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Depeche Mode is an enigma. Depeche Mode has been around for close to 2 decades. Depeche Mode currently consists: Dave Gahan (vocals), Martin Gore (guitars, vocals) and Andy Fletcher (keyboards).
Alan Wilder walked out of the band citing unfavourable working conditions. Latest news is that DM is planning a world tour for 1998. Depeche Mode's first in five years. The band did not tour to support "Ultra" to allow singer Dave Gahan to recover from drug addiction. I do hope that they head Singapore for their World Tour as the last one they held it at the Indoor Stadium was fantastic. They are also working on new material in the studio
The Early History of Depeche Mode:
Depeche Mode originally started as a trio of Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, and Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher under the name Composition of Sound.
Vince played lead guitar, Martin played keyboards, and Andrew played bass guitar.
They managed to book one gig at a nightclub which ended up a complete disaster.
Soon afterward, Vince and Fletch got keyboards of their own, and the band then began a search for a lead vocalist.
They set their sights on David Gahan after hearing him perform a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes".
Once the core of the band had been made, it was decided a name change would benefit the band since the name Composition of Sound wasn't very
popular with the band members any more.
It was decided (perhaps by Dave) that Depeche Mode would suit their needs.
Depeche Mode released their first track, a slightly different sounding version of "Photographic" on the independent Some Bizzare label.
However, it was Daniel Miller and his Mute label that would end up best suiting the band's interest.
The first Depeche Mode single, "Dreaming of Me" (and its b-side "Ice Machine") was released in early 1981 and peaked at 57 on the UK charts.
It was later followed with the release of "New Life", but it wasn't until "Just Can't Get Enough" was released that work would begin on their
first album, Speak & Spell.
It was after the recording of Speak & Spell with it yet to be released that Vince announced that he would leave the band due to his dissatisfaction
over the unexpected success of the band.
Vince agreed to tour the UK to support Speak & Spell, but once that came to an end, so did the Vince-era of Depeche Mode.
Of course, Vince once again found the success he had tried to escape from in his new bands Yaz(oo) [with Alison Moyet], The Assembly
[with Eric Radcliffe], and his most recent project, Erasure [with Andy Bell].
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| With their primary songwriter gone, Martin assumed that duty, having had some past experience writing songs in his youth as well as contributing "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Big Muff" to Speak & Spell. It was also at this time that the band placed an ad in the publication Melody Maker asking for a replacement keyboardist under the age of 21. It was Alan Wilder who answered this ad, even going so far as to lie about his age to get the job. Alan was recruited to help the band with live performances on its "See You" Tour. He took part in the re-recording of the live backing tapes to be used on the tour and supposedly was "delighted in the task." With the end of the tour, Alan was no longer required by the band, and Dave, Martin, and Fletch set out to record A Broken Frame on their own. It wasn't long after A Broken Frame was released that Mute Records issued a statement announcing that Alan was joining the band now as a full member. The first studio recording he made with Depeche Mode was the song "Get The Balance Right". With that he also co-wrote the instrumental b-side "The Great Outdoors" with Martin. It would be this line-up that would carry Depeche Mode into its prime years. And the rest, as they say, is history... | |
| What Certain Members of Depeche Mode do in Their Spare Time: Martin Gore released a solo album in 1989 entitled Counterfeit. This EP is a selection of covers that sound alot like his work with Depeche Mode. The original performers of the songs are as follows: "Compulsion"- John Crow | "In A Manner of Speaking"- Tuxedomoon | "Smile In A Crowd"- Durutti Column | "Gone"- Comsat Angels | "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" - Sparks |"Motherless Child" - [a traditional song] Besides Counterfeit, another solo effort by Martin was planned to be released back in the Fall of 1994, however no recent word has been made concering it. Martin also contributed the song "Coming Back to You" for the Tower of Song - A Tribute to Leonard Cohen album in 1995. It is available from A&M Records. Alan Wilder also has his own solo project titled Recoil. He has released one EP, titled 1+2, and two full-length albums, titled Hydrology and Bloodline, under this name. The album Hydrology and the EP 1+2 are primarily instrumental with 1+2 making use of the large collection of sounds available from Depeche Mode's sampling library. With Bloodline, Alan had Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, Moby, and Toni Halliday of the now-defunct Curve record vocals for a few of the tracks. Only one single, "Faith Healer", was released from this album. "Edge to Life" had been planned to be the second, but no remixes of the song were ever made and the single was scrapped. Alan has recorded a new Recoil album, which is scheduled to be released in September of 1997. Alan also did some outside production work with Nitzer Ebb on the song "Come Alive" (found on the As Is EP), and he shared co-production credit with Flood on their album Ebbhead. |