1997
At the beginning of 1997, after recording for the album had been completed
at the end of 1996, everyone was tired and longing for some rest. Producer
Tim Simeon found it so extreme that he only recorded one more single with DM
after that, and then never worked with them again. According to rumours he was
completely burned out after those long recording sessions.
This is contradictory to Martin saying,
"There was this easy atmosphere.
And this friendly, nice atmosphere hasn't always been there in the past. Tim knows
exactly what has happened before and where we should be going, as we do. He just
helps push us in the right direction."[1]
Apart from Martin, no one would ever say that recording Ultra was easy.
So it's difficult to understand why he stressed it so often. To prove to Alan
that this band was able to make a good record without any tension?
Fletch: "After the album Tim suffered from what is known as P.A.D.: Post
Album Depression." But it has to be said that "he is the coolest man in the
world as well. He knows how to get access to all the clubs."
Martin: "Until he met us." (laughs) "We just did Top of the Pops ..."
(where not only Tim Simeon was seen on keyboards but also Anton Corbijn on
drums) "Just before we got on stage I said to Tim: 'you realise that you now
become among the ranks of the uncool, being seen on stage with us.'" (laughs)
"I think he got really nervous."
Fletch: "Anton is taking it really seriously. He told me he's been the
happiest he has been in the last ten years." On the other hand, it had to be
said that "he even buys me clothes and tells me to wear them! And he's got
the worst taste in the world."
Martin: "We are getting becoming slighty worried about our new videoclip.
We haven't seen the full script yet and we are worried that it will focus on
the drummer for about 99 procent." (laughs)[2]
On 3 February the single Barrel of a Gun / Painkiller
was released. Beside the 7" mix, there were some different versions of
Barrel of a Gun available - the Underworld Hard Mix, the 3 Phase Mix
(remixed by Sven Röhrig), the One Inch Punch Mix V2 (remixed by One Inch Punch),
the Underworld Soft Mix and the United Mix (remixed by United - Marc Waterman
and Paul Freegard). The B-side Painkiller, a very long instrumental track, was
also released as the Plastikman Mix.
The single It's No Good / Slowblow was released on 31 March. (And
none of the videos for these two singles, directed by Anton Corbijn, was focused
on the drummer. :D)
Beside the 7" mix, there were many different versions of It's No Good
available, e.g. the Hardfloor Mix, the Speedy J Mix, the Motor Bass Mix,
the Andrea Parker Mix and the Bass Bounce Mix. There weren't any
different versions of the B-side Slowblow, another instrumental track, available.
The cover artwork shows a fleur-de-lys, a stylized lily or iris that is used as
a decorative design or symbol. It became another symbol for DM-fans, but it doesn't
appear as often as the Violator-rose.
On 10 April there was a release party in London before the album Ultra
finally was released on 14 April. Ultra debuted at No. 1 in the
UK Albums Chart and at No. 5 in the Billboard
200 with sales of 90,000 copies in the first week. So it went well, and there were
three other TV-appearances and a release-party in LA.
But whatever the band released and whatever they did - the media was interested
in anything but music.
(Staring down the barrel of a gun - with friendly permission of © Maerten Prins)
It was the year of confessions and public "therapy meetings". Dave even hugged
journalists after he had "cried on their shoulder". But they were still interviewed
separately, or Dave alone, because it seemed to be difficult for him to talk
frankly in the presence of the other two. Symptomatic of that was an unsuccessful
interview in which Dave began to speak and then fell silent when Martin looked
at him. Martin and Fletch opened up a bit too, but here and there you couldn't
ward off the impression that Dave's "soul striptease" got on their nerves.
Dave: "Well, it's no secret that I've been drinking and using drugs
for a long time. Hash. Amphetamines. Coke came along, Alcohol was always
there, hand in hand with drugs. Then all of a sudden I discovered heroin,
and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel, well ... like I've never
felt before, I felt like I really belonged. I just felt nothing was gonna
hurt me, I was invincible."[3]
Many people asked why no one of the band members or their environment had done
anything to help him.
"There were a lot of people telling me I needed help. But I didn't want to
listen. To be honest, Martin, Fletch and Alan were pretty naive. They thought
that I had decided to become more reclusive and become this strange rock star.
And I was pretty strange. One of my biggest problems is being a people-pleaser.
I want the whole world to love me. If people seemed like they weren't having
fun, I would try to become the center of attention. I tried so hard that I
forgot about loving myself."
Although he would have enjoyed to tour Ultra, he didn't dare to because he
was afraid of not being strong enough to do that at the time.
Dave: "Most of the time I'm in fear of that because I don't think
I'm strong enough to do that yet. When I got off the last tour and tried to
go back to my normal life, I found that I had lost David completely. I was
just Dave. David is a very scared person who lost the ability to trust, to
love or to be loved, or to feel anything at all. The only feeling that was
comfortable was to be in pain. I do pain really good. It's one of my big
problems." (laughs)[4]
While Martin demoted Dave to an instrument, Dave liked
to claim Martin would write about him:
"Martin says he's not. I think he's subconsciously looking at himself. I'm not
passing judgment on him, but I think he has a bit of an alcohol problem, and
I think he knows it. So I think Martin is writing these songs and he can't
help but think about what's been going on with me and then maybe look at
himself in the mirror."[5]
At that time he often accused Martin of being an alcoholic, (although he
admitted being an alcoholic himself), something Martin wasn't happy about at all.
But Dave was correct. Many years later he said that Martin had been drinking
like a fish at that time, and even Martin admitted that he had been drinking
quite a lot.
However, it was very difficult for Dave to be together with people who
drank alcohol or took drugs. "Mart and Fletch, they drink, Mart drinks a lot,
and they drink around me, and sometimes that's a bit difficult -
not because I want to get drunk, but just 'cos I don't feel part of it.
That gets me into trouble. I do a lot of praying. I don't pray for,
but what I do is I get on my knees and I thank God for keeping me sober
another day. I pray to the ceiling in the hope that somebody's listening.
But you know what? I feel a lot better in doing it. It makes me feel better
to believe in something. I don't wanna go back there, I've got too much to
lose now. And I don't mean the band, I mean myself. There's little bits
of David that come back every day, and he ain't such a bad guy. I sit and
I watch Harry Enfield and I laugh my a*** off. Or I cry at some soppy movie -
I didn't do that sh*** for a long while! I didn't have those normal feelings!
I would sit and watch the f*** weather channel for 12 hours of the day. I
wanna see my son grow up. Just this weekend I got the opportunity to spend
time with him. It was great. One thing I notice about him now, which I didn't
notice when I was using, is the way he looks at me. He looks at me with a
lot of love and affection, and I never noticed that so much before as I did
this weekend. I could look him right in the eyes, it wasn't like he'd be
looking at me and I'd be feeling ashamed. It was almost like he was the adult
and I was the child for a long time.[6] How can you expect to be there for
anybody else? And I'd want to be there for somebody else, but at the moment
I have to look after David."[7]
Martin and Fletch were seldom happy with interviews at that point. I think it
was really difficult for them. They belong to the generation of English men
who were told from early childhood that "real men" don't have any "strange
feelings", and they have always been really bad at communication. And now everyone
looked at them, asking difficult questions like, "How could it happen that you
lost a member and another one almost died?"
Martin: "I've only actually thought Dave was dead twice which is not
bad going. If you get a phonecall and it's your manager or somebody saying,
'I need to speak to you about Dave, something really bad's happened', the first
thought you have is 'Oh my God, this time it's the big one.' And that's only
happened twice. And it's really bad."
Fletch: "He should have been dead, honestly. I don't know how his body
actually kept up with it."
Martin: "What's that phrase? Institutions, jail, death? And Dave says,
'I've been there and done them all'. And he's still walking. He's still singing.
So it's a miracle, praise the Lord." (laughs)
Fletch: "People of our label must have had a few heart attacks in the
last couple of years."
(Martin laughs)
I think laughing helps Martin to get through situations he doesn't feel
comfortable with. So, when it is reported by journalists, that Martin was laughing,
it gives a slightly false impression, because it probably doesn't mean he really
laughed in situations like these.
Dave: "Six months ago, I was really p*** off about it, because all that
really seemed important to Mart and Fletch was if I was dead there'd be no
Depeche Mode any more. I didn't get any support at all, verbally, from
Fletch or Mart at any point. In fact, I've maybe heard from Mart once or
twice in nearly three years. To be fair, I don't think they knew how bad it
really was. They only saw me sporadically, and I tried to get it together
enough to fool them. But I still am a bit resentful, especially of Mart. He
rang me just before I went into the detox unit and he was angry with me. I
came off the phone in tears, because I realised, 'F***, they don't really
give a shit about me, it's the fact that there might not be any Depeche Mode
any more'. Really selfish. I was the most selfish one of all, by far, and I
claim that, but it would have been nice if there had been some support from
my so-called friends. Fletch used to tell me a lot of his friends were like,
'Why don't you just boot him out?' Which is a pretty funny concept, coming
from Fletch!" (laughs)[8]
Fletch: "When Dave was ill some people were asking why we couldn't get
rid of him, get another singer. But Dave would never come to me and say,
Gore's being a pain, let's get another songwriter. His voice and Mart's
songs are Depeche Mode."[9]
It's amazing that Fletch was able to adapt to the given situation so easily.
At this time it was only a few years after the last time he had said that DM
was Dave's voice, Martin's songs and Alan's music. It's a repeated sentence,
like the one that the current album is the best they have ever made.
(I've just read in a message-board that maybe he never said this. He did!
There really are some interviews in which he said the current album was the best.)
Maybe you become a caricature of yourself after a period of years. Fletch is
humorous enough to admit it, (he even did once), so everyone who has just thought
this sentence might be an offence should ask themselves whether there aren't
any statements or activities one repeats over and over again.
One reason why people probably like DM so much is that the band members are not
glamorous pop stars, but ordinary people with "normal" strengths and weaknesses.
The survey that was done for depechemodebiographie.de shows that most fans see
them mainly as musicians, but there were also many answers like, "they are people
who are part of my life in some way", "they are kind of relatives you don't know
much about but feel connected with" or "they are old chums you used to know at
school" and "you seem to know them although you never met them."
Martin (trying to put some things right): "No, we didn't have a drug
dealer on the staff during the Devotional tour. I think that on every tour
there's probably a dealer who turns up because he knows he can make some
money. But he was never one of our fully paid-up staff. - No, I'm not an alcoholic.
I don't particularly like to vocalise about my personal problems. I drink
quite a lot. But virtually everybody I know does. Even if I do drink too much,
it's a personal thing. - Dave has come to realise that he may not have made
the right decision to go into interviews and open his heart about his private
life, especially the drug aspect. It's getting very boring. Every interview
he goes into now, all they want to talk about is drugs. The fact that he
happens to make music seems to be irrelevant for most people. - No, my lyrics
aren't about Dave and his problems. I always write from a first-person
perspective. I don't know what's going on in someone else's head. He does
seem to get some therapeutic value from singing the songs. He does definitely
feel passion for the songs and obviously feels some connection."[10]
Dave: "I don't actually believe that, to be honest. I think he has
a deeper sense, and knows that some of the things he writes about are what's
going on all around us. That's how I feel connected with him. We don't
talk much."[11]
And of course they were asked about the Devotional-Tour and its consequences
over and over again, a topic that you find up to now.
Martin: "At the end of it, obviously Alan had had too much. He left
the band. Andy had to leave the tour. He was going through terrible depression.
It was just the two seizures for me. Dave had various heart murmurs along the
way; he was rushed to hospital. It was just too much. But once you've decided
to do a tour of that length and all the dates are booked, it becomes a
commitment."[12]
While he had thought right after Alan's leaving that this had to be the end
of the band, he now declared over and over again, that there had never been
a point at which DM would have almost split.
"There were times when we thought it was very probable that we would. We always
stuck through the bad times because we felt we did something very special
together. The closest it came to coming apart was after the New York recording
session, where we got one vocal out of Dave in six weeks. We heard two
weeks later on the radio that he'd OD'd. I did a lot of searching to decide
what to do with the band because at one point I thought it was better for
Dave if the band didn't exist anymore because it wasn't doing him any good."[13]
After all, he showed consideration for Dave with respect
to a possible tour: "We've decided not to. I don't think it would be a very
healthy environment for Dave to be in, with his problem. He gets really bored
on tour for the 22 hours he's not onstage. And when he gets bored, that's when it
gets worrying."[14]
Years later they weren't able to remember. So this is a funny bit.
Dave: "Ultra was a very important record to finish in retrospect.
You know, we didn't tour with that record. That was probably the best decision that
we made. Probably the only studio record that we ever didn't tour with, actually."
Martin: "Did we actually make that decision?"
Dave: "I don't know."
Fletch: "Yeah, we did, didn't we?"
Dave: "Yeah. I seem to remember sitting in a meeting and everybody's going ..."
Martin: "I think when we couldn't answer. I think they took it as a no."
Dave: "Yeah. And I might've gotten arrested again or something like that."[15]
(with friendly permission of © Andrew Van Wart)
Almost desperate, Martin and Fletch tried to stress that there was a new album,
but the media still wasn't interested in it. For them, of course, drugs, near-death
experiences and a lost member were much more interesting than music.
Martin: "I have to admit that after hearing on the radio that Dave had
OD'd and been arrested, I was thinking, 'This is pointless, it's time to
call it a day. I just can't see this project ever coming to a close'. But
I'm really pleased now that we gave him that one last chance. And I think it
really was that one last chance, because he'd let us down so many times in
the past. He pulled himself through and the last six months have actually
been enjoyable and easy-going."
Fletch: "We got more press over Dave's suicide and overdose than at
any time in our whole career. We got a double page in the Sunday Times
magazine! Now, if we tried to get into the Sunday Times magazine for
our music there'd be no way on this earth ..."
Martin laughs.
Fletch: "But Dave OD's and he gets the whole thing!"
Martin: "One thing we should always remember is that Dave and drugs
is a small facet of this band. It's a big part of Dave's life but, of
course, it makes headline news and it's always over-focused upon. But there
are so many other interesting facets to this band ..."
Fletch: "Not much!"
Martin: (laughs) "Obviously we know that people are going to be
interested in the Dave-drugs angle, but hopefully they'll also be interested
in the fact that we've finished an album."[16]
On 16 June the single Home was released. The single version of
Home has an ambient intro, then the drum beat features in the album version.
It is the same length as the album version. Again, there were several different
versions of the song available,
e.g. the Jedi Knights Remix (Drowning in Time), the Air "Around the
Golf" Remix, the LFO Meant to Be, the Grantby Mix and many more.
There weren't any particular B-sides available, only live versions of
Barrel of a Gun and
It's No Good (recorded on 10 April 1997 in Adrenalin Village in London.)
The video was directed by Steve Green. The painting on the Home cover was
designed by Anton Corbijn's daughter Emma who was five years old at that time.
On 20 October the single Useless was released. The single version
(remixed by Alan Moulder) changes the intro, has an updated beat and adds some extra
synth during the chorus. Again, there were several different remixes of the
song available, e.g. The Kruder +
Dorfmeister Session, the CJ Bolland Funky Sub Mix and the Air 20 Mix
(remixed by Carl Craig). There weren't any B-sides available. The video was the
last one to be directed by Anton Corbijn for some years.
Dave recorded a cover song, A Song for Europe, for the sampler
Dream Home Heartaches which was released on 4 September.
Although anyone - except the fans - seemed to be interested the band tried to
talk about music.
Martin: "The title - Ultra - really fits in with our new
line-up. We lost a member along the way and now it's the new, improved,
slimmed-down version." (laughs) "I think it's a great, positive title.[17]
I think this is the album with the least religious connotations. It's
hardly SOFAD. I think religion is one of those
things that's so important - it's a crux of life - that you can't help
cutting on it every now and again. But I think we have overdone it in the
past. So I am consciously trying not to get involved with it every time I
pick up a pen. It's just too easy for me to fall into writing about religion,
because it is one of my fascinations."[18]
Nevertheless, there are some religious references, especially in The Love
Thieves. But mainly, the lyrics on Ultra deal with frustrating
relations, love and hope. Martin's explanation to Barrel of a Gun is
an angle for possible interpretations. "It's about
understanding what you're about and realising that you don't necessarily
fit into somebody else's scheme of things."[19]
Dave: "The song sums up the way I was treating myself and everybody
around me. That's what life had in store for me every day. It's a really
powerful statement. When you're in that kind of row, the last thing on your
mind is dying."[20]
I doubt that Martin wrote about Dave but nevertheless, the lyrics to especially
Barrel of a Gun and Useless suit the given situation.
Dave: "Barrel of a Gun - we shot that in Morocco. The interesting
thing about that video was that I had eyes painted over the top of my eyes.
There's this wall round the old city of Morocco, this huge wall, which to
the Moroccans is basically a bathroom. It's like where they go and take a
s*** and stuff like that, right? I had to walk all the way along this wall
down one side where they was filming me so there's the wall on one side and
I'd be like, 'Left ...right ...' because every time they came along to some
guy that was, like, doing his business there - I had no idea, I'm blind you
know! I'm walking through all this stuff, this s***! Which was very amusing
for Anton [Corbijn] and Richard [the producer] at the time. [...] It's No Good
I think was probably one of the most fun videos that I've ever made. Anton
took it to the extreme. I got to really kind of like play a role, and play
a part that Anton wanted me in - the real has-been rock'n'roll star that ends
up playing these places but he still thinks he's larger and bigger than
life itself."[21]
I was asked by a reader if Home is about death. The answer is quite easy
this time because Martin confirmed it. I think he was asked about it
because the video referred to it. But it's also obvious from the lyrics. He said also,
"I think at the time I was drinking way too much, and it was about accepting
that fact."[22]
And while some lyrics on Ultra are a bit dark and depressing, the album
ends with the very positive song Insightm which is full of hope. The fire
still burns.
The fire also still burnt for the band that left behind the dark years.
1997 ended on a positive note.
During a radio-interview wild things were brought to daylight ...
Interviewer: "You have a ring ... in your scrotum!? I hope you were
strung out on dope when you got that done - you didn't do that consciously,
did you?"
Dave: "You know what? I wasn't and it really hurt!"
Interviewer: "Well no, duh, Dave! Ah, what a surprise!" (laughs)
Dave: "It's not actually in my scrotum, it's called a guiche, and
it's the - you know that little bit ... in between?[23] It was that bit of
skin that men have between the b*** and a***h*** - that really thin line."[24]
Interviewer: "Yeah ... that doesn't make it sound any the less painful
though!"[25]
Dave: "Supposedly you get more sexual energy from it, but it was the
most painful thing I've ever done. As it was being done I was in stirrups
for half an hour with this girl staring at my a***, lining the needle up.[26]
And it was kind of like, um ... I got a '10-9-8-7-6-' ... BAAANNGG! It was
like somebody kicked me really, really hard. I earned that!" (laughs)
Presenter: "And do you still have it there?"
Dave: "Yes I do. And it's a lot of fun. Hey, if you can do that
you do anything. I don't think I touched my d*** for ages afterwards,
I couldn't even sit on a hard chair for six months, although I showed
everybody."[27] (I don't want to picture the scene when he was going to show
everybody ... Did he really get undress saying, "Look I've a ring in my a***"? :o)
In 1994, when the guiche was done, Dave explained that it was done a day
after his wedding with Theresa because he wanted a ring, but he didn't want to
WEAR a ring. He doesn't have it anymore. In a later interview he said he had
taken it out, after one of his children had asked him why he had had an earring
in his a***.
"But I've still got the holes - you can have a look if you
really want." (laughs)[28] (Er, no thanks.)
(Unpretty: Luscious Apparatus - with friendly permission of © Fury Harbinger)
On 13 October the Recoil-single Drifting was released. B-sides
were Control Freak and Shunt. All three tracks were also released
on the album Unsound Methods which was released on 27 October.
It had been recorded in Alan's own studio The Thin Line.
Alan presented himself now as a father of a little family together with
his wife Hepzibah and their daughter Paris, who both joined in the video for
Drifting. He admitted, though, that he had had a very bad time before.
"I had been burned out completely. There were a couple
of things in my life that I had to change, very important
things. I got divorced, I became a father, I left the band -
a lot of decisive things happened, and I was much happier
than before when I finally left this tunnel behind. This was
a good moment to work creatively again. My enthusiasm was back."[29]
He started to work "last September and finished in June so it took about 9
months with a couple of breaks. Essentially I'm happy with the result. I
think it is the most focused thing I've done and the most completed. There is always
a side of me that thinks I could have done something better, but I think that's
a natural reaction. You always feel that you can do more and do better."
It was important to him to work with new people, very different musicians to
explore new areas. "Most of the time in Depeche Mode we didn't work as a group
and we didn't used to bring people in. The last album we done we did have some
extra musicians but that was the only one." Now "I can bring in people and I
always try to find someone new to work with and think it's a real challenge.
It makes you do things differently if you work with a stranger, somebody new,
so I like to give myself that challenge to find interesting new people each
time."[30]
For Unsound Methods he worked together with different vocalists, following his own musical instincts. "My starting point is often a combination of tried and tested guide sounds that evoke a particular feeling or mood in order to get the ball rolling. Then, by trial and error, I keep throwing ideas at the track until a theme or concept emerges which I like to keep in mind to focus the direction. From that point I usually park the idea and move on to another track until I have built up more of an overall picture. Whilst keeping this in mind, I then bring the music to a point where it accurately demonstrates the atmospheres I want to create and is acceptable to play to vocalists. I am looking for vocalists who present something either out of the ordinary and unique in some way or who are incredibly powerful singers. For Unsound Methods, Siobhan Lynch came to me via a demo cassette and I was immediately drawn to her slightly desperate voice. I recruited Doug McCarthy, who performed on the previous Recoil LP and the single, Faith healer, partly because I knew he would suit the 2 tracks I had in mind for him and also because he is probably the easiest person in the world to work with. He was formerly one half of Nitzer Ebb and we became good friends after they supported DM on the MFTM and Violator tours. Maggie Estep, a New-York spoken word artist came to the project after I had been searching, unsuccessfully, for an intelligent rapper with an interesting angle. Even though she is clearly not a rapper, in the end she proved far more in tune with the overall feel of the project and is in sharp contrast to the other vocalists. Finally, Hildia Cambell, who was one of the gospel singers on the DM Devotional tour. I gave each track to more than one vocalist to see how they perceived it. As a result, I actually got different interpretations of the same song. I 'ghosted' parts of some versions onto others."[31]
Nevertheless, the interviews at that time were more about DM than about Recoil.
And of course, he was asked what he thought about Ultra. Mostly he refused
to answer, but there's one reply on the record.
Alan: "I can't hear it in the same way as a record I was involved
with, but I certainly don't feel a yearning to be involved again, and I've
no regrets about leaving at all. The album is difficult for me to comment
on, though I do have something of a stock answer, which is: you can probably
work out what I think about it by listening to Unsound Methods and
then Ultra, because the two records tell you everything you need to
know about what the musical relationship was between myself and Martin.
It's almost as if we've gone to the two extremes of what we were when we
were together. What the band had before was a combination of those extremes."
Even at this early stage of his solo career, he had to notice that it wouldn't
be so easy to be successful with Recoil.
Alan: "It's obvious I'm not trying to make a commercial, radio-friendly
record, but of course it can be frustrating when you're trying to get the
music across to people and the reaction you get is, 'oh, it's difficult music
for weird people.'"[32]
While I never got any answer according to the question if I might stream excerpts
of Depeche-Mode-songs on this website, Alan kindly granted me to do so with
Recoil-songs.
So here is an excerpt of Incubus:
(with friendly permission of © Recoil / Alan Wilder)
References:
[1] Pavement, 16 April 1997. Words: uncredited
[2] Depeche Mode: Respect To The Originators, unknown media and date. Words: René Passet
[3] Tears of my Tracks, Q, March 1997. Words: Phil Sutcliffe
[4] Dave's Addiction, Spin, May 1997. Words: Barry Walters
[5] Synth and Sensibilities, NME, 25 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[6] Dead Man Talking, NME, 18 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[7] K-ROQ FM, L.A., February 1997, DJs: Kevin and Bean
[8] Synth and Sensibilities, NME, 25 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[9] They Just Couldn't get Enough, Q, March 1997. Words: Phil Sutcliffe
[10] Pavement, 16 April 1997. Words: uncredited
[11] Many Smack-Free Returns! Q, June 2001. Words: Dorian Lynskey
[12] Pavement, 16 April 1997. Words: uncredited
[13] It's a Mode Mode Mode Mode World, Hits, 28 April 1997. Words: Janet Trakin
[14] Ultra Sounds, Guitar World, May 1997. Words: Alan di Perna
[15] Synth and Sensibilities, NME, 25 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[16] Synth and Sensibilities, NME, 25 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[17] Ultra Sounds, Guitar World, May 1997. Words: Alan di Perna
[18] Synth and Sensibilities, NME, 25 January 1997. Words: Keith Cameron
[19] It's a Mode Mode Mode Mode World, Hits, 28 April 1997. Words: Janet Trakin
[20] Interview with Depeche Mode, The Videos 86>98, Mute MF033 and Videos 86>98+, Mute MF042. Director: Sven Harding
[21] A La Mode, Gaywired, 2 November 2005. Words: Lawrence Ferber.
[22] K-ROQ FM, L.A., February 1997, DJs: Kevin and Bean
[23] Cash for Questions: Dave Gahan, Q, June 2003. Words: Paul Stokes
[24] K-ROQ FM, L.A., February 1997, DJs: Kevin and Bean
[25] Cash for Questions: Dave Gahan, Q, June 2003. Words: Paul Stokes
[26] K-ROQ FM, L.A., February 1997, DJs: Kevin and Bean
[27] Cash for Questions: Dave Gahan, Q, June 2003. Words: Paul Stokes
[28] Cash for Questions: Dave Gahan, Q, June 2003. Words: Paul Stokes
[29] Orkus Magazine, Nov 1997, Collette Stritzke
[30] Chatting with Alan Wilder, September 1997. Words: Hendrik Wittgren
[31] recoil.co.uk
[32] Unsound Recordings, Sound On Sound, January 1998. Words: Bill Bruce