"I used to get a lot of fans outside my house," he explains. "That's why I had to move with my wife, Joanne, and Jack, my son. They are fans from all over, from Germany, France, America, everywhere. They write to each other, word gets around and when I open up my door in the morning there are all these people on my doorstep. Sometimes I open the curtains, pull the blinds and there's somebody standing there snapping away with a camera!
"They're not all teenage girls, though," he continues. "There was this bloke who hired a private detective to follow me home from London to find out where I lived! I remember seeing this car parked across the road a few weekends later, and it turned out to be full of fans. They were all looking through my window, and they'd always be there and, one day, they finally plucked up enough courage to come and see me. So they knocked on the door - and I went mad. But I apologised later. I sent the guy a letter telling him I didn't want him coming round any more, and that I felt my only privacy had been invaded - as well as the fact that my wife was pregnant at the time. So he sent me a letter back saying, yeah, he was really sorry, and he appreciated my annoyance, but could he come round again next week! That's when I decided to move.
Depeche Mode's following is very broad-based. Teenage girls flock to them for their boyish good looks and cute pin-up appeal, muso sixth-form lads are attracted to Martin Gore's pensive, introspective lyrics, while the group's often brutal, minimalist electronic rhythms, allied to a deeply melodic pop sensibility, has earned them admirers in the least likely of places. In a recent survey, it was discovered that the records bought most in West German shops by East Germans were those by The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC and...Depeche Mode.
"We're huge in Eastern Bloc countries, I know," Dave says. "Even in Russia they did a survey on the streets, asking people what film of a rock band they would most like to see. First it was the Beatles, then The Police, and then Depeche Mode! We've played in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Berlin - where Martin actually used to live in the early eighties - and the demand for tickets was huge. We'd be playing 10,000 seater venues and there'd be another 20,000 queuing up to get in!
"In underground clubs in Russia, East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, where they can't get records very easily, Depeche Mode are really big. We get letters asking us to send tapes of our songs, which they then cut up and make music from, to play in these clubs.
"In Hungary there are actually groups of fans called 'Depeches'! Honestly! They're like the mods and rockers we get in Britain, our hotel was surrounded by them, and they all looked like one of us. We'd go out there and it would be like looking at loads of mirrors, all these kids copying our image - not that we have a particularly strong image, really. So there'd be loads of Martins and Alans and Daves and Andys, and we literally couldn't go anywhere without being mobbed by these so-called 'Depeches'."
Success engenders fame and fame brings with it recognition, money, travel and glamour. On the downside the arduous single-album-tour cycle, and the rigorous schedule involved in promoting an outfit as large as Depeche Mode on a worldwide scale also involves tremendous pressures. For Dave Gahan, his double life as a top pop star and caring father has brought as much pain as pleasure.
"Our lifestyle does have its ups and downs, and it's sometimes a struggle to keep things together because I'm away so much. That's a massive pressure, trying to maintain a family and do year-long tours at the same time. I definitely want to have more children but at the moment it's really difficult. When Jack was born two years ago, I was with him for his first three weeks and then I was off on tour for the whole of the next year," he sighs. "It's a schizo life and it can cause arguments, but I love both parts of my life so much that I carry on."
Depeche Mode are not the clean-cut Basildon boys-made-good, as painted in many press articles. Records such as Black Celebration, Master and Servant, Stripped and Shake The Disease highlight a dark, mischievous streak that runs through their music, and into their lives. Like many bands in their position, Depeche Mode have often succumbed to the excesses that the pop star lifestyle can offer.
"It'd be a lie to say we haven't done those things, whether in the past or the present", says Dave. "I think we've experienced pretty much everything. We've packed almost everything into the last ten years, I can tell you!" We're one of those bands who quietly go about their business, while at the same time there's this strange, weird force surrounding us.
"You can get tempted by things, certainly, like drugs or girls, but they can't help but affect your relationships, marriage, whatever. I've been through this myself, and it's only when I saw how I could lose the things that were really special to me that I realised how superficial those on-the-road attractions really were. I'm talking from personal experience here, but I don't really want to go into it. The tabloids have tried to get stories out of me, but I don't do those kinds of interviews. For me, personally, I've experienced things and I've found out whether I like them or not - leave it at that."
Now Depeche Mode have come to their 23rd single, Enjoy The Silence [1], and seventh studio LP, Violator. Gahan considers it to be the band's best work by far; the record company, Mute, are apparently very excited about it and, for once, the hyperbole appears to be justified. Violator moves even further away from Depeche Mode's lightweight synthipop roots into rather more tense, atmospheric, ambient dance areas. Some tracks, notably Clean and Sweetest Perfection, indicate a shift towards harsh electronic blues territories - imagine New Order playing Muddy Waters. One song, Halo, is possibly their best ever. Violator is a fine way for Depeche Mode to start the 90s.
"If it all ended tomorrow we'd be pretty lost," says Gahan. "Luckily we still get on really well together, and hardly a week goes by when we don't see each other. Plus, we've still got goals we want to fulfil. When we stop having those goals it'll be time to call it a day. I don't really feel that much older than when we started. It's all happened so fast, and we've never really had a chance to look back, or stopped to consider what we're doing. Look at The Stones and The Who - they're still going, and good luck to them. They've earned it. I hope we're still doing it in ten years' time!"
[1] - Just to clarify the counting: 'Enjoy The Silence' is numbered 24 in the box set releases, and the reason for the discrepancy may be because the single 'Little 15' wasn't ever released in the UK so the author has not counted it. The reason the author can say (on the previous page) that Dave has sung on only 22 of their releases is that one single, 'A Question Of Lust', was sung by Martin.