The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • Page 59

Friday, August 10, 2001 Page 3 The Desert Sun Martin Gore (from left), David Gahan and Andy Fletcher are the members of Depeche Mode, CI 7 fl 0 I II 1 II II jr si. Performing What Depeche Mode in concert When and where: 8 p.m. Saturday at Coors Amphitheatre, 2050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista, San Diego; 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Staples Center, 1111 S. Figuroa St, Los Angeles.

Cost Information: (213) 480-3232; (619) 220-8498 or www.ticketmaster.com Depeche Mode's Gahan enjoying rock 'n' roll journey again By Elvsa Gardner CiANNKIT NeWS SERVICE NEW YORK Today is the first day of the rest of Dave Gahan's life. At least, that's the new philosophy that Gahan, the 39-year-old lead singer of Depeche Mode, seems to espouse. "I'm in a completely different place now than I ever have been," Gahan says, taking a break during a recording session in a Manhattan studio. "I'm very content, and I'm enjoying all of life's challenges. I feel taken care of somehow." Huh? Is this the same guy who helped establish Depeche Mode as icons of gothic gloom back in the '80s, when the British band's blend of dark imagery and tech-no-pop savvy earned devout following here and abroad? from me in some ways, which is good, and very much like me in others," Gahan says.

"I just saw him in his school play, where he played a hippie English teacher. He sang a solo song, and he was incredible. He also plays piano fantastically. "But he can be stubborn. He's been skipping some classes, doing that teen-age stuff.

I dropped out of school when I was 1 5, and I said to him, 'Don't be like me, Pending good behavior, Gahan will allow Jack to accompany Depeche Mode for several weeks on its American tour, which kicks off next month. The new, improved Gahan is eager to get back on the road and promote his group's new music. "We're an odd band," he muses. "Radio has never really known where to put us. But we're really lucky in that we've had great fans who have stayed with us through our journey.

Kind of like the (Grateful) Dead, you know? It's beea a Jong, trange.trip." anced singing to date progress that he attributes to voice lessons and his restored good health. "With this album, I wanted to bring a lot of myself the new, improved me to the music," Gahan says. "Mark would en courage me to be myself. He'd say, 'Don't just sing like you think Dave Gahan is supposed to I did do that a bit on certain songs sort of playing Darth Vader, having fun with that. That's a character I can tap into.

But even in the darker melodies and lyrics, there's a sense of optimism that hasn't been there before." Gahan also gives credit to his wife. "I met Jennifer about seven years ago, when I was trying to get well. We were friends at first and then, over the years, we fell in love. She was always supportive of me changing my ways." In addition to his daughter with Jennifer, Gahan has an 8-year-old stepson and a 13-year-old son, Jack, by a previous marriage. a great kid rr very Well, sort of but a lot has changed since then.

Over the past decade, Gahan has endured a well-documented struggle with drug addiction, attempting suicide at one point in the mid-'90s and narrowly escaping death after an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Now Depeche Mode is back on the road, performing Saturday at Coors Amphitheatre in San Diego and Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. "I think I was living the idea of being a rock star, with all the cliches," he says. "It was fun for a while but only a short while." Today, Gahan is clean and sober and living happily in New York with his third wife, Jennifer, and their nearly 2-year-old daughter, Stella Rose. And while he is still a rock star, he has rejected the cliches in favor of an emphasis on artistic growth.

That growth is manifest on Depeche Mode's recent CD, "Exciter," released in late May. The album finds Gahan and his bandmates, songwritermulti-instrumentalist Martin Gore and keyboardist Andy Fletcher, working with Bjork producer Mark Bell, crafting tunes that blend the group's trademark electronic ingenuity with the warmer, more organic textures that have surfaced on its more recent projects. Gahan feels that "Exciter" features his most.