White City

by Tijana Radovanović

The seven-month Tour of the Universe which started on 10 May (the U.S. leg starts 28 July) coincides with the new Depeche Mode album Sounds of the Universe, named by the band’s frontman Dave Gahan, whose promotional name is “Tea and Biscuits.” The European leg will see Depeche Mode perform in 28 cities, in 21 countries.

“The mainstream pop kids tend to jump from one thing to another, from one artist to another,” said Daniel Miller. “Then they get married and they give up. They might buy two albums a year. I think Depeche’ fans are very different than that. There are those in their 40’s who’ve grown up with the band – but there are a lot of people who have joined along the way and have become very loyal.”

One of the latest album’s strengths is that despite sounding fresh and relevant, it still exhibits a lot of the classic melodic elements of the Depeche Mode sound.

FASHION DISPATCH

It is not easy to write about music because what takes pages of description becomes obvious after just a minute of listening. Before starting to enjoy the silence, take advantage of the band’s “big buzz” and their ability to unleash musical fury to Europe after six weeks of transatlantic rehearsals. “You can expect a lot of songs that I hope you have grown to love as much as we have and some new songs as well, hopefully from the new album,” said Gahan.

Depeche Mode is named after the magazine and that name roughly translates from the French as ‘fashion news’ or ‘fashion message.’ Although touring in the middle of a global recession, the members of the British synth-pop band hope to bring the message of faith and devotion. The main tracks of ‘Universe are “Peace” and “Little Soul,” both of which concern liberation, light and freedom. “I wrote them back to back, and the flow of the album started to make more sense. I really felt they had spirituality to them. That somehow set a cornerstone for the rest of the writing.”

THREE HAPPY BUNNIES

“When we first started out, we were just young kids, really, who had put a band together. Suddenly we were rushed into the spotlight. If there was a photo session and the photographer said, ‘Put on these stupid outfits,’ we said, ‘Okay,’ we just went along,” says the band’s guitarist Martin Gore.

Being the driving forces behind the rise and continued vitality of the synth-pop movement, Gore and keyboardist Vince Clarke, would not be much fire in the synthetic vibes of Depeche Mode without the hollow baritone of the vocalist and lead singer David Gahan. Synth pop wasn’t intended to have a soul. By singing Gore’s lyrics in a slightly grimmer tone, it turned Gahan into a major influence on future industrial, gothic rock, and synth pop acts. Even though the group achieved artistic and commercial breakthrough it was still considered very much an underground cult phenomenon prior to the release of 1990’s Violator, a Top Ten smash that gave birth to hits such as “Enjoy the Silence,” “Policy of Truth,” and “Personal Jesus.” The dramatic shift in image astonished many of Depeche Mode’s devoted fans who became increasingly concerned that Depeche Mode was turning into a mainstream rock group. Not only did Gahan adopt a grunge look, but he also became seduced by the drug of choice among rock musicians in the early ‘90’s; heroin. Finally, he kicked his heroin addiction at rehab after a failed suicide attempt. In 1997, a revitalized Gahan recorded Ultra with Depeche Mode, followed by Exciter in 2001. Both Gahan and Gore released solo albums in 2003. They then reunited Depeche Mode to record the new studio album, Playing the Angel.

SOUNDS OF THE UNIVERSE

Call it a rock-style recession, the growing trend of the electro sound. Recorded very democratically in New York (home to Gahan) and Santa Barbara, California (Gore), Sounds of the Universe marks the first time the band has had too much material for an album, and that artistic abundance shines through the set. Retaining Ben Hiller as producer has meant some continuity in sound – Depeche Mode’s arrangements these days tend to be fairly well layered with analogue synths and soft-synths going off simultaneously, with a greater emphasis on keyboard performance than was the case on 2001’s rather minimalist Exciter. Despite a new disturbing video for “Wrong” that involves victims of violent crime, some fans may find that the band is brightening up a bit on the new album, as Gore tells it. The lead single “Wrong” is superb, catchy, and blares out of the speakers like a good Depeche Mode single should. Its refrain makes for the most eye-opening Mode song since “Personal Jesus.” Other standouts include “Fragile Tension” and ‘Corrupt,” and the Gahan-penned tracks “Hole to Feed” and “Come Back.”

After close to 30 years of having fun at their own expense, Depeche Mode still succeeds in exhibiting subtle black humor where love and hate, hope and despair, dominant and inferior paradoxically make a good mixture drawing a multitude of hard-core fans worldwide. For Daniel Miller, Executive Chairman of Mute Records, the consistency of the band’s artistic production is a big factor in its continued popularity.

Together, Gahan, Gore and bassist/collaborator Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher have almost broken up, almost died and almost been declared obsolete. Along the way, they’ve sold more than 100 million records.  And they remain one of the world’s biggest live acts, reaching 2.8 million people in 31 countries on their last tour alone.

“Well, let’s put it this way, Dave is a happy bunny, Martin is a happy bunny and I am a happy bunny. That makes three happy bunnies (laughs). We don’t argue that much and get along very well.” Andy Fletcher concludes.