Derailing...
So, I left you all about two weeks ago when I was fully prepared to come back and write about my experience seeing the Depeche Mode knock-off band (Strangelove: the Depeche Mode Experience).
I’ve had a draft post going pretty much for the past two weeks about it.
Here’s the thing. It just kept growing.
The more I wrote, the more I realized that it’s not really a short essay. It’s probably more like five or six long essays.
The focus of that story became the actual band. It became about friendships fostered through music. It became about music. My love and passion for music. My rebellion through music. There became so many associated stories there. I kept cutting things out and pasting them into a word document to use later to try to refocus on the knock-off band. Just as I would cut something and copy it into a blank document, I would go back and next thing I knew I was once again going off into a story that was taking the focus elsewhere.
While Depeche Mode hasn’t really spent a whole lot of time within my top five favorite bands at any given time, they’ve always been there since about 1982. They’ve been at some kind of backdrop or background. They’ve just kind of been there. They were one of the bands that introduced me to “new wave” and alternative music back in 1982 (along with OMD, A Flock of Seagulls, and Haircut 100). Somehow they’ve managed to be one of my handful of iTunes album purchases (the Best of [released in 2006, but purchased in 2011]) in the past fifteen years (another story about music that I will tell at some point). That album happens to be one of the only two that are fully downloaded onto my current iPhone… (new-ish phone and I’m lazy, but also run into space issues since I need apps and take a shit ton of pictures).
I became obsessed with finding out various information items about the band. Like I remembered the opening act for the 1988 tour, but had forgotten who opened for them in 1990. That shot me down the rabbit hole of who else did I see at Tinley Park and Poplar Creek and who opened for them… so I’ve spent the past two weeks going through concert tour information for Depeche Mode, OMD, New Order, Nitzer Ebb, PIL, the Sugarcubes, Sinead O’Connor (I never did find who opened for her on the tour I saw), the Cure… I’ve got post-it notes with dates and tour names and places all over my desk.
What started me going into research mode was really the fact that the only band member name I could remember was Martin Gore. Mainly because he had a solo EP that I had gotten. He was my favorite of the band. I was never one to go all out for the lead singer. Lead singers are usually the ones who have the biggest egos. I’m not a fan of big egos. I usually liked one of the other lesser fawned over band members.
Anyway, the shortest possible version of the story: I was prepared to hate the knock-off band, but instead really enjoyed them. I had a good time that night.
The first thing I did that night was get naked in the bathroom stalls. I know, that sounds like an ending kind of thing for me, but I was wearing all black, and my friend has a white/tan haired dog, so I had to shake the dog hair out of my clothes when we got there.
The first thing I noticed when they started playing was that in order to really look authentic, the lead singer of the knock-off band should really put a sock in it. I did spend at least a good amount of time over the next few days watching YouTube videos of the real band to try to justify that opinion. I think it holds.
Also, the lead singer of the knock-off band was no where near as graceful with the mic stand spins. I thought he was going to hurt someone, or himself. I ran into a very enthusiastic fan in line for alcohol that was doing a mic stand spin count. He was up to 28 somewhere mid-concert. I made him promise to find me after the show so I could get a final count. I didn’t see him after the show, and am really still disappointed about that.
Don’t tell my mom, but the band invited my friend (and by proxy me and the friend who drove us all there) back to the hotel bar. I’m not going to lie, I was only into it for potential free booze. Not only was there no free drinks in it, but the hotel drinks were even more expensive than the expensive drinks at the concert venue… It was fun though. They were nice and we had good conversation.
I’ll finish the better and more polished super long essay at some point.
I’m at a writing conference this week, and feeling very inspired to really dive back in to writing! I have lots of ideas, so stay tuned!