REVIEW: OVER THE WALL - THIS IS HOW WE DID IT ep

Another day, another great new Glasgow music scene discovery. During one of my many bored hours at work yesterday I was looking through Twitter and read about Over The Wall who proclaim themselves "A Pop band from Glasgow." That's clearly good enough for me. As ever I'm coming to the band late as they've recently played an ep release show at the Glad Cafe round the corner from me AND played at the Mogwai CCA show which I forgot to get tickets for. To make up for it I made a quick trip to their Bandcamp page (click me) and I'd grabbed the Over The Wall ep which really is something you must hear.

The e.p. kicks off with the brilliant Radiator, the stand out track here. With its mix of almost lo-fi electronics and guitar and strong pop melodies the track is a joy. The lyrics are superb too. Leave Gaps and Forget takes the pace down a notch or two but really grabs the attention and again features some beautiful lyrics. Track 3 is Cast Your Stone sweeps along on a bed of acoustic guitar and one of those piano lines that you will not be able to remove from your head before we end on Action Man with its' brazen attempt at an R&B or even Gospel feel in the main verses (or at least that's what I'm hearing). A brilliant end to a brilliant ep

After hearing this I've already gone to the band's Facebook page and bought more of their back catalogue which I can't wait to get into. Listen to this ep and you'll do the same.

Over The Wall - Twitter Facebook Bandcamp

DEPECHE MODE LIVE WIKI - A NEW SITE FOR ALL YOUR DEPECHE MODE LIVE NEEDS

A new site called Depeche Mode Live Wiki (CLICK) has popped up and you really must have a look. Put together by a couple of chaps on the Home forum the site is a great place to find top quality Depeche live recordings from throughout the band's career. There is at least one soundboard recording from all but the band's earliest tour tour so you really must check it out

In addition to live recordings there is also an interview section full of transcripts prepared by Linda from the Depeche Mode Television Archives site, videos, setlist pics and much much more. I know where I'll be spending the next few days

There is also a Twitter account to follow too. Read more about the project on the Home forum.

https://www.depechemode-live.com/wiki/Main_Page

DEPECHE MODE - THE REAL REASON THE DELTA MACHINE TOUR ENDS IN MOSCOW

I swore I would keep this secret but I can't hide the truth any longer. I know why the Depeche Mode tour isn't extending beyond Moscow and I have to let you all know. What follows is a tale of mystery, intrigue and very possibly some of the truth.

The band initially fell out over plans for A Broken Frame medley for the third leg. Dave and Fletch were happy with it to run My Secret Garden/A Photograph of You/The Meaning Of Love/Leave In Silence but Martin insisted on dropping Leave In Silence and adding Shouldn't Have Done That. In this picture here

Dave can be clearly heard saying to Martin "This many people want Leave In Silence in the medley you massive ponce" to which Martin is replying "I ALWAYS knew you and Fletch hated me"

That  really soured things. 

To try and sort it out band leader Peter "The Piano" Gordeno who has in fact personally earned £80m of the band's total revenue of this tour given that he secretly wrote most of the post Some Great Reward back catalogue called a band meeting in Helsinki and attempted to broker a peace deal. It was suggested by Dave and Fletch that they would drop the ABF medley idea if instead they could focus on a b-side section where classics like Flexible and In Your Memory could get an outing. This infuriated Martin who had been angling for the Pre Deportation mix of Flexible to be played from the Nice gig onwards.

He grabbed his guitar and stormed off into the Helsinki night. Dave ran after him as this exclusive picture shows

All looks well there doesn't it? It's not. Martin is saying

 "So I say for MONTHS that I want the Pre Deportation mix included instead of Personal Jesus and you say 'no Mart that is a stupid idea' then you and Fletch gang up on me AGAIN once Gordeno tells you to and you tell me you now want Flexible in. REALLY? For fuck's sake..."

Dave - "Look Mart, calm down. Gordeno wants this so me and Fletch do too. You know we have to if Gordeno says so. "

Martin - " fuck Gordeno. It's my band for christ's sake"

Dave - "Come on Mart, you know it's his. You know it, I know it. Let's just finish the tour"

Martin - "Or what? What's he going to do eh? Insist we play the same setlist every night even though we've got a back catalogue full of legendary songs that would shame any band on earth?"

Dave "Erm...well......"

And that is how we find ourselves where we are today friends.

I should explain how I found this all out. When the band were in Glasgow last December I took a walk down to the venue to see what was happening. A blacked out jeep pulled up and the back window rolled down. A hairless but masculine hand popped out of the window and beckoned me over

"You. Get in."

I did. It was Gordeno. The whole car smelled of pianos and slightly unnecessary solos.

"I've seen your blog," said Gordeno "I know you want to know the true Depeche Mode."

"My blog Almost Predictable Almost Peter?" I added somewhat unnecessarily

"Yeah," he slurred tinkering on a mini piano "that one. It really is the only Depeche blog people should look at"

"Thanks Peter," I said nervously "but how does this help with all these Depeche Mode Tour rumours?"

"It doesn't, " boomed the Liberace of the Alternative Electronic scene "it's just for background."

We sped off through the Glasgow streets. 

I took this picture in the back of the vehicle. 

"The band won't play South America you know" he said suddenly. "I've decided that the tour must end in Moscow."

"Why?" I asked nervously

"It's my band. No-one but you and my band members knows that. Alan Wilder doesn't actually exist. It was me in a mask. I've been running this for years now. Have you ever seen us in the same place?"

"Erm..yeah? The O2 gigs, the Albert Hall last tour for starters"

"NONSENSE" screamed the genius behind the in no way unncessary jazz piano fill ins on I Feel You "They were Wilder robots built to fool all of you. I choose the setlists. I programme the keyboards. I tell Dave what to wear, when to spin and who to hug. I ordered him to stop hugging Fletch after whatever outdoor gig it was in the summer that he last hugged him. Those two are far too close and could ruin my band."

I was stunned. Gordeno pulled out his gold discs for every album since Some Great Reward. He showed me his bank account which was filling up continuously with money like in a film when money is transferred from the good guys' account to the bad guys' Swiss one. It all seemed true.

PETER GORDENO IS ACTUALLY DEPECHE MODE

He swore me to secrecy and dropped me off with a country style piano flourish. I wandered home dazed. 

I don't know what trouble I'll be in now that I've told you all this. I have angered Gordeno and as Dave, Martin and Fletch found out to their cost that is a very very bad thing.

If you see him, don't tell him I told you this.....

My Life As A Member Of The Black Swarm - A Depeche Mode article

A Twitter friend of mine oneplanetmikey (TWEET) published a great blog this week all about his life as a Depeche Mode fan or as we tend to know it, as part of The Black Swarm. It's a great read and really sums up life as a fan of DM chronicling his trip last year from Australia to see the band live for the first time. The blog can be found here

http://oneplanetmikey.tumblr.com/post/73937929821/my-life-as-a-member-of-the-black-swarm

Feel free to tweet him and tell him how much you liked it

DEPECHE MODE - MONUMENT

It's been a while since I was like an excited child on Christmas Day but on 25 December 2013 I was back to being my nine year old excited self again when I unwrapped the fantastic Monument a book all about Depeche Mode by superfans Sascha Lange and Dennis Burmeister. Here's a picture I took approximately 4 seconds after unwrapping it

So what is Monument? It started off following a discussion between Mute's German boss Anne Haffmanns and Dennis. Dennis is well known as huge Depeche collector who collection comprises rare promos, posters, seemingly all the vinyl on earth and even Depeche's first demo tape. This is a man who probably has more Depeche Mode items than Depeche do themselves. Anne suggested that Denis write and book and he got together with Sascha to produce this wonderful tome. 

The book covers all the various Depeche periods album by album and contains some fantastic pictures of rare records, tapes, posters and so on in the main from Dennis' collection. There are also exclusive snaps from Alan Wilder and Daryl Bamonte's private collections. It's quite fascinating and it is hard not to head to ebay or Discogs and use the book as a catalogue from which to shop for some very expensive items indeed. In addition to the collector fetishism there are a couple of really interesting additions which make the book a must have. Firstly there is an exclusive interview with Daniel Miller covering the early days of Mute up to the modern day which contains a good few Depeche tales. An interview with Mr Miller is always worth a read and this is no exception. Secondly there is a wonderful piece of Depeche's impact in East Berlin which really gives you a feel for the social and cultural impact they had behind the iron curtain. There are pictures from the Music For The Masses tour show in East Berlin and you can feel the passion of the crowd simply looking at them. 

Overall this book is a real treat and a must have for Depeche fans. As a fan who has something of a reputation for collecting Depeche Mode and even for annoying people with pictures of that collection I can safely say that in comparison to Dennis and Sascha I have a long, long, long way to go. Dennis - if you ever feel like giving it all away just let me know.....

Monument Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/DepecheModeMonument

Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Depeche-Mode-Monument-English-Edition/dp/3351050119/