On October 4, 2022, Depeche Mode announced at their press conference in Berlin what many have been waiting for — namely a new album called “Memento Mori” and a world tour. In an interview with colleagues from US ROLLING STONE a few days earlier, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore spoke in detail about the painful loss of founding member Andy Fletcher. They also revealed some details about the new album.
Martin Gore leaves no doubt about how painful the loss of her bandmate and friend was. “It’s obviously very difficult to lose your closest friend. Andy was my boyfriend long before the band and I feel like he was in the trenches with me all along. So it’s very tough.” But it’s also clear to Gore: Fletcher would have wanted Depeche Mode to continue after his death. “Andy has always been something of the band’s glue. It would have been unthinkable for him that his death would have meant the end of the band.”
Fletcher’s death was also a hard blow for Dave Gahan — and not just because it was so unexpected. “You don’t always get a chance to say goodbye. Here it was like this: All of a sudden Martin and I were sitting on a pew and Fletch was no longer there. From one moment to the next.”
Martin Gore explains: That’s why Andy Fletcher was so important to the band
They only really realized how important Fletcher was to the group after his death. “After his death, we realized that he played a huge role in the band,” explains Gore. “Dave and I are not supersocial people, but Andy is. If we ever had anything to do, left [Fletch] in and just started chatting to everyone and me and Dave could hide in the corner somewhere. Even though we’ve been together for 40 years, Andy’s death has brought Dave and I a lot closer because we had to. Before, as I said, Andy was the glue. He brought us together; he was the connecting part.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWowjOeMoV8
Gahan says that he and Gore both felt like Fletcher was present at the studio recordings, and if Fletcher could say something, it would have been something like, “Can we stop talking about death?” the frontman says secure.
Details about “Memento Mori”
Although the album’s title is “Memento Mori” — which in Latin means “Be Aware of Your Mortality” — the album’s title predates Fletcher’s death. “Of course, everyone will think that all the songs were written soon after Andy’s death,” Gore says. “But everything was already planned and we were ready to go. Sadly Andy passed away when he was really looking forward to getting started with us.” He sees the album title much more as something positive that should remind you to seize the day.
As the band explained at the press conference in Berlin, they will be going to the studio in the next few days to put the finishing touches on the album. How the album will sound like? “It has a cinematic quality to me,” promises Dave Gahan. “It takes you on a kind of journey that begins in a place where we say: ‘This is my world’ and ends with the question: ‘How do I make the best of it?”” The music sounds melancholic, but is also shot through with hope and joy, says Gahan.
Gore and Gahan also reveal another detail in the interview: “Memento Mori” is expected to contain twelve tracks – the musicians are still keeping some bonus tracks up their sleeves for a deluxe edition.