MARTIN GORE
Depeche Mode’s driver discusses his new mini-album The Third Chimpanzee, the DM mothership and lessons learned at the burning edge of electronic rock.
MOST MUSICIANS have found that the pandemic has affected their creativity – some artistically turbocharged, others left blocked. For Martin Gore, Depeche Mode’s chief songwriter of 40 years, it’s led to a lack of motivation to write lyrics.
“Possibly because I haven’t really been doing anything,” he says, talking to MOJO from his Santa Barbara home studio Electric Ladyboy. “I’ve been living the same day
Usually, I’m not the most sociable person, but the fact that you’re just stuck at home and you see the same handful of people, maybe it’s just not very inspiring.”
Consequently, Gore has focused his efforts on a five-track EP of brooding, ’80s cinematic synthscapes, The Third Chimpanzee, which features his voice electronically mangled beyond recognition. Each track is named after a species of primate and its colourfully messy artwork was painted by an actual brush-wielding capuchin monkey, Pockets Warhol, in an Ontario sanctuary.
The EP’s name is lifted from popular scientist Jared Diamond’s 1991 book exploring the primate origins of human behaviour. “I remember reading The Third Chimpanzee back in the ’90s,” says Gore, adding that his appropriation of its title, “made me kind of laugh, first of all. But also, I felt that it was a slight commentary on humans by calling it that, and then having all the tracks named after monkeys. I like the idea of it blurring the lines, really.”
The EP is out on Mute, Depeche Mode’s exclusive home from 1981 to 2013. “Whenever I decide to do a solo project it makes perfect sense to be on Mute,” he says. “Y’know Daniel [Miller, Mute supremo] has been a friend now for over 40 years, he’s still there as, I don’t know what we’d call him… an executive director or something. So he’s still very omnipresent in our lives.”
As for the band – after their most recent album, 2017’s and a year-long tour in support of it – they’re currently shut down. “When Depeche decides to do something, it’s like a big machine that has to get revved up,” he says. “And it’s very difficult to rev that up when everything’s so unknown. I think it’ll be a while before we do anything.”
He doesn’t fancy remotely-recording an LP either. “There’s something about going into the studio and working as a band that kind of solidifies the relationships and gets you ready for the next phase,” he says.
“I think it would be weird for us, working remotely, if it was a whole album. Maybe on a track – that could work.
“We stay in contact a bit,” he adds. “I’ve spoken to Dave and he’s fine and Fletch is fine. Y’know, I’ve been saying that I feel kind of guiltily fortunate, as a band we don’t have to panic. We just wait and see what happens and make plans accordingly.”
Has Gore gained any insight in his 40-years-plus of being a songwriter and musician to help him through uncertain times? “Oh God, I don’t know really,” he laughs. “Maybe, ‘never assume anything’.”
The Third Chimpanzee is out now on Mute
“Depeche… it’s like a big machine that has to get revved up.” MARTIN GORE