Month: November 2019

By Posted on Posted in Depeche Mode, Film Tagged with , , ,

Well, It’s been more than 24h since I saw the proper first theatrical screening of “Spirits in the Forest” to the general public here in the Depeche Mode capital of the world. Besides a small after-show party hangover which made me miss the entire morning, I had a very busy day reading and trying to answer as many messages as I can (if you have written me and I have not answered, calm down, I’m not finished yet).

Besides the short celebrity experience all the way from when the lights went on in the theater and being asked for selfies with half of the people in the after party, what I’m the most happy with is the reaction people had after watching the film. So I wasn’t the only one who cried watching it (yes, I cried again). For the record, the list of films that made me cry is very short. It’s mostly films about prejudice and extreme injustice: “The Color Purple”, “The Help”, “Bent”, “Dancer in the Dark” plus an odd man out that just so happens to be another of Anton’s oeuvre: “Control”.

Even though I was not the director, nor had almost any creative control over this film, all my fears were indeed sashayed away. It was not another “101”. Our stories were not boring to (most) other fans. On the contrary. I had people telling me this movie made them reconnect with the moment Depeche Mode got into their lives, even if it had nothing to do with what us six tell in the film. Yes, I also got messages from people relating specifically with what we went through, but it was really incredible to see this film even transcends what being a Depeche Mode fan is. You can show it to someone else and say: “this is why we like this band”, but I’ll make Liz words mine and state that this is film about the humanity in us all. Anyone can watch it and still get the message.

As an update from the last post, I also bring Liz’s interview for Home, IndieWire’s review, and German Rolling Stone’s somewhat weird review with some wrong assumptions because none of us were interviewed by them. UPDATE: Anton goes back to his roots in this NME interview.

And for the record: Berlin is the capital of the Depeche Mode world, BUT LOS ANGELES comes in a close second place. Where else in the world is there a Depeche Mode convention? This first part of my line was very popular here in Berlin, where 11 out of 10 people are fans, but the second part was left in the cutting room floor and I just don’t want to piss off fans from LA. Specially after getting to know Liz and also all these great guys in the picture above that I got to spend some unforgettable days with.

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We’re one day away from the big day: the worldwide screening of “Spirits in the Forest”, and I just wanted to leave links for some more interviews and articles here before I lose track of everything.

You can now read David McElroy’s interview with me and with Cristian Flueraru for Home.

Billboard also featured an article about the film.

Forbes Entertainment went as far as defining our film as a “new gold standard” for concert films.

Music Week is full of inaccuracies, but they interviewed Anton and it’s a good summary of what he spoke during his Q+A in London last month.

Mariskal Rock (in Spanish) initially said Dicken was a “chico from Medellín”, which they later corrected to Bogotá after his comment on the site. At least they got it right that I am a carioca in Berlin.

As a 🏳️‍🌈rainbow bonus🏳️‍🌈, LogoTV’s website NewNowNext featured an interview with me which should be available here. However, their site cannot be accessed from within the EU (well, not without a VPN, at least) because they’re afraid of being sashayed away by EU’s GDPR (not to be confused with RPDR). It’s late 2019 and they haven’t fixed it. So should you be redirected to their Youtube channel or some other site, the article can be read as a simple PDF here under fair use terms.

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Last month I was asked to write two short reviews about Fletch’s DJ performances in Rio de Janeiro that took place in October 2007 and October 2011, respectively, for my friend Jean Campagner of DepecheMode.com.br. You can find the originals in Portuguese here and here with some extra pictures. Here are English versions of both.

October 5th, 2007. It was a Friday night. The club had just opened a few months before and was always crowded. Yet, Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher’s first visit to Rio wasn’t exactly a success. After the warm up with DJs José Roberto Mahr and Tony Viegas, the main guest DJ took over the booth shortly after midnight.

In case you’re still in doubt, he is really spinning. But his style is sort of unique. He doesn’t beatmatch and doesn’t always pick very danceable tracks. Of course there’s a lot of Depeche Mode in his set. And, obviously, these were the tracks that would get the crowd cheering the most.

I was probably one of the few people who paid extra to get to stay at the VIP area, behind the DJ booth. I already knew the club configuration and I knew the DJs had to pass through it to reach the booth. Before, during and after his set, Fletch would wonder around or go to the loo (only when playing very long tracks would he do it during his set).

Whenever he was not playing, he was in a more reserved area with his guests. During one of his ventures outside of the booth, I managed to intercept him and ask for an autograph on my “Playing the Angel” CD booklet I had brought with me.

I was prepared for the autograph, but when I left home, I ended up forgetting my camera. I took some pictures with my phone which were terrible and that was it, but I was already happy. It was definitely worth paying a little more and having had some great reward.

October 13th, 2011. After the disappointment caused by the cancellation of both of Depeche Mode’s shows in Brazil of the 2009 Latin American leg of the Tour of the Universe, there came our hero Fletch to gives another taste of one of his DJ nights.

This time things were slightly different. In fact, it had all the ingredients for a disaster compared to 2007.  It was on a Thursday and at the Costa Brava Club which is hard to reach (think of a venue on the top of a cliff by the shore in the isolated neighborhood of Joá). It’s the kind of place most people from Rio see from a bridge when passing from the South to the West side, but hardly anyone knows exactly how to get there. But in the end it all worked out fine and I made it on time.

Another thing made an entire difference. My devotee friends managed to arrange some time for us and Fletch with the event organizer. I think I was the first one to arrive, given how anxious I was. I took the “Sounds of the Universe” vinyl for him to autograph. We had roughly 20 or 30 minutes alone with him for pictures, autographs and his famous video promising that Depeche Mode would play in Brazil on their next tour. His promise would only come true two tours later, but better late than never.

This time the event was sponsored by a condom manufacturer. The dance floor of this club is smaller than the the one from 4 years before. If it didn’t get fully crowded, at least it didn’t look empty, like in 2007.

I confess I didn’t even pay that much attention to what the other DJs played before him after the state of grace that was that spontaneous meet-and-greet we were given. If Fletch didn’t surprise us in his setlist, his kindness made that night totally worth it.

By Posted on Posted in Depeche Mode, Film Tagged with , , ,

I got asked a lot these past few weeks how does it feel to see yourself on the big screen. I didn’t have a proper answer until last Wednesday. I had only seen “Spirits In The Forest” once and it was the day before, at home. Watching it in the privacy of my sofa helped me defuse the surprise factor. That’s not a bad thing. Quite frankly I wouldn’t want to watch it for the very first time in a theater and then, when the lights go on, I’d still be trying to process what I had just seen while shaking hands and talking to everyone next to me.

So, on Wednesday, I ran to London for the very first theatrical screening with the extra special presence of Anton Corbijn, who would be answering questions after the film. Now that I didn’t have to worry how I was portrayed in the film, I managed to pay more attention to subtle details in the narrative of my five fellow spirits. Within 5 minutes I was already in tears, trying not to let people near me notice I was nearly sobbing for the entire first half of the movie, completely moved by everything those people on screen were telling and how it can make anyone understand what Depeche Mode is about. Everyone (or at least every Depeche Mode fan) will identify her or himself with what we have to say because it’s a very human approach to it. Anton said, quite rightfully, that Depeche invokes this sort of cult following that he doesn’t see among fans of other bands he also works with quite well (yes, he mentioned U2 at this moment). It’s not that they are better or worse than DM. It’s that the music and the themes on their songs relate to particularly intimate moments in their fans lives. And that’s why we’re drawn together by the band.

Just so we’re on the same page and everyone’s expectations are managed, without letting any spoiler out, here’s what to expect of the film:

  • It’s not a concert film. That will come out later next year. Anton was asked about this some 5 times in a row.
  • It’s not another 101 either. They didn’t just turn the camera on and let us goof around. It’s also not another “Our Hobby Is Depeche Mode” aka “The Posters Came From The Walls”. I wouldn’t even have signed up for something so embarrassing in the first place.
  • The band is only shown performing on stage. If you want to watch Alan teaching how to play Black Celebration, you’re watching the wrong film. In fact you’re a couple of decades late. If you want to hear the band talking, I’m sure you can find tons of promotional interviews on the internet. The “Spirit” era, in particular, had them talking a lot about their own personal lives and growing up in working class Basildon in the 60’s and 70’s.

If you want some more non-spoiler reviews, I strongly recommend you read what “Halo” book co-authors David McElroy wrote for Home and Kevin May wrote on his Halo, the Violator Book Blog. There’s also a honest review on Gigwise and we even made it to The Guardian (although they focus more on the media and the business model of the theatrical release, rather than the content, but there’s a bit about it too).

It was also interesting to meet the people who had spent 6 months listening to our voices mixing the audio of the film. Dear gawd, bless their souls. Not even I could stand my own voice for so long.