Depeche Mode tease announcement for next week
Depeche Mode are teasing something new for next week.
- READ MORE: Forget the singer – take a moment to appreciate your favourite band’s secret weapons
The surviving members of the band posted a photo of a studio on Instagram this evening (September 27) with the date: 4.10.22.
It is unclear what the announcement will be at this stage but singer Dave Gahan and the band’s main songwriter Martin Gore were recently pictured in the studio working on new music.
“Finding stability in what we know and love, and focusing on what gives life meaning and purpose,” they wrote at the time.
View this post on InstagramThat photo was shared just months after founding member and keyboardist Andy Fletcher died aged 60.
Fletcher was a member of the beloved synth-pop group for more than four decades since the release of their debut album ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. That album included chart-topping hits including ‘Dreaming Of Me’, ‘New Life’ and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The band had their first international hit in 1984 with ‘People Are People’.
Speaking about the future of Depeche Mode to NME last year prior to Fletcher’s death, Gahan hinted that the band would get back in the studio in 2022.
He said: “There’s a tonne of stuff that we’ve done with Depeche Mode that I’m really proud of. I think that’s come with time and age. Martin put out a record last year which I really liked. I actually bought a copy because it wouldn’t feel right otherwise.
Advertisement“I know he’s been pottering away in his studio as well, so I guess at some point next year we’ll get together. Hopefully at least to just have a chat about what we both feel like we could move forward with.”
Surviving members of Depeche Mode share new photo from the studio
Surviving members of Depeche Mode have shared a new photo of the band recording in the studio.
- READ MORE: Forget the singer – take a moment to appreciate your favourite band’s secret weapons
Frontman Dave Gahan and the band’s main songwriter Martin Gore took to Instagram to upload the pic alongside the caption: “Finding stability in what we know and love, and focusing on what gives life meaning and purpose.”
The photo was shared just months after founding member and keyboardist, Andy Fletcher died, aged 60.
AdvertisementFletcher was a member of the beloved synth-pop group for more than four decades since the release of their debut album ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. The album included chart-topping hits, such as ‘Dreaming Of Me’ ‘New Life’ and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The band had their first international hit in 1984 with ‘People Are People’.
View this post on InstagramThe band recently thanked their fans and friends for the “outpouring of love” following his death.
“We wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the outpouring of love for Andy that we’ve seen from all of you over the last few weeks,” they wrote on Instagram. “It’s incredible to see all of your photos, to read your words, and to see how much Andy meant to all of you.”
“As you can imagine, it’s been a strange, sad, disorienting few weeks for us here, to say the least,” they continued. “But we’ve seen and felt all of your love and support, and we know that Andy’s family has too.”
Speaking about the future of Depeche Mode to NME last year prior to Fletcher’s death, Gahan hinted that the band get back in the studio in 2022.
AdvertisementHe said: “There’s a tonne of stuff that we’ve done with Depeche Mode that I’m really proud of. I think that’s come with time and age. Martin put out a record last year which I really liked. I actually bought a copy because it wouldn’t feel right otherwise. I know he’s been pottering away in his studio as well, so I guess at some point next year we’ll get together. Hopefully at least to just have a chat about what we both feel like we could move forward with.”
Depeche Mode thank fans for “outpouring of love” following Andy Fletcher’s death
Depeche Mode have thanked their fans and friends for the “outpouring of love” they’ve showed following the death of Andy Fletcher last month.
- READ MORE: Forget the singer – take a moment to appreciate your favourite band’s secret weapons
“We wanted to take a moment and acknowledge the outpouring of love for Andy that we’ve seen from all of you over the last few weeks,” remaining members Martin Gore and Dave Gahan wrote on Instagram. “It’s incredible to see all of your photos, to read your words, and to see how much Andy meant to all of you.”
“As you can imagine, it’s been a strange, sad, disorienting few weeks for us here, to say the least,” they continued. “But we’ve seen and felt all of your love and support, and we know that Andy’s family has too.”
AdvertisementElsewhere in the post, the band revealed that Fletcher died of natural causes. “A couple weeks ago we received the result from the medical examiners, which Andy’s family asked us to share with you now. Andy suffered an aortic dissection while at home on May 26. So, even though it was far, far too soon, he passed naturally and without prolonged suffering.”
Depeche Mode then told fans about a “beautiful ceremony” held to celebrate Fletcher’s life which was attended by many of his friends and family and “our immediate DM family”.
“We had a celebration of Andy’s life in London last week, which was a beautiful ceremony and gathering with a few tears, but filled with the great memories of who Andy was, stories of all of our times together, and some good laughs,” they wrote. “Andy was celebrated in a room full of many of his friends and family, our immediate DM family, and so many people who have touched Andy’s and our lives throughout the years. All being together was a very special way to remember Andy and see him off.”
View this post on InstagramThey concluded: “So thank you for all of the love you’ve shown Andy and his family and friends over the last few weeks. It honestly means the world to all of us. Andy, you’ll be missed, but certainly not forgotten.”
Fletcher was a member of the beloved synth-pop group for more than four decades since the release of their debut album ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. The album included chart-topping hits, such as ‘Dreaming Of Me’ ‘New Life’ and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The band had their first international hit in 1984 with ‘People Are People’.
AdvertisementIn 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with longtime bandmates, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore and former members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder.
You can watch Los Angeles Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle pay tribute to Fletcher by playing a selection of the band’s hits here.
Los Angeles Dodgers organist pays tribute to Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher
Los Angeles Dodgers organist Dieter Ruehle paid tribute to Depeche Mode‘s Andy Fletcher on Monday (May 30) by playing a selection of the band’s hits.
During the Dodgers’ game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Ruehle played various organ renditions of Depeche Mode songs following news of Fletcher’s death on May 26.
- READ MORE: Forget the singer – take a moment to appreciate your favourite band’s secret weapons
“Never Let Me Down Again in tribute to Andy Fletcher,” Ruehle captioned video footage of him playing the fan favourite from their 1987 album ‘Music For The Masses’. The clip was shared via the Vintage Los Angeles Facebook page as well as Ruehle’s own Twitter account.
AdvertisementRuehle also played versions of ‘Strangelove’, ‘Master And Servant’, ‘Behind The Wheel’ and ‘Walking In My Shoes’ – check out the performance below, as well as a picture of himself with singer Martin Gore from 2017.
Never Let Me Down Again in tribute to Andy Fletcher. @depechemode #RIPFletch #FarewellFletch pic.twitter.com/5n1KFMz7Y9
— Dieter Ruehle (@DieterRuehle) May 31, 2022
View this post on Instagram“We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher,” Depeche Mode said in a statement last week.
“Fletch had a true heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh, or a cold pint. Our hearts are with his family, and we ask that you keep them in your thoughts and respect their privacy in this difficult time.”
No cause of death has been made public at this time. Fletcher was a member of the beloved synth-pop group for more than four decades since the release of their debut album ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. The album included chart-topping hits, such as ‘Dreaming Of Me’, ‘New Life’, and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The band had their first international hit in 1984 with ‘People Are People’.
AdvertisementIn 2020, he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame along with longtime bandmates Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, as well as former members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder.
Depeche Mode’s Andy Fletcher has died at the age of 60
Andy Fletcher, founding member and keyboardist of Depeche Mode has died aged, 60. No cause of death has been shared at this time.
“We are shocked and filled with overwhelming sadness with the untimely passing of our dear friend, family member, and bandmate Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher,” Depeche Mode said today (May 26) in a statement.
“Fletch had a true heart of gold and was always there when you needed support, a lively conversation, a good laugh, or a cold pint. Our hearts are with his family, and we ask that you keep them in your thoughts and respect their privacy in this difficult time.” No cause of death has been made public at this time.”
pic.twitter.com/RlB7QM6ckW
— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) May 26, 2022
Fletcher was a member of the beloved synth-pop group for more than four decades since the release of their debut album ‘Speak & Spell’ in 1981. The album included chart-topping hits, such as ‘Dreaming Of Me’ ‘New Life’ and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’. The band had their first international hit in 1984 with ‘People Are People’.
In 2020, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with longtime bandmates, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore and former members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder.
Many are sharing tributes online to the late keyboardist, with Roger O’Donnell of The Cure writing, “This is turning out to be a very bad day for Rock and Roll…. very very sad news.”
This is turning out to be a very bad day for Rock and Roll…. very very sad news
— Roger O'Donnell (@RogerODonnellX) May 26, 2022
“Gosh sad news for the mighty Depeche Mode,” Sister Bliss of Faithless said. “RIP Andy Fletcher keyboard warrior, gon way too soon.”
Gosh sad news for the mighty @depechemode RIP Andy Fletcher Keyboard warrior ? gone way too soon. #DepecheMode
— sister bliss (@thesisterbliss) May 26, 2022
“Very sad news today,” Lol Tolhurst wrote. “I knew Andy and considered him a friend. We crossed many of the same pathways as younger men. My heart goes out to his family, bandmates, and DM fans. RIP Fletch.” View more tributes below.
Very sad news today. Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has passed. I knew Andy and considered him a friend. We crossed many of the same pathways as younger men . My heart goes out to his family, bandmates, and DM fans. RIP Fletch.
— Lol Tolhurst (@LolTolhurst) May 26, 2022
We’re saddened and shocked that Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode has died. Fletch was a warm, friendly and funny person who loved electronic music and could also give sensible advice about the music business. pic.twitter.com/tOMQaeaFoc
— Pet Shop Boys (@petshopboys) May 26, 2022
I have just heard the news. Since we were 10. Same estate. Class mates to label mates. He who kept faith with all the old gang and they with him. It doesn’t compute. Fletch. I have no words. #andyfletcher
— Alison Moyet (@AlisonMoyet) May 26, 2022
? pic.twitter.com/7rRp1K5PKS
— Erasure (Official) (@erasureinfo) May 26, 2022
Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher, The Who, AC/DC, Depeche Mode donate to Teenage Cancer Trust auction
Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher, The Who, AC/DC, and Depeche Mode are among the more than 35 musicians supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust auction.
- READ MORE: Liam Gallagher live in London: one British institution meets another at Teenage Cancer Trust gig
The artists have donated items for the charity’s Star Boot Sale fundraiser, which started on April 29 and will continue for two weeks before ending on May 12. View more details and items for auction here.
Some of the goods up for grabs include flights to New York and a VIP experience at The Who’s Madison Square Garden gig, a Jake Bugg-signed Ibiza Rocks drumhead, a signed Depeche Mode Guitar, Noel Gallagher’s signed trainers, Stereophonics‘ signed drumsticks, an AC/DC-signed poster and rare guitar plectrums donated by Ed Sheeran.
Star Boot Sale is back ⭐ Don’t miss your chance to get your hands on some star-studded items from our amazing supporters!
This year we’ve got items from @edsheeran @TheWho @Vicky_McClure @paulwellerHQ and many more!
Take a look ?https://t.co/UhH0ee5l3v pic.twitter.com/q5Vtc3AALG— Teenage Cancer Trust (@TeenageCancer) April 29, 2022
AdvertisementTake That, Paul Weller, Jools Holland, and The Vaccines are also contributing to the auction.
“The last two years have been really tough for Teenage Cancer Trust and the young people we support,” Roger Daltrey, Teenage Cancer Trust Honorary Patron and Who frontman, said. “But the unconditional support myself and the charity have received from the music and entertainment industry throughout this time has been unwavering and I cannot thank them enough for that.”
- READ MORE: Teenage Cancer Trust gigs through the years
Daltrey continued: “It’s only because of this support that we were able to get back to the Royal Albert Hall for Teenage Cancer Gigs after a two-year hiatus last month. The Star Boot Sale is another brilliant way for people across music, film, television and sport to get behind the charity and make sure Teenage Cancer Trust can keep funding its specialist units and staff who offer world-class care and support.
“Some of the amazing headliners from our shows this year and previously have donated items, so it is a great chance to own a piece of unique entertainment history.”
Items are expected to sell from £10 to the thousands, though some select items will be in the £5-ticket raffle so everyone has a chance to bid on music memorabilia while supporting a good cause.
AdvertisementThis is the second year the sale has taken place, with its first year raising enough to fund a specialist cancer nurse for six months.
In March, The Cure, Johnny Marr, Blossoms and more contributed to a Teenage Cancer Trust co-produced book featuring 19 song lyrics performed on stage for the charity over the past 20 years. It included handwritten lyrics from Paul Weller, Noel Gallagher, Amy MacDonald, Suede and more.
Yungblud, Liam Gallagher and Sheeren were among the acts that performed at the Teenage Cancer Trust’s annual gig series at London’s Royal Albert Hall earlier this year.
Watch Dave Gahan showcase new solo material with Soulsavers and perform Depeche Mode classics
Dave Gahan & Soulsavers brought their new album ‘Imposter’ to London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire last night (December 7).
- READ MORE: Dave Gahan covers Cat Power, tells us about his “liberating” new album and the future of Depeche Mode
The Depeche Mode frontman and longtime collaborator Rich Machin were joined onstage by a full band and backing singers for the intimate show which saw the covers album performed in full from start to finish.
The performance featured the likes of Cat Power‘s ‘Metal Heart’, PJ Harvey‘s ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’ and Gwen McCrae’s cover of ‘Always On My Mind’, the latter of which you can view below.
AdvertisementBut the biggest cheer was reserved when Gahan performed Depeche Mode classic ‘Personal Jesus’ in the encore followed by ‘John The Revelator’, both of which you can also view below.
Here’s Dave Gahan performing ‘Always On My Mind’ @o2sbe pic.twitter.com/UagfeSUsLe
— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) December 8, 2021
The intimate performance followed Gahan & Soulsavers’ show at the London’s Coliseum earlier this week.
Speaking to NME about performing the record live earlier this year, Gahan said: “Performance is a huge part of me. “I hope that there are going to be some pretty unique performances of this record, certainly in London. We’re planning a few things at the moment and it looks like we might be able to do that bubble thing for six weeks and do some special stuff there.”
Advertisement“I want to do performances where it’s like ‘An Evening With Imposter’. I hope we can pull it off because I really think it will be something special.”
‘Imposter’ was recorded live as a 10-member band at the famed Shangri-La Recording Studio in Malibu, CA in November of 2019 and was released last month. It’s the third album from Dave Gahan & Soulsavers, following on from 2015’s ‘Angels & Ghosts’ and 2012’s ‘The Light The Dead See’.
Dave Gahan & Soulsavers played:
‘The Dark End Of The Street’
‘Strange Religion’
‘Lilac Wine’
‘I Held My Baby Last Night’
‘A Man Needs A Maid’
‘Metal Heart’
‘Shut Me Down’
‘Where My Love Lies Asleep’
‘Smile’
‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’
‘Not Dark Yet’
‘Always On My Mind’
‘Revival’
‘Personal Jesus’
‘Shine’
‘John The Revelator’
‘Take Me Back Home’Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on covering Metallica: “There’s a dark side to both our bands”
Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode has reflected on his experience coving Metallica for the latter’s recent ‘Blacklist’ album.
- READ MORE: Various Artists – ‘The Metallica Blacklist’ review: a sprawling tribute to ‘The Black Album’
Gahan was among the 53 artists who contributed covers of tracks from Metallica’s 1991 classic ‘The Black Album’ to celebrate its 30th anniversary. He was one of fourteen artists who delivered interpretations of ‘Nothing Else Matters’.
A recent edition of The Metallica Podcast featured a number of different artists who were included on the release. They discussed their approach to the process and their relationship with the metal band’s music.
Advertisement“We both have this following, we have these fans, people that, it’s part of their life, it’s everything, it’s memories, it brings them to a place of hope or something in the darkness. That’s where you find it,” Gahan said. “That’s what we both have in common, there’s a dark side to both our bands.”
This week’s episode goes behind the scenes of the #MetallicaBlacklist. Not just any covers album, it’s recorded proof of the power of The Black Album – featuring interpretations by 53 artists spanning genres, generations & the globe.
Listen/Follow: https://t.co/ZZkgdHkIi3 pic.twitter.com/sInPjmSSBY
— Metallica (@Metallica) October 1, 2021
The podcast also featured Kamasi Washington, who covered ‘My Friend Of Misery’.
“I don’t see the point in me just redoing what someone else has done, the only reason for that is if you think the person didn’t do it well already. It was already really great, so what I was thinking was how can i take the essence of what this is and try to pull something else from this essence,” he said.
Kirk Hammett said on the podcast: “Kamasi Washington’s version of ‘My Friend Of Misery’, when I heard that I was like, ‘Oh my god this is just incredible, this is what I’ve been waiting to hear, a full on hard-hitting jazz rendition of one of our songs.'”
AdvertisementThe rest of ‘Blacklist’ featured IDLES’ take on ‘The God That Failed, Rina Sawayama’s cover of ‘Enter Sandman’, Phoebe Bridgers‘ “baroque version” of ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and more.
In a three-star review, NME said: “With the help of a decent online support group, or a saint’s patience, you can pick out a fantastic tribute to one of metal’s sacred texts. Maybe even two.”
Listen to Fousheé’s cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’
Fousheé has covered Depeche Mode‘s song ‘Enjoy The Silence’ – you can her rendition of the band’s 1990 track below.
The rising LA-based artist’s cover of the song is currently soundtracking H&M’s new summer campaign, which Fousheé says is part of their “mission to inspire the world to silence the noise of negativity and opinions and embrace their power”.
- READ MORE: Fousheé: “Black women have been the workhorses of the music industry since time began”
Fousheé’s take on Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’, which originally featured on their seventh studio album ‘Violator’, was released overnight, and you can hear it in the below visualiser.
AdvertisementFousheé has also announced details of her debut project, ‘Time Machine’.
Set for release on June 4, the artist has described the record as “a time travel through memories, thoughts, emotions, experiences and what [she] sees for the prospective future”.
Speaking to NME last year about the project, Fousheé said: “Sound-wise, it’s a real alternative mixture: there’s some jazz in there, a lot of textured, airy vocals and re-imagined hip hop drums.
“I also collaborated with James Blake, who produced a song about my grandfather. It’s going to be dynamic.”
AdvertisementBack in January Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore spoke to NME about his five-track instrumental solo EP ‘The Third Chimpanzee’, as well as the band’s future plans.
“Even though the vaccine is being rolled out and the world will hopefully return to normal at some point this year, it’s still a little bit up in the air,” Gore said when asked about Depeche Mode’s possible next move.
“No one really knows when anything will be kind of normal, so we haven’t really planned or talked about anything. I’ve got a few things that I’ve written for the band, but I imagine we’ve got quite a few months to go until we’d even consider doing anything.”
Listen to Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’ in the style of Motörhead
A YouTuber has transformed Depeche Mode‘s ‘Personal Jesus’ into a Motörhead song – listen to it below.
- Read More: Depeche Mode’s 11 best songs
Denis Pauna’s creation, titled ‘What If Motörhead wrote Personal Jesus (by Depeche Mode)’, was shared on the video streaming platform late last month (January 28) and has since clocked up over 36,000 views.
The heavy riff rendition of Dave Gahan and co’s classic 1989 single was performed entirely by Pauna, who is seen singing, playing bass and shredding on guitar in the clip.
AdvertisementChannelling the late Lemmy, the mutton chop-donning musician screams the chorus in full-throttle metal mode. “The influences of [Motörhead] songs like ‘Born To Raise Hell’ and ‘Built For Speed’ can be heard,” he wrote in the description.
“This is bloody epic man, seriously,” said one viewer in the comments section. Another wrote: “Moustache + “reach out and touch faith”. Liked immediately!”
Fans of Denis Pauna’s work can also find a “southern metal” spin on Metallica‘s ‘Enter Sandman’ and Nirvana‘s ‘Come As You Are’ in the style of Type O Negative among many other mashup’s and performances here.
Meanwhile, Motörhead’s classic record ‘Ace Of Spades’ has been given the Funko Pop! treatment as part of the collectables company’s new Albums series. Released back in 1980, the band’s fourth studio effort celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore released his new instrumental solo EP, ‘The Third Chimpanzee’, last month. “As a solo artist, I’ve never put anything out like this. It has got some kind of primal power,” he told NME of ‘Howler’, the project’s first track.
Listen to Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore’s new solo track ‘Howler’
Depeche Mode‘s Martin Gore has shared his latest new solo track ‘Howler’ – you can hear the song below.
The new song is taken from Gore’s upcoming five-track instrumental EP ‘The Third Chimpanzee’, which is set for release on January 29. The record follows on from his 2015 instrumental album ‘MG’.
- READ MORE: Depeche Mode’s 11 best songs
Speaking about ‘Howler’, Gore – who is a co-founder of Depeche Mode – said in a statement: “‘Howler’ was the first track I recorded for ‘The Third Chimpanzee’ EP. I resynthesized some vocals that almost sounded human, but not quite.
Advertisement“That’s why I decided to name the track after a monkey. I thought that would be a good theme to carry on with the rest of the tracks.”
You can hear Martin Gore’s ‘Howler’ in the above video.
Written and produced by Gore in 2020, the ‘Third Chimpanzee’ EP was recorded at Electric Ladyboy in Santa Barbara, California. You can see the tracklist for the EP below.
1. Howler
2. Mandrill
3. Capuchin
4. Vervet
5. Howler’s EndYou can pre-order Martin Gore’s ‘The Third Chimpanzee’ EP here.
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Back in November Depeche Mode were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with actress Charlize Theron speaking in praise of the band to mark the honour.
Speaking about their induction, frontman Dave Gahan said: “Growing up, listening to music on the radio and having music, it really kind of helped us to feel normal, feel part of something.
“That’s what music does for people and I think that’s what Depeche Mode has done for many people. I think music really brings people together, and God knows we need that more today than it seems any other time.”
Charlize Theron calls Depeche Mode “the soundtrack to my life” as she inducts the band into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Charlize Theron inducted Depeche Mode into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night (November 7), calling the band “the soundtrack to my life”.
The evening also saw Iggy Pop induct Nine Inch Nails into the Class of 2020, as well as a tribute to T-Rex’s Marc Bolan from Ringo Starr.
- READ MORE: Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on new Humanist collaboration and his 2020 plans
“Depeche Mode is the soundtrack of my adolescence,” Theron said during her induction speech. “I’m not kidding — there was literally a song for every occasion of my life: my first date, my first time leaving South Africa, and of course the first time I got my heart broken.
Advertisement“And so when I finally got to see them live a couple of years ago, it was like this epic slap in the face of nostalgia. But more than that, when I was at the show I realized what else I loved about their music: They celebrate the outsider. Their music brings people together from all different walks of life and makes them feel like it’s OK to be different.
“That really hit me watching the videos at the concert. I was moved to tears. I came home, I told my daughters about it, and I was also really fucking pissed because I don’t usually go to rock concerts to bawl my eyes out.”
She added: “But truthfully, it speaks to the immense power Depeche Mode has had over the years. It also why, when I got the chance to pick some songs for the ‘Atomic Blonde’ soundtrack, they were the first on my list.
“It’s no surprise they are joining the ranks of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — they should have been there 20 years ago, if it was up to me. But what an incredibly well-deserved honor. Thank you, guys, for being the soundtrack to my life.”
AdvertisementIn their own acceptance speech at last night’s ceremony, the band all gave thanks for the award. Frontman Dave Gahan said: “You know, growing up, listening to music on the radio and having music, it really kind of helped us to feel normal, feel part of something.
“That’s what music does for people and I think that’s what Depeche Mode has done for many people. I think music really brings people together, and God knows we need that more today than it seems any other time.”
AdvertisementWatch Depeche Mode’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech
Depeche Mode were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame overnight, with the legendary electronic trio accepting the award remotely.
The band were inducted by Charlize Theron, and honoured by the likes of Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler and Chvrches‘ Lauren Mayberry.
Founding members Dave Gahan, Andrew Fletcher and Martin Gore shared a pre-recorded acceptance speech from their respective homes. Watch it below:
Advertisement“Congratulations to all our fellow inductees. It’s incredible now to be in this club. There’s so many other musicians, artists that are a part of this that we have grown up listening to. David Bowie, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the Clash, just to name a few,” Gahan said during the speech.
“You know, growing up, listening to music on the radio and having music, it really kind of helped us to feel normal, feel part of something.
“That’s what music does for people and I think that’s what Depeche Mode has done for many people. I think music really brings people together, and God knows we need that more today than it seems any other time.”
The band also acknowledged former members Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder, calling them “part of the DM family and the DM history and the success of this band”.
- READ MORE: Anton Corbijn on his new Depeche Mode film – “They’re the biggest cult band in the world”
Other people the trio thanked included creative director Anton Corbijn – who they credited with “[making] us look cool” – along with Mute Records’ Daniel Miller, manager Jonathan Kessler and longtime touring members Christian Eigner and Peter Gordeno.
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was postponed back in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. A virtual ceremony instead took place, broadcast over HBO Max.
Other artists that were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year included Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., Nine Inch Nails, T. Rex and The Doobie Brothers.
Synth pop legends unite as Erasure’s Vince Clarke, Blancmange’s Neil Arthur and Benge form Doublespeak to cover classic and cult songs
Erasure’s Vince Clarke, Blancmange’s Neil Arthur and electronic producer Benge have joined forces to form new band Doublespeak to cover classic and cult songs.
The roots of the new synth pop supergroup group stem back to 2017, when Arthur – who had already recorded a track for Vince Clarke’s project, The Assembly – suggested that the two join forces to put a unique spin on some of their favourite songs from the past four decades.
They then brought Benge into the line-up, following him collaborating with Arthur on the Fader project and also working with the musician by co-producing six Blancmange albums.
They are set to release their self-titled debut album – which sees them reimagine a selection of classic and cult songs with a new analogue electronica feel – on May 29.Visit here to pre-order.
Described by the trio as a shadow autobiography of their own musical education, songs on the 11-track album include tracks from post0punk bands like Fad Gadget, The Sound, and Young Marble Giants, as well as iconic pop artists like ABBA, David Essex, and Carpenters.
The album also includes a selection of lesser-known tracks from the 1990s onwards, including songs by The Magnetic Fields, Ed Dowie, Laptop and more.
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“What’s really stood out for us on this journey is how good these songs are. It’s from doing your own version that you realise what incredible pieces of work they are,” Arthur shared, while Benge added: “For me it was the excitement of hearing these great songs re-synthesized into new forms in the studio. It was such an honour to be part of it.”
Clarke went on to say that the new project allowed him to discover new music, sharing: “I knew so little about some of these songs that they were like demos to me. They felt like brilliant new songs that you want to get your hands on. I’ve had people do cover versions of my songs and honestly there’s no better tribute. So that’s what we wanted to do here.”
Today (Wednesday March 25), Doublespeak have shared the first taster of the record, releasing their take on Fad Gadget’s ‘Back To The Nature’ – a 1979 song which was the second to be shared by Mute Records, after founder Daniel Miller’s first single as The Normal.
The ‘Doublespeak’ tracklist is:
‘Back To Nature’ (originally by Fad Gadget)
‘Brand – New – Life’ (Young Marble Giants)
‘The Visitors’ (ABBA)
‘I Can’t Escape Myself’ (The Sound)
‘Goodbye To Love’ (The Carpenters)
‘Rock On’ (David Essex)
‘Smoke And Mirrors’ (The Magnetic Fields)
‘Day Breaks, Night Heals’ (Thomas Leer and Robert Rental)
‘Gentle On My Mind’ (John Hartford)
‘Richard!’ (Ed Dowie)
‘End Credits’ (Laptop)
For Neil Arthur, the news of the project comes after the death of keyboardist and founding Blancmange member, Stephen Luscombe, who passed away in September, aged 70. The news was confirmed by Arthur on social media, who shared a post which read: “Heartbroken. RIP Stephen. Love you forever.”
As for Clarke, the artist has also been a part of Yazoo and Depeche Mode, and shared his debut solo album ‘Songs Of Silence’ at the end of 2023. Before then, he revealed that he discovered his love for synthesisers when working alongside OMD, who shared a remix of the song ‘Almost’.
Olivia Rodrigo says “experimental” new album is full of “sad love songs”
Olivia Rodrigo has teased that her “experimental” new album will be full of “sad love songs”.
Speculation has been mounting this week that the singer is gearing up to release new music, with cryptic pink album teasers having been discovered by fans in Los Angeles and London.
Rodrigo released her last album ‘Guts’ in 2023, itself the follow-up to her critically acclaimed breakthrough record ‘Sour’ two years earlier. Since then, she has played countless huge headline shows, including her Pyramid Stage headline set at Glastonbury 2025, where she brought out The Cure’s Robert Smith as a special guest.
The singer has now been interviewed in the new edition of British Vogue, with the feature describing what they have heard of the new record as Rodrigo at her “most experimental”, with one track being labelled as “smooth, trippy soft rock”.
Rodrigo herself told the publication that the album consists of “sad love songs”, adding: “I realised all my favourite romantic love songs were beautiful because they had a tinge of fear or yearning in them.”
“I’ve found a lot of inspiration from being in London,” she added. “I’ve spent so much time here over the course of making this album. It has a lot of songs that are London vibes, about experiences that I’ve had here.
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“It was a creative challenge to write from a joyful place. When you’re experiencing that you’re connected to someone, or feeling really good, you’re not in your head thinking about bittersweet poems!”
Part of the reason for Rodrigo’s extended stays in London can be attributed to her relationship with the British actor Louis Partridge, known for House Of Guinness and Enola Holmes.
Elsewhere in the British Vogue piece, Robert Smith opened up about his relationship with Rodrigo, revealing that he became a fan after hearing her breakout single ‘Drivers License’, and went on to buy both ‘Sour’ and ‘Guts’.
“Although most of the songs on those two albums are not really ‘aimed at my demographic’, they are all so good that it is hard not to fall in love with them,” Smith wrote in the piece.
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He went on to say that the two artists had remained friends since their live team-up at Glastonbury, and hinted at a potential upcoming collaboration.
“She calls me up quite a bit to talk about clothes and fashion – and we have enjoyed a couple of memorable nights in the studio together,” Smith continued. “I can’t wait to hear what she does next!”
Last year, Rodrigo released her live duets with Smith as part of her ‘Live From Glastonbury 2025’ album.
In addition to her love of The Cure, Rodrigo said in December that she has recently found inspiration from the likes of New Order and Joy Division, as well as The White Stripes and Bikini Kill.
Before then, she said in 2023 that she had been to watch The Cure and Depeche Mode live with her dad, and added that her parents were mainly into “grunge, rock and alternative” music when she was growing up, which rubbed off on her.
During a conversation with NME in 2021, Rodrigo said both her mother and father were “music heads” and had encouraged their daughter’s artistic endeavours from an early age.
“I love pop-punk music; I love grunge music; I love country music and folk music,” she explained at the time. “I think, honestly, you can see little influences of all of those genres in my [debut] album [‘Sour’].”
Matt Helders on Arctic Monkeys coming together for ‘Opening Night’: “We had the itch to do something together again”
Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders has opened up about the band’s new song ‘Opening Night‘, and coming back together for the indie all-star new War Child charity album ‘Help(2)’.
The Sheffield indie veterans returned yesterday (Thursday January 22) with the subtle and cinematic track, the first to be taken from War Child’s new charity compilation album ‘Help(2)‘.
Executive produced and helmed by longtime Monkeys collaborator James Ford, the record also features the likes of Damon Albarn, English Teacher, Young Fathers, Fontaines D.C., Geese frontman Cameron Winter, Depeche Mode, Foals, Olivia Rodrigo, Pulp, The Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg, and many more. Check out the full tracklist and release details here.
With this being the band’s first material since 2022’s ‘The Car‘, fans have been hoping that this was the start of the run-up to a new album from Arctic Monkeys; as well as speculating that this may be a swansong from them winding down. Speaking in a new interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Helders said that they wanted the focus of their return to be aimed towards the charity.
“We’re not looking for attention ever when we do stuff! It’s not the thing that we like about it,” he said. “This is a reason we’d do something. There’s always going to be talk about it like, ‘What does it mean for the band?’ We want it to just be for these people and for this.
“If people are talking about it then they’re talking about War Child, and that’s kind of the point in this. I think everyone involved feels like that a little bit.”
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The drummer continued: “People are going between album cycles, off tour, they’re not worried about that at the moment. Let’s just come together and do this. Everyone made time in their schedule to do it. For us, everyone can agree that this is a good cause. No one’s on the fence about whether we should help the kids or not. It’s a no-brainer for us.”
Helders spoke of how it was “a great time” for the band to reconvene, and that he enjoyed being able to “see everyone and to fall back into the roles that we’ve always had with each other, musically and personally.”
“Sometimes we might not see each other for six months, but when we do it’s like we were never apart,” he admitted. “That’s just how we are with people, with each other. It translates musically as well. We just had a couple of days doing this and it felt like nothing had happened; [that there was] no space between.”
Recalling his memories of the original and legendary ‘Help’ album being released in 1995 – featuring the likes of Oasis, Blur, Radiohead, Orbital, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, Sinéad O’Connor, Manic Street Preachers, The Boo Radleys and more – Helders said that there was no question as to whether the band would be involved in the follow-up, especially given their history with the charity (releasing a live album from Royal Albert Hall back in 2020 in aid of War Child) and with the project being led by Ford.
“Once we knew that it was happening and we knew that James Ford was steering the ship, he’s one of them people where everything he touches turns to gold,” said Helders. “He’s been involved in everything we’ve done in one way or another. It was a no-brainer for many reasons, number one being what it’s for and number two being the calibre of the people involved.”
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With War Child releases often featuring collaborations and covers – including Graham Coxon joining Olivia Rodrigo on a rendition of The Magnetic Fields’ ‘The Book of Love’, Fontaines D.C. lending their cover of Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’ and Depeche Mode’s take of Buffy Sainte-Marie ‘Universal Soldier’ all featuring on ‘Help(2)’ – Helders said that they worked with producer Loren Humphrey to put together elements of leftover ideas to form something new and original.
“One thought was, ‘Do you do a cover? Do you do a collaboration with someone else involved in it? We had the itch to do something together again,” said Helders. “We had ideas laying around from over the years that have never become stuff, so we went back to a few of those things to see if we had anything good enough for this. We decided to go with something new.”
The drummer, photographer and solo artists revealed how there were “parts” of the song “that I remember from us trying things in the past,” but that “it was something that was never completed”.
“It’s not another version of something we already did, but I just know that there are elements of it,” he went on. “As is quite often the case with us, there will be things that we kick around for a bit that aren’t ready yet or just didn’t make the cut at the time.
“There are parts of it I remember, but there’s obviously how our sound has changed over time and developed – and our ability. I always go back to the fact that there’s some of this stuff that we couldn’t have done like 10 or 15 years ago. We’re still getting better at doing stuff. All the harmonies, that’s obviously something later in our career, to be able to do something like that and pull it off.”
Helders didn’t say anything about the band recording or touring again, but he did open up about how it has “always been fun” to be back writing and recording with his childhood friend and frontman Alex Turner, and that he always takes pleasure in watching him work in the studio.
“There’s no requirement for me to stick around for those bits. Any other drummer knows that you can do your own thing and then get out of there if you want,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed that process of seeing it come to life. Adding the finishing touches is obviously him going in and doing his vocals. That’s when it’s under more of a microscope for me. There might have been things lyrically that I missed when we’re just rehearsing it and working it out. ”
“Seeing it in that way, it’s still as much fun as it was the first time.”
Today (Friday January 23) marks 20 years since the band released their seminal, debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’. Head here for Alex Turner recalling the creation of ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor‘ and here for Arctic Monkeys’ first ever NME interview from 2005.
Fans have been wondering what the future holds for Arctic Monkeys, ever since it was noticed the band had updated their website homepage and launched a new recording company back in September.
The follow month also saw Helders launch new project Terrific with debut single ‘WeHo yet?’, with fans expecting more new material soon.
‘Help(2)’ will be released on Friday March 6 via War Child Records and is available for pre-order here.
War Child orks to protect, educate, and support the mental health of children affected by war – and comes at a time of conflicts in Palestine, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and beyond.
The first ‘Help’ charity album raised over £1.25million and sold over 700,000 copies, and was followed by other charity records including 2002’s ‘1 Love’, 2003’s ‘Hope’, 2005’s ‘Help!: A Day in the Life’ and 2009’s ‘War Child Presents Heroes’. The original was reissued and made available on streaming platforms in 2020 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. In October last year, it was then reissued again, this time as a limited, numbered 7” single boxed set in celebration of it turning 30.
As well as releasing new music under War Child Records, BRITs Week 2026 will also be returning this year, and see big names play intimate gigs to help raise awareness and funds for the charity.
The shows take place in the run up to the BRIT Awards, and this year’s performers include Fatboy Slim, Myles Smith, Lambrini Girls and more. Visit here to sign up for any remaining tickets.
How David Bowie’s iconic ‘Heroes’ became the last song of the ‘Stranger Things’ finale
The creators of Stranger Things have revealed how the iconic David Bowie track ‘Heroes’ was chosen as the final song of the series.
The fifth and final season of the hit Netflix show was broadcast yesterday on New Years Day (Thursday January 1) and saw the heroic group of friends come together one last time, on the anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance, to battle Venca.
Season five was split into three volumes, with the first four episodes airing on November 27, and the remaining four episodes being broadcast across Boxing Day and New Years Day.
Alongside the star-studded cast, including Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, and Millie Bobby Brown, the series also came with an impressive soundtrack featuring ’80s hits from the likes of Kate Bush, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, ABBA and more.
During the ending credits though, it was the classic Bowie single ‘Heroes’ that was played as the final song of the entire series.
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Speaking to Netflix Tudum, show co-creator Ross Duffer revealed that the song was chosen after it was suggested by Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington on the show and also releases music under the alias Djo.
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“Once Joe said that, we immediately knew that was the right song to end the show on because it is, in some ways, an anthem for Stranger Things,” he said. “To use the original Bowie version just felt right and fitting for the conclusion.”
The track instantly became one of the music icon’s signature songs after being released on the 1977 album of the same name. It is believed to have been inspired by an embrace under the Berlin Wall that Bowie witnessed, and recorded at the Hansa Studios in West Berlin, just 150metres away from the Berlin Wall.
Co-written with Brian Eno, Bowie sang the song in English, German, and French, and it has since been covered by artists including Lady Gaga, Oasis, Depeche Mode, Yungblud, David Byrne and many more.
In 1987, Bowie famously played the song live near the border as part of a series of shows at the Reichstag, and many residents of East Berlin gathered to listen and sparked chants for the fall of the Berlin wall. Bowie would later recall how many people showed up to listen to the performance, and said that it felt “like a double concert where the wall was the division”.
“We would hear them cheering and singing along from the other side. God, even now I get choked up. It was breaking my heart. I’d never done anything like that in my life, and I guess I never will again,” he explained to Bill DeMain in 2003 (via Performing Songwriter).
When Bowie died in 2016 following a battle with cancer, the German Foreign Office posted a live version of the song online and wrote: “Good-bye David Bowie. You are now among #Heroes. Thank you for helping bring down the #wall”.
In 2024, the inspiration behind the song was thrown into question when a documentary claimed that the lyrics were actually written by Bowie after spending a day in Berlin with his then-girlfriend Clare Shenstone.
Titled Bowie In Berlin, the show saw the model and actor – who was in a relationship with Bowie during the mid-70s – claim that the lyrics were written about “an extraordinary day” the two had in the German capital. She also shared that she told the music icon about a dream she had where she was swimming with dolphins; something she says inspired the line: “I wish you could swim/Like dolphins can swim”.
Another documentary about Bowie is set to air later this week too, and will centre around the final years of his life. Titled The Final Act, the show is set to be broadcast on Channel 4 on Sunday (January 4).
As for Stranger Things, the final episode of the series debuted to 59.6million views, which was a new record for an English-language title on Netflix.
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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, The Duffer Brothers addressed the ambiguity around the central character, Eleven, and the theory that she faked her own death to keep herself and her friends safe.
When asked if the character is alive at the end of the series, Ross Duffer responded: “I don’t know if we want to say. Obviously, we’ve had these conversations with Millie too, and we all have our own interpretations. I worry if I say it, it might take away. We really want the audience to take from it what they want.”
Not everyone was satisfied with the final season, however, with volume two’s conclusion having one of the worst fan ratings of the entire run.
In a four-star review of volume one, NME described the show as “the big, bold beginning of the end.”
“Perhaps inevitably, volume one feels a lot like an appetiser for the rest of the season” it read. “But even in piecemeal form, Stranger Things has a flair for epic and emotionally resonant storytelling. After all those years, this smart, big-hearted sci-fi show still has the power to turn your head upside down.”
Soft Cell: “I suppose you could say it was a strange career path. But there were some amusing moments…”
The Art Of Falling Apart
The Soft Cell story is one of wild, hedonistic success. Here, Marc Almond and Dave Ball confess all – about controversial performance art, New York’s depraved club scene, the perils of having hit records and their own eventual downfall. One bystander claims: “It was sex, drugs and electronic rock’n’roll!”
Originally published in Uncut 257 (October 2018).
“There was always a darkness around Soft Cell,” says Marc Almond, warming to the story of his band’s relentlessly perverse progress through the 1980s. “And that fuelled Dave’s darkness, and it fuelled my darknesses… Our whole career, really, the whole Soft Cell story, was just a miasma of darkness!”
But not today. It’s been quite a year for the man christened Peter Mark Sinclair Almond in Southport, 1957, and on this sunny midsummer morning in Mayfair he’s positively beaming. First, he was made one of the great unlikely OBEs of modern times in the New Year’s honours. Then, one of the badgers on Springwatch was named after him (“Of course, that’s the thing I’m proudest of,” he smiles), confirming his status as national treasure.
And now, 40 years after he first met Dave Ball at Leeds Poly, Soft Cell have announced a 10-disc career defining boxset – Keychains & Snowstorms – and a sold-out gig at the O2 at the end of September.
“We talked about doing the boxset and then I said, ‘Shall we do a one-off show?’” he explains, dressed as always, from dyed hair to pointed boots, in immaculate black. “I can’t do a tour. So let’s do one big show – but where? Someone suggested the Albert hall, but I said, ‘If we’re going to do it, let’s do it massively. So I said, ‘What about the O2?’ It sold out in a weekend! I don’t think we ever had that much faith in ourselves, to be very honest. I always imagined our fans were about 200 people in bedsits.”
Nursing a mid-afternoon whisky in a venerable Soho boozer, Dave Ball is still shocked. “I mean, bloody Nora!” he cackles, still a Blackpool boy after all these years of city life. “The last time I went to the O2 I saw U2! It’s such a massive place. It’s going to be terrifying! But I hear there’s a whole backstage recreational area they built for Michael Jackson in 2009 and it’s still there. I’m determined to have look round there.”
“We dealt in extremities”
After all this time, Soft Cell still feel like trespassers, an odd couple of arty, insecure, northern outsiders who walked through the wrong door one day in 1981 and wound up in 20th-century pop art legend. of all the schemers and dreamers who defined the golden age of British pop 1979 – 1982, Almond and Ball seem to exemplify more than anyone else the absurd, exhilarating possibilities of the times. “We dealt in extremities, really,” says Ball. “It was either ultra pop or very dark. It was a bit bipolar. We covered the whole range of human feeling… from a very twisted vantage point.”
The new boxset, which Ball has worked on for the past two years, and which diligently charts the career from Leeds Poly performance art, through sensational, accidental pop success, catastrophic hangover and on to the abortive early ’00s comeback, is subtitled The Soft Cell Story, as though it were some classically melodramatic MGM biopic. Who could possibly do justice to such a production? You imagine Fassbinder at his most lurid, working from a devilish script by Joe Orton, with assistance from Alan Bennett for the odd dollop of northern sauce.
“A film could be interesting,” admits Almond “but I don’t know who could do it. It’s such a mad story. We didn’t do anything the conventional way. The minute we got a big hit record with ‘Tainted Love’ was the beginning of the end of the band, really. That’s just how it was: it really was the art of falling apart.”
“It was the art of falling apart”
Even at the start, Soft Cell’s story was informed by a degree of drama. This was 1977, and Dave Ball, resplendent in Doc Martins and Levi’s, enrolled at Leeds Polytechnic. “It was my first day,” he remembers. “I was wandering around, looking for the art department. I saw this guy with short dyed-black hair, leopard skin top, gold lamé jeans and winklepickers. He was so obviously the perfect frontman.”
Initially, they came together when Almond heard the bleeps of Ball’s new Korg synth and fancied he’d found the soundtrack to his latest performance art piece (naked, smeared in cat food, draped in a swastika: the usual). They soon began writing songs and performing around Leeds, just as new romanticism hit the north. “We got lumped in with that, but we came out of more of a punk ethos,” says Ball. “Punk with synths.” rather than the Blitz kids, the nascent Soft Cell aspired to some of the Ballardian chic of the Sheffield scene – Clock DVA, Cabaret Voltaire, original human League, along with the industrial thrum of Throbbing Gristle, Pere Ubu and Suicide. “I was more into supermarkets and car crashes than bloody yachts in the Bahamas,” says Ball. “You can’t imagine Soft Cell doing a video on a yacht, can you? Maybe a sinking yacht.”
The Futurama 2 festival, which took place in Leeds in September 1980, was a turning point. on a bill that included Siouxsie & The Banshees, echo And The Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs and – naturally – Gary Glitter, the band played to over 2,000 people and earned an encore. Anni Hogan, who had just arrived in Leeds as student, and would go on to perform in Marc & The Mambas, was impressed. “There were a lot of bands playing, but it was Soft Cell who made the biggest impact on me,” she says.
“It was sex, drugs and electronic rock’n’roll!”
“I had seen them around town before – in my head I called them The Men In Black – but seeing them live… I thought the songs were incredible. The look was incredible. Eventually they had a room going in their house and I moved in. It was sex, drugs and electronic rock’n’roll!
“It was a very vibrant time in Leeds. Awful times in the country politically, but there was an amazing cultural backlash to that. I saw it all through Soft Cell’s eyes. I got a job working at the Amnesia club and eventually I was asked to book the bands. So of course I booked Soft Cell and they did ‘Tainted Love’ for the first time. I remember Stevo was there.”
So much of Soft Cell’s chaotic career path might be attributed to their choice of Stevo as a manager. In an era of magnificent mavericks, he might just have been the most wayward. “There was just something about him,” remembers Almond. “I remember meeting him for the first time: he had this grown-out human League haircut with all the roots showing and the remnants of two-day-old blusher on his face. I didn’t think of him as being like a 17-year-old. he was a barrow boy in a way, with the gift of the gab. he asked us to send him some music. So Dave borrowed some money from his mum and we made a little vinyl record, ‘Mutant Moments’.”
“We were getting coins chucked at us by Spandau Ballet and Visage”
Stevo included “The Girl With The Patent Leather Face” on a sampler for his fledgling label, the Some Bizzare Album, alongside tracks by The The, Blancmange and Depeche Mode. The duo were particularly impressed by the latter.
“We played with them in 1980 at Croc’s in Rayleigh,” remembers Almond. “They had all these beautifully prepared tracks, and they all looked fantastic. We, on the other hand, sounded awful.”
“We were getting coins chucked at us by Spandau Ballet and Visage,” laughs Ball. “They were shouting, ‘Get back up north!’ Rusty Egan told Stevo not to sign us. But you know, we were shit. It was a bit of a turning point for us. We knew we had to get it sounding better.”
The wheeling-dealing Stevo not only persuaded Phonogram to sign the pair as part of job lot with Nottingham new-wavers B-Movie – he also got Mute label boss Daniel Miller to produce “Memorabilia”. released in March 1981, the single turned around the band’s reputation.
“I didn’t think about trying to create a hit single”
It became a club hit – making an impression as far afield as New York – but it failed to chart. hoping to recoup some of their advance, Phonogram put the band in the studio with house producer Mike Thorne and, searching for something more commercial, struck on a cover version the pair had started performing live.
“We decided that we wanted to get a pop edge or rather a dance edge into our songs,” says Almond. “I was always DJing and Dave loved ’60s soul music. So we thought what about if we try a couple of cover versions in our set? The Human League had just done ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’, so Dave said, ‘Why don’t we do a northern Soul song?’ he played me ‘The night’ by Frankie Valli. I thought that could be good. And then he played me a song by Gloria Jones that just seemed perfect…”
Mike Thorne, a former tape operator for Deep Purple whose production credits included Wire’s first three albums, remembers the first time he worked with Almond and Ball. “Phonogram called me and said, ‘We have a couple of interesting projects for you, but there’s no money,’” he laughs. “They wanted me to do both B-Movie and Soft Cell’s second singles. I thought, ‘I can do two singles very quickly, one after another. But they’re just going to feel rushed.’ So I sent up the two singles in parallel. That might have made them feel like they were on a production line, but I was trying to give them space and perspective. It was exhausting for me – in the end we finished ‘Tainted Love’ at 2am.
“I didn’t think about trying to create a hit single, no matter what Phonogram wanted,” he insists. “I never think of any project with a brief. I had the arrogance to think I knew what worked. I’d been round the block several times.”
“All hell broke loose”
“When the white labels of ‘Tainted Love’ went out to DJs, the vibe in the clubs was good, but it just kept getting bigger,” remembers Ball. “And then when the record was actually released it went straight into the charts. We went to Phonogram’s office on Bond Street and there was this incredibly glamorous woman in an open-top Rolls Royce driving round playing ‘Tainted Love’ at full volume. It was a pretty good gimmick.”
The single entered the charts at No 62 in August 1981 and kept climbing. Eventually they were asked to appear on Top Of The Pops. It’s fair to say that neither the BBC nor Phonogram were quite prepared for Soft Cell’s debut on early-evening TV.
Inspired by a combination of 1920s socialite Nancy Cunard, existential pin-up Juliet Gréco and Siouxsie Sioux, Almond appeared draped in bracelets, blind with mascara, head to toe in black. “The record company just said, ‘You can’t go on dressed like that!’ It became a battle, really. ‘OK I will put on the biggest false eyelashes I possibly can’… ‘I will perform ‘Bedsitter’ in a leather cap I bought in a New York gay bar…’ It was gender-fluid playing before that was fashionable.” It was to go down as one of all-time great Top Of The Pops debuts.
“All hell broke loose,” laughs Almond. “People either wanted to murder me, mother me or fuck me. Or all three at the same time! It was scary but I felt really excited. It’s about creating a moment, like that David Bowie and Mick Ronson moment, or the first time you saw Alice Cooper. I thought, ‘Well yeah, that’s what I wanted to do at art college: create a moment.’”
“Hey have this, try this, do this…”
The moment led them all the way to New York to record their debut album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.
“I really think the worst thing the record company could have done to us at that point was sending us to New York,” says Almond matter-of-factly. “We were taken over first-class. I had hardly ever flown before, let alone been on a first-class flight. It was unbelievable. We got quite drunk. And then we had a limousine to take us into the city. And as we were driving, the first thing we heard on the radio was there’s this new disease been discovered, it didn’t have a name. But it had been affecting Haitians and gay men…
“The first night we were there, we were taken to what was left of Studio 54,” he continues. “Someone put downers in my drink. There were half-naked people gyrating on the bar: boys, girls. People were coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey have this, try this, do this…’
“I was out of it with jetlag, culture shock… The whole time there’s literally fire in the streets, you know, bins on fire. It was just like Taxi Driver! I sat on the curb and I just cried my eyes out. A stripper called Janet sat down with me and said, ‘Oh come with me, Marc, I’ll look after you.’ And so we went to an after-hours club, and that’s how it all started: the beginning of the end of Soft Cell! We hadn’t even recorded a note of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret yet!”
“There was a decadence”
“I don’t think it was quite the beginning of the end,” demurs Ball. “But there was a decadence. You could get any drug you wanted and any kind of sexual thing… everything was available. In the drug department we excelled. It was like a big version of Soho. I loved it! We used to hire a limo ’cos it was cheaper than getting cabs. We’d find a few of our lady friends and we had a stack of pills and cocaine and bottles of champagne. We’d drive round from club to club and we’d get in for free everywhere. It was actually quite a cheap night out!”
One of the colourful faces they met in New York was Cindy Ecstasy – the band’s sometime dealer who ended up singing on some of their greatest singles. “I think Marc and Stevo found her,” recalls Ball. “I remember them coming back to the apartment one night and saying, ‘We’ve got these capsules from Cindy, do you want one? It’s called ecstasy and it’s fucking amazing!’ It was actually legal then. So we went out and I took one and I had the most amazing night ever. They were only $6 each. I said, ‘Can I get 10?!’”
“We had two days to acclimatise before going into the studio,” remembers Almond. “And it was just all too much, you know? I remember Dave saying, ‘Oh great, this equipment is fantastic!’ I said, ‘You just get on with making the record and I’ll get on with having a good time. Just call me when you need to do need to the vocals!”
“You can’t make records on drugs”
“I didn’t anticipate how New York would affect them,” says Mike Thorne. “I knew they were keen to go there. I just wanted to make the record in the right circumstances, and they were delighted with the prospect. The only thing that would have stopped me taking them was if they hadn’t wanted to go.”
Fuelled by relentless hedonism and art-school impudence, the group embarked on one of the finest singles runs of the early ’80s, from the kitchen-sink psychosis of “Bedsitter” to the pink-flamingo romance of “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” and the magnificent melancholy of “Torch”.
“The first track we did in New York was ‘Bedsitter’, because the label needed a follow-up to ‘Tainted Love’,” remembers Ball. “In those days, you had to put the tapes on a plane to send back to the label. We got a phone call from London from [A&R] Roger Ames and he just said, ‘I don’t like it!’ We said, ‘Oh piss off!’ But it got to No 4! Then we released ‘Torch’, probably our best song, but we didn’t include it on an album. I suppose you could say it was a strange career path. But there were some amusing moments…”
It was an incredible, imperial period of sustained work by a band supposedly mainlining everything New York had to offer.
“You can’t make records on drugs”
“You can’t make records on drugs,” laughs Ball. “I’ve tried many, many times and failed miserably! Of course, we would party hard. We did a lot of ecstasy, but we also did a lot of acid. And a lot of coke… and speed. But coke was the only drug I did in the studio, if I was flagging. But we didn’t work long hours anyway. Start at 11 and finish at 6, which was good. It gave us more time to party.”
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret peaked at No 5 in the UK charts – alas, they were kept from rising higher by fellow synth champions The Human league (Dare) and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (Architecture And Morality). The Art Of Falling Apart – the follow-up to Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret – was recorded in the autumn of 1982, with Mike Thorne again producing in New York. Relations with Phonogram – which had begun to deteriorate – soon came to breaking point when the label insisted on promoting the single “Numbers” with a free copy of “Tainted Love”. The move so incensed Almond that he and Stevo raced to the Phonogram office, handcuffed a secretary to a radiator, threw a fire extinguisher through a plate glass door and smashed Status Quo’s gold discs.
“I can understand the label were a bit distressed,” admits Ball with wry understatement. “‘Numbers’ is not everyone’s idea of a pop single. A song about a book about a gay man having multiple partners. Especially at the beginning of the Aids epidemic. Probably not the best timing.” The promotional treadmill became intolerable, culminating in an absurd appearance on Tiswas, the Saturday-morning children’s TV show. There, Almond almost drowned in a paddling pool, sat upon by several members of the Welsh rugby team, surrounded by cheering school kids.
“We were both going through breakdowns”
“We were both going through mental breakdowns at this time,” admits Almond. “It was too much too soon, you know, doing two, then three albums in New York. Dave hated doing live stuff at that time. I was bored stiff in the studio. And we sat down, when we were recording The Last Night In Sodom, and I said, ‘I don’t really want to do this any more,’ and he said, ‘I don’t really want to do this any more either.’ I think we had a tour to do in America and everything, so we were just as anarchic as possible and it was just a shambles, as most Soft Cell live things ended up being.
“But we should have just taken a break, we should have not made it so dramatically The End. I should have done Marc & The Mambas, he could have done some things that he was doing. And we could have come back.”
Now, despite everything, 40 years on, the most perfectly perverse pop act of the 1980s is shaping up for the most unlikely of happy endings. “With Soft Cell, everything just seemed to go wrong, even when we came back in 2000, 2001,” reflects Almond. “But I think what we’ve done now is we’ve finally got rid of the poison. It just had to be me and Dave, together. I’m 60, heading on 61 now. I know I don’t have the same intensity, but I didn’t want Soft Cell to diminish. I wanted it go out in a big blaze of bright light. We get to do a great celebratory concert, maybe a couple of new tracks and just a new single to go with it and a great boxset. I think it’s a great way to keep the name burning bright.”
“It was like ‘Tainted Love’ being No 1 all over again!”
For Record Store Day this year, Soft Cell released new extended versions of “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” b/w “Youth”. Created by Ball using the original studio recordings, these ‘reimaginings’, were essentially Soft Cell’s first sign of renewed activity for a decade. The O2 show, meanwhile, presented a greater risk: “I like going out on those dangerous challenges,” laughs Almond. “Either it’s just 3,000 people down the front all having a great time, but it’s an absolute financial disaster. Or suddenly people who haven’t seen us in 17 years realise this is the last chance they’ll ever get to see Soft Cell on stage together.”
He likens the speed at which the show sold out as a “shock… It was like ‘Tainted Love’ being No 1 all over again!”
“You can look back at all those wrong decisions, but we still made something that worked out,” concludes Ball. “That’s what makes interesting bands, isn’t it? look at the great bands – not that I’m comparing us – like the Stones, how many fuck-ups have they had? The Soft Cell story is pretty classic. It’s almost Shakespearean, isn’t it?”
A lot of Shakespeare plays end up with everyone stabbing each other, piles of dead bodies and the stage awash with blood.
“Well,” he cackles, with that characteristic, darkly hilarious, northern Soft Cell laugh, “there’s still time for that.”
Tarric Confronts the Quiet Collapse on “Lying With You”
It’s easy to talk about love when everything is going right. Tarric ’s new single “Lying With You” is about what happens when it all quietly falls apart—and you stay anyway.
Built on glimmering synth textures and hollowed-out percussion, the track is emotionally raw but musically composed, like a breakup conversation in a perfectly curated gallery space. Tarric doesn’t scream through the pain—he whispers it with precision. “You make me say things I would not do / Cause I’ve been lying with you,” he sings, peeling back the layers of emotional self-distortion that creep into relationships like mold under wallpaper.
This isn’t a revenge song or a dramatic farewell. It’s a self-inventory. A reckoning.
That kind of maturity isn’t new to Tarric, but it’s more distilled than ever. While his debut album Lovesick danced through infatuation and its collapse, Method seems like the inevitable chapter two: disillusionment, clarity, survival. “Lying With You” sets that tone like a cracked mirror—beautiful, fractured, and reflective.
Raised on a diet of The Smiths and Depeche Mode in the American Midwest, Tarric’s taste for melodic melancholy has always been clear. But it’s his ability to adapt those influences into something relevant—and resonant—that sets him apart from his contemporaries. After moving to Los Angeles with barely enough to survive, he built his world from scratch: working behind the scenes at NBC and Fox by day, sculpting his sonic identity by night.
The visual strength of his work, evidenced in videos that landed on MTV, isn't just a bonus. It's a core part of the equation. Tarric makes music that feels like film—romantic, atmospheric, precise.
“Lying With You” carries all that cinematic weight, but without ever feeling overproduced. It feels lonely in the right ways. Uncomfortable in the real ways. And in a world of over-engineered indie pop, Tarric has carved out a lane where vulnerability is the flex.
Tarric Delves Into Emotions with New Single “You Were Gone”
Tarric navigates the complexities of emotional distance in his latest single, “You Were Gone“, from his upcoming album, Method. He draws inspiration from the ’80s new wave influences and modern sensibility. Tarric avoids dramatisation and invites listeners to study the feeling of loss. The track dives into the aftermath of relationships explored in his debut album, Lovesick.
Tarric‘s music resonates with the textures of ’80s new wave, reminiscent of bands like The Smiths and Depeche Mode, yet maintains a contemporary edge. He sharpens the sound for clarity, stripping away excessive sentimentality to ensure every element in the mix serves a purpose. In “Untied”, the production creates an atmospheric space, purposely panning the instruments and voice toward the centre to capture a feeling of insularity. As the chorus unfolds, the music broadens, panning to create a sense of space and freedom, enhanced by high-end frequencies like cymbals and synths.
Lyrically, “You Were Gone” centres on the realisation that a loved one has been emotionally absent longer than one is willing to admit. The refrain is less an accusation and more a surrender, conveying everything that matters without raising his voice. Tarric shares that Method documents his methods of dealing with emotional fallout, capturing a snapshot of that time in his life.
Tarric acknowledges the challenges of breaking through in today’s saturated music industry, where countless songs are released daily. He questions how artists can effectively share their music and connect with audiences in an environment dominated by algorithms and rapidly changing trends. Tarric emphasises the importance of lyrical depth and vulnerability in his songwriting, aiming to create music that resonates deeply with himself and his listeners.
Renowned Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco reveals leukaemia diagnosis
James Ford – the acclaimed producer behind the major of the Arctic Monkeys‘ discography and half of Simian Mobile Disco – has revealed he has leukaemia.
Ford took to his official Instagram to share a photo of a doctor holding a syringe connected to an IV. In the caption, the producer revealed that during Christmastime, he was feeling sickly and suspected that it was just a case of burnout leading up to the holiday.
“On Xmas Eve things took a turn for the worse,” he wrote. “I had a scary few weeks where I was very ill and they didn’t know what was wrong with me, but finally I got a diagnosis.”
He revealed that he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and explained that it came as a huge shock. “While it’s very clear in my mind how serious this is, it is curable, and as of today, I’m starting pretty aggressive chemo to treat it,” he shared.
“I’m in Barts Hospital, who are world leaders in leukaemia treatments, and I’ve had excellent care from our wonderful NHS, both initially in Canterbury Hospital before being moved here to Barts just last week. I’m very aware that it’s gonna be a bumpy road ahead but I’m confident, upbeat, and ready to fight and I hope to be out the other side of the initial treatment in 6-8 months time,” he continued.
Ford also shared that due to his diagnosis, he had to “clear my work diary” and pause on “a lot of very exciting musical projects I was eager to get stuck into.” He continued, sharing that though it is a “massive shame”, he knows that those artists he was supposed to be working with “will go on to deliver great records with whoever takes the reins, and I wish them all the best.”
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He concluded: “I am really looking forward to getting back into the studio in my own time so that I can once again work on the music that is dear to me. I want to express the deepest possible gratitude to my family, friends and colleagues who have been so supportive at this difficult time, particularly my wife Sereen and all the NHS staff who’ve looked me so brilliantly. Love to all, James.”
Born on December 11 1978, Ford has become one of the most influential and in-demand producers over the past two decades. He was a founding member of the band Simian and went on to create the spin-off electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco alongside his bandmate Jas Shaw.
He has produced some of the most prominent records within indie rock such as Klaxons‘ 2007 debut ‘Myths Of The Near Future’, which ended up winning the Mercury Prize, and Arctic Monkeys‘ ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’. He went on to partially or fully produce the rest of Alex Turner and co’s discography since then, as well as The Last Shadow Puppets‘ Mercury-nominated debut LP ‘The Age of the Understatement’ and its 2016 follow up ‘Everything You’ve Come to Expect’.
Other Ford productions include Florence and the Machine‘s ‘Ceremonials’, Bill Ryder-Jones‘ ‘A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart’, Haim‘s ‘Days Are Gone’ and Shame‘s ‘Drunk Tank Pink’.
More recent albums he has worked on include Geese‘s ‘3D Country’, The Last Dinner Party‘s ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’, Pet Shop Boys‘ ‘Nonetheless’, Beth Gibbons‘ ‘Lives Outgrown and Fontaines D.C.‘s ‘Romance’. In 2023, Ford released his own solo record titled ‘The Hum’.
Back in 2023, Ford opened up about his time working with the Arctic Monkeys and explained that he still tries to push Turner out of his comfort zone.
“I’ve known them so long now. I’ve been working with quite a lot of new bands … But with the Monkeys, it’s a totally different thing where there’s this deep trust that we’ve grown up together,” he told The New Cue. “Me and Alex, our music tastes have grown together, I’ve introduced him and he’s introduced me to so much different music … sometimes that’s good and bad.”
He continued: “It’s a funny thing, but I still definitely try and push him as hard as I can. I’m aware I don’t want him to settle into a comfort zone and it just become boring, you’re trying to keep finding ways to move forward and do new things.”
That same year, he revealed that he had regrets about producing Mumford & Sons‘ third album, telling NME: “Well, the one I wish I’d never done was that fucking Mumford record [2015’s ‘Wilder Mind’]! I don’t know why I did that. It paid for my house but it’s the record I regret doing.”
In that same interview, he opened up about the hardest record he has ever produced and said that it was “probably the [2017] Depeche Mode album ‘Spirit’ because everyone was in a horrible place, the mood was strange, people weren’t getting on, and a lot of it felt like marriage guidance counselling to stop the whole thing falling off the rails and the band splitting up.”
Ford also opened up about working with Blur on their ninth studio album ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ and shared: “Working with Blur was a dream come true for me. I’d already worked on Gorillaz with Damon and the Waeve with Graham [Coxon, Blur guitarist], but working with Blur was a whole different beast.
“As a longtime fan, they didn’t disappoint. The process was as chaotic, hilarious, and beautiful as I hoped it would be. I’m very proud of the record we made. It was fascinating to see how the individual parts come together to make something that is uniquely them.”
Ride Interplay
Bliss it was to be alive in 1990, but to be young was very heaven. When Ride first stormed out of the gates in that shoegaze spring, they had an irresistible coltish energy to them. The presiding eminences of the time (My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, House Of Love and The Stone Roses) had all already been around the block a few times, and made their youthful missteps away from the public eye. But the Oxford four-piece emerged blinking into the immediate glare of public acclaim, knocking out immaculate EP after EP like a teenage Robbie Fowler racking up the hat-tricks. No second thoughts, no calculation, just the sheer thrill of a moment they seized quite brilliantly.
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Did the immediacy of the rise overwhelm them? In retrospect they seem like a classic case of a band that stalled on The Difficult Third Album. They were keen to move on from the movement that threatened to define them (driving “Leave Them All Behind” into the Top 10 was a swaggering statement of intent), uncertain of exactly where to chart their course, and swept up in the gathering Oasis storm that briefly raised and then capsized their label.
Thirty years later, Ride are undoubtedly on a more even keel. Since the reunion in 2014 they’ve successfully launched two well-received albums, reconnected with a burgeoning audience and stylishly updated their signature sound without pandering to the whims of TikTok. But is a third album any easier the second time around? Is the point of the band – nostalgia fix for the festival circuit, or more urgent, ongoing artistic concern – still at stake?
What’s clear is that, in contrast to 1994’s Carnival Of Light, Ride are very much on the same page. From its title on, Interplay reminds us that they were always a terrific, a four-piece without any dead wood. Not only did they have fringes, tunes and chops of Mark Gardener and Andy Bell (Andy serving time as the bassist in Oasis, although presumably welcomed by his bank manager, still feels like something of a musical indignity, like a Grand National winner giving rides to kids on Skegness beach). But in Steve Queralt and Loz Colbert they had a genuinely useful rhythm section. You can count the number of distinctive British indie drummers on the fingers of one hand, but from the moment they released “Dreams Burn Down” it was clear that Loz was in that company.
It kicks off with “Peace Sign”, quite shamelessly aimed at the festival moshpits. Just as The Byrds were able to make Dylan palatable for Top 40 radio, Ride were somehow able to translate the sublime roar of My Bloody Valentine into toothsome pop songs (they can still pull it off as they show on the delicious “Portland Rocks”). Here it feels like they’ve perfected the same trick for The War On Drugs. It’s quite a trick, somehow distilling all the epic yearning of an Adam Granduciel album into a pealing, effervescent four-minute anthem.
For the rest of Interplay, Ride are very much searching for The Big Sound, a kind of widescreen ’80s ambition they were too indie cool to acknowledge back when they started out. They’ve talked about the example of Tears For Fears and the U2 of The Unforgettable Fire. But there’s a hefty amount of New Order (the touching, twangling “Last Frontier”) and Depeche Mode (on the hurtling “I Came To See The Wreck”) in there too, as though Ride are deliberately drawing upon bands who’ve shown how it’s possible to mature and thrive into their fourth and even fifth decades together.
The heart of the record, sequenced as though to open Side Two of a vinyl album, is “Last Night I Went Somewhere To Dream”. It’s a tune that began as an almost throwaway Loz riff, but grew into what feels like a manifesto for the reborn band, a twangling wide-eyed psychedelic reel. The lyrics – always, to be fair, the band’s Achilles’ heel – talk of “the wheel of suffering” turning “with diminishing returns”, but there’s such an unaffected earnest joy in the singing and playing, its reminiscent of The Byrds’ “Going Back”, a heartfelt invocation of uncontrived innocence.
The album closes with “Yesterday Is Only A Song”, a kind of soft and dreamy Pink Floyd coda, except with all the quiet desperation and bitterness replaced with a hard-won acceptance and even optimism. Here and on the best tunes of Interplay, Ride feel wonderfully, unexpectedly, younger than yesterday.
Uncut April 2024
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Pink Floyd and Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets, The Beach Boys, Adrianne Lenker, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Shabaka Hutchings, Townes Van Zandt, Jah Wobble, Wayne Kramer, A Certain Ratio and more all feature in Uncut‘s April 2024 issue, in UK shops from February 2 or available to buy online now.
All print copies come with a free CD – One Of These Days, featuring 15 of the month’s best new music including The Black Keys, Jane Weaver, Ride, Cedric Burnside, Waxahatchee, Pernice Brothers, Jim White and more!
INSIDE THIS MONTH’S UNCUT
PINK FLOYD: With his SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS band, NICK MASON is on a mission to save the potent, foundational music of PINK FLOYD. In doing so, he aims to reassert the Floyd’s historic creative path from three-minute pop fantastias and cosmic-progressive freak-outs to the transitional epiphanies that led to The Dark Side Of The Moon. “In Pink Floyd, we didn’t have a clue what we were doing half the time,” Mason tells us. “What we did have was an abundance of ideas.”
THE BEACH BOYS: From three brothers wrestling on their front lawn to the miraculous creation of numerous pop masterpieces, a new photobook chronicles The Beach Boys’ Californian dream, in their own words and pictures. As Brian Wilson remembers, “We were one of the biggest things going”…
ADRIANNE LENKER: Away from her day job with BIG THIEF, ADRIANNE LENKER has developed a parallel career as a solo artist, whose intricate and vulnerable folk songs mine deep, emotional truths. In New York, she talks to Uncut about creation, catharsis and connection. “In a way, it’s like one song that I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old…”
SHABAKA HUTCHINGS: The UK jazz magus has retired his celebrated bands Sons Of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming – and even put aside his trusty saxophone – in order to seek out fresh creative inspiration. His quest takes him from a bamboo forest in Japan via the birthplace of A Love Supreme to a kids swimming pool in Croydon. “It’s gonna be good, so just enjoy the ride…”
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN: Since reuniting in 2007, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN have proved that even the most tempestuous sibling relationships can enjoy successful second acts. As they prepare to mark their 40th anniversary with a new album and an autobiography, JIM and WILLIAM REID explain how the shared ideals they developed in their East Kilbride bedroom still apply in 2024. “Your fantasy of being in a band is in every way better than the reality…”
TOWNES VAN ZANDT: A dive bar in a rundown Texas neighbourhood, The Old Quarter was a regular haunt for VAN ZANDT. In 1973, it also became the setting for a live recording that vividly captured the renegade singer-songwriter’s wild charisma and quicksilver poetry. “I’d seen him fucked up, I’d seen him really good,” recalls Steve Earle. “For some reason he took those nights very seriously.”
WAYNE KRAMER: Uncut’s Jaan Uhelszki first met the MC5 in 1965; here’s her personal tribute to their inspirational leader
REM: Stipe, Buck, Mills and Berry make a pilgrimage back to Athens’ 40 Watt club for Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy’s Murmur tribute. “It’s an honour to hear the songs so fresh, live in a room again,” Stipe tells us.
NICO: With reissues for Desertshore and The Marble Index due, in this archive interview John Cale remembers recording the Velvet revolutionary: “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into…”
AN AUDIENCE WITH… JAH WOBBLE: The ex-PiL bass invader talks Can, Sid, Sinead and “going deep into the heart of space”
THE MAKING OF “THERE’S A BREAK IN THE ROAD” BY BETTY HARRIS: How the Florida singer found her funk-soul heart with help from Allen Toussant, The Meters and “psychedelic music”
ALBUM BY ALBUM WITH A CERTAIN RATIO: The Greatest Manchester post-punk funkateers chart their sonic journey from 1980 to the present day
MY LIFE IN MUSIC WITH ALBERT HAMMOND: The songwriter’s songwriter on his most enduring listens: “Music will be there forever”
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REVIEWED: Cedric Burnside, Jane Weaver, Waxahatchee, Charles Lloyd, Ride, BrhyM, Love Child, Faust, Alice Cooper, Creation Rebel, Pixies, Werner Herzog, Jim Gordon, Kristin Hersh, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Margo Price and more
PLUS: Farewell Damo Suzuki; Arthur Russell unseen; Lulu; our pick of the best speakers; introducing Oisin Leech…
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The Libertines pay tribute to “much loved” early drummer Paul Dufour, who has died
The Libertines have paid tribute to their “much loved” former drummer, Paul Dufour, who has died.
Dufour played in the early days of the band before Gary Powell replaced him.
“Paul Dufour, our much loved drummer from the early days, passed away last night. We are all in great shock and sadness. Sending love and thoughts to Paul’s friends and family. It was honour to play with you Mr Razzcocks. Forever in our hearts x,” read a message posted on The Libertines’ Instagram account alongside an archive photo of the band.
Dufour’s cause of death has not yet been revealed.