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DAVID GAHAN
THE WILD BOY
Depeche Mode are part underground cult, part pop stars.
Despite their success they are still on Mute, a small independent label, and they refuse to
compromise with the music business. The four individuals have stayed out of the glare of sensational publicity that is normally focused on pop stars.
But in our exclusive series they talk frankly about the forces that have shaped their lives and
music. And they reveal a side of Depeche Mode that is often very different from their clean-living
public image...
"I was born in Chigwell but my parents divorced when I was very young so mum moved the family - my sister Sue and brothers Peter and Philip - to Basildon.
She remarried and I always assumed my step-father was my real dad. He died when I was seven.
Then I came home on one day and found this bloke at home who turned out to be my father. I was very upset and we all had a huge argument because I thought I should have been told. Later I realized what a hard time mum had bringing us up.
I didn't help by getting into a lot of trouble. I wasn't good at school (Bastaple). I couldn't do with being pushed around.
You got categorized into grades so I resented the clever kids, started bunking off, got into bother with the law. I was suspended and ended up in juvenile court three times for things like nicking motors, setting them alight and spraying walls.
I left at sixteen, soon as possible. My qualifications in art and technical drawing didn't seem much use.

THE OUTCAST
My best friend was called Mark. We did everything together - got into trouble together, pulled girls together, shared girlfriends.
I went through loads of jobs. In eight months I had twenty occupations from Yardley's perfume
factory to labouring Salisbury's soft drink man. I was bringing home good money, giving mum some, going down the pub,pulling, being general wide boy. Finally, I realized I had no career so I went for a job as apprentice fitter with North Thames Gas. My probation officer told me to be honest at the interview, say I had a criminal record but
I was a reformed character blah blah. Course I didn't get the job because of that. It cost me a lot of confidence, having been trough so many IQ tests and been shortlisted. I went back and trashed the probation office.
I was pretty wild. I loved the excitement of nicking a motor, screeching off and being chased by
the police. Hiding behind a wall with your heart beating gives you a real kick - will they get you?
Eventually I got to Southend Art College. I liked art at school. The teacher was a nice geezer who let us smoke. After three years I got the British Display Society Award which meant I could get a job doing display in a big store.
That was around the punk period, 1977. Good times. I enjoyed college, I was designing clothes for mates, going off to see Gen X and the Damned. I had original sex shop gear. We used to stick labels on the outside and come down to the gritty London clubs like Studio 21. People like John Lydon (The Sex Pistols) and George O'Dowd (Culture Club) used to come to
Southend. George came to model and nick stuff. He got into trouble for that. They were flamboyant people, like Steven Linnard (now a successful fashion designer), a big change after my rough and ready Basildon mates. Rowdy but artistic.
A gang of us hung out together all living for the weekend, saving up for a bag of blues (pills), going without dinner all week. We'd go to London all night, end up at some party then catch the milk train from Liverpool Street to Billericay. It was bloody long walk home! I got bored with that, but for a while it was exciting. I had a double life, mixing with the art school mob then going home to Bas. I'd go to the pub wearing make-up, but cos I knew the local beer boys, the spanners, I was OK.

ASSEMBLING DEPECHE MODE
Vince Clarke I met one day outside a pub in the city centre. He looked up to me because he was
a bit scared of the skins. His friends stayed at home. Vince had a band, French Look, with Martin, Robert Marlow and RobertMarlow who mixed sound for. Then Vince started Composition of Sound with Andy and Martin. The two groups fell out
because both wanted Martin. Typically, he couldn't make up his mind, being nice to everyone.
One day Vince asked me if I wanted to sing at a rehearsal. I was quite shy but it was something to do. That was the beginning of Depeche Mode. We got a residency at Crocs in Rayleigh as resident electronic band, people came from London
to see us. (Culture Club also built up an early Crocs following.) Rusty Egan (club socialite then
Visage drummer) was one. He introduced us to Stevo (Some Bizarre mentor) who was just a general nutter on the scene.
The group met Daniel Miller (of Mute Records) shortly after our first Venue gig (New Romantic package night). He put out our first single just after the Some Bizarre track. Lots of companies were waving cheque books and promising the earth but only Daniel was honest. He offered us points (a share in the profits). We split everything fifty/fifty. Even now we have no management deal and no contract. We pay our own salaries and don't have aggressive marketing.

SELF CONTROL
Keeping control is important to us and Mute. We've kept our grass roots following. The fans are so hard core that singles tend to chart quickly without hyping so we spend our money on decent stage shows and recording.
I'm not interested in image making. Depeche Mode has never idealized group pictures on records. We prefer visuals and imagery. Four blokes standing against a wall wearing nice suits doesn't excite me. A look dates. We've matured at our own pace. When we did `Speak and Spell' we were very young and naive. We got slaggered off for being teeny bopper because we didn't care what was hip. Even we knew we didn't have much to say, and the fans still stood by us. We owe them a lot
because they never were influenced by the knockers, or by Vince leaving. As for the group, our working class background keeps us fairly level headed despite the stupid amounts of money to be made.
For now the group is still going up so I'm very happy about the future. Depeche Mode is a group which has good ideas rather than being a great bunch of musicians first. We learn all the time.
I've got other ambitions, like writing songs. I have tried - but Martin is so good at that it would be silly to offer the group something second rate. We've practically lived together for five years, so you know immediately when someone doesn't like what you're doing.
I'll concentrate on the singing. I think I'm pretty good at that."

MARTIN GORE
THE DECADENT BOY
In the second part of our exclusive Depeche Mode series Martin Gore talks about his steady progression from milkmaid to bank clerk to popstar in leather mini skirt.
"I'm 23 I think. I was born in London but raised as a kid in Dagenham where Dad was a
Ford's worker and Mum was a telephonist at the car factory. I've got two teenage sisters. I led a normal childhood. family life was stable, nothing too traumatic occurred.
I remember I was a very good boy until the age of five when I went through a phase of
beating up other children. One day my mother caught me putting a brick over another child's head. My father was furious. He told me never ever to hit anyone else again. I'm glad I got such a talking to, it made me very passive and harmless. I went to a general comprehensive - Nicholas, in Basildon - where I played cricket for the school team.
My interest in Germany started when I went on school exchange trips to SchleswigHolstein.
I found German a boring subject but I enjoyed staying on a farm. Country life is all right in
small doses. I liked milking the cows.

POP APPEAL
Interest in pop music stemmed from a couple of things. Firstly, I was heavily into the teen mag Disco 45. I had hundreds of them and used to read all the song words. I can still remember all those lyric though I haven't got a good memory for anything else.
About that time, 13, I had a crush on `Donna' by 10cc. A friend taught me a few guitar chords and we started to write songs. Obviously, looking back they were awful but I was proud of them then. I didn't have many pop heroes but I nearly joined Gar Glitter's fan club. The glamour of earl 70s pop appealed. Although I refrained from becoming a member I did hunt high and low
for his version of `Baby Please Don't Go' - it's terrible but it made me want to be a pop star. I did all that posing in front of the mirror bit. After that I went through a big Bryan Ferry phase, had all his solo albums and pictures of him in his tuxedo plastered over my wall. My only pop hero today is Jonathan Richman because he has such a warm rapport with an audience. I did suffer from a suburban outlook. I didn't go to a gig until I was 17! I'd hardly even been to London which was half an hour away from Basildon by train.

A CLERICAL CAREER
I got French and German A-levels (failed math) and then had to make a decision about the future, which shocked me greatly.
I didn't have the necessary motivation to do much, like going to university. I didn't want to leave school. I felt secure there.
If all this fell through I could see myself studying. I certainly wouldn't go back to bank work. Aah, the bank. My first job. I worked at the NatWest clearing house in the City for a year and a half on grade one. It was mindcrushingly dull but my lack of imagination and confidence meant I couldn't see an alternative. Languages were what I wanted to work with but translation jobs were hard to find.

COMPOSITION OF SOUND
I was still writing songs and saved up enough money to buy a Yamaha 5 synthesizer. It cost o200. Me, Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke started mucking about together. Vince was a local kid who lived minutes away, Andy I knew from going along to Boys Brigade and church. I went strictly as an observer. Maybe he thought he could convert me. Robert Marlow mixed sound for us. . . we were called Composition of Sound. The name Depeche Mode came from David much later. He was doing fashion design and window display and used the magazine Depeche Mode as reference. It means hurried fashion or fashion dispatch. I like the sound of that. The further we got into the pop world the more I changed. It was like a Before and After advert. Before, I was quiet, introverted, conscientious. I was a long-haired hippy like everyone else. Afterwards I realized I could do something other people might like.

BLACK LEATHER
I bought my first leather jacket when I was 18. I've developed a love for black leather which is hypocritical, like Alan, I'm a vegetarian - for moral and health reasons. Black leather is striking and simple. It's only for the image but I'd also like a motorbike. Couldn't pull it off though. Maybe this leather fetish springs from seeing an old Marlon Brando movie, called The
Fugitive Kind, where he wore a snakeskin outfit that was pretty cool. Cars I hate, they're immoral.

KINKY HABITS
When people ask me what my interests are today I can't think of much. I was never into politics - a dubious profession - too much power, not enough principle. People imagine I've got kinky habits but my worst vice is video games. Well, I have got a few others but you'd be far too interested in them. I have a very loud laugh when I get going. Humour is important to me, it's in a lot what the group does. But not conventional humour: that bores me. Situation comedy leaves me cold. An average day for me might start by getting up at midday and composing on my guitar, sampling sounds until eight.
I'm not a great musician. None of us is except Alan. My interest is in melody lines and lyrics. I collect records. I like stuff on the At Atak label and mainstream alternatives like Joy Division and The Ramones. Of the New Romantics I admired what Boy George did. Sexual barriers are silly. My girlfriend and I swap clothes, make-up, anything. So what? It's a shock though to read in a magazine like Bravo that I walk around dressed as a woman. They'll invent anything. As well as George I've liked Soft Cell and Marc And The Mambas. Metal music people like Neubauten have good ideas, some of which we may nick, but Ican'tlisten to them. Kraftwerk yes, they have instant melody. Sixties pop is good, The Beach Boys, even doo-wop. Simple harmony vocal stuff.

BACK IN BERLIN
Depeche used the futurist tag to break into pop mainstream. It fitted us, all that suburban self- expression. Now we do what we do without desperate media measures. We've kept out of the national press since 1981 so I don't think we can achieve Duran-type success. It's so easy to become massive in the UK and then to disappear. On the other hand we didn't promote ourselves in Europe much and we're very popular. I moved to Berlin because the 24-hour aspects of city life suit me. I'm happy to stay out all night. Is that decadent? I haven't been able to spend much time in my Berlin flat yet but it's close enough so that I can be back in Basildon in two hours. One thing that does annoy me. My mum threw out all my Disco 45s a few years ago. I've never
forgiven her for that." Picture: "Martin wonders how he manages to keep that face sponge balanced on his forehead."

ANDY FLETCHER
THE BRIGADE BOY
Whatever you imagined about Depeche Mode, the truth is stranger - and a lot more interesting. After David Gahan's tales of teenage rampage, and Martin Gore's perverse paradoxes, we come to Andy. . .
A founder member of Depeche, his quiet stage presence hides an even quieter nature: a contrast to the forthright Gahan and Gore. But perhaps it's unique combination of characters that gives the Mode its strength and unity. . .
"My parents were among the first to move to Basildon when it was still a very new town in the early 60s. Basildon is part of the South East urban sprawl which stretches to Southend. It's been very badly designed. There are 200,000 people living there and only one cinema. There's nothing for young people to do despite the fact that Basildon has a huge population of under 25-year- olds.
It also has terrible unemployment. My parents moved from Nottingham, where I was born, so dad could work at ? cigarette factory. He got laid off. I became involved in the church by accident when I was eight. Dad suggested I join the Boys Brigade so I could play football. I stayed in BB until I was 18. We had an active social life which revolved around the church seven days a week. My parents aren't religious, but I was. On Saturdays there was a BB coffee bar where I'd try to preach to the yobs. I'm no longer a practicing Christian but it remains in the blood. I still feel guilty about not
going to church. It wasn't all prayers and religion, which is very unfashionable topic these days. There were also Christian pop festivals. U2 played at one a few years ago. They've got a massive Christian following. Me and Vince Clarke were into the preaching side - trying to convert non-believers. Vince was number three in the local hierarchy, although he's a total atheist now.
Of course we got stick for our beliefs. The most embarrassing thing was attending parades in Bas wearing full BB uniform. That period shaped my moral beliefs and attitudes. I went to Nicholas Comprehensive and was in the same sixth form class as Martin Gore and Alison Moyet. I took politics A-level and wanted to go to university. Vince and I had a group when we were 16 called No Romance In China which tried to be like The Cure. We were into their `Imaginary Boys' LP. Vince used to attempt to sing like Robert Smith. At that time we were going to a club called Van Gogh where Martin was playing in a guitar duo called Norman And The Worms. Alison's group The Vandals were also regulars. It was a good scene. Martin, Vince and I teamed together and started rehearsing in Woodlands Youth Club. The earliest songs like `Photographic' were written then. Martin bought a synthesizer and we played a gig at Woodlands in front of an audience of nine- year-olds. They loved the synths, which were a novelty then. The kids were onstage twiddling the knobs while we played. Depeche was completed when we nicked David. He knew the Southend social scene, which enabled us to get gigs playing in front of 300 people. Our image was New Romantic, post-Blitz kids with silly shirts. I had a job at the same time. I was working as an insurance clerk for Sun Life and being a regular commuter. It was well paid but it only qualified as an existence. People at work didn't take my group seriously until `Dreaming of Me' got into the charts followed by `New Life'. I was doing Top Of The Pops or playing in, say, Leeds, and then working the next day. It got very awkward. After having taken the mickey, my workmates were finally impressed when they saw our publicity photos and the posters I'd photo-copy in the office. When David got on the cover of Sounds they were convinced. We were raw but the songs were good. I heard an Italian bootleg of a very old Depeche concert
and it didn't sound bad at all. Martin had been writing good songs since he was 14 but I didn't really know him until I persuaded him to come to BB. I suppose I thought I'd convert him. He came for the singing and the atmosphere. The song `Blasphemous Rumours' stems from our experiences then. There was a prayer list of people who were sick in some way and you'd pray forthe person on top of that list until they died. When Martin first played me `Blasphemous Rumours' I was quite offended. I can see why people would dislike it. It certainly verges on the offensive.

LEARNING FROM HISTORY
My private life away from music is simple and ordinary. I live with my girlfriend and her mum on the outskirts of Basildon. If I go out I do things like playing snooker or football or hang out with two friends who are DJs. I go to see Chelsea when I can. I'm reading a lot at the moment, particularly books about Germany between the wars and the rise of the Third Reich, the life of Hitler and his rise to power. Albert Speer's biography is fascinating. I've always been most interested in political history. We can learn a lot from the rise of fascism. For instance, studying the Nazis teaches you that proportional representation is
extremely dangerous. Hitler came to power with a minority vote. My own political beliefs are very confused. I'm not totally socialist. I'm very patriotic, very pro-British. I know some people think that's wrong but I can't help it. don't believe we should give up our side of the nuclear deterrent. If we surrendered our nuclear weapons, Britain's stature would disappear. I'm a bit soldier at heart. The Labour Party is weak now, it still lacks leadership - but if I ever voted it would be for
Labour, even though some of my ideas are quite right-wing. I don't mind the Alliance. I'm a firm believer in the welfare state and the abolition of private schools so you can see it's difficult to describe me. If you'd asked me two years ago whether I wanted children I'd said definitely not, but the urge increases as you get older. I don't believe in marriage, I think it's a pointless institution. Having said that, I'd probably get married anyway for conventional reasons. I am quite conventional type. My home life was always very happy and stable. I got on fine with my parents and my two sisters and brother - all younger than me.
Mum still worries like mad about me when Depeche are on tour. Not because she thinks I'd be a bad boy - she knows I wouldn't - but just in case I didn't come home afterwards."

ALAN WILDER
THE BAND BOY
Alan Wilder is `the musician' in Depeche Mode. Ironically, that counted against him when he joined, as the others still wanted to prove they could get along without Vince Clarke. In the last of our interviews, Alan talks about his struggle to fit into the Mode, and the way the group balance pop stardom with anonymity. "Unlike the others who are from Basildon - or Bas as they call it - I'm from Acton, West London and was brought up in a fairly normal middle class environment. I went to St. Clement Dane's Grammar in Hammersmith, a good school but I wasn't interested in being a student. I got three O-levels in arty subjects. I liked music and languages and I was forced to have pianolessons and do grades. That has been useful because I suppose you could say I'm the musician in the band - even though musical training isn't the most important thing to Depeche Mode. It's just and added advantage. I've got two elder brothers who are both classically trained. One is and accompanist who works with singers; he's excellent. The other is teaching in Finland. I left school during the sixth form and went on the dole until my parents pushed me into writing off to recording studios, the only thing I'd expressed any interest in. After being turned down 40 times I got a job at DJM studios in New Oxford Street. I was a tea boy really, an over-worked gofer, but I did meet The Rubettes once. Wow! The only good thing about DJM was that when band finished studio sessions they'd often leave their instruments behind so I could muck about on a keyboard or bash some drums. It was an ambition to be a musician but not one I thought would come true until a band called The Dragons came in. We became friendly, I ended up joining them and moved to Bristol. That was a pre-punk, soft rock group, nothing special, but I did gigs and we made a single. I can't even remember what it was called. After two years in Bristol, life got too lethargic so I was glad when a friend dragged me home to join a band called Daphne And The Tenderspots. My god, this is raking up some history. That was a restaurant type group playing jazz blues until it was decided that New Wave was
happening. We had all these terrible clothes made and wore skinny ties. We were awful but again we had a deal and made a single, `Disco Hell'. I shouldn't be telling you this!

MAKING IT
After various other bands like The Hit Men, I was in my customary state - broke, bored and leafing through the classifieds in the Maker. I saw an ad which said "Known Band seeks synth player. Must be under 21". I applied for the audition but I had to lie because I was 22. I went to two auditions before landing the job. Most of the people they'd had were either no-
hopers or fans who'd learnt the hits off by heart, which they didn't want. Actually, I had mixed feelings about Depeche. I was aware of `Just Can't Get Enough' and `New Life', the two hits before Vince left, but I thought they were a bit wimpy -
understandable at the time. On the other hand they were charming and friendly and the music was simple. I could appreciate that. I did think it would be better if they had more bollocks but I was careful not to tell them that. I just said, `I think you're OK'. I was taken on in Depeche on a trial basis. They were quite shocked to have lost Vince so quickly, he was after all the main songwriter. My function was to do live work and TV appearances but not to be on any records for six months. This was in 1982. When the second LP came to be made, I'd done my final bit and thought I warranted involvement. I had something to contribute. Still they said no. The problem was that they had something to prove to themselves. The three of them didn't
want the press to say they'd just roped in a musician to make things easier after Vince left. I was pretty upset and there was ill feeling from me about that. It worked itself out.

NEW LIFE
Out lifestyle is so busy that it revolves almost totally around the group. I enjoy photography as a hobby and I've got a video camera I use on tour to document what we do. It's fun to see yourself in a different light. I don't feel like a pop star although I'm aware of certain pressures on the road. We are pop stars by definition, but god knows what that means. Studio work interests me more than live appearances, which are basically louder reproductions of records. We aren't an improvising band. David comes into his own with a crowd because he's learnt how to develop an act. He does it well, especially on a good night. He's also very tongue-in-cheek, he sends up the way a rock star is supposed to behave. In early days we just stood in a line and played.

TECHNOPOP
When I listen to Vince's songs I realize he based them on blues and classic heavy metal rifts. We do nick little bits from pop styles, from girl groups and surf music. It isn't as political as some people make out, nor are we solely interested in electronic music. I like German bands - DAF, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream - but I'm not keen on the Howard Jones approach where everything sounds very nice but too easy and familiar. With a Depeche Mode song the first thing we decide is atmosphere. After that we might add sampled sounds. They could be anything. Pebbles in a can or industrial noises using oil cans,
skips, concrete... All the technology we use is computer based but our interest is in what you can do with that, not how itworks. There's no reason to be scared of technology for musical sterility but that's rubbish. It comes down to ideas. We record in Hansa, West Berlin, because it's ideal for what we need. It's become more popular since we've been there. It used to be an empty four-story block of studios - now Killing Joke use it and David Sylvian. Everything is computerized, which is what we've come to rely on. There's a good working atmosphere in the city. Martin lives nearby in Heerstrasse. There's plenty to do in Berlin. When you finish working at 4.00 a.m. you never feel like going to bed and so you end up in a bar or a club. DNC is a favourite, there's a couple of good gay clubs, Corelles is all right, the Jungle... We don't get bothered when we go out in Berlin - or anywhere else particularly. We are still quite faceless band. I think that's fairly healthy."

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