Depeche Mode Play For Tomorrow (New Sounds, New Styles, 1981)

[demoderus]

Play For Tomorrow
[New Sounds, New Styles, August 1981. Words: Pete Silverton. Pictures: Jill Furmanovsky.]

For their second ever issue, New Sounds hit on the ruse of taking an interview with Depeche Mode, and presenting it as a TV script. What they hoped to achieve has escaped me as there is no opportunity, in the middle of the listless attempts at conversation and banter, to learn anything about the band. A pointless exercise, only slightly lifted by a couple of snaps of the band posing in Basildon town centre.
" This is a joke… ho, ho, ho. "
Summary: For their second ever issue, New Sounds hit on the ruse of taking an interview with Depeche Mode, and presenting it as a TV script. What they hoped to achieve has escaped me as there is no opportunity, in the middle of the listless attempts at conversation and banter, to learn anything about the band. A pointless exercise, only slightly lifted by a couple of snaps of the band posing in Basildon town centre. [1460 words]

PLAY FOR TOMORROW
In which Vince, Dave, Martin and Andrew play Depeche Mode, Peter Silverton plays The Journalist and Daniel Miller stays off screen. Cameraperson… Jill Furmanovsky.

SCENE ONE. Interior. Depeche Mode are rehearsing in a deconsecrated church on the south side of London’s dockland. It’s a part of the capital that’s scarcely changed since cargo boats had masts. The Band’s rehearsal room is on the steps of the original altar. Vince Clarke is using a Roland synthesiser and operating the drum in a maroon shirt. Andrew Fletcher is on a Moog and in a green shirt. Martin Gore plays a Yamaha and wears a chunky-knit white sweater over a black T-shirt. And in front, where once the priest would give communion, stands Dave Gahan, singing in a baggy peach shirt with white cuffs, tan cord trousers and mid-brown, heavily belted boots. The Band play very quietly, working on a new song – probably to be called “Let’s Get Together”. They’re having trouble with the harmonies.

Martin: That sounds too much like the Beverly Sisters. [1]
Vince: (Shrugs. At twenty, he’s an old hand to the others’ nineteen) Everything sounds like something.

CUT TO…

SCENE TWO. Interior. A nearby café. The Band and The Journalist are having lunch. The Band are open, friendly and giggle a lot. Andrew’s the butt of the day’s jokes. Maybe it’s just his turn. Vince has a jumbo sausage roll and a cup of tea. Martin has sausages, beans and chips with a glass of milk. Andrew drinks milk and toys with an egg on toast with extra toast. Dave risks his life with the lamb chop and three veg, washing it down with a cup of tea. He eats very slowly.

Peter: Where do you call come from?
Dave: Basildon, Essex. It’s a new town. A lot of people think it’s just a country town but it’s quite built up. Housing estates… and there’s an industrial estate there…

Peter: Have you lived there all your lives?
Vince: Most of our lives, really.
Dave: We were all three or four when we moved there.

Peter: How long have you been together?
Dave: About a year.

Peter: You played under some name you’re not going to tell me [2] and then you found the name Depeche Mode in a French fashion magazine…
Dave: Depeche-ay. It should be Depeche but we pronounce it Depeche-ay. We’re the only people who do.

Peter: It just means “Hurry up fashion”.
Vince: It could do, but we just use it as the word. We didn’t know what it meant till about three months afterwards. We knew “Mode” was fashion but it didn’t really matter. It could have been Depeche-ay Mud.

Peter: It was about ten months ago you went over to just using electronic instruments…
Vince: We played guitars. We had a bass guitar and all that… rhythm guitar… one synth for a little while, and then we had two synths and then three synths.
Andrew: It was a natural thing at the time… just like progressed into it. (Andrew slumps down onto the table, head in hands. He stays like that for most of the scene, only raising his head for the occasional comment)
Vince: Martin had his synths and we liked it. He had broader sounds.

Peter: The first time I remember hearing you was on that Phonogram compilation, the Some Bizzare album…
Dave: We had no sort of recording activities going on at all. Stevo approached us and asked us if we’d like to put a track on this compilation so we thought it would be a good idea.
Peter: There seemed to be a lot of optimism in your track compared to the other stuff, which all seemed to be about gloom in Barnsley…
Dave: Well, it’s not us really. Vince doesn’t write gloomy songs.

 

[demoderus]

Peter: Was that your first recording?
Dave: Real one, yes. When we’d been going about three months we did a demo and took it round all the record companies.
Vince: Beggars Banquet, that kind of stuff.
Martin: Dindisc, Stiff.
Dave: Even Daniel wasn’t interested at first. We were at Rough Trade with our tape and at the end they went, pretty good but it’s not Rough Trade, though I know someone who might like it. And Daniel walked in and he said, what do you think of this, Dan? And he turned round, looked at us and went (sneers), slammed the door and walked out. And we thought, BASTARD… Then he approached us at the Bridge House and said, I’d like to do a single with you and we went, yeah? No, we didn’t really. We went, YEAH!

Peter: What kind of guy is Daniel Miller?
Dave: He’s too kind. He’s stroppy in the studio sometimes.
Vince: He hasn’t been for a long while.
Dave: Large, plump.

Peter: When you started, how did you want to sound?
Vince: Very clear. You go and see a band, and the drums and guitars and saxophone, it’s like a wall of sound. I’d rather have a sound where you can pick out each instrument, each melody line. And also, we wanted the rhythm to be at the forefront, so you can dance to it.
Peter: I read somewhere that you’d really toned down the clothes.
Dave: We didn’t consciously tone it down. We just wear different clothes and that…
Martin: We used to look really silly.
Dave: Overdone make-up, things like that. It was so funny.
Martin: I think maybe we’ve grown up.
Andrew: (Wakes up) Oh God, I can see the headline. MAYBE THEY’VE GROWN UP.

Peter: What are you going to do after “New Life”? Are you going to do something boring like an album?
Dave: We’ve decided to do an album now, but we’ll probably do another single release first.
Vince: You’re right it’s boring though. We’ve been in there five days and it’s terrible.

Peter: What’s your favourite track in the world today?
Dave: David Bowie albums. Other than that I just buy singles.
Vince: “Pretty Pink” by the Psychedelic Furs.
Martin: Sparks. Dunno which… What about you, An?
(Prods the sleeping partner)
Andrew: Quo Pasa, the other side of Me No Pop I.

Peter: Que Pasa.
(They all laugh at Andrew)
Dave: You should have just said the B-side of Me No Pop I. You’d better go back to sleep.

Peter: If you could do the theme tune for a TV or cinema ad, which product would you like to do it for?
Andrew: Cornflakes… Frosties.
Dave: What commercials are there that are really funny? (Thinks a while)… a lolly advert or a Monster Munch one.
(They all try out their Monster Munch impression)

Peter: What do you like doing when you’re not working?
Andrew: Reading, studying really (obviously making it up as he goes along). I don’t know what this lot do. They’re all engaged and that.

Peter: They’ve all got steady girlfriends, have they?
Andrew: Steady’s an understatement.
Dave: The thing is, no-one likes Andy and that’s just him putting in his little ad. So if anyone wants him, it’s 101… [3]
Andrew: It’s much harder for me because I go out a lot and that.
Vince: Oh yeah. He goes to famous places like the Highway.
Martin: He got a fan letter, you know.
Andrew: Make it fan letters. It sounds better.

Peter: What kind of toothpaste do you use?
Dave: Well, round me girlfriend’s house, I use Colgate.
Andrew: Ultrabrite I use.
Andrew: There’s one really horrible one. [4]
Martin: Crest.
Dave: Bloody horrible, that.
Martin: It ain’t that bad.
Dave: It is. S’horrible.
Andrew: It’s alright on toast… a ham and crest sandwich.
Dave: This is a joke… ho, ho, ho.

Peter: What are your life’s ambitions?
Dave: Most of my ambitions have been fulfilled. When I was at school, I wanted to be in a band and be quite successful. I dunno if that’s fulfilled or not. I’d like to have a top ten, be on Top Of The Pops. [5]
Andrew: I wouldn’t. I’m quite happy to stay independent.
Dave: Andy likes having no money. [6]

Peter: Does it worry you, going to a major label and the compromise it might involve?
Andrew: We hate the major labels.
Vince: We? [7]
Andrew: Well, I do.
Dave: If you’re going to make a statement like that, you speak for yourself.

Peter: How has being a star changed your life?
Dave: It hasn’t changed anything at all. But we don’t carry on like stars. I don’t know how. When I learn, I will.

CUT TO…

CREDITS
As the closing credits roll up the screen, we see a series of exterior images of Dave, Martin, Vince and Andrew frolicking around the environs of Basildon. The soundtrack is Depeche Mode’s current single, “New Life”, played LOUD. Black-out. Recover.

[1] – For a guess, I'd say the song being rehearsed is "Boys Say Go". It features the line "Boys meet boys, get together", and does feature some very low-key (perhaps toned down due to the difficulty they were having!). The end product doesn't exactly scream Beverly Sisters, but what it was like half-finished is anyone's guess.
[2] – Composition of Sound. I've never seen them give the name in an interview.... which is why I always do.
[3] – Dave is about to give Fletch’s address at the time, 101 Woolmer Avenue, Laindon.
[4] – I reckon there's been a typo here and that this line is actually being spoken by Dave.
[5] – From the ages given for the band members at the beginning, this interview was conducted in June 1981, and it could only have been days before they appeared on Top Of The Pops for the first time, performing New Life. Dave’s other wish would be fulfilled with the release of the next single Just Can’t Get Enough, which made Number 8.
[6] – Five years later, and with much more of the folding stuff around, an interview in Just Seventeen was to descend into chaos as Dave and Andy thrashed out the money question once more.

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[7] – This is curious. Maybe I’m reading in too much but Vince is apparently somewhat taken with the idea of major labels. Given that the generally-accepted reason for his leaving the band later that year was that he was disillusioned with the round of promotion and touring that comes with fame (which was nothing compared to what it would have been if they had been groomed for success by a big label), he must either have hit the ground in late 1981 with a very nasty bump, or the generally-accepted reasons are wrong.