Форум

The latest edition of German music magazine Musikexpress include a brand new interview with Martin. Here are some of his answers >:

> About the beginning of the band:
'When we founded the band I didn't even believe that Depeche Mode would exist till 1981.'
'I remember how Dave showed up for the first band rehearsal. Before he came there was just the three of us. I remember our first gig with Dave in a small club. It was very good. Dave brought a new dimension into our band, something that we hadn't. He wasn't the performer that he is now, of course. But he definitely had charisma.'

> The best album so far:
'I think Violator is the most important one. I also like Exciter a lot.'

> About Alan leaving the band:
'There was a meeting in our office in London. I remember how I went home with the subway train. I called friends because I really thought that this would be the end of Depeche Mode. We didn't want to keep going on without Alan. I don't recall the exact moment, but at a certain point I realised that Alan hadn't even been a member of the original line up and that it could be right to move on without him. It was like an awakening. And so we moved on.'

> How he sees the others:
'I would rather call it a family. Andy is a close friend, cause I know him since we were 11 and we already went to school together. I don't see Dave very often. I met him in LA when he was on his solo tour. It was our first meeting since the Exciter Tour and the last until our meeting in London when we first discussed the new album.'



> The Madonna rumour:
'I don't know who started this. Everyone asks me about it. I don't even have enough time to write the songs for the band, how should I write songs for Madonna?'
'I have never really got into writing songs together with somebody else. Gwen Stefani asked me to do a song with her, but to me that's a very personal thing. I just can't imagine to sit in a room together with someone else and think about song ideas. I don't know how Madonna works, but I guess it would be a bit like this. We would sit together and try to get some words on a paper and to compose some chords.'

> The material written and recording sessions of the new album:
'I have written seven songs so far.'
'Dave has written a lot of songs. We will take two or three of them for the album.'
'We will start in the middle of January with a five week session.'
'I will have time to write more songs before we start with the second session.'

> About the new producer, Ben Hillier:
'Ben (Hillier) is a very different producer compared to the others with whom we have worked in the past. Our last producers were very fixed to electronics, Mark Bell and Tim Simenon. Ben is less electronically fixated. He's more a controller who brings different people into the boat, programmers etc.'

(http://www.musikexpress.de/home/index...)