I'm sure it got a lot more difficult towards the end, especially during the SOFAD/Devotional era when Alan was doing so much work and the rest of the band were off fighting their own demons, but I think they were ok during Violator. I just remember that Alan joined DM back then, because they all seemed like nice guys, lol.
Apologies from a fellow Dutchman for the interviewer, he was a radio presenter, so that sort of explains the overblown accent. For some reason Dutch presenters want to emulate American speech, while the UK is just across the North Sea. Anyway, thanks for posting this blast from the past.
Because Alan and Fletch/Martin never got along. To them, Alan was basically a session player. Fletch, Martin, and Dave have known each other since they were teenagers and Fletch and Martin had known each other since they were 12. Alan was always the outsider of the group. Martin and Alan were never friends in the band and Alan got fed up with being treated like a session player even though he was the one spending nearly 20 hours a day in the studio with Flood working on the mixes for Violator and SOFAD. He also made all of the tapes and sampling for the live shows. It reminds me a lot of how Jason Newsted was treated in Metallica. Martin might be the songwriter and I have great respect for him, but Alan to me was what made DM special
Fletch and Martin only knew Dave a year and a half longer than they knew Alan. Fletch and Alan had disagreements. that's not a secret. I don't really know much about Alan's relationship with Martin but I'm sure there was some bickering involved when you have someone else trying to change your song. Then obviously Fletch and Martin were best friends since childhood so I'm sure Fletch would always side with Martin which would be at odds with Alan. Alan no doubt looked at Fletch like "What do you even do! Why does your voice even matter?" From all accounts Dave and Alan were much better friends than the other guys were with Alan. But I don't think Martin had animosity. I think Martin was just protective of his role as the principal songwriter. But I really doubt they looked at him as a session musician after 10 years. I think they just kind of took advantage of him being there. Oh he'll take care of the studio stuff so we can go out and party.
Alan Wilder created the industrial sound for an average pop group that was so despicable that their founder (Vince Clarke) quitted them after the first album, even if it was successful. Alan Wilder brought DM to a stage they would have never reached, with his talent, educated manners and sensitivity,, along hard work, step by step, album per album over the years. The three followed an kept on utilising him, while the song writer (Martin Gore) and the singer (Dave Gahan) were contributing, Andrew Fletcher managed quickly to compensate his uselessness by managing the finances and contracts, making sure he would stay, by keeping the "old friendship of the morons from the neighborhood" against the talented one. Mediocre people always see brilliant people like a threat. Alan Wilder accepted this sad behavior because he like to shape the sounds, with Daniel Miller and Eric Radclife, and later Flood and other studio contributors, until he was fed up. You can always witness his humbleness while he brings intelligent insights, even if the interviewers for pop music on TV are never the sharpest knife of the drawer.
И честно говоря с 1980 года в группе Depeche Mode, Энди Флетчер был только по старой дружбе с Мартином Гором, всë же они были друзья с детства. Это как с 1981 года в группе Wham, Эндрю Риджли и Джордж Майкл. Намëк понятен 😅😂😂
Usually, they are unemployed or underpaid comedians: handsome, brainless, ready to dance in the afternoon during TV shooting hours. It's never live shooting. Pop music TV shows are shot in the afternoon because the band are playing at night and sleep in the morning, and studio hours are cheap in the afternoon (no overpay for the technicians). You watch it in the evening, but it's programmed broadcast, it's almost never live.
