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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.
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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.
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If you stick around long enough, you're going to become fashionable eventually.
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I have a very addictive personality, so I'm even careful about wanting more of anything than I need - even chocolate.
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There are Depeche Mode parties around the world where people listen to our music all night long. The more remixes we can give them, the more interesting those nights have got to be.
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Music is really all about experimentation and lots of trial and error. It's just mind-numbingly boring until you hit on something that works well.
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The whole 'serious artist' thing is very damaging. The powers that be will steer you towards your own demise. One thing I've learned is that it's not very glamourous, and my problems are no different from anybody else's.
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Our music over the years has been very cinematic. It's surprising we never really got into film soundtracks.
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I have the urge to still be part of the world, the universe, of life. Through music I have the feeling that I come a little closer to that.
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Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.
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I lead two totally separate lives. There are times when I have to slip into rock star mode.
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You've got to put interesting people around you; you've got to work with people who are gonna inspire you to take the songs you've written into a completely different direction, because there's nothing more boring than going to the studio and predictably knowing what is going to happen.
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Joy comes from places you least expect it. It's usually the simple things, like watching my son play basketball or going through Central Park when the blossoms are blooming.
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I loathe the idea of going onstage in a T-shirt and jeans.
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I do a cover of a Velvet Underground song, and they were one of the most important bands, for me.
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I don't think I've ever tried to be anything other than a weirdo.
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As part of Depeche Mode, I don't think it's right for me to be using my own songs for a solo project. I'm not a very prolific songwriter, so I keep those for Depeche Mode.
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People are People still gets played to death on '80s stations. It was our first big break in America. It's not exactly my favorite song.
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If you ask me who the members of the Rolling Stones or Led Zep or the Clash were, I'd be able to tell you every member. But I couldn't name a single member of Arctic Monkeys.
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If you go into the eastern bloc countries we are huge, and in Russia. Maybe there is something about the depressing nature of our music and lyrics that some people find an affinity with.
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I don't know if it's cool to say this anymore, but I grew up listening to Gary Glitter. A majority of his songs were in that shuffle-blues beat, and I think that's probably why I tend to write like that.
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When I write a song, I always start on acoustic guitar, because that's a good test of a song, when it's really open and bare. You can often mislead yourself if you start with computers and samples and programming because you can disguise a bad song.
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I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.
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I'm happy to say that my knowledge about Basildon is rather limited, particularly I was there only about three times. All my visits there were with DM and at a time within the early days when I was very interested in photography and always carried a shoulder bag with camera equipment around with me. My most insistent memory of Basildon is to sit in a disgusting pub and to get told I better shouldn't cross my legs and should hide the shoulder bag because otherwise I could be beaten up because someone might think I was a poof.