Depeche Mode are an English electronic band formed in 1980. The group’s original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher (keyboards), and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). Depeche Mode released their debut record in 1981, Speak & Spell, bringing the band onto the British new wave scene. Clarke left the band after the release of the album, leaving the band as a trio to record A Broken Frame, released the following year. Alan Wilder (keyboards, drums, occasional songwriter) officially joined the band in late-1982, replacing Clarke, while Gore took over lead songwriting duties, establishing a line up that would continue for the next thirteen years.
The band’s last albums of the 1980s; Black Celebration and Music for the Masses established them as a dominant force on the mainstream electronic music scene. A highlight of this era was the band’s concert at the Pasadena Rose Bowl where they drew a crowd in excess of 60,000 people. In the new decade, Depeche Mode released Violator, catapulting them to massive mainstream success. The subsequent album, Songs of Faith and Devotion and the supporting Devotional Tour exacerbated tensions within the band to the point where Alan Wilder quit in 1995, leading to intense media and fan speculation that the band would split. Now a trio once again, the band released Ultra in 1997, recorded at the height of Gahan’s near-fatal drug abuse, Gore’s alcoholism and Fletcher’s depression. The release of Exciter confirmed Depeche Mode’s willingness to remain together, the subsequent, and very successful, Exciter Tour being their first tour in support of an original album in eight years since the Devotional Tour although the band had toured in 1998 to support The Singles 86>98 compilation album.
Depeche Mode have had 50 songs in the UK Singles Chart and thirteen top 10 albums in the UK charts, two of which debuted at No. 1. Depeche Mode have sold over 100 million records worldwide, making them the most commercially successful electronic band and one of the world’s best-selling bands in music history. Q magazine calls Depeche Mode “The most popular electronic band the world has ever known” and included the band in the list of the “50 Bands That Changed the World!”.
In October 2012 during a press conference in Paris, Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher announced plans to release a new album and a worldwide tour starting from Tel Aviv and continuing in Europe and North America in the year 2013. Martin Gore revealed that Flood mixed the album, marking the producer’s first studio collaboration with the band since 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion.
In December 2012, the band officially announced signing a worldwide deal with Columbia Records and releasing a new album in March 2013. On 24 January 2013, it was confirmed that the album was called Delta Machine. “Heaven”, the debut single from Delta Machine was released commercially on Friday 1 February 2013 (although not in the UK). The release date in the UK was pushed back to 18 March 2013
In March, the band announced North American dates to its ‘Delta Machine’ summer tour, starting 22 August from Detroit and ending 8 October in Phoenix. In June, other European dates were confirmed for early 2014. The final gig of Delta Machine Tour took place in Moscow (Russia) on 7 March 2014, at Olimpiski venue.
In March 2014, Depeche Mode won the award for “Best International Group – Rock / Pop” at the ECHO Awards in Germany. Also they were nominated at the category “Album des Jahres (national oder international)” for Delta Machine.
On October 8, 2014 the band announced Depeche Mode Live in Berlin, the new video and audio release filmed and recorded at the O2 World in Berlin, Germany on November 25 and 27, 2013 during the Delta Machine Tour. It will be released on November 17, 2014 worldwide.