The sudden death of keyboardist Fletcher in May, after four decades of collaboration, continues to haunt the British group, which announced Tuesday in Berlin the release of a new album in 2023 and a world tour in stride, the first for five years.

"Andy loved hotel bars. As we travel around the world, I expect to see him sitting at hotel bars with a pint in front of him. I can't help it," says Gore, 61 year.

The members of the British group Depeche Mode, Martin Gore, left, and Dave Gahan, on October 4, 2022 in Berlin John MACDOUGALL AFP

"I understood when I got back to the hotel in Berlin, when I saw the bar where I saw him so many times, that it was going to happen again during our next tour," says the musician.

"I realized it was going to be more painful than I had imagined," he adds.

Entitled "Memento Mori", the group's 15th studio album is due out next March.

Inspired by both the pandemic and the loss of Fletcher, who died of aortic dissection at the age of 60, the album will precede a tour, the band's 19th, which will begin in California, Sacramento.

Concerts are notably planned in London, Berlin and Paris.

“His passing somehow cemented the title of the album,” Gore says.

"We thought it was a good title anyway, after his death it seemed really fair."

"Interesting" for young people

Depeche Mode has sold over one hundred million records worldwide.

Among his greatest hits, "Just can't get enough", "Everything Counts", "Never Let Me Down Again", or "Walking in my Shoes".

Pioneers of synthetic pop in the early 1980s, they developed this genre to free themselves from it by opening up to guitars in the early 1990s.

Gore says many of the songs on the new album are inspired by his sixtieth birthday and the creeping sense of his own finiteness.

But he is also delighted to see new generations adopting the band's music, both its classics and more recent compositions.

"If you have parents who really like a band, play their music all the time, and it's about right, then the kids are going to listen to it all the time too," Gore says.

The members of the British group Depeche Mode, Martin Gore, on the left, and Dave Gahan, on October 4, 2022 in Berlin John MACDOUGALL AFP

"It's one of my best theories as to why we have so many young people at our concerts and even waiting outside the hotel to see us. Each time, it's a real surprise".

According to him, the group still considers itself a pioneer of electronic music, a way of not sinking into nostalgia.

"We've always tried to keep up with (technology) and it's always been important for us to have up-and-coming young people to do our remixes and stay on top of that."

"I think it keeps us interesting for a younger generation," he concludes.

© 2022 AFP