Basildon A La Mode
[NME, 21st March 1981. Words: Chris Bohn. Picture: Peter Anderson.]
BASILDON A LA MODE
Mute maestro Daniel Miller has a notoriously sweet tooth - one that’s balanced by a taste for bitter extremes. The opposite poles of the spectrum are reflected on his label by Non’s noise at the one end and the insipidly saccharine Silicon Teens at the other. No surprise then that he has helped produce the fluffiest meringue of the moment in Depeche Mode’s “Dreaming Of Me”.
“Dreaming” is one of those instant airplay records that are more a matter of intuition than contrivance – like OMITD’s debut “Electricity”. An infectious synth melody should guarantee it playlisting, but it’s the earnest, clutching teen vocal that elevates it.
Ironically, writer Vince Clarke is the only one of the quartet who’s no longer a teen. He is – ulp! – 21. “Twenty,” he lies gracelessly when the others reveal their ages during a short confrontation in a backroom at Rough Trade. [1]
Due to their extremely shy natures the four have chosen to be chaperoned by producer Miller, whom they refer to as Uncle Daniel. Only nine months into a fruitful career, they haven’t done many interviews, and generally support the picture of a guileless but adventurous pop group that one might glean from the single.
Depeche Mode come from Basildon. (Sentence Of The Week – Ed.). They are bass synth player Andrew Fletcher, an insurance man; David Gahan, lead vocalist, electronic percussionist and trainee window dresser; the silent Martin Gore, synthesist and banker; and Vincent Clarke, writer, synthesist and otherwise unemployed.
Their decision to switch from the more conventional guitar trio to an all electronic line-up was obviously influenced by the attractive pop of The Normal and OMITD. They recruited David, bought synths on the HP – “Costs £25 a month,” reveals Andrew. But why the switch?
“We didn’t get into them just for the fashion,” insists David. “It just happened that way. A few of our friends were into them and we just liked the sounds.”
“And the sounds come easier than with the guitars,” admits Andrew.
Meanwhile, the escalation of interest in electronic dance music meant that hometown and nearby discos like Rayleigh Crocs were giving over their busiest nights to le Beau Monde, mixing soul with the pop of Numan, Human League, Normal, Ultravox, Visage, etc.
“It’s strange,” reveals Vincent, “that the kids who went to soul clubs are now moving over to this; we’re playing an old soul club in Dartford soon which Rusty Egan’s opening as – ”
“It’s just that electronic pop is commercially viable now, whereas two years ago it wasn’t,” interrupts Andrew. Yeah, even Human League have got a hit now after three years of trying. And a hustling DJ like Stevo manages to convince Phonogram of the viability of an electronic pop compilation, the misnamed “Some Bizzare Album”.
Probably more attracted by the electronic line-up than the “normal” pop Depeche Mode make, Stevo flattered them into contributing “Photographic” – great tune, shame about the words – to the record.
“We met Stevo at Crocs and he asked us to do a track for the album,” recalls Vincent. “At the time we had no record company contract and we were kind of interested in this sort of thing so we did it. We kind of regret it now because of the “futurist” connotations.” [2]
“And we don’t like to be tagged,” adds David. “What is really looking forward is what’s going on at Cabaret Futura – not Classix Nouveaux or us really.”
Martin: “Our music doesn’t really look into the future or say anything about the future.”
Apart from the subject matter of photographic, I’d agree, though the title “Dreaming Of Me” and the band’s predilection for dressing colourfully might wrongfully link them with Le Beau Monde. There appears to be a tendency towards narcissism (“What does that mean?” they all chorus, nonplussed) but that’s countered by their guileless enthusiasm. What’ll they do when the innocence is gone?
“Grow into something else I suppose. I dunno,” puzzles Vincent. They haven’t contrived any particular image for themselves, he adds. “If people draw any conclusion from the lyrics it’s up to them. We don’t set out to portray any particular image of innocence, we don’t pretend or anything.”
Innocence isn’t something that can be convincingly manufactured – as The Human League’s very belated breakthrough confirms – and if you need proof of that check the wholly natural “Dreaming Of Me”. It is obviously a hit – though one wonders if it being on the independent Mute will hamper its progress.
“All I can say is that we’re making every sort of legal effort to make it a hit,” states Daniel Miller. “We have had some experience with The Silicon Teens in terms of marketing and how best to approach it. I think we’re at a stage now where we can make a really concerted effort – hopefully doing the right things at the right time. In a way it’s sort of a test case. Everybody here (at Rough Trade, Mute’s distributors) from distribution through to the promotion side of things (RT do more promotion these days and an independent radio “plugger” is hired) has learnt a lot in the past few years and that’ll hopefully benefit this record.
“It would be nice for it to reach its natural level – be it number one or at 74…”
The problem is that “natural levels” of most chart singles are unnaturally stimulated by the sort of gimmicks and incentives for DJs and radio producers that independents can neither afford nor want anything to do with. But that’s another story…
[News Clipping]
Naked Lunch and Depeche Mode are among bands taking part in a Some Bizzare evening at London Strand Lyceum on Sunday, March 29 (admission £3). And it really is rather bizarre because, with no less than ten acts appearing, there’s a 3:30pm start. Also on the bill are B Movie, Illustration, Blancmange, Blah Blah Blah, The Fast Set, The Loved One, Jell and Soft Cell. Promoters are Straight Music.
[NME, 21st March 1981. Words: Chris Bohn. Picture: Peter Anderson.]
BASILDON A LA MODE
Mute maestro Daniel Miller has a notoriously sweet tooth - one that’s balanced by a taste for bitter extremes. The opposite poles of the spectrum are reflected on his label by Non’s noise at the one end and the insipidly saccharine Silicon Teens at the other. No surprise then that he has helped produce the fluffiest meringue of the moment in Depeche Mode’s “Dreaming Of Me”.
“Dreaming” is one of those instant airplay records that are more a matter of intuition than contrivance – like OMITD’s debut “Electricity”. An infectious synth melody should guarantee it playlisting, but it’s the earnest, clutching teen vocal that elevates it.
Ironically, writer Vince Clarke is the only one of the quartet who’s no longer a teen. He is – ulp! – 21. “Twenty,” he lies gracelessly when the others reveal their ages during a short confrontation in a backroom at Rough Trade. [1]
Due to their extremely shy natures the four have chosen to be chaperoned by producer Miller, whom they refer to as Uncle Daniel. Only nine months into a fruitful career, they haven’t done many interviews, and generally support the picture of a guileless but adventurous pop group that one might glean from the single.
Depeche Mode come from Basildon. (Sentence Of The Week – Ed.). They are bass synth player Andrew Fletcher, an insurance man; David Gahan, lead vocalist, electronic percussionist and trainee window dresser; the silent Martin Gore, synthesist and banker; and Vincent Clarke, writer, synthesist and otherwise unemployed.
Their decision to switch from the more conventional guitar trio to an all electronic line-up was obviously influenced by the attractive pop of The Normal and OMITD. They recruited David, bought synths on the HP – “Costs £25 a month,” reveals Andrew. But why the switch?
“We didn’t get into them just for the fashion,” insists David. “It just happened that way. A few of our friends were into them and we just liked the sounds.”
“And the sounds come easier than with the guitars,” admits Andrew.
Meanwhile, the escalation of interest in electronic dance music meant that hometown and nearby discos like Rayleigh Crocs were giving over their busiest nights to le Beau Monde, mixing soul with the pop of Numan, Human League, Normal, Ultravox, Visage, etc.
“It’s strange,” reveals Vincent, “that the kids who went to soul clubs are now moving over to this; we’re playing an old soul club in Dartford soon which Rusty Egan’s opening as – ”
“It’s just that electronic pop is commercially viable now, whereas two years ago it wasn’t,” interrupts Andrew. Yeah, even Human League have got a hit now after three years of trying. And a hustling DJ like Stevo manages to convince Phonogram of the viability of an electronic pop compilation, the misnamed “Some Bizzare Album”.
Probably more attracted by the electronic line-up than the “normal” pop Depeche Mode make, Stevo flattered them into contributing “Photographic” – great tune, shame about the words – to the record.
“We met Stevo at Crocs and he asked us to do a track for the album,” recalls Vincent. “At the time we had no record company contract and we were kind of interested in this sort of thing so we did it. We kind of regret it now because of the “futurist” connotations.” [2]
“And we don’t like to be tagged,” adds David. “What is really looking forward is what’s going on at Cabaret Futura – not Classix Nouveaux or us really.”
Martin: “Our music doesn’t really look into the future or say anything about the future.”
Apart from the subject matter of photographic, I’d agree, though the title “Dreaming Of Me” and the band’s predilection for dressing colourfully might wrongfully link them with Le Beau Monde. There appears to be a tendency towards narcissism (“What does that mean?” they all chorus, nonplussed) but that’s countered by their guileless enthusiasm. What’ll they do when the innocence is gone?
“Grow into something else I suppose. I dunno,” puzzles Vincent. They haven’t contrived any particular image for themselves, he adds. “If people draw any conclusion from the lyrics it’s up to them. We don’t set out to portray any particular image of innocence, we don’t pretend or anything.”
Innocence isn’t something that can be convincingly manufactured – as The Human League’s very belated breakthrough confirms – and if you need proof of that check the wholly natural “Dreaming Of Me”. It is obviously a hit – though one wonders if it being on the independent Mute will hamper its progress.
“All I can say is that we’re making every sort of legal effort to make it a hit,” states Daniel Miller. “We have had some experience with The Silicon Teens in terms of marketing and how best to approach it. I think we’re at a stage now where we can make a really concerted effort – hopefully doing the right things at the right time. In a way it’s sort of a test case. Everybody here (at Rough Trade, Mute’s distributors) from distribution through to the promotion side of things (RT do more promotion these days and an independent radio “plugger” is hired) has learnt a lot in the past few years and that’ll hopefully benefit this record.
“It would be nice for it to reach its natural level – be it number one or at 74…”
The problem is that “natural levels” of most chart singles are unnaturally stimulated by the sort of gimmicks and incentives for DJs and radio producers that independents can neither afford nor want anything to do with. But that’s another story…
[News Clipping]
Naked Lunch and Depeche Mode are among bands taking part in a Some Bizzare evening at London Strand Lyceum on Sunday, March 29 (admission £3). And it really is rather bizarre because, with no less than ten acts appearing, there’s a 3:30pm start. Also on the bill are B Movie, Illustration, Blancmange, Blah Blah Blah, The Fast Set, The Loved One, Jell and Soft Cell. Promoters are Straight Music.
