely go through phases of - - One month you feel great and then next month you’re completely down, or you just want to go home, and you’ve had enough of it, and you’re ready to pack the whole thing in.
Geoff: Do you get homesick?
Dave: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean as I said you go through phases – sometimes you feel really good. It’s nothing to do with the gigs or anything, although actually its just natural depression really. If you’re locked up in a hotel room, different hotel rooms, every day, it gets to you in the end.
Geoff: But like every golfer’s great shot, there’s a great moment that keeps you all going, and when you mentioned to Cathy the Pasadena concert – how many people did you walk out in front of there?
Dave: There was actually about seventy thousand people – there have been various different people saying different amounts – but there was actually about seventy thousand. And yeah, it was the most incredible thing we’ve ever done. I mean not only was it because it was the last concert of the tour itself, leaving all these people you’ve been working with for the past year, but the whole - - When the curtain goes down and you see that amount of people going crazy it’s very, you know, lump in the throat stuff.
Geoff: (laughing) I was going to say “lump in the throat”… Is there any part of you that says, “For God’s sake, get me out of here”?
Dave: Well towards the end of the concert it got so emotional that I actually found myself having trouble singing. [1]
Geoff: Really?
Dave: Because I just was sort of looking out – that sounds probably a bit twee – but it was really like that. And I went backstage afterwards and just felt really upset that it was all over. But what a way to go out.
Geoff: I think you were saying that Priscilla Presley was talking about her life with Elvis, she was saying that the big area of problem with all pop stars, and pop groups and so on, is those hours after the concert. [2]
Dave: Yeah.
Geoff: How do you cope with the need to come down, if you like, off the plateau?
Dave: Well – errm – wouldn’t you like to know? (laughs) [3] Well no, when you come offstage the tension is very high, you’re on an emotional high but also you can get at each other. A couple of members of the band have come to blows just because of, maybe that’s just because someone’s not playing their part properly. And it’s so extreme and you’re so hyped up and you come offstage, and basically anyone gets it if they’re in the way. And a couple of times there’ve been fights – actually real – they’ve been broken up and we’ve had to go back onstage to do an encore.
Cathy: Does any of that come across in the film?
Dave: I think you sense a lot of the time in the film when there’s real tension in the band and possibly not getting on with each other, but then there’s other times when - -
Geoff: I tell you what David, enough rabbit, we’ll see you in the film, after the break, how about that?
Dave: Fine.
[break]
Dave: Yeah well we didn’t want to make a sort of run-of-the-mill band-on-stage type film because it’s been done so many times and it’s very stereotyped now. So we wanted to make an honest film about what’ it’s really like. To see everything, you know, the things that go on backstage, like the accounting, as well as us on stage. The amount of people that are involved on the road – there are about thirty people that we employ when we go out on the road. It’s a big organisation.
Geoff: There’s a sort of negative and positive to touring, isn’t it, when a big group like yours tours. Let’s deal with the negative first, it must have huge stretches of boredom – miles and miles of road work you do.
Dave: Well you definitely go through phases of - - One month you feel great and then next month you’re completely down, or you just want to go home, and you’ve had enough of it, and you’re ready to pack the whole thing in.
Geoff: Do you get homesick?
Dave: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean as I said you go through phases – sometimes you feel really good. It’s nothing to do with the gigs or anything, although actually its just natural depression really. If you’re locked up in a hotel room, different hotel rooms, every day, it gets to you in the end.
Geoff: But like every golfer’s great shot, there’s a great moment that keeps you all going, and when you mentioned to Cathy the Pasadena concert – how many people did you walk out in front of there?
Dave: There was actually about seventy thousand people – there have been various different people saying different amounts – but there was actually about seventy thousand. And yeah, it was the most incredible thing we’ve ever done. I mean not only was it because it was the last concert of the tour itself, leaving all these people you’ve been working with for the past year, but the whole - - When the curtain goes down and you see that amount of people going crazy it’s very, you know, lump in the throat stuff.
Geoff: (laughing) I was going to say “lump in the throat”… Is there any part of you that says, “For God’s sake, get me out of here”?
Dave: Well towards the end of the concert it got so emotional that I actually found myself having trouble singing. [1]
Geoff: Really?
Dave: Because I just was sort of looking out – that sounds probably a bit twee – but it was really like that. And I went backstage afterwards and just felt really upset that it was all over. But what a way to go out.
Geoff: I think you were saying that Priscilla Presley was talking about her life with Elvis, she was saying that the big area of problem with all pop stars, and pop groups and so on, is those hours after the concert. [2]
Dave: Yeah.
Geoff: How do you cope with the need to come down, if you like, off the plateau?
Dave: Well – errm – wouldn’t you like to know? (laughs) [3] Well no, when you come offstage the tension is very high, you’re on an emotional high but also you can get at each other. A couple of members of the band have come to blows just because of, maybe that’s just because someone’s not playing their part properly. And it’s so extreme and you’re so hyped up and you come offstage, and basically anyone gets it if they’re in the way. And a couple of times there’ve been fights – actually real – they’ve been broken up and we’ve had to go back onstage to do an encore.
Cathy: Does any of that come across in the film?
Dave: I think you sense a lot of the time in the film when there’s real tension in the band and possibly not getting on with each other, but then there’s other times when - -
Geoff: I tell you what David, enough rabbit, we’ll see you in the film, after the break, how about that?
Dave: Fine.
[break]
[1] - You can actually see this on the "101" video. Towards the end of Everything Counts, Dave is knelt down listening to the audience sing, and his face is wobbling noticeably. Later on, he is backstage and a woman (possibly his then wife Joanne) is cuddling him while he fights back tears and says croakily that he saw all the people and just couldn't stop crying.
[2] - Now this is very pertinent as it's something that was starting to become a real problem for Dave at this time, and which in later years he would allude to as a major factor in his problems of the early nineties. Coincidentally, Priscilla and Elvis Presley's relationship was to become the (well-hidden) theme for the next single, Personal Jesus.
Cathy: … Depeche Mode, about his film “101”, it’s being premiered in London next week. We’ve got a clip from the film coming up now, it’s of the band performing “Behind The Wheel”.
[break for the video clip]
Geoff: … What’s the equivalent, do you think?
Dave: Well I was just comparing it to, basically it’s like a football match. You’re in the crowd watching the team getting really into it, I suppose it’s really like that.
Geoff: Scoring the winning goal in the cup final.
Dave: That’s right, yeah.
Geoff: Great to meet you – you’ve got your album coming out, live album - -
Dave: Yeah that’s out mid-March, and that’s when this’ll be going on to video then and that’ll be coming out on video then as well.
Geoff: You’ve worked hard and now you’re going to play hard, aren’t you?
Dave: Er yeah – for a few months! (laughs)
Geoff: Well don’t wreck yourself completely. A pleasure to meet you, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode.
Dave: Thanks very much.
Geoff: And good luck to the group too.
Dave: Thank you.
[break for the video clip]
Geoff: … What’s the equivalent, do you think?
Dave: Well I was just comparing it to, basically it’s like a football match. You’re in the crowd watching the team getting really into it, I suppose it’s really like that.
Geoff: Scoring the winning goal in the cup final.
Dave: That’s right, yeah.
Geoff: Great to meet you – you’ve got your album coming out, live album - -
Dave: Yeah that’s out mid-March, and that’s when this’ll be going on to video then and that’ll be coming out on video then as well.
Geoff: You’ve worked hard and now you’re going to play hard, aren’t you?
Dave: Er yeah – for a few months! (laughs)
Geoff: Well don’t wreck yourself completely. A pleasure to meet you, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode.
Dave: Thanks very much.
Geoff: And good luck to the group too.
Dave: Thank you.
[3] - With the benefit of hindsight, this joke isn't quite so funny. At the time Dave was just beginning his descent into drugs, having started cocaine on the previous year's tour, and beginning to have marital problems too. Most of all, his cheeky rejoinder is in fact precisely the same as that to Paul Gambaccini in an interview three years later when, looking and sounding very frail, he was asked "How do you improve your voice?"
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