BIOGRAPHY2012
In 2011 and 2012 Martin and Dave were busy with some solo projects.
The band just recorded the cover version of So Cruel, which was released
on a tribute album to U2 in 2011.
Martin was the vocalist of the song Man Made Machine by the band Motor and
he collaborated with Vince; the project's name was simply VCMG. The EP1 Spock
was released on 9 December 2011, the EP2 Blip on
27 February 2012, the album Ssss on 13 March,
and finally the EP3 Aftermath was released on 20 August. It is an
instrumental techno-like record.
The collaboration started when Vince thought about making "some kind of a techno
album", although he had "never taken an interest in techno music at all but I was
just completely blown away by the way the people were using synthesisers."[1] So he
thought, "'Well, I never worked with Martin, really,' and I knew he was interested
in synths. It felt like a good email to send.[2] After drinking six beers, I composed
an email. I think he was genuinely surprised to hear from me."[3]
Martin was surprised indeed. "I didn't even know Vince had my email address.[4]
It's funny because he tweets all the time and everyone thinks he's really, really
talkative and really, you know - he's not. And I just got a really short email that
said, 'Thinking of making a techno album. Interested in collaborating? Vince.'"
Dave: "After 25 years, you know, you expect a little more, but ..."
Martin: "So I felt, I mean, I like techno. It might be quite an interesting
thing to do. So I said, 'Yes. Martin.'"[5] (Sometimes communication can be so easy ...)
He had some downtime at the time, so he decided to collaborate. They didn't work
together physically but worked via the Internet.
Martin: "I started by taking out bits I didn't particularly like that he
sent me, adding bits to it and sending it back to him, then he'd take out bits that
he didn't like that I'd put in and send it back to me. There were usually three or
four versions of the track before we were both happy. And after a while I started
coming up with ideas that I would send to him as well.[6] One of the reasons I had
fun doing this project is that I wanted to make a 'dancy' album: I think the electronic
scene is really alive, and today many young people can create dance music on a budget."[7]
They seldom met personally, and if they did, they didn't talk about the record.
Martin: "We met at the Mute festival last May [Short Circuit at the Roundhouse,
London], and we didn't really talk about it then. We just talked about our kids."[8]
Dave: "I think making Ssss together helped Martin. It certainly cleared
up a lot of weird old resentments that they had."
Dave had the opportunity to meet Vince again, too. "We were all in a room together, and
Vince was checking out all Mart's modular synthesizers and I was sitting back
and watching them. I said, 'Nothing's really changed.' We shared all the same jokes
and he came out to dinner with us. Vince and I walked and talked. We walked 15
blocks chatting. I hadn't talked to Vince for 25 years."[9]
After Dave had recovered from Touring the Universe he was asked to collaborate
in a project of the band Soulsavers. It consists of two people: Rich Machin and Ian
Glover. Dave got to know them through bassist Martyn LeNoble, a friend of his,
and became friendly with them when Soulsavers opened for DM during TOTU.
Dave: "Martyn LeNoble was doing some session work with them in a studio
in LA, and I just happened to call him up for a chat on that day, and it happened
that he was in the studio with them. Rich was in the background and yelled out
'you should take us on tour!' I said to Martyn 'Is he serious? Does he really want
to go on the road with Depeche Mode?', because, you know, it'd be a little bit
difficult opening for Depeche Mode. You never know which way it's going to go:
whether you're going to get rocks thrown at you, or something else, I don't know.
It's a difficult opener, but he was totally into it, and so we took them on tour."[10]
On tour he talked a lot with Rich Marchin, also about songwriting. "He said, 'Can
I send you some ideas, maybe, and see if we have something going on ...' I didn't
think anything would come of it, but he did indeed send me something and I immediately
felt inspired by it."[11]
And he started working on this project although "I had no intention of doing anything,
really, after that tour - The Sounds of the Universe Tour. I had medical issues
and stuff like that. I was taking care of myself, and I talked to my wife about it.
I really wanted to take care of myself and spend time with the family, but Rich
started sending me these lines, and I started writing too. It felt very natural,
and I started sending things back to him. I would complete an idea, work out some
melodies ... the words sort of played off what Rich was giving me, and I'd go into
the studio with a friend of mine, and we'd lay down some vocals and send them off
to Rich. Basically, Rich would then start to build the instrumentation around what
I was doing. He'd send something back and I'd be, like, 'Oh, wow'.[12] I Can't Stay
was one of the first things I worked on. These songs really kind of wrote themselves.
I can't describe it in any better way."[13]
The album The Light the Dead See was recorded at studios in London, New York,
Los Angeles, Berlin and Sydney and was released on 21 May. Dave wrote all lyrics
and was the leading vocalist.
Probably for the first time, many DM-fans bought an album of the Soulsavers.
It was quite successful, peaked No. 69 of UK album charts, No. 28 of US Top Heatseekers
Albums Chart and No. 12 in Germany. The latter shows that Germany is still one of the
most important markets for DM.
The first single taken from the album Longest Day was released as digital
download on 2 April. The second single Take Me Back Home was released
as digital download on 20 August.
Dave: "It was definitely a very new experience for me. I know some of the songs
will come across as quite dark and moody, but it was the most uplifting experience
I've ever had making a record."[14]
It wasn't only a new experience for him, he also became inspired for the songs
he wrote for DM's next record. Delta Machine and The Light the Dead See
aren't similar, but there's an influence, nevertheless.
Dave: "The title The Light the Dead See works so well because sometimes
when you're still and not trying to steer things in a certain way is really when
the magic can happen."
The project also had an influence on his way of singing. "I think some of that stuff
comes from the way I used my voice. I go to a very visual place when I'm singing.
It's very cinematic and I get this feeling of space. I love when music does that."[15]
His way of singing, that had changed from Playing the Angel to SOTU,
caused a lot of discussion among the fans. Some people didn't like that he almost
over-emphasised the syllables, and tried to vary his voice a lot. On
The Light the Dead See he sang differently again, and he carried this
style over to Delta Machine.
Because of the new DM album Dave didn't tour with the Soulsavers. However, the
band played an invitation-only "secret show" at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles
on 21 July.
In May Dave said, "We have begun to record the album [Delta Machine]
I have written 6-7 songs," - he was working with Kurt Uenala -, "Martin has 13 or 14, we
play into all, and we'll see what we include on the album. I think three or four of
my songs going with, so it gets the more than before. The album seems to have a strong
sense of the blues. Not as Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion, but
definitely more blues, and more direct. We will take good care not to overproduce this
time. Too many sounds are not necessary. If the melodies are good, they do not need
more.[16] I push all the time, much to the annoyance of the other guys sometimes,
to keep things as raw as possible. They get a little bit afraid of that, in case
we're all gonna get judged. Yes, you are going to get judged, but I'd rather get
really s*** reviews than mediocre reviews. I'd rather hear people saying 'what
the f***'s going on with the band?' than just 'yeah, hmmm, it's an okay record'."[17]
But exactly this would happen when Delta Machine was released. Many fans
liked the album a lot, saying it's the best since SOFAD (or since Ultra),
many said it's an okay record, and only a few asked what the f*** is going on with
the band. It is noticeable that many of the critical fans had lost interest long
before the release, and didn't say anything at all about Delta Machine.
Sometimes this says a lot. It seems that the band lost some fans along the way,
but it hasn't done them any harm. Delta Machine and the tickets for the
upcoming tour sold well.
The band met in January 2012 to listen to demos, and started recording
Delta Machine in March in Santa Barbara. This time they only worked
in Santa Barbara and New York, but they worked with Ben Hillier again.
The original plan was that Martin was going to co-produce the album.
Dave: "Well, the truth is when we first did get together, like, this last
January, we went to Martin's place and, you know, listened to the songs. You know,
I came, did a few demos and Martin did these demos and we'd just kind of sit and
we'd listen. And Martin's demos were so well produced. And we didn't want to mess
with that too much. So once we decided that we wanted to get Ben Hillier involved
again, it seemed logical."[18]
Fletch: "I think it's better than the last album. I think there's a lot
more energy on this album. Amazingly we actually finished ahead of schedule, which
we'd never done in our careers so that was incredible as well. That tells you it
must be a good album if you finish early!"[19]
There were some things different in comparison with previous albums. So Martin
re-worked Dave's demos before starting the recording session probably to give
all the demos a sense of consistency in terms of sound and direction. It was
really difficult later to guess who had written which song.
And they had a kind of second producer with Christoffer Berg.
Dave: "He's a great musician and has a lot of fantastic ideas. He's not afraid
to stand up and say, 'I got an idea.' I like that. It's quite intimidating working
with a band like ours because you have certain expectations of how it is. A lot
are true and some aren't. Martin and I are open to other people's ideas."[20]
They also had "a guy called Ferg [Peterkin] who's the engineer," Fletch added.
About Christoffer Berg he said that "he makes his own music and he's a real genius
and a lot younger than us so he brings some young energy in. He was excellent."[21]
The band members don't spend much time with each other when they are not in the
studio or on tour together - or at least Dave doesn't meet Martin and Fletch very
often - so, it always takes a while to get on with each other after a break.
Dave: "Coming into the studio with Depeche for the first time in a while
is just a different process. We have a lot of time and there are lots of people
helping - programmers, engineers and so forth. That said, to still be doing
this after 30-odd years means we've certainly come to a new place with all that.
It's all gravy now.[22] We're probably not finished til the end of the year, and
we're talking about touring next year. But right now it's like a science lab
here. We're working in two rooms at the moment, just full of electronics and
guitars and everybody's getting very creative."[23]
But, as we've seen before, they completed recording ahead of schedule. This time
another problem had to be dealt with. It was the first time in their career that
they didn't have a label.
Dave: "What happened was around the time of Exciter, Daniel, with
our blessing, signed Mute to EMI. And he gave over a lot of control to them. He
retained complete artistic control, but right before we were set to record
Delta Machine, there were rumours about EMI folding. We didn't want to be
stuck in limbo and have this thing stuck in the courts, because you hear about
this stuff happening. Now Daniel still owns Mute Artists, but not Mute Records,
which he tried to buy back after he sold it, without success. He got outbid and
was very upset, which I only found out recently. He wanted to take it all back,
but we basically told him, 'Dan, we've got to move on.' Sony came up with the
best offer to make sure Daniel is still around for us, and to make sure we were
able to gain control of what we're doing. Most importantly, in 2015,
we'll be able to get control of our entire catalogue. We'll own it. After
Delta Machine, we'll be in real control."[24]
It meant that they released a record without the famous Bong label. This was
especially disappointing for collectors, but it seemed to be the best deal for
them, because they were still aware of keeping some independence. They took on
all the costs for the production themselves, because they didn't want to be tied
to a record company. So the deal with Sony is obviously a kind of logistic deal
rather than a real record deal.
There were plans to collaborate with other musicians but it didn't work.
Dave: "Our producer Ben Hillier interviewed all sorts of musicians to work
on this record, and they all said, 'Oh yeah, we know electronics.' But what they
meant was that they knew how to program software and things on the computer. They
didn't know really how to use the massive modular hardware systems - ARP gear
and all that."[25]
So there weren't many other people involved. And, of course, they got on well again.
Dave: "There was definitely a time in my life where I was like, 'You've got
to be bigger, faster, stronger, better'. Over the years, this being our 13th
studio album ... working on this record somehow felt like a new thing. Martin and
I were really on the same page what we were doing writing-wise, and we just really
came together, so it was a really enjoyable experience to do."[26]
On the other hand it seemed that he wasn't patient enough. "Making a record with
Depeche Mode is not a simple process. It's quite complicated and long. We have the
luxury of time. I'm not sure that's such a good thing when you're being creative. I
kind of like that process of working a little faster in the studio. It gets boring
for me. They are in their laboratory surrounded by all these twiddly things with
all these things that make bleeps and noises and I sit there, like, 'Can I sing
now? Can I sing now? Can I sing now?'[27] We're not a band band. We're not The
Rolling Stones, jamming together in the studio. Things are very constructed
between Martin and me. Fletch has ideas and input; he's the one who'll say,
'What are you doing? You've been working on this for three days, it's rubbish!'
But he's not conceptual. He's the mediator. He's the luke-warm water between fire
and ice." (laughs). "He'll do his crossword, and as long as he gets to lunch by
one o'clock, he's fine."[28]
Martin: "I think this album was one of the easiest to make."[29]
You remember the last time he said that a record was easy to make, in fact it
was very difficult, but I don't think that this time we will hear unpleasant
stories afterwards.
When it came to the mixing process, an old acquaintance appeared.
Dave: "It was good on this record to kind of have Flood back on board and
have Flood mixing the record. That technology was good there, because Martin and I
would get on Skype with him and he'd be in London mixing while we were in New York
still recording. That's the only way we'd communicated with him! We did not spend
any time in the studio with him. I think this record as well is the end of a trilogy
of records that we're doing with Ben Hillier."[30]
As has been previously referred to - fans tend to attach too much importance to
the role of the (former co-)producers, especially to the role of Flood. Hearing
that he was to mix the record, some people had very high expectations. But mixing
a record doesn't mean producing a record, and producing a record doesn't automatically
mean having a huge musical influence.
References:
[1] Interview: VCMG, The Stoolpigenon, 16 February 2012. Words: Tim Burrows.
[2] VCMG, 'Ssss': Album Preview, Billboard.com, 17 January 2012. Words: Kerri Mason.
[3] Interview: VCMG, The Stoolpigenon, 16 February 2012. Words: Tim Burrows.
[4] Clarke e Gore, L'Uomo Vogue, January 2012. Words: Uncredited.
[5] The Complete SXSW 2013 Interview, NPR, 25 March 2013. Words: Jason Bentley.
[6] Interview: VCMG, The Stoolpigenon, 16 February 2012. Words: Tim Burrows.
[7] Clarke e Gore, L'Uomo Vogue, January 2012. Words: Uncredited.
[8] Interview: VCMG, The Stoolpigenon, 16 February 2012. Words: Tim Burrows.
[9] Depeche Mode: Brits wouldn't show our set so we said 'f*** them', The Sun, 22 March 2013. Words: Uncredited.
[10] Soulsavers & Dave Gahan: 'We Were On The Same Page Very Quickly', Features, DIY, 23 July 2012. Words: Huw Oliver.
[11] Depeche Mode Working on 'Punchier' Songs, Eye Tour in 2013, Billboard.com, Detroit, 29 May 2012. Words: Gary Graff.
[12] Soulsavers & Dave Gahan: 'We Were On The Same Page Very Quickly', Features, DIY, 23 July 2012. Words: Huw Oliver.
[13] Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan gets spiritual, Special to CNN, 8 June 2012. Words: Abbey Goodman.
[14] Taken from: Dave Gahan Discusses Soulsavers & New DM, The Quitus, 1 March 2012. Words: Sam Spokony.
[15] Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan gets spiritual, Special to CNN, 8 June 2012. Words: Abbey Goodman.
[16] Sanger på tro og ære, dagsavisen.no, May 2012. Words: Geir Rakvaag.
[17] Depeche Mode Album Update, Clash Music, 25 July 2012. Words: Mat Smith.
[18] The Complete SXSW 2013 Interview, NPR, 25 March 2013. Words: Jason Bentley.
[19] Revealing the Depeche Mode Plan, Exclaim, 26 March 2013. Words: Vincent Pollard.
[20] Dave Gahan: Depeche Mode Plan 'To Be Touring Next Year', SPIN.com, 1 May 2012. Words: Uncredited.
[21] Revealing the Depeche Mode Plan, Exclaim, 26 March 2013. Words: Vincent Pollard.
[22] Out, demons, out!, The Word magazine, 17 May 2012. Words: Uncredited.
[23] Depeche Mode Working on 'Punchier' Songs, Eye Tour in 2013, Billboard.com, 29 May 2012. Words: Gary Graff.
[24] Through That Darkness You'll Find the Light: A.J. Samuels interviews Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Electronic Beats Magazine, 12 March 2013. Words: A.J. Samuels.
[25] Through That Darkness You'll Find the Light: A.J. Samuels interviews Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Electronic Beats Magazine, 12 March 2013. Words: A.J. Samuels.
[26] Depeche Mode Q & A: Dave Gahan Talks 'Delta Machine,' Massive Tour Plans, Billboard.com, New York, 8 March 2013. Words: Jason Lipshutz.
[27] Delta Force: A Q & A with Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan, Time Entertainment, 4 April 2013. Words: Melissa Locker.
[28] Interview with Dave Gahan, Mojo, 22 March 2013. Words: Martin Aston.
[29] Survival Mode, Irish Times, 22 March 2013. Words: Uncredited.
[30] Depeche Mode Q & A: Dave Gahan Talks 'Delta Machine,' Massive Tour Plans, Billboard.com, New York, 8 March 2013. Words: Jason Lipshutz.
