Photo: Depeche Mode: Monument. Courtesy of Akashic Book
In 1980, a four young men hailing from the British town of Basildon decided to start a band. They named it ‘Composition of Sound’, a very formal way of describing one of the defining factors of their 37-year career, and quickly adopted, ‘Depeche Mode’ (translation: ‘Fashion News’) after spotting it on the cover of a French magazine.
.
Their music, like their name, was cutting edge. Coming into their own just as synthesiser music was making waves, Depeche Mode received offers from major labels but decided to sign with Mute Records, a London-based independent that was emerging as the sound of the times. Daniel Miller, the label’s founder, started Mute in 1978 to release his own one-man electro-punk project The Normal, and the label subsequently signed a roster of artists that approached synth music with a DIY punk attitude.
.
By the mid-80s, Depeche Mode had become an international phenomenon, and one of the places their music made the most impact was with the youth living inside the Eastern bloc. Although their records had been banned by official channels, some Western radio and TV still reached fans, and Depeche Mode became musical heroes for a new generation.
.
As a teenager growing up in East Germany, Dennis Burmeister was slowly becoming the band’s number one fan, after having a lightbulb moment listening to “Pipeline” on the radio around 1983 or 84, then seeing a video for “A Question of Time” in 86. He began amassing a collection that would grow to more than 10,000 pieces – the most extensive archive of Depeche Mode memorabilia in the world.
.
Burmeister got started by swapping tapes with friends before he was finally able to buy hard copies after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. Over the years, his role began to grow as he recognised the importance of being not only a collector but a historian. By the early 00s, he had become a consummate insider, working as webmaster of the Toast Hawaii label, founded by Depeche Mode member Andy Fletcher.
.
In 2008, Burmerister met Sacha Lewis, a fellow Depeche Mode historian who was working on a documentary film. They quickly hit it off and saw the perfect opportunity to pool their talents and resources into creating a book, Depeche Mode: Monument. Featuring more than one thousand objects from Burmeister’s archive, Monument is a detailed chronology of the band who – after 100 million album sales – still show no sign of stopping. Burmeister and Lewis told us what it takes to build a monument to the band.
.
.
Photo: Depeche Mode: Monument. Courtesy of Akashic Book