Part III

A Brief Period Of Rejoicing

During 1985, two new songs were recorded and released, which had no trouble finding their way into the charts.
The first; Shake The Disease, greeted music stores with minimal hype on 29th April. The single, without an album to call home, climbed to a modest number 18 in the UK. On 16th September, fans were kept happy with another single, It's Called a Heart. This song, also released without a lot of hype, also managed to climb to number 18.
A month later, on 15th October, came the release of the compilation album The Singles 81-85. Appropriately titled Catching Up With Depeche Mode in the States, the album covered all the singles from Dreaming Of Me to It's Called A Heart, with the US track listing differing slightly because of the release of the People Are People compilation the previous year. Following the release, Martin was interviewed by New Musical Express (NME), revealing, "I see our songs as love and sex against the boredom of life."
Looking back, 1985 was a very tense year. Though new material was released, Depeche Mode were not in good spirits following their tour. They were uncertain and confused about what they wanted to do. As Dave later said, "If we were ever going to split up the band, it was at the end of 1985. We were really in a state of turmoil. Constant arguing. Very intense. We weren't really sure where to go after Some Great Reward, so we decided to slow things down. But it left us too much time on our hands. So we spent most of it arguing. Sometimes, it seems incredible that we came out of that period with the band and our sanity intact."
Incredible? Perhaps, but that's a word people have used to describe Depeche Mode for years, and as the new year rang in, it was apparent the band had made the right choice. "When we start a new album, we might spend the first few days doing nothing but sampling," Alan told Keyboard magazine. "We'll hire a drum kit and all kinds of weird percussion things and sample them in different rooms and different environments. Later we'll refer back to our library of sounds and find something that suits the song we're working on."
After three months of extensive recording at Westside Studios in West Kensington, London, then moving operations to Hansa Studios in Berlin, where Gareth Jones' and Daniel Miller's production helped smooth the mixes, Stripped was released on 10th February 1986. It went to number 15 in the UK, giving the listening audience only a taste of what was to come. With sampling being a significant ingredient, it seemed only proper that the click-clacking intro to Stripped, which sounded very much like a train in motion, was actually a slowed down sample of a motorcycle engine. It was a perfect effect when coupled with the chillingly profound lyrics.
"The one thing I might point out is on It Doesn't Matter Too," Alan explained when asked about sampling. "There are a lot of choir samples on that. It would have been very easy to take just one sample and play it back polyphonically. But instead, we took a different sample for each choir note, so each note is slightly out from the others. It gives it a very realistic feel. We spent a long time getting that to work, so that it sounded human. That goes for all the stuff we do, not just that one track."
Black Celebration, translated incorrectly in French as Black Mass, saw 17th March 1985 as its official release date. It was heavier, darker and harder than anything in the band's past. It was perhaps the most realistic portrayal of life to date, and ironically, the sleeve symbols indicated not bleakness but freedom; the freedom of independence. Alan commented to Billboard, "We don't see ourselves as pessimistic people, just realistic people."
The album was very realistic indeed, spanning a wide variation of topics from major international issues to courtship to true love to boredom. The title track contained a very appropriate sample in essence of this album. What sounded like a distorted jumble of Russian in the song's intro was in fact Daniel Miller doing his best impression of the British war-time prime-minister Winston Churchill, stating "A brief period of rejoicing."
On 29th March, Depeche Mode launched another world tour, this one slated for nearly six months. Starting at the Oxford Apollo, the band traveled the globe and wrapped things up at The Valby Stadium in Copenhagen on 16th August. In a review of their Wembley Arena show in April, John Peel wrote, "If we are to have bands filling the world's stadiums, then let them be like Depeche Mode."
The next single was A Question Of Lust, which tackled one of life's more immediate and obvious curiosities. Released on 14th April 1986, Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker said the sing was gorgeous, "An Almond-esque torch vocal mounting a simple electronic code worthy of The Human League. It's when Depeche are being unconsciously throwaway that they attain the sublime." The `gorgeous' song charted at number 28 in the UK. Then came A Question Of Time, which seemed to echo Martin's obsession with innocence. Released on 11th August, it made its way to number 17, making an impact on dance-floors everywhere. In many ways, the three singles released from Black Celebration marked a turning point for Depeche Mode. They sounded self-assured enough to take risks and succeed. For the first time others were beginning to sense that Depeche Mode were preparing themselves for the big push forward. They had proven that they could craft music of throbbing power even when they forgot themselves. "Our songs from Black Celebration capture the idea," said Martin. "Make the most of what you have, find consolation wherever you can. I don't expect people to change their way of living. That's just human nature. Music won't change anyone's opinion about anything. People just seek out songs that express the opinion they already hold."

Spreading The News Around The World

Having taken a few months break following their `Black Celebration Tour', Depeche Mode returned to the recording studios late in 1986 to begin work on their next album. Recording began at Studio Guiliame Tell, Paris and finished up at Konk, London. Strangelove was the result of extensive work with David Bascombe producing and engineering at Puk Studios, Denmark and was released to the public ear on 13th April 1987, gong to number 16 in the UK. It confirmed that Depeche Mode were once again asserting their role as one of the giants of modern music. The track hinted at the celebration of masochism, a theme that is very familiar in Martin's song-writing. With the vocals of Dave, it portrayed a marvelous marriage of voice and material.
The second single; Never Let Me Down Again, greeted music stores late that Summer, on 24th August, reaching a modest number 22. David Hiltbrand of Rolling Stone magazine commented, "This is the band's most lifelike effort to date, and a compelling dance number." Compelling indeed.
The 28th September saw the release of the eagerly awaited new album Music For The Masses, which immediately went platinum world-wide and continued to mount in sales as Depeche Mode made preparations to launch their largest globe-trotting tour yet. The album took the band to new heights with its poignant lyrics and pounding rhythms. Never before had the group's material been so consistent and focused. It spoke of pain and salvation, love and despair - the familiar theme of Martin's lyrics, yet even further defined. Sacred proclaims, "I'm a firm believer and a warm receiver / And I've made my decision / This is religion / There's no doubt / I'm one of the devout." Sometimes there would seem to be a hazy line between whether the band questioned faith or inspired it. The album reached number 10 in the UK album charts and definitely appealed to the masses, as sales climbed passed the three million mark. Beginning their world tour in Madrid, Spain, the group traveled the globe selling out stadiums and concert halls wherever they stopped. Every stage introduction began with Pimpf, a highly atmospheric, classically orchestrated instrumental track from the album.
While the tour was underway, the next single; Behind The Wheel was released on 28th December 1987 and was added to the growing list of top 20 hits. The track was undeniably alluring as it became a dance favourite when combined with their remake of Robert Troup Junior's classic Route 66. The three singles from Music For The Masses then went on to appear in every major Top 100 radio countdown list of 1988. Quite a remarkable achievement considering they had some of their older tracks already on the list. On 16th May 1988, just a month before the tour ended, Mute Records released a fourth track from Music For The Masses, but only in certain European countries, and not in the UK. Little 15 became a popular piece among the band's ballads.
As Depeche Mode returned to Los Angeles for their last stop at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Stadium on 18th June, the historical event was recorded and filmed for the later to be released movie and live album. Both would bear the name 101, so titled because this last gig was the 101st of the tour.
A live single of the encore favourite; Everything Counts kept fans happy even after the tour was over. It was released the following year on 13th February 1989, and contained some live tracks from the Pasadena gig, as well as new remixes of Everything Counts and Strangelove.
So just when everyone thought that they had heard and seen everything, the double compilation album 101 was released on 13th March, which showcased the group's entire performance at the Rose Bowl. It reached number 7 in the UK, and would be the first time that a complete Depeche Mode concert would be commercially available through their record company. The twenty track compilation featured two hours of Depeche Mode at their finest. Another highlight coming after the tour was the film 101, which opened at theatres all over the world in the same month.
It was directed by `rockumentarist' D.A. Pennebaker and featured eight teenage fans, who, after winning a radio contest, followed Depeche Mode on a tour bus during the band's North American concerts. The contest, held by the Long Island, New York radio station WDRE, was devised by Pennebaker and the band as an idea to explore the elements of pop culture and as the means for less concentration on performance footage of the group. The fans trailed the group on tour across the US, all the way up to the waiting audiences of nearly 80,000 greeting the band at the start of their last show in the Rose Bowl, Pasadena.
There would be no material released by the band for quite some time following 101, but Alan and Martin were busy on side projects of their own. Alan finished a solo project under the name of Recoil and released his Hydrology Plus 1+2 at the end of 1988. Meanwhile, Martin began work on his solo e.p. that was eventually released in 1989, entitled Counterfeit. The Music For The Masses era definitely opened up new doors for Depeche Mode and further established them as leading pioneers of their art. The album, the singles, the tour - all led to their appeal to the masses. Depeche Mode spoke and finally the world was beginning to listen.

Reach Out And Touch Faith

It was August of 1989 when an English newspaper ran an advertisement that simply stated `Your own Personal Jesus' and gave a telephone number. Callers were treated to the sound of the new single from Depeche Mode. Personal Jesus was an ingenious piece of work which went on to become one of the best selling 12-inch singles in American history, selling over a million copies, easily becoming the best-selling single in the Warner Brothers catalogue. It certainly looked as if Depeche Mode had found a little personal Jesus of their own. The trip continued as the world eagerly awaited the next album. But first came the single Enjoy The Silence, released on 5th February 1990. The track has remained one of the band's strongest to date and went on to win the coveted BRIT Single Of The Year Award of 1990, voted by listeners of BBC Radio 1. The track is evidence that the piece hit home with the fans.
For the album, the band enlisted the help of a new producer; Mark `Flood' Ellis and legendary mixer; Francois Kevorkian. Work began in Milan, Italy at Logic Studios, then shifted to Axis in New York, London's Church and Master Rock Studios, and ended at Puk Studios in Denmark. What resulted was the emergence of a new album titled Violator, which was immediately embraced by the music industry and to this date has sold well over six and a half million copies throughout the world.
On 20th March 1990, Depeche Mode appeared for a promotional autograph signing
at the music store The Wherehouse in West Los Angeles and what transpired was beyond
anyone's imagination. Over 10,000 fans besieged the store to catch a glimpse of the group and were simply too much for the security staff. Fearing a riot, the band was promptly dispatched back to their hotel by order of the Los Angeles Police Dept. which sent in over one hundred and thirty officers to disperse the crowd. "It was pretty scary," Dave Gahan later commented. "It was an out of control situation." On every television station was the heading `English rock band Depeche Mode stopped the traffic at Beverly and La Cienega today'. Although the band was forced to depart early, the fans were later treated to a special cassette release of Something To Do (metalmix), which was given away free to its LA area supporters via a KROQ radio give-away.
The signing was intended to launch the new album, which had been released the day before, and launch it it did. The album arrived exactly a decade after the band joined Mute Records, and quickly rocketed to platinum in several European countries including their homeland. In France, Canada and the US, Violator went double-platinum. What was perceived to be a landmark year for the band turned out to be near world domination.
Violator was a huge hit and climbed to number 2 in the UK and number 7 in the US. The States stood in shock as the momentum of the new album boosted Personal Jesus back into the charts six months after its initial release, peaking at number 1 on many alternative radio stations. MTV had long since adopted the song's stunning video, directed by Anton Corbijn, and featured excerpts from his second compilation of Depeche Mode videos; Strange Too - Another Violation. The third single from Violator was Policy Of Truth, released on 17th September 1990 and sailed into the music charts, landing at number 17. The B-sides of the single - Happiest Girl and Sea Of Sin again proved popular in the clubs.
There was nothing that prepared the world for what was to come - Depeche Mode's new tour in support of Violator. This was to be the band's longest and most successful to date. `World Violation', as it was called, would take the band on a year long trip over five continents and reach over 1,200,000 people.
Tickets were sold in record times as box offices opened. In New York, 42,000 tickets were sold within four hours. Dallas' 24,000 seat Starplex Amphitheatre sold out immediately, as did the World Music Theatre in Tinley Park, Chicago. In Los Angeles, where the now-traditional tour closer was to take place, 48,000 tickets for the last tour performance at Dodgers Stadium were sold within one hour of going on sale, two months in advance of the show. Within 72 hours, a second night was added and that sold out even faster. `World Violation' saw Depeche Mode's first ever visit to Australia, although, sadly, the show in Melbourne had to be canceled, after Dave badly strained his vocal cords during the show in Sydney. In ten years, this was the first time a show had ever been canceled for health reasons. The tour culminated in Japan, before the final European stretch, which culminated in three shows at Wembley Arena, and three at Birmingham NEC.
The success of Violator and the `World Violation Tour' was undoubtedly a huge step up in what had been the band's steady rise in popularity, and not only won over a vast number of new fans, but also earned them the respect of the entire industry.

Songs For The Faithful And Devoted

Depeche Mode took a break of roughly three years before returning with any new material. The tour had drained them all both mentally and physically. They flew home and tried to restore some kind of sanity to their lives. Martin withdrew to the Hertfordshire countryside to write new material, while Andy opened a restaurant called Gascogne's in St. John's Wood, London. Dave however had made a conscious decision that would effect him and the very future of Depeche Mode.
He now admits to having been a recreational drug user and drinker since about the age of twelve, stealing barbiturates that his mother had been prescribed for epilepsy. He was soon dabbling with hash, cocaine and speed. "A gang of us would go out together and buy a big bag of amphetamines," he admits. "We'd go to a party or club in London and catch the milk train home." But during the `World Violation Tour', he deliberately set about transforming himself into the rock god of his most garish fantasies. Teresa Conroy, who had previously been the publicist on the band’s 1988 American tour, introduced him to the heroin scene. He waved good-bye to his clean-cut image, growing shoulder length hair, a goatee beard, and adorning his body with tattoos; ten hours of pain went into the pair of wings across his shoulder blades.
To complete the picture, he divorced his childhood sweetheart Joanne, left his five year old son Jack, moved to Los Angeles, remarried to Teresa at the Graceland Chapel, Las Vegas and started a full-time drug addiction, in roughly that order. "My vision got cloudier and cloudier because of what I was putting into my body," he admitted to Q Magazine.
When Martin sent him a tape of new songs which he had been working on, Dave was already seriously considering leaving Depeche Mode. He had become interested in grunge and the fusion of metal and hip hop that Rage Against The Machine produced. Fortunately, he loved Martin's new material and flew to a privately rented villa in Madrid, Spain, where the band had set up their own recording studio.
Dave remembers the moment when the rest of the band members saw him for the first time in several months. "I'd changed, but I didn't really understand it until I came face to face with Al and Mart and Fletch. The looks on their faces battered me." For the first time in their long career, the four found that they couldn't work together. Dave confessed, "It was hard for them to even want to be in the same room with me sometimes. There were a lot of arguments." And so they took another break and got together again at the Chateau Du Pape residential studio in Hamburg. The initial shock had worn off and they began work in earnest.
The first single; I Feel You, was released on 15th February 1993, going straight into the upper reaches of the music charts in over a dozen countries world-wide, and reaching number 1 in six countries including Italy, Spain and Austria. The video was also nominated by MTV's annual Music Awards for the Alternative Video Of The Year.
Dave's strongest vocal performances to date could be heard all over the album. Andy remembers, "Dave would come forward on a real burst of energy, do a vocal, then disappear to his room for a couple of days. It was a bit odd." True understatement. On this album they employed backing vocalists and outside musicians for the first time; a full orchestra being used on the track One Caress. Martin also played far more guitar than ever before. "Our 'rock' album," as Martin Gore describes it. The end result; Songs Of Faith And Devotion, was released worldwide on 22nd March and flew straight to the top of the album charts in seventeen countries, debuting at number 1 in both the UK and US. It was a remarkable achievement for any album to obtain such a double, especially from a band that had not released any new material for so long.
Meanwhile, Dave still continued with his self-destructive habit, although it was Andy who came apart first. He had always been the backbone of the band, the one who held its component parts together, dealing with the day-to-day running. With the strain that Dave's new lifestyle was placing upon everyone, Andy was the one to feel it first. He had a nervous breakdown and had to be hospitalized to recover. But he discharged himself too soon because the tour was about to begin. He would live to regret his haste. It would be an extensive fourteen months on the road and would take them across the globe twice, playing to a total of over two million people. They took a therapist and a drug dealer with them, although they dispensed with the therapist after only six weeks. "It didn't really work because, although Fletch saw him occasionally, the rest of us never did," Martin said later.
The first half was simply called the `Devotional Tour', and would play to audiences throughout Europe and North America. The next leg, called `The Exotic Tour' would begin in early 1994, and take the band to far off places like South Africa, Australia and South America. Returning to the US in May 1994, the final leg would be called `USA `94'.
First though, the second single; Walking In My Shoes, was released on 26th April, less than a month before the tour was due to commence, and achieved a number 14 on the UK chart. So off they flew to Lille, France on 19th May to begin the first leg of the tour. It continued throughout Europe and culminated in a sold-out show at The Crystal Palace Sports Arena, London, in front of 35,000 people. Then they were off to North America, where they played over fifty performances in less than three months. The grand finale to this leg was a sold-out five-night stint at the Los Angeles Forum.
"Remember New Orleans?," reminisced Dave in a recent interview for Q magazine. "At the end of the gig I couldn't go back for the encore. Mart had to do a song solo while the paramedics rushed me off to hospital. I'd overdosed; I'd had a heart attack. Next day we didn't even think any more about it."
The rifts in the band worsened. Three limousines were used on the tour: Dave rode in one, the increasingly disgruntled Alan in another, and Martin and Andy and members of the crew crammed into the third. Separate dressing rooms were also used. Dave's was a candlelit dungeon, from where his drug-blasted body would be carried after the gigs, to be deposited in the correct hotel room.
Condemnation, released on 13th September, was the third single from the album and included a version of the haunting ballad Death's Door, which Martin had written in 1991 for Wim Wender's film Until The End Of The World. The CD also featured remixes of Rush, which had become a real favourite at their concerts. It reached number 9 in the UK.
A live video; Devotional, directed by Anton Corbijn, was shot during shows in Lieven, Barcelona and Budapest for a later release date in December. This film captured Depeche Mode at their finest during the tour, as the band was finishing the North American leg in Mexico City, before returning to the UK for shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and London.
But it would only be a few weeks before the band were off again, this time to South Africa, playing seven nights in Johannesburg, two in Cape Town and two in Durban. Then it was on to Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Manila, Hawaii and South America.
As the plane touched-down in Hawaii however, Andy's previous mental problems reached breaking point. Alan and Dave approached Martin to demand his early departure.
"It was very difficult," mused Martin. "Andy's been my closest friend since we were twelve. But, for the others, he'd become unbearable." For Andy, the stress of touring and all that went with it had manifested itself into worries about his bodily health. "This sounds terrible," he later explained, "but I thought I had a brain tumor. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think, this headache wouldn't go away. I had tests. It wasn't a brain tumor, it was a breakdown." He left the tour with still four months to run and flew back to England. He was replaced on keyboards by the bands personal adviser Daryl Bamonte.
The 6th December 1993 saw the release both of the film Devotional, shot earlier that year, and also another album titled Songs Of Faith And Devotion Live, consisting of the same tracks as the studio album, in the same order, recorded live during the first leg of the tour. It reached number 46 in the UK, being considered as more of a Christmas present to the fans, rather than a serious album release. In Your Room, the fourth and final single from the album was released on 10th January 1994, climbing to 8 on the UK chart, and the whole Songs Of Faith And Devotion era closed with the final concert performance on 8th July in Indianapolis, USA.
At last they could rest. It had been a hard and extremely difficult time for each band member. Andy spent four weeks in hospital recovering from his breakdown, Alan was nursing gallstones, and Martin had started to have seizures and panic attacks brought on by the stress, lack of sleep and alcohol. But these problems paled when compared to Dave's continuing drug dependency, a dependency that would eventually lead to his death.

Staring Down The Barrel Of A Gun

Shortly after the end of the tour, Dave went to visit his doctor. He had two broken ribs and internal hemorrhaging, after diving into the crowd at a gig in Indiana, landing on a crash barrier. The doctor was also worried about his weight. Battle scars aside, heweighed little more than 100 pounds (about 7 stones). He was advised to see a psychiatrist, advice that he ignored, choosing instead to go to the Lake Tahoe Rehabilitation Centre with his wife Teresa.
"I was fried," he confessed. "Completely fried."
He returned to Los Angeles and continued to struggle with his addiction. He tried another rehab in Tucson, Arizona - it failed as well. "My daily routine was finding, getting, and using."
Then in June 1995, Alan met with Andy and Martin in London to inform them that he was leaving Depeche Mode. A quote from his press statement reads: "Whilst I believe that the calibre of our musical output has improved, the quality of our association has deteriorated to the point where I no longer feel that the end justifies the means. I have no wish to cast aspersions on any individual; suffice to say that relations have become seriously strained, increasingly frustrating and, ultimately, in certain situations, intolerable. Given these circumstances, I have no option but to leave the group." Alan also sent a fax to Dave in Los Angeles to inform him of his decision. He received no answer.
Dave was otherwise engaged, hell-bent on self destruction. In August of that same year, he returned from yet another failed detox programme to discover he had been burgled. Everything was gone; his two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, his home recording studio, some material he had been working on, even the cutlery. "There was nothing left," he said. "Just wires hanging out of the wall. The police were convinced it was my wife, because we'd separated." Dave sold the house and rented an apartment in Santa Monica. But despite his new home, he started to spend a lot of time at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles.
It was from his room in the hotel on 17th August 1995 that he spoke to his mother in England. He was waiting for a friend who had been accompanying him to rehab meetings, to return to the hotel. But he wasn't really sure if he wanted her to return after all. He'd swallowed a number of Valium tablets, which he's washed down with a bottle of wine, and he couldn't think clearly. He asked his mum to hang on a moment while he went to the bathroom. Once there, he slashed his wrists with a razor blade and wrapped towels around them, before returning to the phone. "Mum," he told her, "I've got to go, I love you very much." "It was definitely a suicide attempt," he later admitted. "But it was also a cry for help. I made sure there were people who might find me." The friend arrived and immediately called an ambulance. He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai hospital and was arrested for attempted suicide (a felony in California).
Once released from the hospital, he retreated to his Santa Monica apartment, locking all the doors and taping up the curtains. He felt a prisoner in his own darkened prison, only leaving it to get the next fix. He started carrying a gun wherever he went. "I just thought they were out to get me."
Then in April 1996, the remaining band members Martin and Andy, together with Jonathan Kessler, Daniel Miller and their new producer for the next album project, Tim Simenon, arrived in New York. Dave flew in from Los Angeles to complete eight vocal tracks. However, his voice was so shattered from drug abuse, that he managed only one. "And that," confided Andy, "was probably luck." Emergency crisis meetings were held and an ultimatum was given to Dave: he had to sort himself out. This time for good. "They were nervous and scared," he revealed to Arena magazine. "I was a chronic relapser. I was destroying everything. My life and theirs."
The recording sessions were completed in mid-May and for the last two weeks in New York, he was drug free, but it wouldn't last. As soon as he returned to Los Angeles, he used like he'd never used before. "I went mental." That was when Dave Gahan pushed it too far.
It was 1 am on 28th May 1996, and Dave was sitting in his hotel bathroom at the Sunset Marquis hotel. The drug dealer had just filled a syringe with speedball; a blend of cocaine and heroin, and handed it to the singer. Outside, a girl Dave had just met in the hotel was waiting for him, oblivious to what was going on. Dave injected the cocktail of drugs into his arm and immediately knew that something was wrong. Very wrong. He passed out and began to have a heart attack. The drug dealer tried to revive him, and failing that, dragged him back into the bedroom. The girl screamed and picked up the phone. The dealer, fearing for his own safety, prevented her from completing the call. They struggled and he ran. She then called for an ambulance before splashing water on Dave's face in an attempt to bring him around. When the paramedics arrived at 1.15 am, Dave was immediately rushed to Cedars-Sinai hospital where his heart stopped for two minutes, before he was revived. He had been clinically dead.
He was arrested for possession of cocaine and being under the influence of heroin, and after his release by the hospital at dawn, was immediately taken into custody by the LA Sheriff's Dept. He was released on $10,000 bail and used the cameras that greeted him at the gates to apologize to his mother.
"After that big overdose, the paramedics told me that I should have been dead," he conceded. "They said that I had enough heroin and cocaine in me to kill a horse." Not that it deterred him from using again. He returned to the hotel and continued injecting heroin for another couple of weeks. But by now it wasn't having any effect on him, no high, nothing. Then Jonathan Kessler phoned him and told him he had to attend a meeting with his lawyer concerning the arrest. The meeting was bogus. In fact he arrived to find Kessler with Bob Timmons, a professional `intervention specialist', who worked with addicts in the entertainment business. They told him that he was being taken into rehab straight away.
He pleaded for time. "All right, tomorrow," he said, "thinking I could go home and cook up before I went." They were insistent. "A couple of hours, I need to call my mum." Eventually they relented and Jonathan arranged to collect Dave later. "So I went home, did my last deal, had my last little party and checked into the rehab."
It was hard. The Exodus Recovery Centre in Marina Del Ray, Los Angeles was more like a maximum-security prison. But that was just the sort of close monitoring and supervision that Dave needed to help him kick the habit. He would meet with his counselor and recovery group every day, and whilst he was in withdrawal, he would have seizures almost every hour. But he's clean now. No heroin, no dope, no pills, no alcohol, absolutely nothing. He took his martyr role to a literal extreme and was lucky to come out of it alive. "If God were handing out drugs and alcohol," he muses, "I had my share and I'm done." As if to announce a rebirth, or perhaps a reawakening, Barrel Of A Gun was released on 3rd February 1997, reaching a very respectable number 4 in the UK chart. Commenting on it, Dave said "It's about understanding that you don't necessarily fit into somebody else's scheme of things. You can have slight diversions from your path, but I think there is something that is written for us, that is meant to be."
Following the success of Barrel Of A Gun, It's No Good was released on 31st March and climbed to the number 5 spot. The long awaited album, Ultra, wasn't very far behind it, greeting the world on 14th April, and, like the previous studio album, it too attained the number one spot in the UK. When asked if the recent troubles in the band had in anyway inspired the albums content, Martin explained, "I believe you are fatally inspired by all that's around, taking elements from your immediate environment. Although, I don't think that this album is marked by a depressive spirit. There is actually a positive note. I don't think that the events from past years have had a net influence."
Home, another ballad with Martin on vocals, was the next single released, hitting the shelves on 16th June, but not in the US. It was a favourite track with Depeche Mode's UK record company, but only managed to get to number 23. It was this apparent lack of success that made Depeche Mode's American record company; Sire, cancel its release State-side. The fourth and final release off Ultra was Useless, on 20th October 1997. It reached 28. And to satisfy the bands American fans, the single was packaged together with Home for the US market, enhanced with Quicktime videos of all four released singles.
So there we have it. An album that some thought wouldn't happen, a career that's been filled with many highs but some awful lows. Where do the boys from Basildon go from here? Well, the next single, titled Only When I lose Myself is due for release in the Summer of 1998 together with a greatest hits album, a tour is also planned in support of it.
What more is there to say? Very little, but I feel it only fair to leave the last word for Dave.
"Depeche Mode is Martin's songs and my voice. The music is very much head music and then I bring the heartbeat. I love to sing the songs, I shall miss it when it's not there anymore."