By Gary Graff

Dave Gahan Talks DM and New Soulsavers Album, ‘The Light the Dead See’

Dave Gahan would love to be on the road with Soulsavers, the British production duo with whom he’s just-released the album ‘The Light the Dead See’. But there’s the matter of this other band that he’s in…

Gahan is currently ensconced in New York with bandmates Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher, working on Depeche Mode’s next album there after doing “a chunk of work as well out in California.” Gahan tells Billboard.com that the group is “maybe a quarter of a way into working up a record” to follow 2009’s ‘Sounds of the Universe’, with Ben Hillier producing and Christoffer Berg (The Knife, Fever Ray) assisting.

“We’ve got more songs than we’ve ever had to work on at this stage,” Gahan says. “Martin’s been very prolific, written some great songs. I’ve got a bunch of tunes as well that we’re working on that are really starting to develop into something cool. I’m excited about where this one’s going; I think it’s going to be a more direct record, a punchier record. That’s all I can say at this point; with Depeche Mode, anything can change through the course of making a record.”

That, of course, means a timetable is irrelevant. “It’s a long process,” Gahan acknowledges. “We’re probably not finished til the end of the year, and we’re talking about touring next year. But right now it’s like a science lab here. We’re working in two rooms at the moment, just full of electronics and guitars and everybody’s getting very creative. It’s like a laboratory.”

Working with Soulsavers, however, was equally fulfilling for Gahan. He initially met the duo — which had previously used guest vocalist such as Mark Lanegan, Gibby Haynes, Mike Patton, Jason Pierce and others — through a mutual friend, bassist Martyn LeNoble, and then became friendly with Rich Machin and Ian Glover when Soulsavers opened for Depeche Mode during its last tour. “Rich and I got to talking about the writing process and how we wrote, and we realized it wasn’t that different from each other,” Gahan recalls. “He said, ‘Can I send you some ideas, maybe, and see if we have something going on…I didn’t think anything would come of it, but he did indeed send me something and I immediately felt inspired by it.”

It took about a year, however, for Gahan, Machin and Glover to pull the trigger on a full-scale project. “There was no real plan,” Machin notes. “It worked so easily and so quickly that we probably had five or six songs, half the record before we even had that conversation — ‘What the f*** are we actually doing here? Are we actually making a record? Well, I guess we are.’ There was a very instant kind of chemistry, which is pretty rare. It would have been almost rude not to continue.”

With Gahan reimmersed in Depeche Mode and Soulsavers moving on to a film soundtrack, live dates to support ‘The Light the Dead See’ seem unlikely. But both parties intend to continue the Gahan-Soulsavers tandem; Machin, in fact, reports that “we’ve already started writing a couple of songs…that could possibly be the best stuff we’ve done yet. I’m sure there will at least be a second record,” and Gahan is certainly on board with that.

“I don’t want to jinx it, because it really came along in a really unplanned way,” he says with a laugh. “We’re looking a couple of years down the line here, but I am absolutely open to the idea that I think there’s going to be a lot more stuff that we do together. It was so good it would be a shame to stop at just this one thing.”

Source: Billboard.com

‘The Light The Dead See’, the new Soulsavers collaboration with Dave Gahan is out now. The album can be purchased on iTunes.

The record released through V2 Records is available on CD, LP and as a download. There has been a delay to the Vinyl release and Rich made the following statement:

‘We are very unhappy to let you know there has been a delay to the Vinyl release of the new record. I’ll be totally honest, I did not get to hear a pressing of the vinyl until the last minute and it just was not good enough. I couldn’t allow a sub-standard quality release to be sold & it is being corrected as quickly as possible. As a vinyl buyer myself it pisses me off when bands and labels can’t get their act together to get the vinyl into stores the same day as the CD. Vinyl is the way I want people to buy our record not CD, so this is very frustrating that this has happened please accept our apologies & if you were planing on purchasing the vinyl hold out just a touch longer rather than buying the CD. It’s the way I think this record should be played’ – Rich Machin

Watch part one of the Soulsavers Dave Gahan interview.

If you missed Dave’s radio interview today on WNYC’s daily music talk show Soundcheck®, here it is. On the show, Gahan talks about his new gig as the lead singer for the British music and production duo Soulsavers, and Depeche Mode.

Soundcheck®, hosted by John Schaefer, is WNYC’s daily talk show about music. Covering all musical genres, Soundcheck celebrates the musical passions of performers, composers, and critics as well as the public radio audience. Listeners enjoy intimate conversations with and live performances by leading artists from around New York and around the globe.

Download audio file (soundcheck052212.mp3)

WNYC – Soundcheck® : Dave Gahan: Soulsaver (May 22, 2012)

Soulsavers will release their new album ‘The Light The Dead See’ through Cooperative Music/V2 Records on May 21st in the U.K. and May 22nd in the U.S. However, Mute Records is giving fans the opportunity to stream the upcoming album.

Featuring vocals and lyrics by Dave Gahan, ‘The Light The Dead See’ is the follow-up to 2009’s critically acclaimed album ‘Broken’. Recorded at various locations and mastered at Abbey Road, the record will be available on CD, LP and as a download.

“There was no real script,” says the laconic Rich Machin of the extraordinary fourth album ‘The Light The Dead See’, a set of songs of majesty and momentum. “It just rolled and rolled; it was effortless.” Yet the writing was on the wall from the moment Dave Gahan stepped in to tackle vocal duties that this was going to be something very special. “We realised we were coming from the same place in so many ways,” adds Machin. “He’s really laid himself bare on this record, his performances are astonishing: he really is a terrific singer.”

Says Gahan, “Everything about it was relatively unplanned, surprising: a magical thing. We were a perfect match and I’m very, very excited about this record.”

Gahan’s lyrics and melodies came to him with spontaneity and passion. “About five songs in, I realised I was writing outside myself. I was having a go at myself, to be honest: my questions around faith, and God, or the lack thereof at any given moment. Sometimes I’m full of faith, but there are always questions. And I struggle with letting go of control of what’s going on around me. This album became very therapeutic. No restrictions. Coming out of getting sick myself, I found I HAD to get this stuff out of me. This music gave me the perfect palate to play with the BIG questions that we all ask when life becomes less about what can we GET, than: what can we DO? I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m privileged in my life, so I want to do things I feel really connected to now, otherwise there’s no point. Rich and I had both come out of something difficult. This is something to do with that. It was a wonderful experience.”

From June 1st, in conjunction with Umatik Entertainment, Shunt Production will be accepting pre-orders for the Recoil concert film ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’, to be released on Blu-ray. This is a full HD production with DTS-HD 5.1 surround sound & stereo audio soundtrack, mixed by Alan Wilder & Paul Kendall.

Directed and edited by Attila Herkó, ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ will be delivered as a Blu-ray only format, presented in a deluxe DVD-sized 6 panel digi-pack with reinforced slipcase, containing a 170gm 16-page booklet packed with information & photo manipulations by Ákos Szénási. With the first 1000 copies individually hand-stamped/numbered, the disc will also feature extra promotional films & live projections.

The concert film will initially be available to pre-order via the Recoil Official Store, and later at other on-line and retail outlets via Alfa Matrix. All store on-line orders are dispatched with an exclusive code to receive downloadable extras such as a pdf art booklet with extra spreads, a soundtrack sampler, Recoil ‘live’ photographs & project wallpapers.

A website devoted to the release is now live at: http://bluray.recoil.co.uk This site will continue to be updated with additional news about the project, including more complete details of extra downloads, an exclusive Recoil USB stick with additional content, Blu-ray player recommendations & other technical information, so please keep checking in there.

Note: It has been decided to limit the main format to Blu-ray because the film works infinitely better at its highest resolution and Alan does not want to compromise this aspect. Secondly, Blu-ray players are cheap and simple to install these days. If you haven’t upgraded yet, now is the time to do so!

Format details:

‘A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST’ Blu-ray
(deluxe digi-pack with 170gm 16-page booklet.
First 1000 copies come individually hand-stamped / numbered)

Contents:

A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST
Running time: 84 minutes

PROMOTIONAL FILMS
Running time: 21 minutes

WANT (Renegade of Noise 808 remix)
PREY (Shotgun mix)
ALLELUJAH (subHuman album version)

Directed by: Dmitry Semenov

LIVE PROJECTIONS
Running time: 16 minutes

Directed by: Steve Fabian, Igor Dvorský & Dmitry Semenov

Download package
(free with store purchase of Blu-ray)

Contents:

1) 8 minute ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ soundtrack sampler – choice of 24bit wav or 320 kbps mp3
2) PDF Art booklet – 24 page Blu-ray booklet including additional spreads
3) Approx. 75 x high res Recoil live photographs & film stills
4) Project wallpapers for smartphone, iPad and computer screen

Recoil USB stick
(Special edition custom-designed 8GB USB stick, with assets pre-loaded)

Contents:

1) Full 84 minute stereo soundtrack – choice of 24bit wav, 16bit Apple Lossless, FLAC or 320 kbps mp3
2) 3 x ‘A Strange Hour 2′ reconstructions – stereo audio – choice of 24bit wav or 320 kbps mp3
3) Extended trailer for ‘A Strange Hour In Budapest’ – approx 5 minutes : 1080p HD mp4
4) PDF Art booklet – 24 page Blu-ray booklet including additional spreads
5) Approx. 75 x high res Recoil live photographs & film stills
6) Project wallpapers for smartphone, iPad and computer screen

Background:

‘A Strange Hour’ was presented during 2010 & 2011 in 52 cities across the world as part of the ‘Selected Events’ tour to celebrate 25 years of the Recoil project.

Says Alan: “The idea to take Recoil out on the road evolved during the release of ‘Selected’ in 2010. The events were not so much ‘live’ band but more art installation featuring stripped down, edited sections from many Recoil remixes and alternative versions. For the presentations, I managed to gather together filmmakers from as far as Russia, via the Czech Republic and Hungary, all the way to Argentina.

One of the most memorable moments of the entire tour came about, strangely enough, through adversity. Who can forget ‘Eyjafjallajökull’ and the major headaches and logistical nightmares it caused? Back in April 2010, the Icelandic mountain awoke, spewing its contents into the stratosphere and reaping havoc on the very same day Recoil was due to fly from London to Budapest. After an eternal struggle via airports, train stations, traffic jams, manic phone calls and confusion all round, 12 hours after leaving home my team and I found ourselves back on my own doorstep having got precisely zero kilometers towards the Hungarian capital. The last resort and only option was to drive (in my own car) through the channel tunnel and no less than 7 countries from West Sussex to Diesel club, Budapest – a journey of some 21 hours non stop. Word got around (while others were canceling shows left, right and centre) that, against all the odds, we were on our way – and when we arrived with about 1 hour to spare, what greeted us was one of the most vociferous and appreciative crowds on the whole tour.

To cut a long story short, we wanted to come back, not least to finally see a little of this beautiful city, but most of all to play once again to the warm Hungarian public. The second Budapest presentation and last of 2010 was held in the beautiful newly-renovated Szikra venue. To celebrate this end of year special show we decided to install an extra large fully professional cinema screen and projector. The screen measured a giant 8 x 5 meters and covered the entire stage area.

The performance was filmed using the latest high-definition technology in order to capture the event in its full glory. For this (with the help of the local promoters), the team from Umatik was recruited, headed up by director Attila (‘Atus’) Herkó, and in a similar way to the stage projections, we worked remotely on the editing – I gave feedback to rough edits which Atus sent to me whilst Paul Kendall & I simultaneously worked on the surround sound mix, and everything was refined from there. I think you will agree Attila’s film is stunning and offers a captivating and exhilarating document of ‘A Strange Hour’.”

‘A STRANGE HOUR IN BUDAPEST’

Recorded & filmed at: Szikra, Budapest : 04.12.2010
Produced, directed & edited by: Attila Herkó for Umatik
Executive producer: Alan Wilder
Stereo & 5.1 soundtrack mix: Alan Wilder and Paul Kendall

Main film: 1920 x 1080p High Definition : 16:9
Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround : LPCM Stereo 2.0
Extra material: 1080p HD 16:9 : LPCM Stereo 2.0
(Note: This is a zone-free all region disc which will play in any Blu-ray player)

Distribution:

Recoil Official Store: www.store.recoil.co.uk
Alfa Matrix: www.alfa-matrix.com
For further information, please contact: shunt@recoil.co.uk

2012 UMATIK ENTERTAINMENT and SHUNT PRODUCTION

Source: Recoil