TITLE: Depeche Mode Hurried Fashion
 SOURCE: Score and Roar (UK 6/81)
DESCRIPTION: Fascinating early interview with Vince Clarke and Dave Gahan at the time of the release of 'New Life' (and while several of the band members were still holding down day jobs). Topics include: the 'Some Bizarre' record; the 'futurist' tag; meeting and working with Daniel Miller; signing to an independant label; working in the recording studio; developing the Depeche Mode 'sound'; the diverse musical tastes among the band members; and, surprisingly, the appeal of the group among the 'Oi' crowd (!) Interesting, too, to read Dave's disparaging opinion of the music paper Sounds - an early champion of both the Futurist scene and Depeche Mode.

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Dave Gahan and Vince Clark of Depeche Mode, interviewed by Malcom and Jonathan at Basildon Arts Centre, June 6th, 1981.

(Vince arrived late and missed the first half of the interview, but as we later asked him some questions we'd put to David we were able to edit his answers in, where appropiate.)

Depeche Mode come from Basildon in Essex and play electronic music of the more accessible kind. Their first single, 'Dreaming of Me' did well in the National and the Independent Charts, besides achieving a crossover success in the Disco ratings. Their latest offering, 'New Life', looks set to make an even bigger impression, having come straight in at number 7 in the Independent Charts; a position which must make their mentor, Daniel Miller, a very happy man.

The first two singles were recorded with Daniel at Mute but their first offering on vinyl was actually a track for Stevo's 'Some Bizarre' album. The band also went out to do the tour, which, in David's words, "Never happened." We asked David how that track for Stevo came about:

"That was just before we had any deal at all, and we just wanted to get a record out. Stevo offered us a track on the album - this was before the word futurist was mentioned. He said, 'It'll be great for you, you'll have all the companies after you.' So we thought we might as well do it. In that sense it was good - it promoted us a bit before our first single was released, but it was bad because of the futurist tag which was given to us."

The word 'futurist' has been a misleading and overworked label; its application to the music of Depeche Mode may yet prove a threat to the band when the music press, who've manipulated the futurist scene from the beginning, decide it's time for the inevitable backlash.

David: "I think at first that it was very much a threat to us. Doing the track on the 'Some Bizarre' album was a mistake. But the futurist thing has died down a bit in London now; although they're just catching on to it in France. It's a very stupid scene, actually. We don't feel anything about it - it's a thing that isn't there anyway; there's no such thing as a Futurist scene, it's was just a name that was used in Sounds."

Vince: "It's was a bit of a threat at first, but I don't think the music press can manipulate... They can't tell the whole world that you've gone out of fashion."

Jon: "I think that's the whole reason they do it, because it annoys them that they can't change things. Do you think there will be a backlash though?"

David: "Maybe it's already happened to us with Sounds. They haven't reviewed our single and we sent them 5 or 6 copies. A month ago we were the greatest thing to happen and Betty Page was ecstatic about us - and then it's just finished. It's a silly paper, I think. It's like a comic. The Melody Maker was late picking up on us, and the N.M.E., which I think is more important than Sounds anyway."

Jon: "Do you mind that your records are being bought by 11 and 12 year old girls? I've got a sister and she's just bought your single along with the Adam and the Ants record..."

David: "I don't mind really, as long as they enjoy it. I think if a tune is melodic and poppy enough they buy it... I think Adam and the Ants are really poppy - he writes pop songs and I'm really pleased for him that he's got into the charts and done what he's done. I don't think it's bad that little kids are buying - my little brother bought our record; not just because he's my brother..."

Jon: "You don't mind that probably in six months time they'll forget?"

David: "I don't know - I mean, people of 30 and upwards are buying it as well, it's not just people who've jumped onto the futurist thing. That's what we were worried about, that just because we played electronic music a certain kind of person bought it, and as soon as that scene faded out the record wouldn't sell - but it's proved that it won't go that way by the airplay that we've had on it - it's getting played quite a lot."

Being on Mute, too, will help to give the band a certain credibility - not that their music lacks sincerity - but Daniel certainly isn't known for signing bands simply because they conform to the current fashion, which seems to be the policy of some of the major labels.

David: "Yeh, I don't think that being on a major would have helped us in any way. At first, all we wanted was to get a record out, and then we had time to think; we had time to pick and choose between about five different majors and Daniel, and we decided to go for Daniel. I mean they offered us money and things like that, but they were just jumping on the scene because it was the in-thing at the moment, and then once that scene dies away, then you'll die anyway, and they'll just forget about you and put you on the shelf with all the other bands that are wasted. But with Daniel we've got such a good relationship that I don't think he'd be likely to do that to us."

Apparently Daniel Miller had the chance to sign Depeche Mode to Mute at quite an early stage in their career, but he didn't seem very enthusiastic when he first met them...

David: "We had a few tracks that we'd done in a studio to take around to the clubs and a few companies we'd heard about, and when we took it to Rough Trade they weren't interested but they thought Mute might be. Daniel just happened to walk in at that moment and Scott from Rough Trade said 'What do you think of this then, Daniel?' He was in a real mood that day - something about Rough Trade had really got up his nose - and he just walked out and didn't say anything. So we just though Oh God! Anyway, a month later we supported Fad Gadget at the Bridge House and Daniel approached us then. We were a bit... I thought, 'Get out of it, we don't want anything to do with you', but he asked for our number and then he phoned us and asked when we were doing another gig. He came along to that and we had a good long talk and decided to do a single.

Malcolm: "Did Rough Trade say they didn't like the single?"

David: "Well, they liked it, they just said it wasn't Rough Trade. It was too soft for Rough Trade really - which is fair enough.

Malcolm: "Did Daniel help you much with your first single, 'Dreaming of Me'?"

David: "Yes, he didn't play any synthesizers or anything, but he played a large part in producing it. He was explaining what this was for and what that was for - we hadn't been in a studio before, except to do the demo tapes - and he helped us to produce it to the best of our ability."

Working at Mute, Depeche Mode have the use of Daniel's equipment - and the studio they use has good facilities for electronic music. The band have gradually built up a good working knowledge of synthesizers, and they own a Moog (monophonic), a Yamaha, and a Roland...

Jon: "With all that equipment, is it very easy to be seduced into just making noises?"

David: "Yeh, it's quite hard to find running melodies with the right sort of sound. It's come from a synthesizer, and you musn't be too morbid. You get so many morbid sounds from synthesizers - we try and do the opposite with them, really."

Jon: "Do you spend a lot of time just mucking around with the sound?"

David: "Yes... We spend hours. Vince writes the songs, and Martin does a couple..."

Jon: "Do you do them straight from the synthesizer - I mean, you don't write them on the guitar?"

David: "Vince writes them on guitar - he'll put a few sounds down on tapes, and then we'll go and practice and get it together like that."

Malcolm: "Will you use the guitar on record at all?"

Vince: "I don't think so. I'm not particularly good at playing it anyway."

Malcolm: "Some of the electronic bands get quite an interesting sound from the guitar."

Vince: "Yeh, but our sound is very clear cut, that's why I like it - it's really clean. I'm not particularly interested in noise. Some of the stuff's o.k., but I like a clean sound. Adding monophonic synthesizers you can't cloud the sound - that's what makes our particular sound. The Psychedelic Furs have two guitars, both mostly playing rhythm; bass; saxophone and drums. It's a really heavy sound, a confused sound. Not the sort of sound we want to achieve."

Malcolm: "How pleased are you with the sound you're getting?"

David: "Well, the first single we weren't too hot about, but the second single we had more experience and we were happy with the sound on that."

Malcolm: "Do you set out to make an 'A' side people can dance to?"

David: "Yeh, it's very important to us that people can dance to our music and tap their feet and just enjoy it."

Malcolm: "Because there has been a sort of crossover, hasn't there, with electronic pop doing well it the disco charts..."

David: "Yeh, in the U.S. disco charts it went quite well...

Malcolm: "Do you find that restricts you, though, in terms of what you can do?"

David: "I think that's why we did the 'B' side in an alternative way. Even though the lyrics were still pop lyrics, and rhymed, the actual track was totally different..."

Vince: "Yeh, that was totally incredible, it was done at the time and nothing was planned."

David: "We put down this drum rhythm and just went on adding things. We used 16 tracks of different sounds, just mixing down and adding a bit more."

Malcolm: "So you're using the 'B' sides as more experimental sides?"

David: "Not so much with 'Ice Machine', because that was an old song which we used to do. We've got a 12" of 'New Life' coming out and the 'B' side of that is about 9 minutes long - just what we did in the studio. We found that working that way was much easier than recording a song that you already do live and trying to put it down..."

Jon: "How long did it take to record?"

David: "New Life took about 4 days - like 12 hour sessions - and the 'B' side we did in 2 days."

Jon: "You don't ever get bored with it and feel like leaving? It's very claustrophobic in the studio..."

David: "Yes, sometimes. It's a really big studio, really spacious, but when we're in the mixing room it gets really tight; so we can go out, into another room, and chat for an hour or so about nothing to do with music and then come in and listen to the track again, and if there's something wrong we can get down and work on it again."

Now that 'New life' is out, and doing well, Depeche Mode are due to go back into the studio to put down some more tracks, possibly for an album. Musical tastes are quite wide - David listens to Soul music, as well as the likes of Cabaret Voltaire & DAF; and Vince likes Disco music, amongst other things. There will probably be a couple of 'funky' songs included in the new session. The range of their musical interests is absorbed quite well in their own songs, and partly, I think, explains their wide appeal - so they have won fans from the 'harder edge' of electronic music and also, suprisingly enough, from the 'Oi' crowd at the Bridge House.

David: "Terry, at the Bridge House, gave us our first London gig - our first support gig; and then he gave us a residency. We only pulled in about 20 people, but he still supported us even though he lost money - and now we pack it out."

Jon: "What's the reaction to the 'Oi' crowd?"

David: "Oh, they enjoy it. The skinheads will dance to anything. We've been back so many times that I think they've given us credit for it. Other bands, like us, play there and get booed off."

The fashion image - the 'dressing up' side of Depeche Mode must have been particularly at odds with the 'Oi' audience' skinhead fashion being a thing apart. It's also strange that Depeche Mode, who dislike being connected with the futurist scene, associate themselves with all the trappings of that scene through the way they dress on stage. David, an ex-Fashion student, is perhaps the best qualified to talk about this aspect of the band...

"I don't think it plays a great part in the music that we do - it is important to us, to dress up and look good on stage, but it's not as important as it is for Spandau Ballet or a band like that."

Malcolm: "I haven't seen you live on stage - are you a pretty static band in performance?"

David: "We used to be nervous, but now we dance with the crowd. We've had a few stage invasions, a lot of people dancing on stage with us. Touch wood, we've never really had a bad gig."

The next few months should be important ones for Depeche Mode - after finishing his College course David went back to do extra studies but he is now devoting all his time to the group; and Andy is probably giving up his office job - so, in David's words, "We'll be professionals!"

Hopefully, with the band's own aspirations closely linked with Mute know-how and Daniel's obvious enthusiasm, they will avoid any DAF-like splits. One of Mute's stumbling blocks with DAF was promotion. David doesn't see this as a problem as far as Depeche Mode are concerned: "We've hired in a company called Bullet, who are handling posters - and Daniel handles the London end."

Even so, the band like to keep total control over their product - although they aren't particularly interested in developing a sort of 'House Style' that is recognisably theirs, neither do they want to consider putting stuff out on foreign labels, like Cabaret Voltaire did with 'Creepyscule' (as Sue Mailorder calls it) and Joy Division and Throbbing Gristle did with Sordide Sentimentale.

Vince: "Yeh, if they wanted something. That's what the Silicon Teens did with 'Red River Rock'. It wasn't released over here, but they put it out in France and it was quite a success."

Success - will this only truly come to Depeche Mode when they have played TOTP? We put this very tongue-in-cheeck question to David and the boys:

"Oh yeh - I'd like to be introduced by DLT - 'This great band, I've been watching them for some time - I didn't play their first single, but I played this one'." (Laughter.)