David Gahan (Depeche Mode)
[Smash Hits, 22nd October 1986, Words: Uncredited. Picture: Uncredited.]
Name: David Gahan.
Born: May 9, 1962 in Chigwell, Essex.
Nickname at school: Gahany.
First record bought: It was either David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (when it was re-released in 1972) or something by Slade, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ or ‘Gudby T’Jane’, one of those. I never bought any albums when I was that young.
First concert: Probably a punk concert in ’77. We used to go up to Chelmsford Chancellor Hall a lot. It could have been The Damned, The Clash, the Banshees or 999. They all used to play together there. The Damned were my favourite band at that time.
Does pop stardom ever get too much for you to deal with? I think that it does you good to freak out every now and then. I almost did at one point. I was moving house and then I had a bad car accident and at that point I thought, ‘That’s it, it’s over.’ I eventually came through it with a lot of grief and lots of drugs from the doctor.
How did you propose to Jo? We’d been going out for years and I just got up one morning and asked her and she sort of said ‘yeah, alright’. It was that casual.
Would you like to have children? I just think it would throw a whole new perspective on life. Having to bring up a child totally puts aside all the things that were important to you before. Things like being in a band would become secondary.
Is it true you do a lot of fishing? Yes. Stupid hobby, really. You wait five hours to catch a fish, then you catch it, then you throw it back. I really don’t know why I bother.
Do you spend much on your “stage wear”? You wouldn’t believe how much money I spend on clothes. I get soaking wet every night and the leather (of his leather trousers) goes all hard. Five gigs and they’re ruined.
Have you had any interesting dreams recently? Most of my dreams have been about us on the road. Usually everything goes wrong, which isn’t surprising. I’ve only had a couple of sexual dreams and they’re quite good, I must admit.
Why did you call your last LP “Black Celebration”? It’s got nothing to do with black magic like most people seem to think – it’s actually about how most people in life don’t have anything to celebrate. They go to work every day and then go down the pub and drown their sorrows. That’s what it’s about – celebrating the end of another black day. I think it’s tragic that you have to compensate by just getting drunk, though I don’t think there’s anything unnatural about it. After all, we do it all the time!
Did you ever have a rocking horse when you were a child? I never had a rocking horse. I had Action Men, about six of them. And my sister had a Sindy doll. I’d set up my camp in my bedroom and she’d set up her camp in hers and I used to take her out. My Action Man would go around in his jeep and knock on her door and then Sindy would come out in my jeep. We’d play for hours. Sindy had a horse and I had a jeep and a tank – all the he-man stuff. I learnt a lot about girls, chat-up lines like ‘Heeey. I’ll come pick you up later in my tank’. It was much better than Subbuteo – that was a bit stupid. It took hours. I liked action – taking Sindy out. I learnt a lot more from Action Men than I learnt from all of school.
Have you had many weird things thrown at you onstage? Yeah. In America we get everything thrown at us – bras, suspender belts, knickers and even shoes. After one concert we had about 40 shoes on stage and there were no pairs! Imagine all those people hopping home!
Most embarrassing moment: Once, it was at Brighton Jenkinsons, I was thrown out of the dressing room with no clothes on, only my pants, and found myself right in the middle of the gig. I was banging on the door and all these people were asking for my autograph. They let me back in after a while.
What have you got in your pockets? About 60p in change, a front-door key, a hankie and two receipts: one’s for a cheque from Granada TV (£126 for doing Get Set For Summer) which I paid into the bank this morning; the other’s for a copy of Smash Hits bought at WH Smith’s.
What makes you angry? Disorganisation. I hate things when they’re disorganised, whether it’s work or just going out with friends. I like everything to be sorted out. Other than that, ignorant people and a lot of journalists.
Ever feel like moving out of Basildon? I will one day. I want to sort out my life a bit more first – decide what I want to do and where I want to go. Maybe somewhere abroad. I’ve liked a lot of the places we’ve visited: Japan and Thailand particularly.
Whose home phone number would you pay the most for? David Bowie’s, I suppose. I really respect him, have got all his albums and have always followed him. I saw him in Berlin just recently and really enjoyed it.
[Smash Hits, 22nd October 1986, Words: Uncredited. Picture: Uncredited.]
Name: David Gahan.
Born: May 9, 1962 in Chigwell, Essex.
Nickname at school: Gahany.
First record bought: It was either David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ (when it was re-released in 1972) or something by Slade, ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ or ‘Gudby T’Jane’, one of those. I never bought any albums when I was that young.
First concert: Probably a punk concert in ’77. We used to go up to Chelmsford Chancellor Hall a lot. It could have been The Damned, The Clash, the Banshees or 999. They all used to play together there. The Damned were my favourite band at that time.
Does pop stardom ever get too much for you to deal with? I think that it does you good to freak out every now and then. I almost did at one point. I was moving house and then I had a bad car accident and at that point I thought, ‘That’s it, it’s over.’ I eventually came through it with a lot of grief and lots of drugs from the doctor.
How did you propose to Jo? We’d been going out for years and I just got up one morning and asked her and she sort of said ‘yeah, alright’. It was that casual.
Would you like to have children? I just think it would throw a whole new perspective on life. Having to bring up a child totally puts aside all the things that were important to you before. Things like being in a band would become secondary.
Is it true you do a lot of fishing? Yes. Stupid hobby, really. You wait five hours to catch a fish, then you catch it, then you throw it back. I really don’t know why I bother.
Do you spend much on your “stage wear”? You wouldn’t believe how much money I spend on clothes. I get soaking wet every night and the leather (of his leather trousers) goes all hard. Five gigs and they’re ruined.
Have you had any interesting dreams recently? Most of my dreams have been about us on the road. Usually everything goes wrong, which isn’t surprising. I’ve only had a couple of sexual dreams and they’re quite good, I must admit.
Why did you call your last LP “Black Celebration”? It’s got nothing to do with black magic like most people seem to think – it’s actually about how most people in life don’t have anything to celebrate. They go to work every day and then go down the pub and drown their sorrows. That’s what it’s about – celebrating the end of another black day. I think it’s tragic that you have to compensate by just getting drunk, though I don’t think there’s anything unnatural about it. After all, we do it all the time!
Did you ever have a rocking horse when you were a child? I never had a rocking horse. I had Action Men, about six of them. And my sister had a Sindy doll. I’d set up my camp in my bedroom and she’d set up her camp in hers and I used to take her out. My Action Man would go around in his jeep and knock on her door and then Sindy would come out in my jeep. We’d play for hours. Sindy had a horse and I had a jeep and a tank – all the he-man stuff. I learnt a lot about girls, chat-up lines like ‘Heeey. I’ll come pick you up later in my tank’. It was much better than Subbuteo – that was a bit stupid. It took hours. I liked action – taking Sindy out. I learnt a lot more from Action Men than I learnt from all of school.
Have you had many weird things thrown at you onstage? Yeah. In America we get everything thrown at us – bras, suspender belts, knickers and even shoes. After one concert we had about 40 shoes on stage and there were no pairs! Imagine all those people hopping home!
Most embarrassing moment: Once, it was at Brighton Jenkinsons, I was thrown out of the dressing room with no clothes on, only my pants, and found myself right in the middle of the gig. I was banging on the door and all these people were asking for my autograph. They let me back in after a while.
What have you got in your pockets? About 60p in change, a front-door key, a hankie and two receipts: one’s for a cheque from Granada TV (£126 for doing Get Set For Summer) which I paid into the bank this morning; the other’s for a copy of Smash Hits bought at WH Smith’s.
What makes you angry? Disorganisation. I hate things when they’re disorganised, whether it’s work or just going out with friends. I like everything to be sorted out. Other than that, ignorant people and a lot of journalists.
Ever feel like moving out of Basildon? I will one day. I want to sort out my life a bit more first – decide what I want to do and where I want to go. Maybe somewhere abroad. I’ve liked a lot of the places we’ve visited: Japan and Thailand particularly.
Whose home phone number would you pay the most for? David Bowie’s, I suppose. I really respect him, have got all his albums and have always followed him. I saw him in Berlin just recently and really enjoyed it.