Dave Gahan 1997-02-18 Los Angeles, KROQ (The Interview Sessions)

1997-02-18 KROQ, Los Angeles, CA, USA​

Dave was at KROQ-FM in Los Angeles to conduct an on-air interview. Besides premiering tracks from the album, he also picks a winner for the Star In The It's No Good Video contest. Although Dave is in his confessional mode here and does keep returning to introspective themes, the chemistry between the three men is awesome and the DJs deftly and gently steer him towards more cheerful subjects. David said there was no plan for a tour, but there was a possibility of a few selected "launch parties", where the band would play a few songs off the new album, in some major cities like Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, etc. David also mentioned that Alan had a new baby, and that he was pretty sure that Alan was working on a new Recoil project.

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Duration: 51:38
This file was recorded and uploaded by Daniel "BRAT" Barassi.

This interview is also available on an unofficial CD called "The Interview Sessions" .

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[demoderus]

Daniel Barassi had also attended the interview, and wrote some extra info on his personal site at the time:
David has moved from Los Angeles to New York.
Depeche Mode are working on their own web page.
When I questioned David about the remixes for "Barrel Of A Gun", he said that of the two Underworld mixes, he liked the Soft Mix, saying that he liked the way the vocals were presented in the mix. I won't say what he thought of the hard mix though.
Also, he confirmed that one of the remixers for the upcoming "It's No Good" single would be Dom T (Dom T previously has done remixes for Massive Attack, among others).

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[demoderus]

A transcript was provided on Sacreddm.net (now-defunct).
Audio transcript
BEAN: So how' ya been?
DAVE: Errm -
BEAN: You look great!
DAVE: Thank you very much.
BEAN: You look fantastic!
DAVE: Thank you!
BEAN: No, I'm just saying...you know, you hear Dave Gahan, all you see is the fuzzy surveillance videos anymore on the TV, and now - all I ever see is, I see him on "Cops", that's the only place I ever see Dave Gahan anymore, and I walk in, and he's clear-eyed, and strong, you're smiling and happy and you just look terrific, man, it's great.
DAVE: Thanks very much.
BEAN: How ya feeling?
DAVE: I feel very...new to this world.
BEAN: Really? Man, and after what you've been through, that's something. How long have you been clean now?
DAVE: Errm, I got clean, first thing like, last June.
BEAN: That's very impressive. That's a long time.
DAVE: And you know, the truth of it is it's a one-day thing. I have today, and I make a decision every morning, and get up and I hit my knees, and I make a decision and I basically ask God to help me through the day, help me to keep clean, keep it real simple - you know, I'm praying to the ceiling...
BEAN: ...But what the heck?
(Dave laughs)
He didn't say it, but we'll pretend.
DAVE: Sorry. But anyway, basically it's a choice I have to make every day.
BEAN: Right.
DAVE: And it's something that is going to be ongoing for the rest of my life - but being part of life is something that I really want. There's nowhere I can run anymore. I can't run away from myself, and that's what it's all about.
KEVIN: Let's go back to the big tours that you guys were on for so long, because a common theme in a lot of the articles about you guys and a lot of things that you guys have said is that those are just - they just kill you, those tours just...wipe you out.
DAVE: Well, you know, to be honest, what happened in the last tour was in the making for quite a few tours, and quite a few albums. It was-- We were off and running with the whole-- Depeche Mode was our whole lives. It was priority.
BEAN: For fifteen years or something.
DAVE: Yeah, and errm--
BEAN: Because you guys in the Eighties were coming out with an album a year pretty much, and over here you just--
DAVE: Yeah, and we toured and, the thing is what happened was, I think, we just like let it run, and before we realised it, we didn't know where we were. We didn't know who we were anymore, just as people. And it wasn't just myself on the last tour that kind of had a lot of problems. Everybody in the band did. Very different problems, but basically the same kind of...
BEAN: ...Kind of stuff, right...
DAVE: I have really got verbal diarrhoea - I'm sorry! (laughs)
BEAN: No problem! (laughs)
DAVE: I apologise! But...you know what, I take that back!
BEAN: The reason we have the delay is for guys like you, Dave. It's OK man, you can catch it... So - yeah, so you're out there, and--
DAVE: I'm told I've got to get honest, and I've got to be myself.
BEAN: You're being yourself alright!
KEVIN: So what does it do to you, those tours, when you say you lose yourself, what does that--?
DAVE: OK, what I mean by that is you give...For myself, it had to be everything, you know? I wanted to give everything, I felt like...Those two hours that I was up there on stage, that's when I felt like I had a purpose. That's when I felt alive. That's when I could immediately get a fix from the audience, from the whole atmosphere of a Depeche Mode gig. It would... I could stand there behind my microphone, and I could stand my feet on the floor, I could show off for two hours, and I'd get applauded for it. And it's-- you know, I'm a big kid, in this adult body. You know, the classic story.
BEAN: So it's the problem that the other 22 hours of the day you're looking for something that replaces that high.
DAVE: It's just...the other 22 hours of the day, it's just like, "What am I?"
BEAN: You're coming down.
DAVE: "What am I?" And you know what, you ain't gonna get higher than that.
BEAN: Yeah, no kidding. Hey, Kevin and I were talking before you came in, we saw you at...I saw you at the Rosebowl, when you did the 101 tour--
DAVE: Cor...yeah.
BEAN: Kevin and I saw you at Dodger's Stadium, and we can't even imagine what that's like when you're playing a venue like that, with that kind of crowd. And the crowds were fanatics, too. Fanatics.
DAVE: You know, I don't know why I've been given this gift, to be able to experience that, I really don't. And I think the big thing about it is not to question it too much. What was happening was, I played the rock star, I played the rock star with all the cliches and all the trappings, because I thought that's what I was supposed to do if I really meant it. And now I realise that I could have done both. But what I need today in my life is, if I really want to give, like from my heart, I have to be able to give to myself first. Because otherwise I've got nothing, you know, I have nothing. It doesn't matter if you sell like ten million albums, it's all very wonderful and everything but you know, if you go back and sit on the couch and switch on the weather channel every night, you know there's not much going on!
KEVIN: Hey, that's what Bean does, oddly enough!
BEAN: I read an interview with you that was on the internet last night, it might have been from one of the British magazines but you talked about watching the weather channel for twelve hours at a time.
DAVE: Yeah...
BEAN: Was that an exaggeration or were you just veggin'?
DAVE: Well, you know, no it wasn't an exaggeration, it was just that it was very...there wasn't too much information going on there, it was like sslllloooowwww...And...
BEAN: You could keep up, you could follow it.
DAVE: It didn't have to get too A.D.D. ...
BEAN: Not much plot.
DAVE: I knew what was going to come, because basically living in Los Angeles it was gonna be sun...
KEVIN: We've got Dave Gahan in the studio, the new CD is called "Ultra".
BEAN: What is the date that's coming out? You know off the top of your head, Dave?
DAVE: Ooofff...
BEAN: April is what I heard, does that sound right?
DAVE: April 14th? Help me out, somebody?
BEAN: And it's been five years since the last album?
DAVE: It'll be four years, pretty much to the day, I think, when it comes out.
BEAN: Wow. That's a lifetime these days, isn't it, to go between records.
DAVE: It sure feels like it.
KEVIN: Tell us..."Sister Of Night", tell us about this song that we're about to play.
DAVE: This song was the first, like, completed vocal that I did...We recorded part of the album, this was, I guess, like last spring or something, in New York - coming up to May, yeah, and just before my birthday. We went there for eight weeks, pretty much, to do vocals, and this is all I did.
KEVIN: What's it about, what's the song about?
DAVE: The song is, for me, it kinda takes me through what was wonderful about being in love, everything about it, and then, by your own actions, how you can destroy it.
(intermission)
BEAN: We were talking during the song, Dave, as you were telling us how this album was recorded - it took a long time to record, this one did?
DAVE: Yes, all in all about 15 months.
BEAN: And in the middle of that somewhere is when you lost one of the founding members of the Depeche Mode, right? Alan left the band. [1]
DAVE: We actually lost Alan before we even started recording that.
BEAN: Oh, did you?
DAVE: Six months after the "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" tour he decided that he'd had enough.
BEAN: What's up with that?
DAVE: Errm...You know, I think it was happening way before - I think it was happening around when we were making "Songs Of Faith And Devotion". Alan put in a lot of work. He put in a lot of work, and the thing is, if you're going to put in all that work, fine, do it. But afterwards, don't kind of turn around and say, "Hey, I did all this and what do I get back for it?" There's a lot of ego stuff goes on, as we know, in these bands.
KEVIN: So he was bitter that he did a lot and didn't get recognition.
DAVE: It just got to the stage where it was like, "I do all this, and I don't think I'm respected." And that's really sad, but I think Alan had to do what he had to do.
KEVIN: Do you stay in touch? You guys have obviously been friends for a long time.
DAVE: The last time I saw him was just before we started recording the album. I know since then he's had a baby, and I think he's in the process of making his own record again, the Recoil project, and I've got nothing but...You know, I love Alan. I mean he was in the band with us for like, fifteen years or something. I mean, it's a family. This is the most dysfunctional family in the whole world. But we are a family, and all the stuff that's gone on, throughout, these are my brothers, and it is a brotherly thing. You hate your brother, and it's like, "Get out of my face", but there's something there that's really special.

1. Alan wasn't a founding member: he joined the band for touring only in 1982 and became a 'full-time' member at the end of that year.

 

[demoderus]

Depeche Mode: The Interview Sessions
[CHATCD14, label unknown.]

Outstanding and engaging interview, with live phone-in, of Dave by the Los Angeles K-ROQ FM DJs Kevin and Bean in mid-February 1997. Although Dave is in his confessional mode here and does keep returning to introspective themes, the chemistry between the three men is awesome and the DJs deftly and gently steer him towards more cheerful subjects. The original CD is a joy to listen to: a transcript doesn't do it justice and if you can buy a copy it is strongly recommended.
DAVE: I'm told I've got to get honest, and I've got to be myself.
BEAN: You're being yourself alright!

BEAN: So how' ya been?
DAVE: Errm -

BEAN: You look great!
DAVE: Thank you very much.

BEAN: You look fantastic!
DAVE: Thank you!

BEAN: No, I'm just saying...you know, you hear Dave Gahan, all you see is the fuzzy surveillance videos anymore on the TV, and now - all I ever see is, I see him on "Cops", that's the only place I ever see Dave Gahan anymore, and I walk in, and he's clear-eyed, and strong, you're smiling and happy and you just look terrific, man, it's great.
DAVE: Thanks very much.

BEAN: How ya feeling?
DAVE: I feel very...new to this world.

BEAN: Really? Man, and after what you've been through, that's something. How long have you been clean now?
DAVE: Errm, I got clean, first thing like, last June.

BEAN: That's very impressive. That's a long time.
DAVE: And you know, the truth of it is it's a one-day thing. I have today, and I make a decision every morning, and get up and I hit my knees, and I make a decision and I basically ask God to help me through the day, help me to keep clean, keep it real simple - you know, I'm praying to the ceiling...

BEAN: ...But what the heck?
(Dave laughs)
He didn't say it, but we'll pretend.
DAVE: Sorry. But anyway, basically it's a choice I have to make every day.

BEAN: Right.
DAVE: And it's something that is going to be ongoing for the rest of my life - but being part of life is something that I really want. There's nowhere I can run anymore. I can't run away from myself, and that's what it's all about.

KEVIN: Let's go back to the big tours that you guys were on for so long, because a common theme in a lot of the articles about you guys and a lot of things that you guys have said is that those are just - they just kill you, those tours just...wipe you out.
DAVE: Well, you know, to be honest, what happened in the last tour was in the making for quite a few tours, and quite a few albums. It was-- We were off and running with the whole-- Depeche Mode was our whole lives. It was priority.

BEAN: For fifteen years or something.
DAVE: Yeah, and errm--

BEAN: Because you guys in the Eighties were coming out with an album a year pretty much, and over here you just--

DAVE: Yeah, and we toured and, the thing is what happened was, I think, we just like let it run, and before we realised it, we didn't know where we were. We didn't know who we were anymore, just as people. And it wasn't just myself on the last tour that kind of had a lot of problems. Everybody in the band did. Very different problems, but basically the same kind of...

BEAN: ...Kind of stuff, right...
DAVE: I have really got verbal diarrhoea - I'm sorry! (laughs)

BEAN: No problem! (laughs)
DAVE: I apologise! But...you know what, I take that back!

BEAN: The reason we have the delay is for guys like you, Dave. It's OK man, you can catch it... So - yeah, so you're out there, and--
DAVE: I'm told I've got to get honest, and I've got to be myself.

BEAN: You're being yourself alright!

KEVIN: So what does it do to you, those tours, when you say you lose yourself, what does that--?

DAVE: OK, what I mean by that is you give...For myself, it had to be everything, you know? I wanted to give everything, I felt like...Those two hours that I was up there on stage, that's when I felt like I had a purpose. That's when I felt alive. That's when I could immediately get a fix from the audience, from the whole atmosphere of a Depeche Mode gig. It would... I could stand there behind my microphone, and I could stand my feet on the floor, I could show off for two hours, and I'd get applauded for it. And it's-- you know, I'm a big kid, in this adult body. You know, the classic story.

BEAN: So it's the problem that the other 22 hours of the day you're looking for something that replaces that high.
DAVE: It's just...the other 22 hours of the day, it's just like, "What am I?"

BEAN: You're coming down.
DAVE: "What am I?" And you know what, you ain't gonna get higher than that.

BEAN: Yeah, no kidding. Hey, Kevin and I were talking before you came in, we saw you at...I saw you at the Rosebowl, when you did the 101 tour--
DAVE: Cor...yeah.

BEAN: Kevin and I saw you at Dodger's Stadium, and we can't even imagine what that's like when you're playing a venue like that, with that kind of crowd. And the crowds were fanatics, too. Fanatics.
DAVE: You know, I don't know why I've been given this gift, to be able to experience that, I really don't. And I think the big thing about it is not to question it too much. What was happening was, I played the rock star, I played the rock star with all the cliches and all the trappings, because I thought that's what I was supposed to do if I really meant it. And now I realise that I could have done both. But what I need today in my life is, if I really want to give, like from my heart, I have to be able to give to myself first. Because otherwise I've got nothing, you know, I have nothing. It doesn't matter if you sell like ten million albums, it's all very wonderful and everything but you know, if you go back and sit on the couch and switch on the weather channel every night, you know there's not much going on!

KEVIN: Hey, that's what Bean does, oddly enough!
BEAN: I read an interview with you that was on the internet last night, it might have been from one of the British magazines but you talked about watching the weather channel for twelve hours at a time.
DAVE: Yeah...

BEAN: Was that an exaggeration or were you just veggin'?
DAVE: Well, you know, no it wasn't an exaggeration, it was just that it was very...there wasn't too much information going on there, it was like sslllloooowwww...And...

BEAN: You could keep up, you could follow it.
DAVE: It didn't have to get too A.D.D. ...

BEAN: Not much plot.
DAVE: I knew what was going to come, because basically living in Los Angeles it was gonna be sun...

KEVIN: We've got Dave Gahan in the studio, the new CD is called "Ultra".
BEAN: What is the date that's coming out? You know off the top of your head, Dave?
DAVE: Ooofff...

BEAN: April is what I heard, does that sound right?
DAVE: April 14th? Help me out, somebody?

BEAN: And it's been five years since the last album?
DAVE: It'll be four years, pretty much to the day, I think, when it comes out.

BEAN: Wow. That's a lifetime these days, isn't it, to go between records.
DAVE: It sure feels like it.

KEVIN: Tell us..."Sister Of Night", tell us about this song that we're about to play.
DAVE: This song was the first, like, completed vocal that I did...We recorded part of the album, this was, I guess, like last spring or something, in New York - coming up to May, yeah, and just before my birthday. We went there for eight weeks, pretty much, to do vocals, and this is all I did.

KEVIN: What's it about, what's the song about?
DAVE: The song is, for me, it kinda takes me through what was wonderful about being in love, everything about it, and then, by your own actions, how you can destroy it.

(intermission)

BEAN: We were talking during the song, Dave, as you were telling us how this album was recorded - it took a long time to record, this one did?
DAVE: Yes, all in all about 15 months.

BEAN: And in the middle of that somewhere is when you lost one of the founding members of the Depeche Mode, right? Alan left the band. [1]
DAVE: We actually lost Alan before we even started recording that.

BEAN: Oh, did you?
DAVE: Six months after the "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" tour he decided that he'd had enough.

BEAN: What's up with that?
DAVE: Errm...You know, I think it was happening way before - I think it was happening around when we were making "Songs Of Faith And Devotion". Alan put in a lot of work. He put in a lot of work, and the thing is, if you're going to put in all that work, fine, do it. But afterwards, don't kind of turn around and say, "Hey, I did all this and what do I get back for it?" There's a lot of ego stuff goes on, as we know, in these bands.

KEVIN: So he was bitter that he did a lot and didn't get recognition.
DAVE: It just got to the stage where it was like, "I do all this, and I don't think I'm respected." And that's really sad, but I think Alan had to do what he had to do.

KEVIN: Do you stay in touch? You guys have obviously been friends for a long time.
DAVE: The last time I saw him was just before we started recording the album. I know since then he's had a baby, and I think he's in the process of making his own record again, the Recoil project, and I've got nothing but...You know, I love Alan. I mean he was in the band with us for like, fifteen years or something. I mean, it's a family. This is the most dysfunctional family in the whole world. But we are a family, and all the stuff that's gone on, throughout, these are my brothers, and it is a brotherly thing. Sometimes you hate your brother, and it's like, "Get out of my face", but there's something there that's really special.

[1] - Alan wasn't a founding member: he joined the band for touring only in 1982 and became a 'full-time' member at the end of that year.

 

[demoderus]

KEVIN: How did Martin and Andy react when you had that horrible summer last year? Were they real helpful or...what were they doing?
DAVE: NO!
(laughter)

KEVIN: Let me just tell you - I want to hear the answer to that - let me tell you, when...You were arrested twice last summer, that sounds right to me, I don't know if that is--
DAVE: One was when I attempted a suicide [1] and was earlier on; I had no idea that to try and take your own life in this state was a felony but you find out these things--

KEVIN: That sucks, by the way. If you're down that low and then you get arrested for it. When we heard the news that that happened to you, it was within a few days, it seemed to me, of Brad Newell of Sublime overdosing, and it was just a heavy--
DAVE: I believe it was the same night.

KEVIN: It was a very heavy time around this building, I'll tell you that. What the hell is going on? We were - I mean, it's black humour but we were saying, "Down the street at Power 106 all their artists are killing each other, and our artists are killing themselves - what's going wrong here?"
DAVE: You know, it's the classic. I'm afraid it's like there's nothing new, it's the classic cliche. What I have today is that I really hope that my actions now can maybe - first of all I have to help myself, but - it's like what I said before: there is a choice. We were talking a little bit earlier about Kurt Cobain, and Nirvana and what a fantastic band that was and it's coming up to - it would have been his 30th birthday--

KEVIN: On Thursday.
DAVE: - On Thursday. And it just didn't have to happen. It just didn't have to happen.

KEVIN: But I was curious how the band handled it and how they treated you. Because we just went through this whole thing with Stone Temple Pilots where we heard rumours that they were threatening to kick him out and get a new lead singer.
DAVE: Well you know that's a tough love thing and sometimes you have to lose everything to really find your bottom. A friend of mine, John - Hi, John! - from a great band called Rule 62, he said, I heard him say that somebody said to him, when you're in that kind of space, your bottom is only as far as you want to keep digging. And I was banging on the concrete for a long time. And I think the way it affected everybody around me, very close friends, I mean gradually I was losing those people. And you know what? I didn't want them around me, I didn't want anyone around me, I didn't want - at the time - I didn't want any help. But the truth of it was inside I did. You know? I did.

KEVIN: You just couldn't ask for it.
DAVE: I couldn't ask. I couldn't like - At the time, it seemed easier just to go with it and destroy myself rather than just pick up the phone and say "You know what? I need some help, man. I really do need some help." And that's the hardest thing to do. That may seem crazy to a lot of people out there, but anybody else who's an addict who's in the same situation, they'll know exactly what I'm talking about. And it still is really hard for me, but it's something I practice at every day now, because it's what's going to keep me alive, and keep me clean, and I just don't want to be - I don't want to just be sober. I want sobriety. I want to experience life, and what it has in front of me, whether that's pain, or it's happiness, sadness, whatever - I want to be able to have those feelings now and be able to deal with them. And to do that, there's certain things that I have to do. It's not going to be - I said last night, there was a group of friends, and I said, "It's not going to get delivered in the post." It don't just come in the post in the form of a letter and say, "OK! You're better! You can get on with your life now." You've got to go and find it. You've got to go out and look for it, and you've got to go, and as uncomfortable as it is, sometimes, you've got to sit there. You've got to sit in a room with people and tell them how you feel.

BEAN: You were telling us, off the air I think, how nice it was just to know that you were going to get up and do an interview the next day, something that's so mundane but you're happy to do it because this is all a bonus to you at this point, everything that happens in your life, isn't it?
DAVE: Absolutely, and I'm very grateful for that, because there was a time, not so long ago when I would have to wait till 4 o'clock in the morning before I would walk down to the end of my drive and get my mail, and be looking over my shoulder. And it would take me all day long to get up enough courage to go and do that. That's how sick I was. And I'm not there today, so I've come a long way and I have to...that's with the help of a lot of other people, and the willingness to want to do something different with my life.

BEAN: You know, we've had this whole break now Dave, and you haven't cussed one time?
(Kevin laughs)
DAVE: I'm trying really hard!

BEAN: We had to do it - I'm thinking back to the nostalgic days of Ten After Eight, when -
DAVE: When I do those little pauses it's like "D--", "A--", "Sh--"...

BEAN: What do you expect the reaction to be to a new Depeche Mode album in 1997? A lot has changed in the last four years since your last one.
DAVE: Well, we've just been around Europe for like the last month and errm...I've got to say, I kind of...We're a bit in shock at the moment because it seems like people really like us at the moment (laughs). And it's usually an uphill battle in the beginning when you've got an album out: "Oh not you guys again, why do you bother?!" You know, that kind of interview, and it hasn't been like that at all, it's been like, "Wow - this is a great soul record, this is a mature record," - we've heard that word a lot. I mean it is what it is in that what I think we're comfortable with now is the fact that Depeche Mode is very much Martin Gore's songs and my voice. That combination is the way we get across the feeling that we do. And everything else goes on around it.

BEAN: Well, you're like any other band or artist: a victim of what's popular at the time, and I think the reaction to your record in '97 is probably better than it would have been had you come out with the record in '94 or '95 when all that you could get played on the radio is rock'n'roll, is heavy guitars. That's what was happening. Now it's not - now we're getting into an era where White Town "Your Woman" is a hit, you know?
DAVE: You know, it's interesting you said that because we've been talking about that a lot as well over the last month, and the thing is, there's always everything there, I mean our two most successful albums being "Violator" and "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", while the so-called grunge rock, whatever you want to call it, was the thing, and we'd had our most successful tours and albums during that time. The other thing that we're very comfortable with now is the fact that Depeche Mode is basically an entity within itself. And we're really proud of that. And it seems like now everybody's going to us, all these journalists, they talk to us and they say, "Wow, electronic music, it's really 'in'. Isn't that good? Don't you feel like the grandfathers of it?" And like, you know - "So perhaps this is going to be the one?" You know, what's 'the one'?! We've had seventeen years, we've been fortunate enough to have seventeen years in this business where we've like...we couldn't have wished for more, basically. And our albums and our tours, basically, have just got that little bit more every time. It hasn't suddenly just kind of exploded overnight or anything. I mean anybody here, in L.A. especially, they-- We were playing at places like the Rosebowl and selling-- we were doing tours at that time and playing to twice as many people as we were selling records. That happened for a long time. It took a long while for the records to catch up. But what's different now is that radio and everything - I switch on the radio, when I'm in New York or whatever, and what was so-called 'alternative' music is now mainstream.

BEAN: Sure thing.
DAVE: What is alternative music, you know? It's just like, what is going on? And I think the whole thing now is like, it's more accepted, it's what it is, and there's not this big like, "Whoa, I can't play that because that doesn't sound familiar, it doesn't sound like a guitar, it's not Lynyrd Skynyrd", you know? It doesn't really matter any more, and I think that's healthy. I think a lot has changed in America over the years.

[1] - This incident was on 17th August 1995, here is a brief news article covering it.

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[demoderus]

KEVIN: I mean, when was your first record out? Wasn't it '80?
DAVE: Um, the first album was out in '81, but we were kind of doing things before that, yeah - a couple of years before that. I've got to say, you know, you guys have constantly supported us, and it's really nice to be sitting in this chair and feel completely happy, you know? Just content. It's not like - I'm not jumping up and down, and everything, about everything at the moment, but you know what? I have a chance right now to feel everything that's going on, and today I can do all these things again.

KEVIN: How long has it been since you felt that way?
DAVE: It's been that long that I forgot how nice it was to just feel this way.

KEVIN: Is there any way to pinpoint, was it the early Eighties, was it the late Eighties, was it the early Nineties, I mean how long has it been since you really felt... Because the way you're describing it, the last six months of making this album felt so great because you just felt so alive and you were really there experiencing what it felt like.
DAVE: You know, it was about acceptance of a lot of things. Not beating myself up about what's happened in the past, what's gone. It's true what they say: If you're living in the past and projecting into the future, you're pissing away with the present, man.
(laughter)

BEAN: Dave, explain about your relationship with your fans. You seem to have more rabid fans than most. We've got a building full of people, staring at you, right now; is that everywhere you go, that happens?
DAVE: Um... no, it's not everywhere it happens but at the moment it seems...

CALLER: Hello? [1]
DAVE: ...it's really nice, people have been very supportive...

CALLER: Hello? Hello?
DAVE: The fans have been really, just - they love you. Most of the time it's just, "Hey, how're you doing Dave? Glad you're well."
(laughter)

BEAN: She hung up!
KEVIN: Hey are you there?
CALLER: Hi!
KEVIN: We were looking for David.
CALLER: David, he's at work but I'm his wife.
KEVIN: You're his wife.
DAVE: Well, you'll do!

BEAN: Hey, guess who's on the phone with us right now?
CALLER: Oh my God, I'm like, shaking.
BEAN: Say Hi, Dave.
DAVE: Hello, what's your name?

CALLER: Luciana.
DAVE: Say that again?

CALLER: Luciana.
DAVE: Luciana.

CALLER: It's a hard one.
DAVE: Ah, it's not that hard.

KEVIN: Luciana, you got plans? When is it, next week? That when you're doing it, Dave?
DAVE: Next week, yeah, we're shooting it I believe.

CALLER: Oh my God, I'm shaking...
DAVE: I think it's like Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, but next week.

CALLER: Oh no, I can cancel, whatever.
(laughter)
KEVIN: You and David won the - er -
DAVE: So wait a minute! Hold on, you can cancel? So basically your husband's at work, and he's out the picture? "I'm coming!!" (laughs)

BEAN: You're going to bring your little boy-toy, aren't you Lucianie?
KEVIN: Now you guys are big Depeche Mode fans?
CALLER: Oh totally.
KEVIN: So you were on board when he entered the contest this past week then.
CALLER: Everything. Every album, everything.
KEVIN: That is awesome. Well you guys are going to be, I'm not sure if you're both going to be interviewed; I think just David officially won, so I think David's gonna be the one in the vid, I don't know how it works.
DAVE: I'm sure we can, uh, you know, you guys seem to be an item, and all that - together - I would hate to be the person that breaks you up, so -

CALLER: Oh, it doesn't matter, whatever.
KEVIN: Hey, you have any questions for Dave while we've got you on the phone?
CALLER: Well, the big thing is if you guys are going to tour, if you're going to play any concerts.
BEAN: Actually I'm glad we're addressing this because we've heard something about this too.
DAVE: Yeah. We have no plans to tour this year. This is mainly because we don't really want to repeat kind of what happened with the last album where we all got really, completely burnt at the end of the tour, and have spent since that tour trying to get our lives back together. So, what's really nice at the moment is, we just want to enjoy the fact that we've completed "Ultra", and we've made this album that we're very proud of, and it will come up again, we're not saying that we're never touring again or anything like that. It's the first time we've done this, we're scared too, we haven't been out on the road - we've always been out on the road with an album and so...But it's nice to be able to be in the moment with this, and enjoy it - and do things like this, you know? Because when we were on the road, I don't get the time to do this, I just don't have the head space to be able to do it and, it's a shame really, because I'm talking to you here - I'm talking to...you know, I get to talk to, sing to a lot of people when we play live but it's really nice just to - err -

BEAN: Individually.
DAVE: That's the word I was looking for.

BEAN: You know what, you and Dave get a chance to watch the band lip-sync the same song thirty times in a row next week, that's as good as touring!
CALLER: Yeah that's true!
(laughter)
KEVIN: Alright, our promotions department is going to call you back to give you all the details - congratulations and be sure to call David, OK?
CALLER: Thank you so much. Thanks.
DAVE: Thank you.

KEVIN: See you later.
DAVE: Bye bye.

BEAN: Alright, why don't we promise to get to some phone calls because we have a bunch of people who've been hanging on.

(intermission)

KEVIN: Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode is in the studio with us.
BEAN: You have a ring...in your scrotum!? I hope you were strung out on dope when you got that done - you didn't do that consciously, did you?
DAVE: You know what? I wasn't and it really hurt!

KEVIN: Yeah!
BEAN: Well no, duh, Dave! Ah, what a surprise! (laughs)
DAVE: You know, I do pain really good, and--

BEAN: So what's the process?
DAVE: It's not actually in my scrotum, it's called a guiche, and it's the - you know that little bit...in between?

BEAN: Yeah...that doesn't make it sound any the less painful though!
DAVE: I was on all fours and it was kind of like, um...

(one of the interviewers gasps deeply)

It felt like somebody - I'm all on all fours and I got a "10-9-8-7-6-"...BAAANNGG! It was like somebody kicked me - really, really hard.

BEAN: And you did that on purpose?
DAVE: Yes I did. Yes I did!

BEAN: And are you glad?
DAVE: I earnt that! (laughs)

BEAN: And do you still have it there?
DAVE: Yes I do.

BEAN: Aaaooww Dave -
DAVE: And it's a lot of fun.

BEAN: Is it?
DAVE: Yeah, you know. It's kind of a comfort thing - you've seen that when you're a little kid and you've got something, the little piece of cloth that you carry around with you everywhere or your pacifier or whatever? Well, I have my guiche.
(laughter)

KEVIN: Dave.
BEAN: And that's a comfort thing for you?
DAVE: Yeah.

BEAN: Wow! That is--
DAVE: Hey, if you can do that you do anything.

KEVIN: Yeah no kidding, I guess that's true. Alright, we have a bunch of people who've been calling, who are on hold, and we want to get to some calls here for Dave Gahan while we have him for a few more minutes...
BEAN: Is your name 'Oseef'?
CALLER: Osif.
BEAN: Osif, go ahead, you're on with Dave Gahan.
DAVE: Hi Osif.

CALLER: Good morning.
DAVE: Good morning!

CALLER: I'm glad to hear you're back and, you know, without the problems, all that behind you, I'm really glad to hear that.
DAVE: Thank you very much.

BEAN: And let me repeat this for people who may not have been listening an hour ago when Dave walked in: He looks fantastic. He really looks great - he's strong, he's healthy, and we're glad he's here too. Go ahead Osif.
CALLER: Along those lines though, I know, Kevin and Bean, when you asked...Dave, when you were asked about what the other bandmates, how they reacted during your time of trouble, you had an emphatic "No" as far as them helping you out. I mean, what -
DAVE: You know, I was a little harsh there. The thing is sometimes when you really love somebody, and somebody's going through that kind of stuff, the best thing you can do is just walk away from them to actually, like, allow them to go through it, to realise how much they're going to lose. Because if you've got...the problem was, for a long time I had a lot of people around me that - including myself, mainly myself - were in denial of what was going on. Like, I would get it together, I would get better, I would do this. And it just wasn't happening. And then it got to the point where the closest people to me - my best friend Jonathan - turned around and said to me, "I just cannot do this any more. I cannot." [2] And, you know, the straw that broke the camel's back, the old story - you need to have all those things, and I had to be sitting there basically, and feel like everything I had wanted in my life, and that I had had, but then allowed myself to abuse...was gone, you know? And that was the only way really, I was going to really look in the mirror and look at myself, and you know what, I didn't like what I saw for a long long time. So I could no longer run away from that.

[1] - Just to explain the forthcoming part of the interview: the caller is the wife of the winner of a competition to star in a Depeche Mode video. It doesn't help the clarity that the winner is also called David! Both of them eventually starred in the video for It's No Good: they are the couple going into the Hotel Ultra in the closing seconds of the video.
[2] This will be his manager, Jonathan Kessler, who also picked him up from jail after his overdose.

 

[demoderus]

CALLER: Glad you made that realisation.
KEVIN: But Dave! You did have the ring in your scrotum, at least you had that. (laughs)
BEAN: Yeah - thank God!
KEVIN: Thanks for the call, Osif.
BEAN: Whoooo boy! I just can't stop thinking about that.
KEVIN: Let's say good morning to Derren--
BEAN: OUCH. - Why was it that rock bottom?! Hold on a second, why did you at the moment you got the ring in your scrotum go "Well now that's it, now I'm hitting the cement; I can't go any lower than this"? (laughs)
DAVE: You know, it just wasn't enough, the pain! I told you, I do pain good!

KEVIN: It's enough for me, I'll tell you that! Derren, hello! You're on.
CALLER: Hello!
BEAN: Hi.
CALLER: Hey Dave.
DAVE: Heyyy.

CALLER: I was trying to find out, the last couple of albums have kind of changed a little bit. I mean, it's a good change, but I was trying to find out what bands influenced you as far as the direction that Depeche Mode has gone? Was it directly you, or did you have an effect on Martin and the rest of the band, or...?
DAVE: That's a good question, and I'll tell you, when we all met up together to make "Songs Of Faith And Devotion" I'd been living out here for a while, and I'd been very kind of excited by particularly one band, Jane's Addiction.

CALLER: Ah!
DAVE: And what I was excited about was there were these four different tornadoes that were all coming together and I hadn't seen that...I saw them in London and I hadn't seen that since I went to see The Clash when I was like 15, and I looked up and thought, "Wow! I could do that! And if I could get three other people to join in with me, this could be amazing!" You know, it was happening right there. And I went back with this attitude like, "Yeah! Obviously the rest of the band are going to feel exactly like I do!" And you know what? They didn't. They were quite happy with the way it all was, and I wanted to turn it on its head and do something that it wasn't. I think that we had to do what we did with "Songs Of Faith And Devotion"; I love that album, and we all do; it was kind of a step. "Ultra" is more of a natural follow-on, really, to "Violator", really. But I think what's happened is, now we've got to this place where we're very comfortable with what we are. We've accepted what we do, and what we are, and--

BEAN: And you're good at it, too. You're doing what you're best at.
DAVE: Yeah...that was hard for me, I can't really say that, it's very difficult, I have this self-worth problem. (laughs)

BEAN: No, but it's true though: you go "Hey, you know what, this is the kind of music we do, we love it, and we're pretty good at it, so this is what we want to do", rather than try to change because somebody else does.
DAVE: Right.

CALLER: I might add that your band has been...There's never been a band like yours, and there's never been a sound like yours. I mean that totally came out on "Songs Of Faith And Devotion", and I think that's just amazing.
KEVIN: Hey Derren?
CALLER: Yes?
KEVIN: Do you have a bar in your nuts?
CALLER: No, I do not.
(laughter)
KEVIN: Right, Dave can fix you up.
BEAN: Yeah, that's what I hear too.
KEVIN: Thanks for calling.
BEAN: Hey, big Ted!
TED: Hey guys, what's going on?!
BEAN: Ted downstairs in the lobby--
(screaming)
Ah Jeez...
TED: (over screams) Hey!
BEAN: A group of people that have come to see Dave. How many people are down there, Ted?
TED: There's about fifteen or twenty people on this side, I don't know how many people are on the other side.
BEAN: Tell them I hate to break their hearts but Dave is leaving via helicopter off the top of the building.
TED: Aw, hey guys, sorry Dave's leaving from the heli...top of the, uh, building in a helicopter.
BEAN: Good read Ted.
DAVE: I may just bungee off the top, you never know.

BEAN: Hey Ted, a quick survey, how many people down there are wearing black shirts?
DAVE: Hey you know what? I could have the bungee...you know, like through--

BEAN: From the ring in your nuts, right. (laughs)
TED: Yeah, I think mostly everybody's wearing black shirts.
BEAN: Mostly everybody, yeah.
TED: Yeah.
BEAN: Do you have a question?
TED: Yeah, hold on.
BEAN: Alright.
KEVIN: You're gonna talk to one of the fans downstairs, Dave.
DAVE: OK.

CALLER: Hello?
BEAN: Hi there.
CALLER: Hi, this is Kristen. I was just wondering, a lot of fans have commented that your working with a vocal coach has really been a great thing on this album--
DAVE: Yes.

CALLER: I was wondering how you felt about doing it for the first time.
DAVE: I at first resented the hell out of it, because the idea was put to me and I was like, "Hey wait a minute! I can sing! I don't need to be taught anything, I know it all." [1] But you know what, it's just not true, because you never stop learning, in life, you never stop learning. And it was great, it was a wonderful lady called Evelyn Halus, who lives here in Los Angeles, and she helped me to bring back a lot of self worth and confidence I had lost and I just didn't know where to find it. It wasn't so much that I didn't have the ability to sing or anything, it was like I couldn't find it inside my soul, I couldn't feel it in my heart. I was just doing my job, and it didn't feel good. And so my advice to anybody out there is to go back to school at any opportunity, and learn more.

CALLER: Right, well you sound phenomenal on it, and when I heard "It's No Good" I just died; it sounds great.
DAVE: Thank you very much.

CALLER: Thank you.
BEAN: Thanks a lot. Let me ask you this, Dave. We were talking the other day, we were promoting the fact that you were going to be coming in, the last time Kevin and I saw you, which was at the Wherehouse record store across from the Beverly Centre about four or five years ago. [2]
DAVE: (laughs) Aha, that was a good one!

BEAN: You remember much about that night?
DAVE: A little scary!

BEAN: Twenty thousand people showed up at that instore, do you remember that?
DAVE: That was insane that, yeah.

BEAN: You eventually ended up on the inside for just a few minutes at the record store, but Kevin and I were standing there watching the windows bulge, wondering how much the glass was going to hold. That was a frightening night.
DAVE: You know, yeah, actually it turned out pretty scary. I mean, at first it was like, "Wow! This is so exciting!" and we couldn't believe it and everything, but once we got inside the store and you start...I mean, my sickness, and my head, I saw that whole window come in, and all these people come flying in in little pieces. And I pictured the whole thing, because that's where I go with stuff like that.

BEAN: (laughs) was that the worst instore you ever did?
DAVE: Errm...

BEAN: Or the best?
DAVE: The best and the worst! (laughs) Come on, let's be honest, I mean, it couldn't have been a better way to start the whole thing and let everybody know.

BEAN: No kidding.

DAVE: What was fantastic about it was it wasn't really planned that much, it was just, "Let's do an instore, maybe a few hundred people turn up," and all that kind of stuff, (puts on glum voice) "Oh, OK then, alright, suppose so." We thought it might be a bit of a Spinal Tap affair.

BEAN: It was very creepy.

DAVE: We went back to the hotel afterwards, and we sat, and we just flicked through the...All sat down together and we flicked through all the news channels and it was like (puts on US accent) "English rock band Dee-Pesh Mode tonight stopped the traffic!" (laughs) It was really funny watching it all, so--

BEAN: Alright, let's take a few more calls, shall we?
KEVIN: Yep...starting with Danny. Hello Danny.
CALLER: Hi.
BEAN: Hi there.
DAVE: Hi Danny.

CALLER: Hello. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions. I wanted to know how did you start taking the drugs? Like, what made you begin to take the drugs?
DAVE: Ooooh...

[1] - The Ultra sessions were actually the second time Dave had worked with a vocal coach, the first being in 1984 with Tona deBrett. The first time didn't go down too well so there was probably an element of 'once bitten twice shy' to the idea of a vocal coach in 1996.
[2] - This instore, which led to a near-riot, was on 20th March 1990, the US release date of Violator. As a souvenir of that day's chaotic events, K-ROQ and the band's US record label produced this promotional cassette.

 

[demoderus]

BEAN: Thanks for the cheery call, dude. (laughs)
CALLER: I wasn't the only one!
BEAN: Thanks for taking us out on a high note! We're in here laughing, man!
DAVE: Hey, you know what, it's something that has got a lot to do with not being comfortable with myself, just not really like being this person inside this body, and a way of like not really looking at myself. It was a way to kind of avoid it, and I couldn't avoid it any more. It started out very young: I've got to say like probably when I was about twelve, I found something that all of a sudden made me feel like I could be a part of everything. And the thing about having a disease, with drugs, is that it gets worse and worse; and even if you stop for a while, that disease keeps moving. It really is a progressive illness, and it's something that you can work on; but it's never going to go away, because it's all about self-worth and stuff like that. And a lot of people will probably think, "Hey, what's this guy got bad to feel about? Everything going for him," and this kind of stuff...It's got nothing to do with any of that. It's just the way I am, I was born like it, I really believe that. And things that happen when you're young and with families and stuff like that, it's all part and parcel; and unless you kind of deal with this stuff, it's always going to be there. It's going to stop you from moving on, it's going to stop you really experiencing anything in life. Because if you can't be there for yourself - really and truly and honestly - how can you expect to be there for anybody else? And I'd want to be there for somebody else, but at the moment I have to look after David.

(intermission)

KEVIN: We were just talking during the record - do you mind if we just talk about the whole marriage thing?
DAVE: Err...

KEVIN: We don't need to get into details, but just the type of person you are. [1]
DAVE: Right, right.

KEVIN: You love the idea of--
DAVE: Yes I do. And errm...

KEVIN: You're a romantic.
DAVE: Yeah, very much. I describe it...I'm strung out on love, man. It's like that's the core - trying to fix myself with someone else is like the way that I go. Or anything: fix the way I feel, with somebody else - if I can concentrate on somebody else - it takes me away from myself, and then I don't have to look at myself, because I feel like I'm fulfilling things, fulfilling that feeling, by just loving somebody else. But it's been pointed out to me a lot, and especially by my last wife, that I couldn't begin to do that really - honestly - unless I loved myself. And she was right, and...boy.

KEVIN: That's enough said. That's good enough, that's a good answer. Let's go to Christy.
BEAN: Hello Christy.
CALLER: Hey party people!
KEVIN: How're you doing?
CALLER: OK well first of all Dave, I want to say I love Depeche Mode, I grew up listening to you guys, I just think you're great, I'm so glad you guys are still together, and I'm glad you're doing good, and everything.
DAVE: Thank you.

CALLER: I just can't wait for the new album to come out and everything.
KEVIN: April 15th.
CALLER: Oh really?
KEVIN: Mmm-hm.
CALLER: I thought it was earlier.
KEVIN: That's it, April 15th, right.
CALLER: Oh, OK.
BEAN: Or you can buy copies out of the back of Ted's "El Camino" at 10:01 this morning (laughs). He's been copying it all morning long!
DAVE: There's a guy selling burritos just down on the corner round there--
(laughter)

BEAN: Do you have a question for Dave too?
CALLER: I remember seeing on MTV, him talking about, errm, he mentioned that at the concerts you didn't sing that song, "Somebody", any more, and Martin Gore sang it, and I was just wondering if there was a reason for that.
DAVE: Sorry, I missed the point of the question.

KEVIN: Why don't you sing "Somebody", why does Martin sing it?
DAVE: Because he sang it on the record.

CALLER: Oh he did?
DAVE: Mmm-hm.

CALLER: I can't even tell.
DAVE: You know, it's funny because Martin and I, we talk about this a lot, and - on this album as well because once again the album's come out and people can't tell which one Martin sang and I sang. And you know it kinda - it pisses us off. (laughs)

BEAN: I thought the record "Compulsion" that Martin sang, though, I thought it sounded very much like a Depeche Mode song. I mean, I guess all the other influences are in the right place.
DAVE: You know, Mart said something really wonderful to me one night, when we were a little bit intoxicated, let's say, on the last tour. But it stuck in my mind, and whether he meant it or not, it was a beautiful thing to say. He said that he got his songs from God, but that he had to channel them through me. And that was the message that he got. And it made me feel really great, and so I just keep hold of that, that's how it works.

BEAN: Thanks for the call.
KEVIN: Shall we go down to the lobby one more time and...
BEAN: One more, let's get a last question from Fatty down there in the lobby.
TED: Hey guys.
KEVIN and BEAN: Hey Ted!
TED: Word up party people, I want one more question for - uh - Dave.
BEAN: Ha ha, he forgot his name, didn't he? - "For that guy"! (laughs)
TED: Alright, hold on.
BEAN: That's the good thing about Ted, you can always count on him. He's just plugged in to the show.
KEVIN: Hello? Hello?
CALLER: Hello?
KEVIN: Hi there!
CALLER: Hi. Errm, I was wondering, Dave, if you remember me, August 10th, the [...] Concert, you were riding off in a limo and, like, can't stop, you rolled down your window-- [2]
DAVE: Hey, hey, hey. Take a deeeep breath.

CALLER: OK, I'm sorry.
BEAN: That's a good choice for a final question, by the way. (laughs) "Hey Dave, do you remember me?"
DAVE: Just a deep...just do it with me, now, ready?

CALLER: Alright.
DAVE: Now breathe in - (he takes a long deep breath)...aaaahhhhhhh.

CALLER: Alright, errm, anyway Dave, you like, stopped and slowed down, and you rolled down your window half way down, and then like [...] (laughter) so I just ran into the [...] and we were just in total shock, like--
BEAN: Hey dude? Hey dude, dude...Dave doesn't remember you. (laughs) Thanks for the call, see ya, bye-bye. Alright Dave, well, great to see you again.
KEVIN: Whooo! Ted does good work, doesn't he?
BEAN: Yeah he sure does.
KEVIN: He's got all those people down there with all their questions and he gets that one.
BEAN: I love the fact that Ted, in the bottom of the night, with two hours, knows who to send up to the plate.
DAVE: You start to sort of go with it.

(laughter)

BEAN: It's grrrreat.
KEVIN: So you're not going to...You told us you don't plan on touring; will you do any dates at all, or as far as you know you're just going to sit back and watch the album go?
DAVE: We are actually, after we've finished in New York, at the end of March we're going back to London, and we've got a little band together and stuff, and we're rehearsing some songs from the album because what we might be doing is, when the album comes out, we might do a few what we call 'launch parties', where we play a few songs from the new album...

KEVIN: One of them here.
DAVE: One of them here in Los Angeles probably, one in New York maybe, London, Paris or whatever - just a few, you know? A handful of these things. [3]

BEAN: Something you can control.
DAVE: Yeah exactly. And obviously we would like some fans to be there...it might be something we can do later on when the album comes out, we could do some kind of competition or something, and--

BEAN: You just don't want to get on the treadmill at all.
DAVE: You know what, I just want you guys to play our music! (laughs) - I'm sorry.

BEAN: No problem.
DAVE: It'll be nice to do that, it's a scary thing at the moment, I don't know why that is, but the idea of going out on the road, and...it's not those two hours on stage, that's wonderful. It's the other 22, you know. Being in a band, like, this has been 17 years. Now that's like, Charlie Watts from the Stones said it right. That's five years of work and the rest is waiting.

BEAN: Well, you're very smart to follow your heart on that, too. The last thing you want to do is get in trouble again.
DAVE: Yeah, and it happens time and time again to some other of my fellow musicians.

BEAN: Exactly. Hey, the cop from the Village People was just arrested with cocaine over the weekend.
(laughter)
DAVE: No way!

KEVIN: Yes, he was!
BEAN: There is no-one who is immune! Because if he goes down, man, anyone can go down!
DAVE: The cop from the Village People, oh my God!

BEAN: Busted with cocaine. Well Dave Gahan, it's great to see you again.
DAVE: Thanks guys.

KEVIN: So glad you're doing well, too.
DAVE: Cheers, thank you.

[1] - Dave baulks at this question, and Kevin reassures him, probably because at the time he was going through a particularly acrimonious divorce from his second wife, as well as dealing with issues relating to his leaving his first wife.
[2] - This caller is talking exceptionally fast and in some places I couldn't even make out what she was saying - hence Dave's failed attempts to calm her down!
[3] - Here is a review of the Ultra Launch Party at the Adrenalin Village, London.

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[demoderus]

David Gahan at KROQ-FM Los Angeles - February 18th, 1997​

David Gahan was at KROQ-FM (Los Angeles) February 18th, 1997, being interviewed with Kevin & Bean. Besides "Barrel Of A Gun", KROQ also played "Sister Of Night", "Useless", "It's No Good" and "Freestate" (from a custom-made recordable CD manufactured - across the street from KROQ - at Warners/Reprise). David was extremely pleasant over the air, sounding great, and he was in a great mood. Among a lot of questions (he was on air for about 51 minutes - off and on!) was a question about an upcoming tour. David said there was no plan for a tour, but there was a possibility of a few selected "launch parties", where the band would play a few songs off the new album, in some major cities like Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, et cereta. To hear the information in Davids' own words, download this sound sample (221k file - 112 seconds) from the broadcast. David also mentioned that Alan had a new baby, and that he was pretty sure that Alan was working on a new Recoil project. Now, that is what was broadcast over the air. You might, though, want to read the following...

My discussion with David Gahan at the KROQ FM Studios - February 18th, 1997​

I had the opportunity to go down to KRQO when David was there, and got to speak to him personally. Among some of the off-the-air info I got while talking to David and Johnathon Kessler (DM's manager):
David has moved from Los Angeles to New York (can you blame him)
Depeche Mode are working on their own web page
When I questioned David about the remixes for "Barrel Of A Gun", he said that of the two Underworld mixes, he liked the Soft Mix, saying that he liked the way the vocals were presented in the mix. I won't say what he thought of the hard mix though.
Also, he confirmed that one of the remixers for the upcoming "It's No Good" single would be Dom T (Dom T previously has done remixes for Massive Attack, among others).
Overall, he looked fantastic (very healthy), was in a extremely nice mood, and was very eager to sign autographs and take pictures with people in the KROQ building. It's nice to see him doing so well after what he has been through in the last few years. And, just in case you have no clue what he has been though, go to my David page for a full rundown on his overdose/suicide attempts.
[ BRAT and David Gahan at KROQ ]

A *massive* thanks to Richard Blade for giving me a lift down to the station! You rock my friend!