BIOGRAPHY1982
Overview: Released this year were the singles See You / Now, This is Fun, The Meaning Of Love / Oberkorn (It's A Small Town) and Leave In Silence as well as the album A Broken Frame.
At the middle of January (unfortunately no one seems to remember the exact date) Alan
had his first gig with DM - at Crocs in Raleigh.
It is said that the band commented on Alan that "he's a good musician, though they're
not certain that's what they needed. He played his first gig at the old Modish haunt
Rayleigh Crocs in January and was somewhat shaken by the mayhem surrounding
Depeche as crushed kids in the front row were plucked out of their very shoes to
save them from severe damage."[1]
(Remember that this happened just about one year after they'd started. They really
were some kind of a hip boy-band especially loved by young girls. Sometimes they
had to play special early gigs because most of these girls were too young to go to
a gig later in the evening. - If you were one of these girls, please, write an
e-mail to dmbiographie@hotmail.de and
tell me about your experiences and what you like about the band at this time.)
Afterwards the band travelled to New York where they played at the Ritz on January 22
and 23
Fletch: "Alan came to New York - I remember, it was so funny. He had a little
jacket on and a woolly scarf and I think New York was minus 40 degrees."[2]
David appeared with an arm in the loop. He had had a Tattoo removed and the scars
swelled up. The rest of this mini-tour wasn't much better.
Fletch: "We'd done Top Of The Pops the night before - why we agreed to,
I don't know. But Mute decided to send us over on Concorde. Unfortunately it
was probably the most disastrous gig of our lives. None of the equipment worked,
we didn't go onstage until 2.30 in the morning."[3]
These weren't the only difficulties they had trying to find their
way to the American market and it would take its time until they became really
big there.
(Leave in silence - with friendly permission of © Gergely Dervarics (Greg76))
At first Alan wasn't important to the media at all. It was Vince who had the
attention - although he wasn't there anymore.
Martin: "He presents you with riddles, things you can't explain."
Fletch: "The impression he likes to give is that no-one knows him."
David: "We thought we knew him, but we discovered we didn't."
Fletch: "Vince always wanted to do a lot in the studio and the rest of us
would feel restricted. If we had an idea we'd be frightened to say anything."
David: "No, not frightened. We were uncomfortable."[4]
Now Martin took over the role of the songwriter and they tried to produce songs
with more substance and more difficult chords.
Fletch: "Martin writes music around his words, whereas Vince used
to write the tunes first and then fit the lyrics to them. Words were never Vince's
strong point. As a matter of fact, we were sometimes quite, er, embarrassed by his
stuff! We didn't understand a lot of his songs. He'd never tell us what they were
about!"
David: "I remember walking through town in Basildon one night and I saw
these two girls following along behind me. I knew they'd recognised me. And they
start singing, y'know", (high-pitched squeak), "I stand still stepping on a shady
street. And I start walking a bit faster," (laughs), "turns me collar up like
this! And then ...", (wails), "And I watch that man to a stranger. And I'm
thinking: 'oh no, this is embarrassing! Do they understand these lyrics?! Perhaps
they do and we don't!'"[5]
But the media wouldn't make it easy for Martin at first. Today we know him as a
genius writer but he was thrown in at deep end in the early days
when See You / Now, This Is Fun was released on January 29.
Fletch: "After New Life a lot of people thought Depeche Mode were 'sweet'
and 'cute' and everything, and we wanted to show them we could be a lot of other
things as well. On the new B-side, Now, This Is Fun we tried to ...", pause
while they all burst out laughing, "we tried to sound ... really ... mean! Didn't
work though."[6]
The understanding of the new lyrics didn't work that properly either. So Martin was
asked about the line Well, I know that five years is a long time and that times
change but I think you'll find people are basically the same from See You:
"It's good. Serious. But funny. I like it because those words aren't used much in
songs. It's just the things people say. I can't tell the story behind it. It's
private. I wrote it when I was 18."[7] [The age detail permanently varies from
source to source, sometimes it is claimed he wrote it when he was 15, when he
was 17 aso.]
"My style of writing has changed since I started writing more seriously. Sometimes
I write the words first, sometimes the music, sometimes both together. I have to
lock myself away. The thing is a lot of ideas I come up with are embarrassing
so you have to be on your own when you come up with them![8] See You isn't as
instant as the earlier singles, so we thought a lot of our old fans wouldn't buy it.
It's also full of musical references to people like the Ronettes and the Beach
Boys. I know they're not very fashionable at the moment, but everybody knows their
earlier songs, and we used to do And Then I Kissed Her as a live
cover version."
David: "Two years ago See You probably wouldn't have been a hit, but
the radio has been getting more adventurous. I think punk made all that possible.
After punk, you could do anything."[9]
Alan about his first appearance at TOTP, performing See You:
"It was an all-day affair, mainly spent hanging around in our dressing room
while the union-led BBC staff took their various tea, lunch and back-strain
breaks. The audience consisted of about 15 people being goaded with cattle-prods
to move them swiftly around the studio from stage to stage. We had the dubious
honour of appearing on the same show as one-hit-wonder Adrian Gurwitz.
The lyrics of his unforgettable tunes were as follows gonna write a classic,
gonna write it in an attic ..."
It's not very surprising that he didn't like the video
to See You (nor any of the other videos that were made in 1982):
"You can pretty much lump all the Julian Temple videos (See You,
Meaning Of Love, Leave In Silence) into one collective disaster.
But you should not forget that video was a very new and experimental genre
at that time so we weren't the only ones to suffer at the hands of spotty
students fresh out of film school."[10]
The See-You-Tour started on February 12 in Cardiff- with Alan as a
stage musician. The European leg had 27 gigs and ended on April 12 in
St. Peter Port. Amongst others DM played in Madrid, Stockholm, Hamburg,
Hanover, Berlin - and in Oberkorn in Belgium.
So it happened that on April 26 the single The Meaning Of Love /
Oberkorn (It's A Small Town) was released.
Martin: "Oberkorn was a curious kind of village with a population that would
hardly fill the first few rows of any ordinary theatre so it was quite a
fascination for us to find out what was going to happen. Instead of our gig
being a handful of people, the place was packed as the audience came from all
around and even from across the borders. When we got back to our hotel our
record company told us that whilst the A-side of our single was all set, they
need a title rapidly for the B-side. Like I said we're never all that good on
names and the first thing that sprang to mind was the name of this village.
Oberkorn."[11]
From May 7 until 16 the American leg with 8 concerts took place.
At that time DM played in Pasadena already - but not at the Rosebowl.
On this first tour Alan had opportunity to get used to DM's early live set.
"I have had the dubious pleasure of actually performing TV Set. I'm
also familiar with Tomorrow's Dance although I've never played or
heard an actual performance of the song. Dave's rendition / impersonation of
the embryonic DM performances were enough to have left an indelible imprint
on my musical memory."
Strange but true: there were also some songs Alan liked ;):
"Tora, Tora, Tora is my favourite from Speak & Spell, The Sun And
The Rainfall from A Broken Frame."[12]
Alan, of course, also had the opportunity to get to know his new band mates
a bit better: "Fletch and Martin have a quite strange relationship. The main
role of Fletch seems to be Martin's voice because Martin is very shy - unless
he's drunk. If he has a problem you can't ask him directly but you have to
talk with Fletch."
So two groups formed up within the band quickly - Martin and Fletch on one side
and Alan and David on the other - because David hadn't much room in the friendship
of Fletch and Martin either and because "Dave's a very friendly and open person,
and easy to get along with." To Alan it was also important that "he has a very
sharp and wicked sense of humour." In this context Alan once told that it was
fun to see those female fand who think "he's sort of this poor little fluffy bunny-wunny
who needs to be protected all the time. If these girls ever met Dave for
more than 2 minutes after a show, or if they came on with this attitude,
he'd eat them alive with a few chosen words."[13]
Allegedly Alan had huge problems with adapting himself to the band.
Especially Malins stressed this out and emphasized the different backgrounds -
working class and middle class - several times in his biography.
Of course, this makes a difference in British society, especially in the generation
the four lads belong to. But in my opinion it is wrong to say that THIS was
the problem. The real problems seemed to be a) that English men of this generation
aren't able to talk about their feelings and thoughts in general and this group
had communication problems in particular and b) that the others, especially
Martin and Fletch, had known each other for a long time before Alan became a member.
And it is definitely wrong to say Alan would be inadaptable.
He is self-confident enough and has the talent of conforming himself to
all situations, wherever and whenever, giving the impression of being every time
everywhere part of the given picture and master of the situation.
Have a look at the promotion shots of the bands Alan had been a member of before
joining DM and then have a look at pictures of DM taken in 1982. You will find
Alan looking serious, grown up, cool and even acceptably dressed on shots
with Real To Real and The Hitmen but looking shy and as "cute" as his new
band members in 1982 - and dressed up with the ugliest clothes you could find
on this planet. ;)
And there are enough videos from the early days seeing him joking around
with the others. It's also known that he was very fond of David's
parodies.
Maybe there had been some teething troubles in the first half a
year - as it happens to everyone who is new at a company / school / group - and
he probably had (as he said himself) some problems "to integrate" himself
"fully into what was (and still is) a very tight unit" (what is probably
referring to the close friendship between Martin and Fletch) but I think it's
exaggerated to suggest he had never been a real part of this band, something,
some people do believe up to date.
(A Broken Frame - with friendly permission of © Annette Pehrsson)
Although with Alan a trained musician had joined the band,
Martin, Fletch and David decided to record the next album on their own and
went into the studio in July.
On one hand Alan was a bit frustrated: "I had been on tour with them and
they expected from me to promote the new album with them", on
the other hand he understood: "They were very carefully because of me.
They blamed Vince that he had left and had the feeling they must prove him
that they could go on without him. I think it was a question
of pride and they didn't want someone to think they just get
someone new at the 'transfer market'. They were very
self-critical and little self-confident. I had never met
such a band before and I wondered how they had come so far
in such a short time. Then it got clear to me which great influence
Daniel Miller had on them. He and Vince were it who had taken them there."[14]
He probably was quite right with that. Also some journalists suspected Daniel
Miller to manipulate the band in some way.
David: "Daniel's like a friend really. It's not like a business relationship.
He comes everywhere with us. In the studio he doesn't actually take part in the
recording apart from the producing."
Fletch: "He advises us what to do, but we find it hard to say no, so in
a way he manipulates us."[15]
David: "In a way, Daniel acts as our manager, because we don't actually
have one. He's also the head of our record company though, so he can't do everything
that a manager would. We have group meetings to discuss tours, money and things
like merchandising."[16]
But the decision to go into studio without Alan was the band's one - allegedly.
According to rumours there had been some trouble between the band members and
Alan because of this decision but Alan says, "I would have liked to have been
involved in the studio for that album but was told by Daniel Miller
(the band have never spoken to me about it) that I wouldn't be needed."[17]
On August 16 the single Leave In Silence was released followed
by the album A Broken Frame on September 27.
Leave In Silence was the band's first single in the UK with the "Bong"
label and the first song to have more than one remix of itself.
In those days they found that A Broken Frame was more mature concerning
the music and the lyrics. They put a lot of time and effort into every single
song and tried to explore new ways of recording.
David: "The new album has the same sort of weight really. Rather than
doing more of the light weight pop we decided to experiment in the studio.
Martin can write poppy things as well, there's a couple of poppy tracks on the
album like The Meaning Of Love and there's one called A Photograph Of You
but we also wanted to do something really different to see if we could do it and
I think it has turned out well."
Fletch: "There's a lot of percussion on the new album, you know just hitting
things plus there's walking and marching and that sort of thing, but nothing you
could really call an instrument."
David: "There is a saxophone. But you wouldn't be able to make it out.
It's recorded backwards and it sounds like an elephant!"[18]
Later they wouldn't be so satisfied with this album anymore. (The same with
Speak And Spell.) But considering their age and the way they had taken
they probably had to make this album exactly as it is.
The A-Broken-Frame-Tour started on October 4 in Chippenham
and was splitted up to three legs. Until October 29 the band
played 20 gigs in Great Britain.
From November 25 till December 14 DM played 14 concerts in
Europe, mainly in Germany. The third leg took place in 1983.
It was a tough time for the band despite all success. They still weren't taken
seriously by the media and general public and they still didn't manage to get rid
of the image of the new romantics and futurists.
David: "Obviously the sort of people who buy Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet
records might buy ours as well, but I think we're in a slightly different market.
There's not so many New Romantics in our audience as their used to be. I mean we've
done about thirty interviews – mostly in Europe -"[19] [he's talking about the
European continent. Brits often think in these categories: UK - Europe - rest
of the world ;-)] "and we are still asked about new romanticism and futurism. We
tell them that we have nothing to do with this.[20] And then they go and print this
right next to these awful photos of us in frilly shirts! That was from the first
photo session we ever had done and they were so bad! They keep turning up all
over the place."
Martin: "That is why we'll never be like Duran Duran. 'Cos our photos are so
awful!"[21]
Next to the known problems some new arrived. So it seemed the audience
didn't listen to them anymore ...
Fletch: "Even when you make a lot of mistakes and think you've been terrible
they don't seem to care. They don't come up and say 'Great gig' any more either.
The music aspect has gone. At Crocs they didn't even clap for us to come back,
just stood there and waited. All they want to do is watch you. We've become
an event."
... and time ran shorter and shorter.
Martin: "Last summer we could sort things out from week to week. It's horrible
now to look in your diary and see that every day for the next six months
is planned."
Fletch: "No time to even think! What's happened is we've become more and
more busy and less and less involved with all the small decisions which affect
us. When you've got enough money you end up giving it to someone else and saying
'Do this for us'."[22]
David: "Every day there seems to be something. Up until a certain point you
get used to it. But you do begin to wonder what good it actually does."[23]
Another problem they had to face now was the fame.
Fletch: "There was a thing in the Sun reviewing our single and it
said another record by a faceless group. I think people who read music papers
might know about us, but the general public couldn't put a face to the name.
People say, what's it like to be famous? But there's no difference. When I walk
along in Basildon they might recognise me, but if I go up to London and walk along
the King's Road, I wouldn't be recognised."
David: "I think it's better not to be hip, it's definitely safer.[24] We
don't go clubbing it in London or anything. I don't know how bands can do that.
They're touring the world and they've got records out every week. They must be
so tired.[25] There was this time when I did a personal appearance at the Camden
Palace and I was practically pulled apart. It was really scary, when I got inside
I was trapped and there were people clawing at me, ripping my clothes, pulling
my hair - I was so frightened I ran and hid myself in the loo, I just didn't want
to come out. I think that was one of my worst experiences, those kids could
kill you."[26]
Fletch: "We don't get massive guest lists with stars on them. I think
that's why people relate to us. We don't attract that sort of audience. We're not
a liggers band. Backstage there's just a load of our friends.[27] But we've also
lost a lot of friends that we used to go out with. You lose touch."
David: "You know who your real friends are though. They haven't changed
from the beginning. You know when you talk to them and when you’re out with them,
they don’t see you as a different person. But then you get some of them who
weren't really your proper friends when you began and then they become your
real big friends when you're successful."
Fletch: "I think there were about 10,000 people who used to go to school
with you."
David: "Yeah, the class must have about 1,000 people in it according to some
people. There were only 40. You think you're going mad when people say they were
at school with you and you can't remember them."[28]
It got increasingly difficult to have a private life.
David's girlfriend Jo[anne] gave up her job as a nurse
and led the fan club together with Martin's girlfriend Anne
who had just finished school. They also accompanied them on every tour with them.
The band called this "luxury". I personally think that this
offers a basis for an "excellent" conflict potential.
David: "We don't feel they get in the way, although there are quite a lot
of bands who feel girls on tour are an unnecessary burden. With us, it's like
taking your best friend along. Although I reckon it's fair to say that when we
first took the girls they took a while to adjust to the fan reaction. That was
funny really, because our girls also run our fan information service so you'd
figure on them knowing what to expect. But the reality of hundreds of girls
trying to rush us and kiss us was a bit too much! It seems to be Alan the girls
are attracted to. We don't mind him shouldering that responsibility!"[29]
While the others had given up asking for the name of everyone who wanted their
autographs, Alan, who was still a "part-time Mode" at that time, still did it.
This and being quite handsome were the reasons that most of the screaming of
the girls went on his account.
Anne, Martin's girlfriend: "I'm glad they're screaming for Alan. It makes
him feel more a part of it."
Martin: "If this keeps up he won't be part of it for much longer."[30]
And they still tried to find an image for themselves – or to have no image at all.
David: "I think it's good that we haven't really got an image."
Fletch: "The band with the best image of all is Pink Floyd, they're a really
faceless group. I mean I don't really like their music, but although they're one of
the world's biggest bands if you saw Brian Waters ..."
David: "Roger Waters you idiot."
Fletch: "Oh yeah, well that's what I mean, they're really anonymous."
David: "We don't have any pictures of us on our record covers, because they
date so quickly. Like the Duran Duran cover, they were all dressed up, had all
the gear on."
Fletch: "Bet they're really embarrassed about that now!"
Martin: "They should've been at the time!"
David: "And that's there for life - it's much better to have some kind of
design. The new LP sleeve is really good, much better than the last one, that was
awful! The guy who did it, Brian Griffin, when he was explaining it he was going -
I imagine a swan floating in the air - and we're going, yeah, right, then he's
talking about it floating on this sea of glass and it sounded really great.
It turned out to be a stuffed swan in a plastic bag! It was meant to be all nice
and romantic, but it was just comical!"[31]
(Nevertheless Brian Griffith made several other pictures for album-/singles-covers, so the
Speak and Spell-cover couldn't have been that bad - or they were too shy to
tell him that they didn't like it. However, according to polls most fans think that the
Speak and Spell-cover isn't the worst DM ever had.)
So there were a lot of things they had to learn. And they had to learn them
quickly.
Fletch: "We realise 1982's the most important year for us. We either establish
ourselves or go to pot."[32]
(My secret garden - with friendly permission of © Tuxedofeline)
And here are two bits with hindsight to the future:
Fletch showed the first symptoms of his depressive vein which, later,
should have bad consequences: "I get depressed, on tour especially, because I've got
quite a lot of friends at home, and I miss keeping up on the gossip and all that.
Martin and Dave have Anne and Jo and that's their company, but I don't see anyone.
I've lost a lot of friends because I can't talk to them; we've always told each
other what we're doing, but now it's a case of well, we flew to Spain and did a TV
thing, we’re going on tour ... I feel really guilty, and I can't talk about what
I'm doing 'cos all I'm doing is the band. But I think more than them, really. Well,
I worry. I'm more depressing."
Laughter all round. Don't you mean depressed?
Alan: "Both, probably."[33]
The next one isn't that serious but it is one of these things that show how much
people change over a period of time and through the circumstances of their
lifestyle.
Martin: "We're not the kind who enjoy partying it up every other night or
travelling to clubs. Most of the time when we're not working we tend to stay at
our parents' places in our home town. We all feel that it's essential to have
this firm home base, because otherwise you tend to find yourselves leading a
very insular existence, only mixing with people in the music business, and that
isn't really good for your mind or your lifestyle. I can't see us changing. We've
no desire to move up to the bright lights of London."[34]
According to Martin (especially when you look at the lyrics of See You)
people will stay basically the same. This suits the (former) band members quite well.
All of them still have "this firm home base" and in their basic they are still quite
normal persons. Today all of them are familymen and they never really mixed up
with people in the music business. But the fans of course know that the part with
the "enjoying partying it up every other night or travelling to clubs" would change
drastically in the following years.
At the end of the year Alan was declared as a full member and plans for the
future were made.
Martin: "After Vince left and went to form Yazoo, we were getting ready to
record a new album. Alan started playing with us but we wanted to make certain
that any change in direction in our music wasn't attributable to Alan joining.
We needed to show we were capable of musical alteration by ourselves. So we
recorded A Broken Frame with that in mind, although Alan will be playing
on our tours when we perform songs from the album. Now we feel free for him to
be a full time recording member of the group now that the change in pattern has
been established!"[35]
(Well ... the real change came with Construction Time Again ...)
Alan: "I don't blame the others for being cautious about me, after what
happened with Vince.[36] Somebody in their position doesn't get somebody new in the
first week who might turn out to be a complete a***h***. So I was touring and
doing TV but wasn't actually recording with them.[37] The last tour has really
made me feel more at home in the band, although playing to big audiences, like
Hammersmith Odeon, made me quite nervous.[38]"
In 1987 he said: "They were a very tight-knit bunch, and it took me quite
a while to become one of them. Between 1982 and '83 I was never sure if I was in
or out until one day Fletch just told me I was a full-time member."[39]
(In another source he was quoted that Daniel Miller told him.)
References:
[1] No Time to Even Think, New Sounds New Styles, March 1982. Words: Mike Stand
[2] The Story Of Depeche Mode, BBC Radio London Live94.9, May 7th 2001, Producer: Tony Wood
[3] Just Can't Get Enough, Uncut, May 2001. Words: Stephen Dalton
[4] No Time to Even Think, New Sounds New Styles, March 1982. Words: Mike Stand
[5] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[6] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[7] No Time to Even Think, New Sounds New Styles, March 1982. Words: Mike Stand
[8] "Some people think you're cute, but other people think you're slightly vile ...", Look In, 22nd May 1982, Words: Phil Parsons
[9] A La Mode, Kicks, 6th April 1982. Words: Johnny Black
[10] recoil.co.uk
[11] The Name's the Game! Zig Zag, November 1982. Words: John Kercher
[12] recoil.co.uk
[13] recoil.co.uk
[14] recoil.co.uk
[15] Sound of the Suburbs, NME, 20th March 1982. Words: Lynn Hanna
[16] A La Mode, Kicks, 6th April 1982. Words: Johnny Black
[17] recoil.co.uk
[18] Modey Old Dough, unknown magazine, 1982. Words: Bill Prince
[19] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[20] Source can't be found anymore
[21] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[22] No Time to Even Think, New Sounds New Styles, March 1982. Words: Mike Stand
[23] Sound of the Suburbs, NME, 20th March 1982. Words: Lynn Hanna
[24] Sound of the Suburbs, NME, 20th March 1982. Words: Lynn Hanna
[25] Sound of the Suburbs, NME, 20th March 1982. Words: Lynn Hanna
[26] The Bright Side of the Moon, Sounds, 4th September 1982. Words: Karen Swayne
[27] Sound of the Suburbs, NME, 20th March 1982. Words: Lynn Hanna
[28] Essex Appeal, Record Mirror, 21st August 1982. Words: Simon Tebbutt
[29] The Name's the Game! Zig Zag, November 1982. Words: John Kercher
[30] On The Mode, Record Mirror, 20th March 1982. Words: "Sunie"
[31] The Bright Side of the Moon, Sounds, 4th September 1982. Words: Karen Swayne
[32] A Clean Break, Smash Hits, 21st January - 3rd February 1982. Words: Mark Ellen
[33] On The Mode, Record Mirror, 20th March 1982. Words: "Sunie"
[34] The Name's the Game! Zig Zag, November 1982. Words: John Kercher
[35] The Name's the Game! Zig Zag, November 1982. Words: John Kercher
[36] A La Mode, Kicks, 6th April 1982. Words: Johnny Black
[37] Hanging in the Balance, NME, 26th March 1983. Words: Matt Snow
[38] A La Mode, Kicks, 6th April 1982. Words: Johnny Black
[39] Depeche Mode Magazine, Circuit Communications, 1987. Words: Mike Martin
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