Dave’s contributions to Sounds Of The Universe were
written with his regular composing partners, Andrew Philpott and
Christian Eigner, Depeche Mode‘s live drummer. One of their
stand-out collaborations is ‘Come Back”, the dirtiest
and rowdiest rocker on the album. ‘I wanted to take it away
from being a straight ballad,” says Dave, ‘with a
feel beneath it that was kind of ‘My Bloody
Valentine’ or ‘Jesus and Mary Chain.’ A big
lush sound with this droning wall of noise underneath. Martin did
some fantastic backing vocals for that.’ Another of the
singer’s dirty confessionals, ‘Hole To Feed’
marries modern electronics to a floor-shaking, bone-rattling Bo
Diddley beat. The lyric, a blend of rock-star swagger and tender
yearning, is vintage Dave Gahan. ‘Lyrically, I’m just
being my usual cynical self,’ Dave laughs. ‘I’m
the man who has everything but I’m still just poking around
in that little hole that feels empty, wondering what I can fill
it with.’ The band set off on a mammoth global jaunt that
opened on May 10 with 28 stadium concerts across the Middle East
and Europe. Further legs of the tour will include the US and
throughout South America. ‘We played Mexico on the last
tour and it was amazingly successful,” Martin recalls.
‘We did two nights in Mexico City to 50,000 people each
night. Knowing how popular we are out there, we’re
expecting a similar reaction this time - we all felt we neglected
South America on the last tour, so we decided to put that
right.’
For a band with such a long and successful history, selecting the
set list for the tour is a major task. Around 230 possible
Depeche Mode classics need to be honed into a 20-song concert.
‘Every time we tour now the set list becomes a real
nightmare,” says Andy. ‘Because we’re a
democracy, it’s like the Eurovision Song Contest, voting
individually for each song. But it’s not such a bad problem
to have.’
Public response to the Tour of the Universe has been phenomenal,
with European stadium shows selling out immediately. ‘The
touring thing is where it all makes sense for me,” nods
Dave. ’Once the fans are there, there’s always that
feeling underneath Depeche Mode’s music of wanting to be
part of something, and there are a lot of people out there who
feel the same.’
‘We’ve been blessed over the years by our
audience,’ says Martin. ‘We have the craziest, most
loyal fans of any band I know. People who think Depeche Mode are
doomy should just come and see one of our concerts and see how
the audience react. The shows are just an amazing high,
everybody’s there to have a good time.’
Depeche Mode - Sounds Of The Universe (Mute/Capitol/Virgin)