Interview: Dennis Burmeister
DEPECHE MODE : LIVE will be published at the beginning of October. Big, colourful, beautiful and heavy. With partly unpublished footage and lots of stories and anecdotal interviews about Depeche Mode on tour. From 1980 to 2023. And there will also be a reading tour to accompany the new book. We are full of anticipation. More information will follow soon.
Dennis & Sascha 🖤
Hello Dennis,
I'm glad that we have the opportunity to do an interview again after years. You are currently working on a new project with Sascha. With DEPECHE MODE: LIVE, part 3 of the book trilogy will follow in autumn. Can you already tell us something about this? At what point did you realise that the story was far from over with the two books, that another publication was needed to expand it into a trilogy?
Hello Marcel,
Thank you for your interest.
Well, Sascha and I already had the first ideas for possible follow-up projects during the work on MONUMENT, when it became clear that we couldn't fit all the collected material into a single book. But we also didn't want to publish Volume I, II, III, IV ... etc. in succession, but rather work on self-contained thematic areas.
MONUMENT was the band's first big showcase of their work, which illuminated the artistic development of the band Depeche Mode. Of course, we already dealt with the live activities to some extent at that time. Nevertheless, we had a lot of material, interviews and ideas to devote ourselves to the topic even more intensively.
In 2018, however, we first celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first and only Depeche Mode concert in East Berlin's Werner-Seelenbinder-Halle on 7 March 1988 and published our book BEHIND THE WALL - Depeche Mode Fan Culture in the GDR.
In October, DEPECHE MODE : LIVE will be published, our third and last joint book about "our" band Depeche Mode. With this - at least from our point of view - everything is told.
Admittedly, I think the idea of a "bible" about the band's live history is great, there are not many bands who carry their fans away at their concerts like Depeche Mode do.
The term "Depeche Mode bible" comes from a book review of MONUMENT and is of course very flattering. However, in the end Sascha and I only summarise information that many fans already know for the most part. But in book form, because we both still belong to the "analogue generation" and love books. Sascha was already an author before MONUMENT.
Of course we asked ourselves the question on which foundations the band Depeche Mode is based. And those are their records, their incredibly loyal fan base and - as you say - their rousing tours and concerts for more than 40 years.
Sascha and I hope that with our new book we have created an emotional journey through time in which all Depeche Mode fans will find themselves right up to the last page.
The response has been incredibly positive, yes. And not only from the fans, but also in the press. I mean, when you suddenly appear in the feuilleton of FAZ, ZEIT and SPIEGEL, where people only praised the book, that's hard to understand. But there was also recognition from the band's immediate environment, from former employees of the record company Mute, etc. When Daniel Miller wrote me a very personal dedication in my MONUMENT back then, I actually only realised what we had created with this book.
For a while, it all passed me by like a film. All the hype surrounding MONUMENT at the time, the premiere in the sold-out Babylon in Berlin, the interview appointments, the exhibition with Telekom in several European cities, autograph requests and pats on the back ... it was sometimes a state of intoxication. I was often completely beside myself, didn't know what was going on. There were moments when I wanted to run away, despite the positive feedback. When you're not used to such success, so much praise from all sides, it's difficult to deal with it. I mean, we actually "only" wrote a book.
I don't think that in retrospect we should have done anything differently. Although ... maybe I could have given myself more time. Back then I sat at the computer day and night and worked on the book. The way I work is similar now, but my eyes need longer breaks than they did 10 years ago.
The first publication of MONUMENT was also 10 years ago. Do you have plans to publish a new edition with the updates of the last years?
There are no plans for an updated version yet. I'm not even sure if the fans would be willing to buy such an edition. I mean, such a tome is not cheap. But such decisions are made by the publisher anyway.
Last year, very few people would have thought that the band would go on tour again and release new material. Your thoughts on this and what do you think about the future of the band?
I love the new album. When I listened to it, it triggered something in me that I didn't know from the last albums. When I heard "Memento Mori" for the first time, I cried. Big, honest tears. And I'm sure I wasn't the only Depeche Mode fan who felt that way. Of course, the death of Fletch played a major role. I mean ... Fletch! It's still so incomprehensible.
Martin and Dave's decision to continue as Depeche Mode was surely due to the fact that the album was already in the can anyway, as it was more or less made while Andy was still alive.
"Memento Mori" was very well received by the fans, the tour has been going on for weeks and the band is visibly enjoying themselves on stage. Whether there will be another Depeche Mode record, however, I dare to doubt. But even if not, "Memento Mori" would be the perfect album to say goodbye to the band. After all, the guys are not out of the world. When the tour is over, they'll go on their usual, well-deserved holiday. And then they will probably be able to look forward to one or two solo projects. Those are my thoughts.
The band is often criticised for its release policy. But if you look at the various formats of the current U2 release, for example, it's all just crazy. Memento Mori in the standard edition plus 3 other limited colour versions are completely sufficient in my opinion. What do you think about the way some artists are releasing today?
Terrible. One is completely overwhelmed as a collector. On top of that, the capacities in the pressing plants worldwide are quite limited and the productions are pushed to their limits. Other artists and bands have to wait a long time because Bono and Co. have their new records pressed in every conceivable rainbow colour. I'm also fed up with the RSD releases, this artificial scarcity that's all about earning extra money. I also bought the picture discs of The Cure. But as a fan you have no choice. And the labels know that. In the past, you were happy about a new record. Today you're completely overwhelmed.
When you think back, how did it all start with your love of music, especially Depeche Mode, and how did it develop over the years?
I grew up in the pampas of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In my town, everyone listened to Neil Young or Bob Dylan, Udo Lindenberg, AC/DC or Iron Maiden. Even the kids. Chart music didn't happen at all in our town back then. And apart from Silly and IC Falkenberg, nobody listened to bands from the GDR. That was almost a criterion for exclusion back then. My father recorded music on cassettes as often as he could. He often sat with me for hours in front of the cassette recorder and played me his bands. And he knew how to tell anecdotes about every band. That impressed me very much. He also knew some musicians personally, Toni Krahl from City, for example, or the people from Renft. In the end, the GDR was a village after all.
My first real memory of Depeche Mode is that I heard "Pipeline" on the radio. I can't remember which station it was, but I actually thought the radio was broken. The second, quite intense memory I have is when in 1986 on Ronny's Pop Show, a popular music show in the 80s (hosted by a talking chimpanzee) the video for "A Question Of Time" was shown. It was already one of those so-called impact moments because it was so different... The song sounded so incredibly "new", the melody was quite catchy and stuck immediately. The video was different from what you usually saw on the colourful music TV of the 80s. I think it's a pity that there are no more moments like that nowadays, because there are hardly any sounds or visuals left that you haven't heard or seen ... so you can somehow be glad that you grew up in the early 80s. In 1987 I had the "Greatest Hits" from AMIGA cassette and immediately fell in love with "Shake The Disease".
Every Depeche Mode fan will certainly remember their first times with the band differently, I experience these conversations again and again. I have the impression that Depeche Mode fans in particular are very nostalgic and like to live in the memory. But I was not the classic Depeche Mode fan, as others were at that time. As I said, I listened to many bands, especially of other genres. Besides, access to music in the GDR was quite limited. Could you even be a fan of a band of which you only had a few noisy tapes at home?
QAnon, Fridays for Future, Corona Pandemic, Ukraine War and so much more move us all! Unfortunately, some people have drifted away and share bizarre ways of thinking. Even well-known artists come up with crazy theories. What do you think about such people, or what would you say to them personally?
Well, you have to make a clear distinction. The Fridays for Future movement, for example, has a really serious concern. They see the climate crisis as a real threat to the planet and are taking to the streets for a policy that seriously keeps its promises. I mean, how many promises have there been at the international climate summits in recent years? And there is no doubt from serious science that man-made climate change exists. More than 25,000 scientists in German-speaking countries also confirm that the concern of Fridays for Future is justified.
On the other hand, you have all the crybabies and couch experts who question everything and have their own truths. They call themselves lateral thinkers and enjoy their role as pathological know-it-alls. They use or invent their own sources to support their sometimes embarrassing theses. And this behaviour has been a thread running through society since Corona. I think a large part of the older generation doesn't even know how the internet works. The most insane statements are taken over unchecked as "truth" and spread. They are not even aware that these people are sometimes politically abused.
Basically, I find it amusing that such people complain about not being allowed to speak their mind in public. It makes me dizzy on a regular basis, with all the slanted opinions that one unfortunately has to put up with.
Meanwhile, I read over the biggest cheese.
Facebook and the like connect many of us, but often the platforms are also a curse. What do you think is going wrong with all the social media channels, what would have to happen for the whole thing to work again to some extent?
Social platforms should be moderated in a serious way. Facebook and the like turn over billions, but they are total service deserts. There should be appropriate laws here.
Do you remember the Exciter Forum? Many of us met there. Your memories of that time...
Haha, yes. That was a very nice time. Friendships were formed then, some of which still exist today. On the one hand, I remember the Depeche Mode nerds who were interested in pimping their collections or gathering information about the back catalogue that didn't exist before. On the other hand, there were the people who used the Exciter forum to meet other fans. People chatted and laughed until late at night. And then there was the "current affairs" section, where the most diverse political camps clashed. Sometimes things got very heated. But as I said, it was a good time.
Let's get back to music, what are your personal highlights this year besides Depeche Mode?
Well, at the moment I hardly have time to occupy myself with other things besides the book. That may sound absurd, but it's true. I was at the concert of The Mission in Berlin last year, which was very emotional for me, because I realised again that our musical heroes, with whom we grew up, have reached a certain age by now. So I still want to spend as much time as possible with all these heroes. To work, I listen a lot to Local Suicide, Dina Summer or Boy Harscher at the moment.
You last did the graphics for the 35 YEARS ANNIVERSARY shows of DE/VISION. Is there any news there?
I got the drawn hands from Steffen and was supposed to derive graphics for posters and tickets for the 35 YEARS ANNIVERSARY shows, right. And as I heard, Thomas and Steffen are currently working on new material. I can't give details, though, because I don't know anything for sure. But as a fan of the band I would be very happy if there would be a new album sometime. At the moment I miss them.
Dennis, thank you for the great interview and I wish you a successful release with DEPECHE MODE: LIVE, a wonderful concert summer and finally, many friends and companions will read this, the last words belong to you!
Thank you very much.
Yes, I would like to thank all the Depeche Mode fans, friends and collectors who helped me with my work on the book. First and foremost Markus Räbiger, whom I really appreciate for his meticulousness around Depeche Mode. He has been at my side with his knowledge around the clock so far and I thank him very much for that. When the book is finished, I'll take him for a drink 😊
Photos: Dennis Burmeister
