Music is still the one thing that ties people together. People can come together from all different religions, walks of life, colours, creeds and enjoy the same song. That's still the most incredible thing to me about performing live.
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.
I still hold on to the idea that a record can really change the way I feel.
I think Depeche Mode music somehow appeals to the oddball, to the person who is looking for something a little bit different.
I often find myself on my knees praying to something or someone to not be in control.
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.
The thing about Depeche songs is that they’re so descriptive. For me, they tell some kind of story about a character who’s trying to redeem himself or to find something to believe in-some kind of faith or hope.
"I dissolve in trust, I will sing with joy, I will end up dust". The line really spoke to me. That's what it is: Enjoy what you have here. You're not going to be here forever, but the songs stay forever. For me, it's like Bowie songs - they carry me, and they continue to, even though he's gone.
Vocally, I really like going into the darker side of myself.
I have to feel the audience. I enjoy that feeling of community.
New York is a great place to feel inspired all the time.
Joy comes from places you least expect it. Its usually the simple things, like watching my son play basketball or going through Central Park when the blossoms are blooming.
There's always this weird dark humor within a lot of Depeche Mode songs that people miss, tongue-in-cheek and also very British.
I'm not that type of musician where I can sit down at the piano and work out a song; I actually really enjoy that process of sitting with somebody and having nothing and then suddenly something starts appearing. You struggle with it, and then suddenly a song starts to appear. Then, you've got to try and muscle it - there's that word again - into something and you do. You tussle with it and play with it and roll around with it and suddenly, magically, something appears.
You have a tendency to just remember the bad times and bad moments. I think that often it's the way of life. Yet the rewards we got from it were fantastic and we played a lot of shows to sellout audiences in I don't know how many cities. I just think we didn't realise how insane it was until we were actually right in the middle of it and couldn't stop. We just couldn't stop.
I was actually grateful for being arrested, for the judge that promised me that I would go to prison if I didn't stay clean, because I listened to him and something clicked. Those two years when we were making album "Ultra" and I had to go back and forth to court to prove to the judge that I'd stayed clean, it gave me this time to suddenly realize, "Oh, I can do this, I can crawl my way back, I can get better. And I do want to be here."
We seem to be in a really interesting time, a time of weird change and values and choices, and "Who are you really? Where's the revolution, and what does it mean to you? What are your choices?" To me, America is built on immigrants - everybody coming here and making America "Great," as Donald Trump would say. And that's what New York is, a melting pot for all these different races and religions. We all live on this little island together and somehow get on, some days. But most of the time it's proven to have worked, right? So I don't know what the f - k he's talking about.
Really, what I'm always drawn to is the voice - PJ Harvey , Björk . If the voice interests me, then I'm interested to listen to what's happening.
We live very wonderful, privileged lives, and we're very lucky and fortunate, but it doesn't mean we stop caring. With Brexit and everything, and then Donald Trump running for president, of course, we were like, "Is this really happening? No, of course not, it's never gonna happen." It's impossible to not affected by the craziness of the world.
I do use texting as a great way to communicate quickly, but I dont Twitter or anything.
