No Exit: David Gahan
by Jon Matsumoto
(First appeared in BAM magazine, 8/22/97)
Named after a French style magazine that loosely translates as "fast fashion," Depeche Mode might've appeared to be merely a flash-in-the-pan when they emerged from Basildon, England in 1980. Armed with synthesizers and all the New Romantic visual trimmings, the group was lumped in with the mainly toothless and transient "haircut" bands of the day.
David GahanBut remarkably, Depeche Mode remains standing 17 years later, despite membership changes, internal bickering and raging substance abuse problems. Indeed, the excess-laden world tour that followed their 1993 Songs of Faith and Devotion album nearly destroyed the band. Tensions within the group reached such a crisis point that the four members barely spoke to one another. Four months before the grueling 18-month excursion ended, keyboardist Andrew Fletcher broke down emotionally and physically and was sent home. Tired of his mates' erratic behavior, Alan Wilder--the band's musical craftsman and emotional anchor--quit the group outright following the tour.
Matters only got worse for David Gahan. When the vocalist returned to his Los Angeles home, his escalating heroin addiction led him to attempt suicide in 1995. Then, last year, he came within an eyelash of dying after an overdose. Eventually, Gahan could no longer deny that he needed help and is now a year into the enormously challenging drug recovery process. When the remaining members of Depeche Mode reconvened to explore the possibility of making another album, there was still lingering distrust and trepidation in the air. But songwriter Martin Gore came up with some intriguing new songs (some of which mirror Gahan's troubles) and the trio began recording with the help of techno wizard Tim Simenon.
Though it contains several instrumental tracks that reflect the current electronic trends, the resulting Ultra album is the techno-pop band's most organic sounding work. Simenon brought in some live musicians and one cut even contains a pedal steel guitar part.
Now a New York City resident, Gahan recently talked about his life, Depeche Mode and musical trends. There will be no Ultra tour, though a more manageable concert trek may occur if the band proceeds with tentative plans to release an anthology of their work within the next few years.
Bands such as Depeche Mode used to be criticized for basing their music on synthesizers. Do you feel a sense of redemption now that electronic music is all the rage?
It's pretty sad, isn't it? Most of it is really crap and it really hasn't moved on that much since 1980. What I like about what we're doing now is we've actually found a nice balance between using electronics and computer stuff and using real musicians and [developing] the song. It's always what we tried to do; we've just become better [at it] over the years.
What is it about today's electronic music that you don't like?
I think I'm just too old! It leaves me really cold. Give me Marvin Gaye or Al Green. I want to hear a song and a singer. [The techno scene] really is a culture and a whole scene. And I don't really go to clubs anymore. It's the whole club life. What got me really inspired to want to be in a band was music like the Clash and the Damned. The idea that I could be on the microphone and show off for a couple of hours and get applauded for it, that really appealed to me.
It seems like you have much purer rock 'n' roll instincts than Martin.
Thank God. The combination actually is what works. But I'd rather take it into that [rock] area a lot more. This album actually is the most soulful album we've made.
This is the first album without Alan, who Martin once called the only true musician in the band. How did his absence effect this album?
Alan was very much the musical director. Martin is the writer and I'm the actor. With the last album, it became very much a battle between all three of us to take the album into different areas. Alan dominated the musical side of it which left very little room for Martin and myself. This was much more of a group effort.
I talked to Alan when Songs of Faith and Devotion came out and he seemed to imply that he didn't like being the guy who was slaving away in the studio while everyone else was out having a good time.
That's interesting that he was already thinking that way even before we went out on tour. That was very much the atmosphere during the recording. I was probably the closest to Alan. He really resented the fact that he was spending 12 hours a day in the studio and Martin would be off somewhere getting drunk and I'd be up to my tricks somewhere else. He pretty much pulled it all together and didn't really get any appreciation for that because everyone was too into their own ego shit. He probably made a decision during the making of that album that he didn't want to work with us again. [During the course of the subsequent tour] we found it very difficult being in the same room. Alan got tired of being the one who actually had to pull it together and put a straight head on all the time. He was very much the Charlie Watts of Depeche Mode.
by Jon Matsumoto
(First appeared in BAM magazine, 8/22/97)
Named after a French style magazine that loosely translates as "fast fashion," Depeche Mode might've appeared to be merely a flash-in-the-pan when they emerged from Basildon, England in 1980. Armed with synthesizers and all the New Romantic visual trimmings, the group was lumped in with the mainly toothless and transient "haircut" bands of the day.
David GahanBut remarkably, Depeche Mode remains standing 17 years later, despite membership changes, internal bickering and raging substance abuse problems. Indeed, the excess-laden world tour that followed their 1993 Songs of Faith and Devotion album nearly destroyed the band. Tensions within the group reached such a crisis point that the four members barely spoke to one another. Four months before the grueling 18-month excursion ended, keyboardist Andrew Fletcher broke down emotionally and physically and was sent home. Tired of his mates' erratic behavior, Alan Wilder--the band's musical craftsman and emotional anchor--quit the group outright following the tour.
Matters only got worse for David Gahan. When the vocalist returned to his Los Angeles home, his escalating heroin addiction led him to attempt suicide in 1995. Then, last year, he came within an eyelash of dying after an overdose. Eventually, Gahan could no longer deny that he needed help and is now a year into the enormously challenging drug recovery process. When the remaining members of Depeche Mode reconvened to explore the possibility of making another album, there was still lingering distrust and trepidation in the air. But songwriter Martin Gore came up with some intriguing new songs (some of which mirror Gahan's troubles) and the trio began recording with the help of techno wizard Tim Simenon.
Though it contains several instrumental tracks that reflect the current electronic trends, the resulting Ultra album is the techno-pop band's most organic sounding work. Simenon brought in some live musicians and one cut even contains a pedal steel guitar part.
Now a New York City resident, Gahan recently talked about his life, Depeche Mode and musical trends. There will be no Ultra tour, though a more manageable concert trek may occur if the band proceeds with tentative plans to release an anthology of their work within the next few years.
Bands such as Depeche Mode used to be criticized for basing their music on synthesizers. Do you feel a sense of redemption now that electronic music is all the rage?
It's pretty sad, isn't it? Most of it is really crap and it really hasn't moved on that much since 1980. What I like about what we're doing now is we've actually found a nice balance between using electronics and computer stuff and using real musicians and [developing] the song. It's always what we tried to do; we've just become better [at it] over the years.
What is it about today's electronic music that you don't like?
I think I'm just too old! It leaves me really cold. Give me Marvin Gaye or Al Green. I want to hear a song and a singer. [The techno scene] really is a culture and a whole scene. And I don't really go to clubs anymore. It's the whole club life. What got me really inspired to want to be in a band was music like the Clash and the Damned. The idea that I could be on the microphone and show off for a couple of hours and get applauded for it, that really appealed to me.
It seems like you have much purer rock 'n' roll instincts than Martin.
Thank God. The combination actually is what works. But I'd rather take it into that [rock] area a lot more. This album actually is the most soulful album we've made.
This is the first album without Alan, who Martin once called the only true musician in the band. How did his absence effect this album?
Alan was very much the musical director. Martin is the writer and I'm the actor. With the last album, it became very much a battle between all three of us to take the album into different areas. Alan dominated the musical side of it which left very little room for Martin and myself. This was much more of a group effort.
I talked to Alan when Songs of Faith and Devotion came out and he seemed to imply that he didn't like being the guy who was slaving away in the studio while everyone else was out having a good time.
That's interesting that he was already thinking that way even before we went out on tour. That was very much the atmosphere during the recording. I was probably the closest to Alan. He really resented the fact that he was spending 12 hours a day in the studio and Martin would be off somewhere getting drunk and I'd be up to my tricks somewhere else. He pretty much pulled it all together and didn't really get any appreciation for that because everyone was too into their own ego shit. He probably made a decision during the making of that album that he didn't want to work with us again. [During the course of the subsequent tour] we found it very difficult being in the same room. Alan got tired of being the one who actually had to pull it together and put a straight head on all the time. He was very much the Charlie Watts of Depeche Mode.