Dave Gahan Quotes

1. The first thing I realized in the hospital was that I exited my body. I was floating underneath the ceiling and could observe exactly what was happening underneath me: Paramedics were running around my body and tried to save me. I screamed that I wasn't actually lying down there but above them. I believe it was my soul screaming which had already left my body and became a witness of what happened to my body. At that point I was clinically dead, my heart wasn't beating. These seconds seemed like hours to me. And suddenly, there was a complete, frightening darkness around me. As if someone had turned off the light. When I woke up, I was tied to the bed with handcuffs. Policemen were standing in front of me and read my rights to me. I was arrested because of possession of cocaine and heroin. The court let me do a therapy. For about a year, I lived in a detoxification clinic with other drug addicts and alcoholics. I regularly had to do a urine test. If they had found a prohibited substance only once, I would have had to go to jail in Los Angeles for two years. I was really afraid of this. For the first time in my life, it became clear to me that I am not immortal.


2. The possibilities are endless now, with performing, getting your music online, getting your own website and getting your music out there. I think that's very cool and amazing.

3. Depeche Mode haven't done a bad song. There's loads. We've done stuff I think is really shit.






4. "Presence of God" is really that understanding that sometimes when you step out of your own shoes and just open your ears and listen to what's going on around you, you get answers to the questions you were asking.

5. I'm excited about all the things I've been clueless about for so many years: showing up for my kids, being a better husband, listening to my wife.


6. Making a record with "Depeche Mode" is not a simple process. It's quite complicated and long. We have the luxury of time. I'm not sure that's such a good thing when you're being creative.

7. It's easy to fall into rock-star cliches. My hotel check-in name used to be Mr BL Zebub. In America, staff were, like: "Good morning, Mr Zebub." But in Poland or Russia the person bringing you room service is often a super-fan. They're calling you this weird name, but they know that you know that they know.

8. L.A. is always great. There's something special about L.A. And New York, for me, because it's home. There's nothing quite like walking onstage at Madison Square Garden.

9. With sex, the more you give, the better you get. You've got to take some time. It gets better as you get older. The more comfortable you become with yourself, the better you can perform in bed.

10. I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community. There's something sort of spiritual about it in a lot of ways. It's like we're all doing this together.


11. You have to work hard at reinventing yourself, so you have to choose new people who push you…Ben Hillier has brought a whole new dynamic to the group which is quite inspiring. It's better being in Depeche Mode now than it has been for 15 years.

12. David Bowie was right: smoking's the hardest vice to kick. I think if I smoke cigarillos then it's not like cigarettes. Somehow that seems OK.




13. My wife compliments me all the time. But I choose not to hear her. It's easier to feel I'm not doing something right.

14. Certain songs like "Enjoy the Silence" - to me, it always fits anywhere. There's something about that song that's really timeless, and I never get bored or feel like I have to muster something up.





15. Most men look dreadful in a suit. You can't buy off the peg - you've got to have it at least partially designed for your body. I'm very comfortable in one. It feels like I'm showing up for work.

16. I still hold on to the idea that a record can really change the way I feel.







17. When I died, there was only darkness. In the two minutes my heart stopped (after a 1996 heroin/cocaine overdose), this humungous voice inside of me went: "This is wrong." Like I don't get to choose when this is over. It scared the s..it out of me.

18. I go to a very visual place when I'm singing. It's very cinematic and I get this feeling of space. I love when music does that.




19. We were very lucky and have been fortunate to be able to record a lot of albums over this period of time, and to still be current and making music.

20. Being 45 means it's no longer a matter of trying to be right. It's a matter of doing what you can.






21. I do use texting as a great way to communicate quickly, but I don't twitter or anything.

22. When my life stopped, there were no white lights. I didn't see St Peter and the Pearly Gates. It was just darkness. But there was something overwhelmingly much bigger than me. It scared the f..ck out of me. There's a bigger picture. We're all just playing our parts.

23. I didn't have a Prince Albert. I had a piercing called the guiche. The part a guy has between his a…ehole and his balls, right through there. A big ring. They tell you it's going to hurt. It's like someone kicking you in the balls as hard as you can imagine.



24. The thing about drugs and rock and roll, it's that old idea that it is kind of like they goes together. And with that idea, the trouble is that a lot of kids now get into the drugs, and the rock and roll comes after that.

25. I'm really proud of the record and I think we've come together really well on it. Sometimes it was a bit of a long process and I wasn't quite sure where it was going - but you know, towards the end it was starting to take shape and it was really exciting.

26. There isn't an amount of money you could offer me to do reality TV. I would rather get my job back on the building site. Or I could own a construction business. Maybe I could retire to my house in Long Island and take up painting, like Captain Beefheart. A crazy recluse: I like that idea.




27. To be honest, if you go down that route, drugs are going to take command over everything you're doing anyway, and that's been my experience anyway.

28. Depeche Mode have never got over their teenage awkwardness with each other. We're still like that. Mates but not mates. That awkwardness is there, only now we have families and kids.




29. I went through a period before I got clean where I don't think I played a record for like two years. I just didn't care.

30. I often find myself on my knees praying to something or someone to not be in control.

31. We used to look pretty gay. It wasn't so much the miniskirt over the leather pants with boots - that had a punky thing about it. But when Martin (Gore, guitarist/songwriter) wore the full-length maxi with the cowboy hat - that was beyond gay.

32. We've been fortunate to be able to make music as Depeche Mode for 20 years.


33. Bondage wasn't for me. I spent time during my years in Los Angeles at fetish clubs. I'm all for trying things. But when you've taken it to a certain level and you're in some basement tied to an easel, it's very hard to get back to any kind of normal intimacy.

34. There was a time when I thought I couldn't perform, that I couldn't do what I had to do if I wasn't high, or if I wasn't in that kind of state, if you like. But it's kind of a myth. It's rubbish.

35. All the big fights with my wife start with the dishwasher. It shows you how it's supposed to be loaded: knives and forks go pointed-end downwards. You get more in if you put everything where it's supposed to go. If Jen goes out of the room and I get the chance before it goes on, I will fiddle with it.




36. The need always grows. We always need more resources in order to be able to say to everybody who needs help that we can give it to them. The need grows. We've gone through an incredibly difficult recession, which has not, on any level, helped the music community. So raising the money is part of what we need to do to make sure people are okay.

37. I wake up in a terrible funk. In the past, I automatically assumed I wasn't going to be able to deal with whatever was presented to me that day. Now going to the gym or walking outside can cheer me up. Ten years ago that would have seemed impossible.



38. Substance abuse and addiction knows no boundaries, whether it's music, dance, theater, art or John Q. Public. We have a major problem in this country, and certainly around the world, which needs to be addressed. Our mission obviously is for our own community, so we really specialize and will help the music people that need our help, and we're there for them.

39. It's about rehashing old ideas and trying to make some money out of it, basically.




40. You're only going to get surface with me. It takes me ages to warm up to people.


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