Depeche Mode by Anton Corbijn
Maybe your first encounter with Depeche Mode was on ’80s radio playing “Just Can’t Get Enough” or maybe it was Johnny Cash‘s haunting cover of “Personal Jesus” in the 2000s. For me, it was more roundabout: The Dead Milkmen, punk hecklers, singing, “You’ll dance to anything by Depeche Commode.” That 1987 ditty, “Instant Club Hit,” also mocks The Smiths and Public Image Limited, but putting a toilet in another band’s name made the reference tough to forget for preteen me.
When I finally saw a Depeche Mode credit flash on MTV I was totally psyched — it’s the band The Dead Milkmen were making fun of! The video was “Enjoy the Silence” and I was completely unprepared: It was as far from the punk comedy of the Milkmen as I could imagine. Even as a little kid, I knew from the opening drums and the precise string and synth riffs that this was going to be epic. Watching singer Dave Gahan wander beautiful landscapes in a crown and robes, I could intuit that “Enjoy the Silence” was a song with depth before I was entirely sure what exactly depth was.
As I’ve learned more about depth, for better or worse, I’ve dug in and out of the Depeche Mode catalog. From the noir blues rock of “I Feel You” to the poetic prettiness of “Precious,” they always struck me as a thinking person’s club band, scaled up to arenas. Hearing them, you’ll want to glide-step across a lighted floor or make sweaty love after a long day of reading existentialist treatises.
Their newest studio album,“Memento Mori,” is their 15th overall and first since founding member Andy Fletcher passed away. Now a duo with Gahan and principal songwriter Martin Gore, Depeche Mode still dwell in profundity. The dozen songs on “Mori” that they’re currently touring behind are characteristically dark and atmospheric, with moody lyrics and driving beats that, four decades into Depeche Mode’s career, prove they can be deeply serious and their fans will still dance to anything.
Depeche Mode play 7:30pm Thursday, October 12 at the Kaseya Center (formerly FTX Arena) in Miami. depechemode.com Catch an After Party at Kill Your Idol feat. the one and only Scott Yoder w. Violet Silhouette ~ David Rolland
