Entry
Ninety-Two.
Wednesday, 2009.04.15, 9:42 PM CST.
Why
Depeche Mode Night is special to me.
(Please
note: I had originally posted this to a blog elsewhere online
on April 15th. Although it's currently May 27th, I figured this
was worth sharing here, so I'm copying it over in a slightly edited
format.)
Hi,
everyone.
Well,
most of you have probably already heard about the big Depeche Mode album
release party that I'm hosting at the Gypsy on the 24th.
Without
being all flashy about the subject, I just want to take a moment and
explain why I'm so excited about this party.
I
first started collecting Depeche Mode in late 1987, just a couple of
months before I got into the DJ industry. In 1989, I started my own
DJ company around the same time that Depeche Mode released "Personal
Jesus," one of their most famous songs to date. They released Violator
and the follow-up singles ("Enjoy the Silence," "Policy
of Truth," and "World in My Eyes") in 1990 - the same
year I graduated high school, the year I started college, and the first
year I ever saw Depeche Mode in concert.
Obviously,
I have a number of strong emotional ties with that album... and with
Depeche Mode's music in general. I've never met them, and I probably
never will, but their music has been a good part of the soundtrack to
my life. I'm not a casual fan who "likes Depeche Mode a lot"
- they're seriously my favourite musical act of all time. I have spent
thousands of dollars over the last 21+ years, seeing them in
concert six times and gathering up almost every rare promo, import,
and bizarre remix release that I could. (Yes, I even have the super-rare
French promo 12" of "I Feel Loved." I almost had to sell
a kidney for that one.) Luckily, I have read about lots of other fans
around the world who are a lot more "obsessive" than myself...
so I can feel confident that I'm staying in the realm of "collector's
enthusiasm" and not falling over into the realm of "obsessive
mental illness."
Even
though Depeche Mode aren't 100% perfect, they have released some amazing
tracks over the last three decades. The new album, Sounds of the
Universe, has some very impressive stuff on it ("Hole To Feed"
and "Corrupt" are really quite spectacular), but this party
won't completely focus on the new stuff. I am planning on playing less
than half of the new album tracks... and filling the rest with various
"classics."
Some
will be the songs that most casual DM fans will know by heart ("Enjoy
the Silence," "People Are People," "Personal Jesus,"
"Strangelove," etc.), and some of the more obscure tracks
will be specifically played for my fellow die-hard Mode fans... like,
um... well, if I said, then that would be telling, and I don't want
to spoil the surprises.
I'm
not going to be concentrating on being a complete "mixmaster"
for this event. Don't expect seamless blending between tracks. Expect
some simple blending/fading, and maybe even a little bit of "trainwrecking,"
in between a batch of amazing songs. I'm not focusing on the mixing,
I'm focusing on the order of the tracks in a manner that will hopefully
keep everyone - the casual Mode fans and the well-studied Mode geeks
- happy.
To
put it simply, I'm not doing this gig like I would a "commercial"
gig. I'm doing this gig like I would perform at a big house party -
I'm going to be genuinely having fun, and not worry too much about being
a perfectionist.
There
is no cover charge for this event. I don't want anybody saying, "I'd
love to go to Depeche Mode Night, but I can't afford it." For me,
this is a "labour of love." I'm not doing this for money;
I'm doing this because I want to share some great music with people
in a "performance" environment. I want to see people's faces
light up when certain songs come on.
I
want to see people dancing. I want to see tons of people dancing.
And,
to be honest, I want to bring back just a little bit of the excitement
that I used to feel way back in my last year of high school and my first
year of college.
Please
join me in making this one of the most sensational parties the Gypsy
has ever witnessed. I look forward to seeing lots of you there!
Sincerely,
Badger
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