Britain’s new wave pioneers announced a new record on Tuesday, Memento Moriand a world tour, which marks the return of the group after the death last spring of its keyboardist.
In a press conference broadcast live from Berlin, vocalist Dave Gahan and guitarist and keyboardist Martin Gore of band Depeche Mode said they were still working on Memento Mori. This is their 15e studio album since the band formed in Basildon, East England, in 1980.
The title of this disc which means “remember you must die”was cast before the death of Andrew Fletcher, the band’s keyboardist, in May. “We are quite advanced in the registration process. We’ve finished all the tracks on the album but we still need to mix them.”, said Martin Gore. Adding that “all the songs and even the title of the album were decided before Andy died. The title sounds very morbid but I think you can see it in a very positive way, saying you have to live every day to the fullest. That’s how we like to interpret it too.”
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Most of the songs were written during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their themes were inspired by that time, the guitarist said in a statement on the band’s website. “After Fletch passed away, we decided to continue because we’re sure that’s what he would have wanted, and it really gave the project an extra level of meaning”he added.
Andrew Fletcher has died aged 60, after undergoing an aortic dissection. Martin Gore and Dave Gahan (who aren’t always the best of friends) returned to the studio in July. “A lot of times we were joking or things were popping up and of course we missed Fletch”, said the guitarist in Berlin. The keyboard player once held the band together and often served as a go-between or mediator in the ego war that exists between Gore and Gahan.
The band will embark on a world tour in support of the album’s spring release in March. “That process is still ongoing, what we’re going to do on stage, how we’re going to do it, what visuals we’re going to use,” said David Gahan, when asked what stage tributes the band is planning for Andrew Fletcher. ‘He’ll be there in spirit anyway, I’m sure, judging us’he added.
Depeche Mode, known for songs such as Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silencereleased his first album Speak & Spell in 1981. The iconic British new wave band released their final studio album, Spiritin 2017.
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