Photo: Press
Depeche Mode have angrily responded to the claim by white supremacist and president of the National Policy Institute, Richard Spencer, that the electro-rock pioneers are “the official band of the alt-right.”
Yep. That’s the same Depeche Mode who once sang: “"People are people so why should it be/ You and I should get along so awfully/ So we're different colours/ And we're different creeds/ And different people have different needs/ It's obvious you hate me/ Though I've done nothing wrong/ I never even met you/ So what could I have done".
A spokesperson for the band told Pitchfork: “That is a ridiculous statement. Depeche Mode has no ties to Richard Spencer or the alt-right and does not support the alt-right movement.”
Spencer made his outrageous claim while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in New York but later retracted what he said by claiming on his Twitter account that he’d been “joking” but that he remained “a lifelong Depeche Mode fan”.
Attempting to explain himself to Rolling Stone, the extreme right-winger said: “They aren't a typical rock band, in terms of lyrics and much else. Depeche Mode is a band of existential angst, pain, sadism, horror, darkness and much more. It's not bubblegum pop, with frontmen who sing about 'luuuuv' and sugarplum faries [sic]. There was a certain Communist aesthetic to an early album like [1982's] A Broken Frame as well as titles like Music For The Masses but then there's a bit of a fascist element, too. It's obviously ambiguous, and as with all art, everything is multi-layer, contradictory and ambivalent."
Indeed, it’s strange to think that Spencer could express any liking for Depeche Mode. He’s a fan of Donald Trump while the famously left-leaning Depeche Mode quite clearly aren’t. Speaking recently to the Italian media, Dave Gahan, the band’s frontman, compared the US president to Adolf Hitler. He said: “"The things that he's saying sound very similar to what someone was saying in 1935. That didn't work out very well. The things that he's saying are cruel and heartless and promoting fear."
Depeche Mode’s 14th studio album, ‘Spirit’, is released on March 17. In the meantime – and while we’re not ones to advocate violence – let’s have a look at Richard Spencer getting punched to soundtrack of Depeche Mode:
Elsewhere, Depeche Mode have been announced for BBC 6Music Festival. They will play Barrowlands and of their first performance there since 1984, they talked in detail about it to Steve Lamacq. They also spoke about incorporating material from their new album into their setlist, saying there will be 6 or 7 new songs in there.
Depeche Mode also play London Stadium. Check here for tickets.
