‘Imposter’ finds Rich Machin’s ever-adaptable Soulsavers and Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan continuing the fruitful collaboration that has already yielded two acclaimed albums together – ‘The Light The Dead See’ in 2012 and ‘Angels & Ghosts’ in 2015. For their third album together, the focus is placed squarely on the songs and artists that have influenced Gahan and Machin instead of original material.
In our interview with Gahan, Gahan opened up about the imposter syndrome that has plagued him for years – either in Depeche Mode singing Martin Gore’s songs, or in comparing himself with other singers in the world of rock music that he has seemingly happily inhabited for the past forty years. If doubts exist, it’s hard to precisely identify them in the twelve songs here. Crucially, the key thing with ‘Imposter’ is that Gahan brings his own personality to these songs, irrespective of how familiar the original song might be. His reimagining of ‘Lilac Wine’, a song that Jeff Buckley made his own on ‘Grace’, is delivered with a haunting dreaminess, almost as if Gahan is singing while sifting through old pictures and memories. It takes a central place in the narrative arc that these songs formed, by accident, as he and Machin recorded the album together.
We also hear Gahan tackling Neil Young’s ‘A Man Needs A Maid’, imprinting deep-seated themes of dependency onto a normally ambiguity-filled song; in Gahan’s hands, the song takes on a harrowing fragility and unsettling contemplativeness, enhanced by Sean Reed’s lightness of touch at the piano. Elsewhere, the euphoric bluesy bluster that his collaborations with Machin always seem to elicit appears with full force on ‘I Held My Baby Last Night’, also covered by Fleetwood Mac, while the blistering distorted guitar that heralds a take on Cat Power’s ‘Metal Heart’ prompts the feisty, impassioned Gahan vocal that has become a staple quality in his work over the years.
Two covers in particular stand out – a version of Rowland S. Howard’s ‘Shut Me Down’, originally recorded for the former Birthday Party guitarist’s final album, and the overly familiar ‘Always On My Mind’.’Shut Me Down’ is a song filled with devastating reference points, a bittersweet song that Howard wrote while dying from terminal cancer that seems inseparable from his untimely death. In Gahan’s hands, he channels that sense of regret into wistfulness and muted euphoria, conjuring a twisted hopefulness out of the bleak wreckage of Howard’s song.
Meanwhile, ‘Always On My Mind’, a song so well-known, oft-covered and familiar that we rarely spend too long thinking about its message, is delivered with an unvarnished simplicity, in so doing exposing the vulnerabilities and imperfections of the song’s protagonist. It stands apart as a towering, accomplished, pivotal moment, and one that should eradicate any trace of the imposter syndrome that prompted this brilliant, brilliant album; an album that will become – in time – as significant and important to Gahan’s career as Johnny Cash’s ‘American’ series was to his enduring legacy.
9/10
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2021 Dave Gahan and Soulsavers "Imposter"
12 Nov 2021, 07:49
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Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan on How His Covers Album, Imposter, Is His Most Personal Record Yet
Kyle Meredith With... • Nov 8
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2021 Dave Gahan and Soulsavers "Imposter"
12 Nov 2021, 07:50
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ALBUM REVIEW: Dave Gahan & Soulsavers – Imposter
8/10
November 11, 2021
Depeche Mode's 130 date Global Spirit Tour ended in Berlin on July 25th 2018 and, following their by now standard plan, the band took a break, having concluded the tour. As soon as any Depeche Mode tour ends these days, fans' attention turns to the band's individual members, keen to hear what solo works may arrive before news of the next Depeche Mode album is known.
Martin Gore was the first to break cover with this year's wonderful The Third Chimpanzee ep and its accompanying remix ep; both released under his MG alias. Nothing came from Dave until his appearance on the Metallica Blacklist album, for which he provided a rather lovely cover of the song Nothing Else Matters. As it quickly turned out, that was not the only cover version Dave had been working on since we last saw him in 2018.
On October 4th this year, Dave Gahan started appearing on social media with accounts popping up on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. This was a first for Dave. These were under the name The Imposter, and later that day, the accounts confirmed that Dave and Soulsavers were returning with a new album called Imposter, an album of cover versions. The songs they had chosen were said to be "a reflection of Dave's life, a story told by others, but in his own distinct voice."
The choice of the album title is intriguing. In interviews Dave gave following the announcement of the album's release, he spoke of the role he inhabits when on-stage with Depeche Mode playing stadia and arenas all over the world and how that role that character is something he uses to allow him to give his voice to Martin Gore's lyrics. Certainly, the Dave we see on stage is very different to the Dave we see on this project, and I am sure, to the Dave we will see when he and Soulsavers play their London gig on December 5th. In many ways, the word "imposter" seems harsh as Dave is central to Depeche Mode's ability to continue to play sold-out world tours; however, as a concept for this album of songs that have directly inspired him, you can see why the record has that title.
The songs Dave and Soulsavers have chosen are a diverse and intriguing set, and you can hear what they mean to Dave in his delivery of each of them. He is an underrated vocalist and has a far broader range than he is given credit for. He fully embraces each song on this album, giving each a distinct feel and offering a unique take on the song. This isn't an album of cover versions done just for the sake of doing them; there is a meaning and a purpose behind each song, which gives the album a warmth many other cover versions lack.
As Dave's previous albums with Soulsavers show, there is a distinct Soulsavers sound. There are moments on this album where the listener would appreciate a little more variation with some light allowed to peek in through the velvet curtains shown on Dave's initial Instagram posts. Metal Heart, for example, a cover of the Cat Power song, never quite takes off, and while Not Dark Yet manages the commendable task of making Bob Dylan listenable, it is perhaps a track that could have been reserved for a B-Side should such things still exist.
Those grumbles aside, there are moments on this album where Dave and Soulsavers soar. The cover of A Man Needs A Maid, a Neil Young classic, is sensational. I wondered how Dave would tackle the vocal here, but he does it wonderfully with the song played in a key that perfectly suits his voice. The version of Rowland S Howard's Shut Me Down is the outstanding track on here and, if we really need to do this, it is the one that is closest to Depeche Mode in terms of feel and sound. It is tremendous. Mark Lanegan's Strange Religion is treated lovingly and sounds terrific, and the version of PJ Harvey's The Desperate Kingdom Of Love, a far rockier take than the magnificent original version on Uh Huh Her, is superb.
There are two tracks on here that you might call standards – Smile and Always On My Mind. I'd love to tell you that the latter is a note-by-note recreation of the finest version of that song – the full version on Pet Shop Boys' Introspective – but, of course, it isn't. It's a piano-led version of the song that holds few surprises, but Dave handles it well, stopping short of going anywhere near the Elvis plays the blues vocal style he slipped into when singing The Sweetest Condition on 2001's Exciter tour. Smile, on the other hand, is a real surprise. Dave sings the song delicately, backed in the main by a piano and its smoky, last song of the night before the bar closes feel is lovely. It would have been a superb track on which to close the album – the last song before The Imposter heads to bed for the night, his job done, his role fulfilled.
Whenever a member of Depeche Mode puts their name to anything that isn't Depeche Mode related, it is bound to attract all sorts of attention. I always try to listen to Depeche solo works on their own merits and not judge them against a back catalogue that most bands would kill to have produced even half of. With Imposter, Dave Gahan lets us hear what influences him, and it's clear these songs mean an awful lot to him. Having lived the life he has lived and been the person he has been to millions of people worldwide, he had nothing to prove, but he still wants to show what he can do and keep pushing himself. He's not an imposter; he's the real thing.
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2021 Dave Gahan and Soulsavers "Imposter"
12 Nov 2021, 21:58
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Dave Gahan & Soulsavers: A Conversation with Chris Black
Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan talks about the making of Imposters, his third full-length collaboration with Soulsavers (aka Rich Machin). The new album, Imposter, features covers of songs by PJ Harvey, Neil Young, Cat Power, Charlie Chaplin, Mark Lanegan, Gene Clark, and more.
Tuna On Toast with Dave Gahan (Soulsavers, Depeche Mode, Squid Game, Live Shows)
ed Stryker welcomes to Tuna on Toast, one of the greatest frontman and songwriters of all time, Dave Gahan.
When Dave joins the episode, he reveals to Stryker that he loves Seinfeld and watched and watches quite often when he's not on the road (Depeche Mode or Soulsavers).
Dave reveals why he chose the 12 songs on the Imposter album to cover and the pressure to do the original artists justice. Dave talks about Mark Lanegan's reaction in particular.
Dave and Stryker talk about the process of recording these songs in Malibu at Rick Rubin's beautiful Shangri-La Studios, Dave tells Stryker it's the first time that the Soulsavers have ever recorded an album in the same room.
Stryker asks Dave about potentially performing these 12 songs live, "yes" is what Dave says, live shows are coming our way!
Dave talks about his enthusiasm for recording and singing these songs as well as is overall excitement mixed with a couple nerves to release them all to the public. He tell Stryker that this process to record and release Imposter started before the pandemic.
Stryker asks Dave if he watches the Netflix hit show Squid Game :)
This quick but fun chat ends with Stryker congratulating Dave on Depeche Modes induction into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.
Dave Gahan is better than ever, he's smart, charming and overall just an electric dude!
Sunday Conversation: Dave Gahan On Why He Has Finally Earned The Right To Sing Dylan, Neil Young And More
Dave Gahan's brilliant and mesmerizing new covers album, Imposter, is like being invited into his home to listen to records with the iconic Depeche Mode frontman.
On the captivating record, which Gahan says he finally feels he has earned the right to sing as a vocalist, he takes listeners through songs by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley and Nina Simone via Elkie Brooks, Gene Clark and more.
I spoke with Gahan about his relationships with these songs, and with the artists — some personal; PJ Harvey, Buckley, Cat Power, and some as a fan; Dylan, Charlie Chaplin and more.
As always when talking with Gahan, the conversation is as fascinating and thought provoking as the music itself.
Steve Baltin: Last time we spoke we spent a lot of time talking about David Bowie and your relationship with him and seeing him when you guys had kids at the same school. Have you ever had that sort of similar experience with Bob Dylan?
Dave Gahan: I have not, I've never met Dylan. I've seen Dylan of course. And I have a couple of my friends who adore him. And one of my friends cried when I first said the Dylan song I'm doing. I could see he was a little like, "What?" He was one of the first people actually that I played a rough version of our studio performance. And he was like, "Wow!" He said, "Really love it, man. It really sounds great." And he's like a huge Dylan fan. So when I got the nod from my friend Craig, I was like, "Alright. So that's a good sign." I was nervous. And Dylan is one that you gotta choose really carefully. And also he was probably the most difficult to get out of my mind the way that Dylan phrases and the way that he interprets his own songs in that very kind of snarky way. But also this sort of revealing interpretation of himself, or the self that he wants us to hear anyway. Of course, right up there with the main impostors. Dylan, Elvis [Presley], Charles Chaplin. I chose very carefully because these songs, over the years, have both informed me and comforted me and allowed me to live vicariously through, as well, these voices. And as a singer, it's a very comfortable place. So it wasn't a great stretch for me to perform these songs. The part that was hardest for me was to completely put out of my mind the versions that were embedded in my soul and the singers. And I had to create a space that felt like it was truly me.
Baltin: Well, before we come on to some of the other songs. It's interesting that you chose "Not Dark Yet." I did a story last year on the best lyrics of all time. And choosing two from Dylan is nearly impossible. But the line I chose was from Not Dark Yet, "I ain't looking for nothing in anyone's eyes. Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear." So when you sing a line like that, just there's such a mortality in that song.
Gahan: But there's deep wisdom. He couldn't have sung that song 30 years before. He couldn't have sung it with such conviction and honesty 'cause he had lived through all this. And he had created this singer-songwriter that we know as Bob Dylan, but also remaining completely elusive and almost invisible in his own personal life, which is, I'm sure, no mean feat. It's not easy to do for someone of his fame. But I'm sure he would look down on that with as much disdain as I do. And so that lyric, that particular phrase in just it's "Not Dark Yet," "But it's getting there," it's one that I can identify with. And also, I felt that I could sing it, because I have been singing now for 40 years. And so I felt I earned the right to also live vicariously through that line.
Baltin: So when you sing that line, do you feel that mortality?
Gahan: I do. And I'm grateful for that feeling. And I accept it. And kind of embrace it. Especially through this last couple of years, which have been obviously, undoubtedly, the strangest time in history for this particular set of humans. In the last 100 years, we've all had to sort of adjust to something that, of course, is completely otherworldly. And yet, right on our doorstep, and planted firmly in our brains by the media. Whether you choose to believe the rhetoric or not, it's like you are definitely looking over your shoulder. I've felt like that for years anyway, I've sort of lived my life like that anyway. In some ways, this sense of feeling like, "When are they going to figure it out? When is it going to be figured out that I have no f**king idea what I'm doing?" I know it's so audacious to say something like that but at the same time, I still have that sense of like, "Yeah, I can carry a tune and I can make y'all believe that it's who I am." It took me years to get there, don't get me wrong, I didn't start out like that at all. I started mimicking very carefully from a very young age. And I think at some point, maybe 10 or 15 years in, I was no longer mimicking, and I was actually becoming the singer. And I fully embraced that on this record. I fully embraced that place of being the interpreter of these particular songs.
Baltin: One of the most interesting choices was "Smile."
Gahan: One of the reasons why I wanted to do "Smile" was because of the character Charles Chaplin also was in part. He wrote this song, and how his character is this clown, a person that enabled us to laugh and cry and watch through his film and acting this character he created, but we really knew nothing. He was a complete imposter. He's like the ultimate imposter. Elvis is another one. We all think we know Elvis and love him, but nobody, nobody really knew him. And there's something about that that's very appealing to me, and also comforts me on some level because quite often I feel like that myself. Not that I'm Elvis, that I feel like an interpreter of someone else's feelings or ideas. But I've fully embraced that with this particular set of songs. And I found that during the recording I've never felt so comfortable in a studio. I've never felt so empowered by my own self and enjoyed it immensely. And the irony being in of course, they're not my words.
Baltin: I would imagine as well, it's fun for you. But also, I imagine takes off the pressure in a different way. Because they're not your songs. You get to just celebrate songs that you love. They're personal to you, but in a very different way than a song you've written.
Gahan: That's really well put. The celebration part of it is ultimately what this felt like. And the identification was like being smacked over the head with a sledgehammer. It was like, "Oh, okay. All right. We're all in the same boat." There's just different ways that you can express it. And I felt that this was my moment, in a way, to really get it out. And there were lots of lines that stuck out to me during the performances and stick out now as I'm singing through the songs on a sort of daily basis to get my voice and myself ready for hopefully doing some performances around this record. For me to do a presentation of this record, that's why the sequencing on the record was so important that I always felt, and I performed it in the way, in my mind, like I was on a stage in front of people, possibly in some little off the beaten path hall in Las Vegas. It may be a couple of people and a dog slightly interested in what I'm doing. That visual really appeals to me. And so there's something about it that I really like. And as I'm singing through now, certain lines really pop out to me. In "Metal Heart," there's that line that Cat Power sings, "You're damned if you don't. And you're damned if you do." I love that line, so it lights me up. I love singing it, I love what it's saying. It's this character that has been created that you're living in and now you found yourself right back where you began trapped in some f**king hole and you put yourself there. And I've put myself there so many times and had to dig myself out. And that's part of life. As you said earlier as you get older, these things seem to a lot of people, "Yeah, well, that's life." To me, it's sometimes earth shattering and it's like, "Oh, okay." And I get that a lot from songs. And more importantly, I get that from the voices that are singing them, I have to believe that. And so for this, the real challenge as well was, "Can I sing this with such abandon that when we listen to it, it will feel like it is a complete set of work from a singer with this great band behind him?" And that's what it kind of felt like while doing it so I felt like I'd earned it somehow. I'd earned the right to finally do this.
Baltin: Do you feel a song differently when you've gotten to know the artist or when you have maybe played with it? Or have you gotten feedback from any artists?
Gaham: Yeah, we do get some feedback from it. PJ Harvey and Neil Young actually, and from the Dylan camp as well. We got the approval, we got the, "Yeah. Wow, great version. Great interpretation." So that was very nice. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was do something that didn't honor what was already done, but what I needed to do with it was take it to a place that fell felt honestly from me. It's in the voices and whether they're still here with us in person or not, it doesn't really matter to me 'cause there's a timeless sense sometimes in a song and in the interpretation that the vocalist gets across, which is both rare and actually from some of these artists, not so rare. Because I believe that they're really singing from their spirit, they're singing from a place that is truly abandoning any control. I don't mean in the accuracy of tune-in or in phrase-in, there's something inherently in their voice that is truthful to me. And that is where I always try to get with my voice, a place of real access that quite often in everyday life, I can't find. But through my voice and singing in particular, I have been there quite a few times.
Baltin: On this record, what were those moments for you as the singer that you felt that you got to those points of accuracy?
Gahan: Wow, that's hard to say. I don't think it was any one in particular. There were moments of complete jubilation, and joy like and performance that felt like it was running through my veins. I would say Elmore James, "Held My Baby Last Night," "Metal Heart." But at the same time, when singing "Always On My Mind" there was this sense of vulnerability where I was truly revealing a part of myself that I wasn't sure I was entirely safe doing. But I allowed it to dial through me, and I'm really grateful for that because that was the fun of actually doing this record, was the sense of performance that was both exhilarating and vulnerable and kind of like, "Can we pull this off? Can we do this?"
Baltin: I want to ask you as well about "Lilac Wine." Because I feel like Jeff Buckley couldn't do a song without hitting that vulnerability where you feel like his soul was being ripped out every single time he sang.
Gahan: Yeah, he was a great singer. I saw him a couple of times once in a little bar down on the Lower East Side and once, I don't know, I feel like it was like Hammerstein Ballroom or something like that. I went right at the peak of, I guess that record that he had. And I met him and I spoke to him briefly after the show, and he was a sweet guy and bouncing all over the place, like we do, and after the performance, when you've revealed yourself. It's like taking your clothes off and then you gotta go and speak to people is the last thing in the world you wanna do. I don't often do it actually anymore, but I just can't. But no, his voice, the truth is, I had never actually heard his version of "Lilac Wine." I was drawing from Nina Simone's version. And it wasn't till afterwards. I sent a copy of this record to my friend Anton Corbijn. Just to hear and to see what he thought, and he said to me, "Wow, Dave, it is very, very brave of you to cover a Jeff Buckley song." And I was like, "What?" And he said, "'Lilac Wine,' you covered Jeff Buckley's song," I said, "Well actually it's a Nina Simone song but, I've never heard that version," he said, "You have to hear it." He said, "But very brave, your version is beautiful." And he loved the record. So I of course immediately listened to the song, that Jeff Buckley had done, and I had never heard it, and I was very moved by his performance and it's different. It's really different, in terms of the musicality around it. But what I heard in his voice was this truth this like honesty, and that's what I wanted to achieve when making Impostor. I wanted each song to really feel like it came from me and more importantly from my voice, and it was the way I felt today.
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2021 Dave Gahan and Soulsavers "Imposter"
16 Nov 2021, 16:19
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Entrevistamos a Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode): “Espero que los fans de Metallica no se enfaden conmigo”
El vocalista de Depeche Mode habla con Marta Vázquez con ocasión de la salida de 'The Imposter', su nuevo disco de versiones
Dave Gahan, vocalista de Depeche Mode, publica su nuevo disco, 'Imposter', que se publicará este viernes, 12 de noviembre. Con ocasión de este estreno, Marta Vázquez ha tenido una charla con él, que puedes ver más arriba.
Uno de los puntos candentes de la conversación ha sido la “enemistad” de Gahan con los fans de Metallica, de los que, en su momento, dijo que su música era pop. Sin embargo -y como de versiones va la cosa- Dave también participó en 'The Metallica Blacklist', el homenaje de más de 50 artistas al 'Black Album' de los de San Francisco. ¿Significa esto que “han hecho las paces”?
“Espero que sí... La paz. Realmente fue una coincidencia que James Hetfield me eligiera para cantar la canción. Sentí que es, realmente, una hermosa canción de amor; y tengo la sensación de que James estaba un poco nervioso cuando entró por primera vez en el estudio con ella, frente a todos sus compañeros. Creo que tenía un toque muy cinematográfico y me di cuenta de que creaba unos paisajes, posiblemente, de otros mundos. Pero, en todo caso, sentí que la canción debía ser así... Y me pareció que hicimos una gran versión”, explica Gaham.
“Fue una coincidencia que no tuvo nada que ver con 'Imposter', pero disfruté mucho haciéndolo con mi amigo Kurt Uenala, que ahora vive en Reikiavic, Islandia, y él trajo a un par de amigos de por allí, un chelista que, por cierto, participó en la banda sonora de la película 'La Llegada'; también un amigo mío de Black Label Motorcycle Club, Peter, que toca algunas guitarras más etéricas en la canción, lo que le añadió atmósfera y Kurt, por supuesto, que lo produjo... De modo que sí, siento que es una versión muy curiosa, y espero que los fans de Metallica, no se enfaden mucho conmigo”.
¿Y tiene el vocalista de Depeche Mode algún ritual antes de salir al escenario? Sí, y así se lo ha confesado a Marta Vázquez.
“Antes de subirme al escenario me gusta encontrar un sitio en el que pueda estar solo, me gusta escuchar música muy alta... En la última gira con Depeche, por ejemplo, me ponía a escuchar a The Stooges. Muy alto. Y eso me sitúa bien para subirme al escenario e interpretar a este personaje. Pero me gusta estar solo, unos 30 minutos antes de empezar, y sí, tengo algunos rituales, pero no te los voy a contar”.
Puedes ver toda la entrevista completa más arriba.
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