Dave Gahan on Soulsavers, Depeche Mode’s Future, Trashy TV
It’s a chilly October morning in New York, and Dave Gahan is feeling impish. “I hope you play basketball,” the singer, 53, says sharply to a towering waiter at Gemma, a bustling hotel restaurant on the East Village’s infamous Bowery. The would-be giant affirms that he has shot a few hoops over the years, and the singer just laughs and orders regular coffee.
“There’s something about the city where I feel very at home,” the singer says, cheerfully. “It’s not as grimy as it used to be, but I like this particular area. This place, it’s shiny and bright, and then it’s dark and seedy outside. You have a fancy hotel like this, and then there’s a methadone clinic down the road. You can see those two worlds. That always has appealed to me.”
Gahan is dressed in head-to-toe black and adorned with sunglasses that he won’t take off. But despite his clothing, and the fact he is best known for singing unassuming pop hits like “Enjoy the Silence” and “Never Let Me Down Again” with Depeche Mode, he has a surprisingly big personality. He’s in particularly good spirits today, though, because Angels & Ghosts – a dusky, cinematic-sounding new collaborative album he made with Soulsavers, the British production duo composed of Rich Machin and Ian Glover – will finally come out on October 23rd.
An extension of 2012’s The Light the Dead See, the new record finds Gahan crooning over smart, shadowy arrangements of guitar, organ and orchestral strings. Dramatic tracks like the brittle “Don’t Cry” and dreamy “One Thing” allow him to push his voice in new ways, while the single “All of This and Nothing” finds him declaring himself “the sun that rises while you’re sleeping” over a bed of spacy, shimmering post-rock. A cursory listen to the way he sings on the record shows he’s enjoying a respite from the occasionally icy synthesizers of his main gig.
With Soulsavers, Gahan crafted an ornate sound that will require a 10-piece band, consisting of members of Spiritualized and Porno for Pyros, among others, to play the songs when they begin performing live this month. But for now, Gahan is content scooting into a corner booth, sipping the coffee that the ballplayer gave him, and discussing why Soulsavers is important to the future of Depeche Mode.
You’ve lived in New York for around 20 years now. Why did you settle here?
It’s the first place I’ve been to, including where I grew up, where I felt like I belonged. I always felt a misfit as a kid. It’s always been difficult for me to stick around people for a long time. So to be here for 20 years, and have some friends in one place for that amount of time as well, that’s something. A lot of my stories and characters I create come out of New York.
Do you like the darker side of the city?
You’re always tempted by the seedier side of things here in New York City. But I like to stay on the outside looking in, instead of diving into that stuff again. I spent a lot of time there, and I had to dig my way out of it, so I’m not in any hurry to get in. But I do like to observe.