Continued from page 26
but we do normally write about these sub-
jects, but we usually use sex and religion to
get the point across. It’s just that Spirit is
very direct, although we had one album,
Construction Time Again, which was this
direct, as well.”
Fletcher also secretly enjoys all of the
intrinsic irony involved. Whereas Depeche
Mode began as a percolating danceable
outfit, it gradually streamlined itself into a
sleek, undulating serpent of a synth-rock
machine that purred like a long, black
hearse leading a funeral procession, aided
immensely by Gahan’s ebony-garbed,
drone-voiced stage persona. Gore-sculpted
songs like “Strangelove,” “Personal Jesus,”
“Behind the Wheel,” and “Shake the
Disease” straddled the aesthetic line
between Goth, New Wave, and industrial,
and the band’s diverse audience grew
accordingly. And – no matter how grim the
trio gets – Fletcher says, “there’s always a
lot of people clapping their hands and
singing along. And in fact, we got the best
reviews we’ve ever had in our career for
“You Move,” “Cover Me,” “Poison Heart,”
and “No More (This Is the Last Time).”
“And I used my usual range of analog
synths, guitars, and everything came
together really fast – we mixed the record
on our third session,” Fletcher says, citing
Ford’s studio assistance as crucial. But I
think technology makes your job harder,
not easier, because it gives you hundreds
more options. And now there’s this situa-
tion with all the superstar DJs,” adds the
musician, who still books old-school DJ
gigs himself. “In the old days, a promoter
would have gotten some young bands to
play, but now it’s some superstar DJ who
just uses his laptop. And the fact is, it’s
replacing bands now – it’s a very
unhealthy situation, and for young bands
at the moment, it’s just terrible now.
Record sales are embarrassingly low,
you’re not given any tour support from
record companies, so the income available
is almost nonexistent. That’s why we no
longer get hundreds of great rock bands
around the place.”
Depeche Mode circa 1990
Spirit, and Depeche Mode generally does-
n’t get good reviews. The way our music is
made, you need to listen to it a lot of times
– you can’t just listen to it twice and then
do a review of it. I remember our album
Violator – which is a 10 out of 10 record in
anyone’s book – just getting average
reviews when it came out.
“But we put on good shows, we make
good records,” he continues, “And for
some weird reason, we’re in our 50s but we
seem to be more popular than we ever
were. So we’re in a very lucky position –
we’ve got loads of our old fans, and they
still buy CDs. And then we’re picking up
young fans, as well. I mean, we can’t do
anything wrong! This American tour sold
out faster than our last two tours, and I
can’t work out why – I mean, it’s a similar
tour, but it’s just gone through the roof.
And we’re not a high-profile band – we’re
not on the magazines or in newspapers. I
just can’t work it out.” And Depeche Mode
is one of the few bands from the post-punk
era that’s not currently out on an adver-
tised retro tour, playing some vintage cor-
nerstone from its decades-old past, note for
note. The group is as relevant – and
thought-provoking – as ever these days.
And the three musicians still work well
together as a collective. Gahan – who also
put out the occasional solo effort – co-
wrote four less-political tracks on Spirit,
44 illinoisentertainer.com august 2017
Gore has yet to see Mike Judge’s hilari-
ous satire Idiocracy, in which Luke Wilson –
playing a man of average intelligence from
our era – is accidentally frozen in cryo-
genic slumber for 500 years, during which
so many stupid people keep mindlessly
breeding that, when he’s awakened in the
Great Landfill Collapse – he’s the smartest
man in the world. The director’s vision for
the future is as grimly dystopian as Gore’s
on Spirit, save the public execution “Worst
Crime” part. But he has one thing to thank
for the album’s relevance, which increases
every scandal-beset day. “The American
electoral process is so long, the beginning
of it had only just started when I began
writing this record,” he says. “And it just
takes soooo long over here, doesn’t it? It
gets so long and dragged out that every-
one’s just completely bored with it by the
end.” It gave the dirges time to grow, take
on even creepier, bigger metaphorical
meaning. Or, as Fletcher succinctly puts it,
“it’s not like every one of our albums is like
this. But I think it’s good that a band like
Depeche Mode does a record like Spirit.
And people can’t say that we’re jumping
on a bandwagon, because, Hey – the songs
were written two years ago!”
Appearing 8/30 at Hollywood Casino
Amphitheater, Tinley Park.