Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on Forging Ahead After the Passing of Andy Fletcher

Spencer Kaufman

October 6, 2022 at 10:00 AM·8 min read

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The post Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on Forging Ahead After the Passing of Andy Fletcher appeared first on Consequence.

Depeche Mode experienced the tragic passing of founding member Andy Fletcher in May of this year. On Tuesday (October 4th), the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band announced that it will soldier on with a new album and tour in 2023.

The new LP is titled Memento Mori, a Latin term used to describe an object that serves as a reminder of death. Despite the timing of the announcement, the name of the album and its subject matter had already been conceived prior to Fletcher’s passing.

In support of the album, which is set to arrive in Spring 2023, Depeche Mode will embark on their first tour in five years, beginning with a North American leg that kicks off March 23rd in Sacramento, California. Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, October 7th at 10:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster. For North American audiences, a Live Nation pre-sale is set for Thursday, October 6th at 10:00 a.m. local time (using access code PUMPKIN).

Shortly after Tuesday’s announcement of the tour and album, Consequence caught up with Depeche Mode vocalist Dave Gahan for a brief conversation via Zoom.

The singer discussed the decision that he and fellow founding member Martin Gore made to move ahead with an album and tour following Fletcher’s passing. He also shared his thoughts on returning to the stage next year, as well as his reflections on Depeche Mode’s classic 1990 album, Violator.

Read our interview with Dave Gahan below, and pick up tickets to Depeche Mode’s 2023 tour here.

First and foremost, my condolences on the loss of Andy Fletcher. Was it a difficult decision for you and Martin Gore to forge ahead with Depeche Mode and the new album, Memento Mori, following his passing?

First of all, there was only one Fletch. It was a big shock to us, and very unexpected, of course. Martin and I, when it came to the making of the music for Memento Mori, we already had the title and songs that we recorded. And we had even begun working on some of those with James Ford producing and Marta Salogni, and Fletch had not yet heard any of the songs, nothing. I know he would have loved a lot of the stuff we were doing and he also would have been the first to say, “Why do you have to have so many songs about death?” So I miss that.

But Martin and I did have a brief conversation, and we both really came to the same conclusion pretty quickly that we were going to definitely continue making this record. And we were going to move forward, whatever that was going to look like without Fletch. Of course, we don’t know what that is, we didn’t know what that was gonna feel like, we don’t know what that feels like, each time we do something like this, or finishing the record, or when we did photos with Anton Corbijn for the first time without Fletch. All these things, they’re different. It’s the only way to describe it.

And Fletch and I, over the years, have always had differences. But we had one thing surely in common, which was that we both wanted the best for Depeche Mode and the music that we made, and the performances, and we were also friends. We spent the best part of the last 40 years together. We grew up together, we took our first airplane together, we jumped in a van and went up the motorway together for the first time. Everything that we did, we did for the first time and that involved myself, Martin, Vince [Clarke], and Fletch or Alan [Wilder].

And later, of course, [longtime touring members] Peter [Gordeno] and Christian [Eigner], as well. So, of course, everything’s different. But as a lot of hardcore fans know, Fletch over the years, in the studio didn’t have much to do with the shaping and sound of the musicality of a record or the writing and all those things. And we all know Fletch was Fletch on tour. But in the studio, he did have a really powerful presence and everything to say about what we were doing. So that, of course, is really different.

To say I miss him would be an understatement. I miss him a lot. Yeah, I miss silly things that about him that we would joke about, we would laugh about, that we would argue about. All those things when you lose somebody, when somebody leaves your life and you have no way to change that, there’s nothing you can do about it. You have to move forward. So the answer to your question about the record, yes, Martin and I decided that we were going to continue in that process of making this record.

How far along into the album were you prior to Fletch’s passing?

Martin and James Ward and Marta Salogni were working at Martin’s house. And I went out there for 10 days and recorded a bunch of vocals and stuff on a few of my songs, and also maybe half a dozen of Martin’s songs. And so they were all taking shape already. And the next phase was coming where Fletch was going to join in the production process, come in, listen, have things to say — that would be the usual process. But yeah, we already were pretty deep into the recording. And all the songs that have now ended up on the record were all written and demoed before Fletch’s passing. Unfortunately, Fletch didn’t get to hear anything.

With Depeche Mode set to embark on its first tour in five years in 2023, and given the pandemic and Fletch’s passing, what do you think it will feel like stepping onstage for that first show?

I think it’s going to be a lot of things. Even when we start rehearsing, it’s going to be a bit strange without Fletch there. Fletch was a huge presence within Depeche Mode. Whatever he did or didn’t do, it doesn’t really matter. He was part of the band. He was part of everything that we’ve done. And he contributed to that in a very big way. You only realize this when something is taken away. It happened of course, when Vince left the band. It happened when Alan left the band. And now that Fletch is gone, we have to move forward.

And Martin and I made that decision to do so, but it is going to be strange, all the things that we do together, even announcing that we have a new record out. This is the first time Martin and I were doing these things together like taking photographs with Anton Corbijn. For Anton, as well, it was also strange. For everybody working as part of the Depeche Mode team, it’s different.

But we’ve made the decision to move into the future, whatever that might look like onstage and performing. And certainly we’ve made this record, Martin and I together, with the help of James and Marta, who contributed huge amounts of sound and production of this record.

Depeche Mode to release new album and tour in 2023

Depeche Mode Announce New Album Memento Mori and World Tour

The 30th anniversary of Violator took place in March 2020, right as the pandemic started, and as a result, it feels like the milestone didn’t get the proper celebration it deserved. What are your thoughts on what that album did for the band’s career?

Well, it changed everything for us, actually. We were just moving forward. We didn’t know anything else. We’d worked really hard for 10 years, nonstop from album to tour to album to tour, we hadn’t stopped. And then Violator came out and suddenly became this huge thing. Everything about it. So it changed everything, but in a good way, as well. It gave us the opportunity to explore new musical directions. It gave us an audience that we couldn’t have imagined when we were kind of first coming up. … I like to feel that we’ve constantly tried to keep evolving. And these last few months we’ve been forced to evolve yet again … so here we are.

In speaking with a lot of metal and hard rock bands, many of them cite Depeche Mode as an influence. What do you think it is about your band’s music that has such a profound effect on heavier bands?

The feel and sound of the music inspires other musicians to do their thing. And a lot of the things we indulge ourselves in involve melancholy and darkness and life — and not just parts of life that we celebrate, but also those darker territories. We kind of go there, we always have. And I think that’s why we’ve maybe inspired bands that kind of have a heavier sound to the musicality of what they do. Because the subject matter and the way we do it as well, we’ve kind of carved out our own direction. And I think, maybe a lot of other musicians are inspired by that, as well by the fact that you can go your own way.

Our thanks to Dave Gahan for taking the time to speak with us. See a photo gallery and video footage from Depeche Mode’s special album and tour announcement event in Berlin below.

Photo Gallery – Depeche Mode album and tour announcement in Berlin (click to expand and scroll through):