From livewire Essex soul boys to globally adored electro rock ‘n’ rollers Depeche Mode have come a long way baby. We catch up with Dave Gahan, Andrew Fletcher and Martin Gore to talk about the release of their latest album ‘Playing The Angel’.
Were you looking forward to making the new album or were you feeling skeptical about going back into the studio?
AF: You know you've been thrown out of your lovely individual lives, over a two-year period, where you work hard and there's a lot ahead of you and a big challenge and obviously there's the fear of, "Can we still do this? Can we create something that's exciting, interesting and new? Can we still go on tour for a year?" But actually it's been very enjoyable, the making of the album, perhaps one of the most enjoyable since ‘Violator’.
Would you say there are any broad lyrical themes running throughout the album?
MG: A lot of our songs do deal with subjects that are not exactly typical pop themes and there is the joke that we're going to put on the back of the record, in small writing, "Pain and suffering in various tempos", which made us laugh for a while and it's still making us smile. We think it's worth putting on the record. I've never seen our music as being over-dark. I think that there is always an element of hope in our music and I've always said that.
Where did the album title 'Playing The Angel' come from?
MG: There are about four songs on the album that reference an angel or angels and ‘Playing the Angel’ is part of a lyric from one of the songs called ‘The Darkest Star’, so it seemed to make some kind of reference to this angel theme that was going on.
DG: It's just a play on words that sounded good and like Mart said, it's part of a line from a song. We've done that often in the past as well, where we've been looking for an album title. Sometimes you just look through all the lyrics and stuff and something pops out and you just kind of like the way it sounds.
Would you describe 'Playing The Angel' as a more experimental Depeche Mode album?
DG: Yeah. It's different and when we first sat down together I think we had to challenge ourselves and really the key to that was Ben [Hillier – The producer], because he came to the table not really even being a fan of our music. He knew a few songs and we had to actually get him the whole catalogue of music for him to listen to ...but he really had an idea of how he wanted to approach this and he was aggressive with that. I think we needed that.
When you finish an album, are you normally pleased with the end result?
MG: I think we've always liked the music that we make, but we're always burnt at the end of a record, so it's always difficult to tell how good it is and whether you really like it or not. It usually takes a few months of being away from it before you can go back to it and listen to it and I'm sure this time it's the same. I mean, I say that we're happy with it, but I'm sure really we have no focus on it whatsoever at this point because we've heard the songs so many times.
Do you feel like you're heading towards making the perfect Depeche Mode album?
MG: I don't know. I really can't tell. I think everybody always thinks that when we put an album out it's going to be our last album and our last tour. I keep getting fans that I bump into saying, "I'm sure this is going to be your last tour and you've never played this song or you've never played that song. Can you play it on this tour, it being your last one" and I don't know if they know something that I don't, but I don't know what makes them think that this will be the last record and tour, but maybe they're right. We've been saying the same thing since 1986, but it's never been a certainty and you know we keep somehow managing to carry on.
Were you surprised when Depeche Mode were cited as a major influence on dance culture and the Detroit techno scene of the late 80's?
AF: It was just very, very strange, because obviously I think we were seen by people as being the whitest of white groups from Basildon and it turns out we were influencing lots of different types of people.
Where do you think Depeche Mode fit in musically in 2005?
DG: We don't fit in and we never have and I've come to really embrace that. There is no one like Depeche Mode, you know, the way we work, the way we do things. It's kind of a unique experience and you have to enjoy it and sort of throw yourself into it because it is really different and that's one of I think the real strengths of Depeche Mode.
'Playing The Angel' is out now.