Depeche Mode on Letterman Mon March 11

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

I know! Been trying to find the source and think it was some back issue of keyboard Magazine, where am *almost* certain that Martin was primarily a guitar player and when Vince or was it Andy(?) left early-on, Martin needed to move more to synths to fill void...until find source, not certain. Do you recall ever seeing Dave Gahan playing synth or otherwise (other than his fraking fantastic voice/instrument)?

Hmm.. not sure, but the very early DM stuff was all synth, and I don't think they used a guitar on a DM record until Music for the Masses. I know Martin and Vince had a band before DM (a little research indicates they cited The Cure as the influence for that band). Martin may have been a guitarist prior to DM, but I was thinking that he was not (possibly wrong). I believe Vince was indeed a guitarist in the early days, supposedly Fletch was too. I don't ever remember seeing Gahan play an instrument, but as you say his contribution to their sound has never been in question.