Death hit them unexpectedly, on May 26, when an aortic dissection took keyboardist Andy Fletcher at the age of 60, but let no one think that this will leave Depeche Mode out of the game. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I have the feeling that we are going to last longer than Liz Truss & rdquor ;, predicts Martin Gore reading with a bit of humor the longevity of this British band, which has accumulated 42 years of history.
The composer, also a keyboardist, of Depeche Mode attends this medium to announce that, after the duel, life goes on and that the plans are piling up on the table: new album, ‘Memento mori’, which should see the light at the end of March 2023, and a big tour with a first round abroad and a European campaign immediately afterwards with two stops in the Spring Sound, both in Barcelona (June 2) and in the new headquarters of Madrid (9). Concerts in which, in addition to recreating his classics, they will play an album whose title, relating to the transience of life, was conceived before Fletcher’s death.
Against the arrogance
‘Memento mori’ is the Latin phrase, perhaps disturbing (“remember that you will die”), which, as the story goes, the servant transferred to the Roman general to help him keep the temptation of pride at bay. He transmits humility, but also a spirit of squeezing life. This is how Martin Gore fits it. “I hadn’t heard of that maxim until eight or nine months ago someone mentioned it. I thought it was a great concept and that it fit in with the collection of songs we had in hand & rdquor ;, explains Gore, who not long ago, in June 2021, was in his sixties. “Thinking about it, I saw a positive aspect to the phrase. The idea that life is short and you should take advantage of it & rdquor ;.
The new repertoire was already composed when Fletcher died. “Recording was to start seven weeks later and he was excited to get back to work and touring, more so after having suffered, like all of us, the pandemic lockdowns. Sadly, it couldn’t be & rdquor ;, he muses. “We already had that idea for the title, and his death was another reminder that life is short.”
more electronics
‘Memento mori’ is not yet among us, and Gore summons the press to talk about it in depth “in February or March & rdquor ;, but he does agree to advance some clues about its content. We are talking about an album in which they repeat the production of James Ford (a member of Simian Mobile Disco and The Last Shadow Puppets, who premiered with Depeche Mode on ‘Spirit’, from 2017) and that he describes as “very electronic, more than the previous one, although with guitars and other instruments”.
While in ‘Spirit’ there were invectives about Brexit and the rise of Trump, in the new “there will be less politics & rdquor ;, announces, although it could be glimpsed, he adds, signs of “hopelessness and helplessness” that are breathed as a result of the war in Ukraine. But for Depeche Mode, the political agenda does not set the course, Gore comes to say. “I don’t let that overly dictate what I’m going to write, which doesn’t mean I don’t care about the state of the world, which is kind of depressing right now.”
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It is striking how the band’s convening power has not suffered over the years, but rather quite the opposite, as the appointments suggest, on the new tour, in large venues such as Twickenham (London), the Stade de France ( Paris) or San Siro (Milan). In Barcelona, it will be the first time that Depeche Mode, a regular at the Palau Sant Jordi, performs at a festival, Primavera. “I don’t have the ‘routing’, but our manager decided that was the best place to perform. We have already played at festivals before, such as on the European tour of 2018 & rdquor ;, Gore points out in reference to the second part of the ‘Spirit global tour’, which included Mad Cool from Madrid. Acting in such a show “is interesting & rdquor ;, he observes, “Because you know that there are people there who are not necessarily your biggest fan”. Which does not seem to transmit insecurity. “We have a young audience and an old audience. We are lucky & rdquor ;.