Kevin May - Halo: The Story Behind Depeche Modes Classic Album Violator

For Andy Fletch Fletcher

From Kevin and David

Researching and writing (and everything else associated with publishing a book) about a band that many people know and love is a fairly daunting undertaking.

We have juggled the book with our jobs, accidents, COVID-19, ups and downs, highs and lows in fact, there have probably been enough things going on in our respective lives to give Martin Gore a few more albums worth of material to write about. Perhaps not quite as sexually charged as some of his writing can be

And, of course, in 2017 and 2018, there was a lot of Depeche Mode activity by way of countless gigs that we saw between us, spanning seven countries and maybe the need to extend our respective mortgages.

From the outset, we wanted Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Alan Wilder to share their perspectives and recollections of the Violator era with us.

Undeterred, when we inevitably received the dreaded rejection emails (as many authors have in the past), we instead decided to track down and talk to as many other people associated with this extraordinarily creative period in the life of the band.

Everyone who spoke to us, either on the phone, on video calls or via email, was wonderfully generous with their time, and we are extremely grateful for the contributions, especially Steve Lyon, Gareth Jones, and Bruce Kirkland, who welcomed Kevin into their recording studios in London and office in Los Angeles respectively.

From Nils Tuxen (steel guitar player on Clean), Richard Bell (video producer), and Franois Kevorkian (mixer) to Pino Pischetola (engineer), Billie Ray Martin (Electribe 101 singer), and Angela Shelton (dancer in the Halo video), weve scoured the world, from Denmark to New Zealand via the US and Italy, to get unique and exclusive accounts of this amazing period in the bands history.

We thank them all.

Depeche Mode are, many argue, a very different phenomenon when you remove the legions of passionate fans from the equation. These people, fans from every walk of life, also have fascinating stories to tell about the 1989-1990 period in their lives, when Violator consumed them.

Again, our huge gratitude for their enthusiasm for the project and for spending so much time thinking back to over 30 years ago for their amazing, often very personal contributions.

Our thanks must also go to Andy McMinn, Michael Rose, Linda Meijer, and Markus Raebiger from the Depeche Mode Classic Photos and Videos group on Facebook. Their tireless work to document and archive every activity, image, and clip associated with the band over a four-decade history is an extraordinary achievement and has been a wonderful resource for us. The same goes for those behind the wonderful Depeche Mode Live Wiki another tremendous collection of information for fans.

We would also like to thank our editor Mat Smith, A. J. Barratt, who kindly agreed that we could use his iconic photograph (originally shot for NME) as our front cover, and the team at Grosvenor House Publishing in the UK.

Finally, we are enormously grateful for all the ideas, tips, encouragement, and cajoling from countless fans from across the world.

Also, to Depeche Mode, past and present, for providing some of the most enjoyable moments of our lives at their gigs and creating the music on Violator (and at many other times during their career) that inspired us to write this book.

We sent the manuscript for Halo to our editor the day before Andy Fletcher passed away on May 26, 2022, at the age of 60, so it seemed fitting not least as World In My Eyes from Violator was frequently cited as his favourite Depeche Mode song that we dedicate this book to him. RIP, Fletch.

David

Firstly, thank you to my wife Pam for all her love and support and for encouraging me to start the Almost Predictable Almost blog. Thanks, too, to Mum and Dad, Carolyn and Paul, Zoe and Thomas, Dave and the Almost Predictable Almost road crew of Stuart, John, John C, Jamie, Paul, Andrew, and Colin. You have all put up with an awful lot! Also, thanks very much to everyone who has read the blog and shared its posts over the years. Finally, thank you to Kevin for inviting me to join him in writing this book. It has been a real privilege and an utter joy. The amount of work he has done on this book will ensure that even the most pedantic of Depeche Mode fans (people like me, in other words) will treasure it.

Kevin

Thank you to all those who have picked me up far too often when times have been tough since starting this book. In particular, the long-suffering May clan of Claire, Ella, and Sam, my folks back in Kent, Rob, Mark, and the Hillmore Groove Gang, Duzzers, numerous colleagues, and many more who I am now regrettably forgetting to mention please forgive me. And, lastly and most importantly, my co-author and friend, David. His passion for Depeche Mode has been infectious and vital to the creation of this book.

I looked at Daniel Both of us went This is a really, really, really good album. We just had this feeling that wed made something special.

***

Dave Gahan sits on the edge of a chair, head in his hands, shoulders wrapped in a white towel.

A member of the Depeche Mode entourage has an arm around him, listening intently and sympathetically, offering some words of comfort.

It is difficult to understand the details of the conversation between the two, nor perhaps are we really meant to, but Gahan is clearly utterly exhausted and very emotional.

This brief scene comes at the end of D. A. Pennebakers feature-length rockumentary 101, a film made to commemorate Depeches Music For The Masses Tour which ended in June 1988.

Pennebakers crew had followed the antics of a group of fans as they made their way across the USA by bus, whilst simultaneously going behind the scenes with the band and the army of support people needed to keep the Depeche live act on the road.

Its a great movie and one which Pennebaker and partner Chris Hegedus later said was their most enjoyable film to make. In context, Pennebaker had previously made critically acclaimed films about Bob Dylan and had captured Jimi Hendrix at Monterey Pop Festival.

For devoted fans and many others, 101 is a fascinating look at what it meant for the band as they toured relentlessly on the back of the success of their 1987 album, Music For The Masses.

It was a long and gruelling tour for Depeche, but one that reaffirmed their status increasingly in the US as a brilliant live act with an arsenal of great songs.

The film brilliantly captures the emotions of the fans, as well as the band and its crew, covering everything from the elation after a gig to frustration over logistics.

It also portrays Depeche in an extremely human way primarily in that it has little of the gloss associated with traditional films of bands on the road.

Still, until 101, it was rather hard to truly understand what it was like to be involved in the Depeche machine, either as a band member or as part of its entourage.

Back to Dave

His rather forlorn state came at the end of concert number 101, which inspired the bands Alan Wilder to suggest this as the title of the film and live album. It was a barn-storming celebration of a gig at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in LA, scheduled especially to mark the end of the tour.