Depeche Mode

. See also: Indie rock. As of January 2005, the album is currently being recorded. The bands of the collective have since all moved on to various labels and projects of their own, though many are still friends and even tour together under various guises. In November 2004, it was announced on http://www.depechemode.com that the band was planning on going into the studio to record an album in early 2005 with producer Ben Hillier. In October 2002, the Elephant Six Collective as a fully functioning entity called it quits, due to difficulties in recording and lack of organization. In August 2004, Mute announced a DVD release of "Devotional" and a new remix completion album Remixes 81-04 that covers some new & unreleased promo mixes of the singles from 1981 to 2004. This was the ostensible nature of the Elephant Six collective: instruments, players, and space are divided among and shared among many projects.

2003 saw the release of Dave Gahan's solo album, Paper Monsters, followed by a worldwide tour and a DVD taken from it, titled Live Monsters, Martin Gore continued his solo career with the release of Counterfeit 2, and Andrew Fletcher launched his own label, Toast Hawaii. The most characteristic trait of an Elephant Six recording is the eclectic and exotic instrumentation: along with the guitars and drums you can hear, for example, the flugelhorn, singing saw, wandering genie, and one-note piano on Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea; the euphonium, selemintan, and magnus organ on Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage; the sitar, "magic robot voice", and Nepalese copper shawn on Elf Power's When the Red King Comes; and everything from sarangi to clarinet played by eighteen backup musicians on Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break. Wilder himself has stated that he contributed a lion's share of work while receiving the least credit on past albums. Several Elephant Six projects began to find commercial success in the late 1990s, including Beulah, Elf Power, The Music Tapes, and Of Montreal, as well as the founding bands mentioned above. It has been suggested that a failure of the band to recognize its own brand appeal in releasing previous records may have played some part in his departure, with other factors including the drug addiction issues of Dave Gahan; Martin Gore's admission of "battling his own demons" at this time; and growing tensions between Wilder and Andrew Fletcher. The Elephant Six Recording Company was a musical collective founded in Athens, Georgia, USA, by Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart (both, now formerly, of Olivia Tremor Control), Jeff Mangum (of Neutral Milk Hotel), and Robert Schneider (of the Apples in Stereo), the four of whom grew up making music in Ruston, Louisiana. In June 1995 after the Devotional tour, Alan Wilder left the band citing "unsatisfactory internal working conditions", while continuing to work on his personal project Recoil. Von Hemmling.

After the much earlier departure of Vince Clarke, a gradual change away from their roots can hardly have been unexpected. Visitations. indeed, in a CD booklet, Dave Gahan is instead pictured lovingly holding an acoustic guitar - a far cry from the synthpop ideal of 'keyboards with everything'. ulysses. One marked change in the style of music throughout the history of this band has been a move away from keyboards and heavily synth pop-influenced sound.. Thimble Circus. Techno pioneers such as Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins regularly quoted Depeche Mode as an influence in their development of proto-techno during the Detroit Techno explosion in the late 80s. Sunshine Fix.

Depeche Mode had a great influence on the emergence of the techno and electronica music scenes through the late 80s and 90s. Secret Square. Pennebaker, recently released on DVD, which is notable for an element of fan interaction. Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. The tour was documented in a film by D.A. Orchestre Fantastique. The 101 tour culminated in a final concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl with a sell-out attendance of 80,000 (the highest in 8 years for the venue). Olivia Tremor Control.

In the intervening years between the mid-80s and 90s, the band's popularity in the US grew to massive proportions. Of Montreal. In 1984 Depeche Mode made in-roads into America, which spawned the US-only release of Catching Up With Depeche Mode. Neutral Milk Hotel. In the early 1980s the band's popularity was largely confined to Europe (particularly Germany) and their style was Synth pop. My First Keyboard. He wrote The Landscape is Changing and Two Minute Warning for their 1983 album, Construction Time Again, as well as Fools, the B-side to the Love in Itself single, In Your Memory, the B-side to the People Are People single, and If You Want on the 1984 album Some Great Reward, but his main contribution to Depeche Mode was in the technical and musical production aspects. The Music Tapes.

After Vince's departure, Martin Gore, who had written Tora! Tora! Tora! and Big Muff on their debut album, took over as the band's primary song-writer and in 1982 the album A Broken Frame was released. After this, Alan Wilder joined the band as a permanent replacement for Clarke. Minders. Soon after, Vince Clarke left to form a new band, Yazoo (Yaz in the US) with Alison Moyet, The Assembly with Feargal Sharkey, Dave Clempson and Eric Radcliffe, and later Erasure with Andy Bell. Midget and Hairs. The band became part of Daniel Miller's Mute label by verbal contract, and released their first album, Speak and Spell, in 1981. Marta Tennae. The new name was taken from a French fashion magazine, "Dépêche-mode", translates to "fashion telegram". Marshmallow Coast.

Andrew Fletcher then became part of the band and it was renamed "Composition of Sound." David Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Vince Clarke heard him perform at a local gig, and "Depeche Mode" was born. Marbles. Depeche Mode's origins can be traced back to 1976, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band known as "No Romance in China." The band was unsuccessful and in 1979, Vince Clarke formed a new band named "French Look" with Martin Gore. Jeff Mangum.
. Major Organ and the Adding Machine. Former members include:. Helium.

The three current members of Depeche Mode are:. Late B.P. As of 2005, Depeche Mode have sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Ladybug Transistor. Depeche Mode had many videos heavily rotated on MTV and MuchMusic. The Instruments. They are one of the longest-lived and most successful bands to have emerged during the New Wave/New Romantic era. High Water Marks.

Depeche Mode was originally founded in 1980 as a synth pop band in the town of Basildon, England. Great Lakes. Remixes 81 - 04 (2004). The Gerbils. Exciter (2001). Frosted Ambassador. The Singles (81-85) Re-released/Repackaged (1998). Fablefactory.

The Singles (86-98) (1998). Essex Green. Ultra (1997). Elf Power. Songs of Faith and Devotion Live (1993). Dressy Bessy. Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993). Dixie Blood Mustache.

Violator (1990). Circulatory System. 101 (live) (1989). Chocolate USA. Music for the Masses (1987). Black Swan Network. Black Celebration (1986). Beulah.

Catching Up With Depeche Mode [North America only] (1985). Bablicon. The Singles (81-85) (1985). The Apples in Stereo. Some Great Reward (1984). A Hawk and a Hacksaw. People Are People (1984).

Construction Time Again (1983). A Broken Frame (1982). Speak & Spell (1981). Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, songwriting), from 1983-95.

Vince Clarke (songwriting, keyboards), from 1980-82. Andrew Fletcher (keyboards, backing vocals). David Gahan (lead vocals). Martin Gore (songwriting, guitar, keyboards, backing and occasional lead vocals).