Although rumors had been swirling on the magical internet tubes for awhile, I sort of dismissed them as typical internet rubbish. However, at a press conference in London today, the three members of Depeche Mode announced that their upcoming U.S. tour in support of their new album "Sounds of the Universe" would be performed entirely on acoustic instruments.When asked what prompted such an unconventional approach for a band known for electronic music, Martin Gore replied that it was sort of a counterbalance to the band's approach in the studio. "I had a pretty bad eBay problem for awhile," laughed Gore, "I was buying these old, vintage synthesizers - antiques, really - and we'd just plug in and add them to whatever track we were working on at the time. In a way, I think I burned myself out on electronic sounds and the idea to do the tour acoustically came up."
Apparently Gore's bandmates weren't entirely on-board with the idea at first, but after some friendly debate, they finally agreed to give it a try. "The thing is, it's all about the songs," explained singer Dave Gahan. "You take a track like Enjoy the Silence and it sounds great whether it's played on synths or an acoustic guitar, some bongos, an alpine horn, and a gamelan orchestra, which we intend to do, by the way."
The announcement was met with mixed reaction on the various Depeche Mode fan groups around the net. "I don't know, man," posted a user with the handle ChrsHnsnLittle15, "I love Depeche, but frankly the idea of hearing Somebody played on an acoustic instrument just turns my stomach."
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15 comments:
a. pretty much everyone who loves depeche mode is a fan of electronic music. in fact, they are the reason a lot of people warmed up to electronic music. so: this is insulting to the fans.
b. depeche mode have written many good songs. it is A LOT harder to get people to accept an electronic song than a song written on piano or guitar / familiar instruments. countless 'rock' bands churn out records with the exact same timbres (i.e., a strat through a marshal stack) on every single song and and same 5 chords and people LOVE it. however that is unacceptable for electronic musicians. part of the artistry in writing an electronic album is what you do with your sound design. this is also why most electroclash acts faded away -- because they were doing the same thing that is "okay" for a regular pop band and it gets boring FAST.
Ultra FAIL DM!
C. Notice what the date is today. ; )
LOL. You got me too
***snork***
WIN!
Not bad, not bad at all.
hahaha! goooood! lol!
It would be even better if this were posted as an April Fool's joke on the official Depeche Mode website!
-Tom N
when i woke up this morning i was like!! DUH! good one
Haha... no worries. I've been fooled a couple times myself that way.
good one.. I smelled that one out within the first few sentences!
Heh - had me for a minute, too.
totally got me Tom, you cheeky blinder!
OK, that was good for a laugh. But seriously, some of their work does lend itself to an acoustic rendition, and would go a long way to showing why their material is so good, in that it can stand up on its own merits without a lot of production trickery (consider the converse, with many songs out there which simply have no "heart", and can't survive without a lot of hi-tech gimmickry). A23's "Ground" fared well as a straight-up guitar & voice orchestration, which shows the innate strength of the song.
I know this was a joke, but hey, if its good enough for Erasure...
Hey, check out the bootlegs of the KROQ Acoustic Christmas - dM did a whole acoustic set there. It worked surprisingly well.
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