By Keith Walsh
My interview in April with Julian Shah-Tayler contained such gems that weren’t in the first article, that I’m coming back with this second look.

One of the most fascinating revelations from Julian was about his band Strangelove, the leading Depeche Mode tribute. It turns out, as Shah-Tayler revealed, that Strangelove was able to obtain original synth patches and programs from Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode, making it possible to duplicate the band’s exact sounds . Shah-Tayler plays the role of Alan Wilder in Strangelove, making these acquisitions quite advantageous to him.

Much of the quality of the sound of Strangelove derives from its leadership, according to Shah-Tayler. “Brent, who is the guy who’s kind of the musical director of the band, so to speak, he’s the Martin Gore analogue, and he’s an absolutely brilliant musician, like a degree in musicology, plays so many musical instruments, an absolute genius musician, made most of the tracks from scratch. But we have all of Alan Wilder’s original sounds, which I play.”

These acquisitions have been a boon to the band. “It’s great, ”Shah-Tayler told me, “because you know I have all the old PPG, and Roland and Korg samples, filters and processes. Legitimately from the record, I mean this is like when I got all this stuff, you hear it, push the button and it’s like it is literally the exact sound that’s on the record.”

Shah-Tayler, himself a versatile artist who can shift from captivating pop rocker performing his own original compositions, to a convincing emulator of David Bowie, then again to Depeche Mode keyboardist in the role of Wilde, came to love the British synthpop band through their song “Question Of Lust.” As he navigated through the catalog, he found gems that at first listen might have seemed a bit lightweight.

As Shah-Tayler puts it: “We have ‘New Life,’ and ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ is a huge staple of the set, and as a fan myself, I always thought  ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’s’ a little cheesy for the trajectory of the band. But to be honest, you know, when you see people and you know they’re really gothed up, kids, going mental for this pop song, you get it. It’s totally amazing.”

I mentioned to Shah-Tayler that, according to press reports, Strangelove is positioned as the preeminent Depeche Mode tribute band. He said: “Yeah, we’ve definitely got a reputation, we got a much much better singer in a couple years ago, he’s been in the band two, two and a something years now. Obviously , we were kind of left in the lurch by the old singer, who just left without telling us why, so we have no idea what was going on there. So anyway, we actually took the opportunity to find somebody who was much younger, more energetic, takes it a lot more seriously.  So we kind of upgraded quite significantly. So since then we’ve acquired a new agent,  new management, much bigger shows, more reach across the world, we’re in, we’re supposed to be in Berlin — actually Berlin, Hamburg, and somewhere else.”

Strangelove’s European shows in Spring of 2020 have been postponed by the global pandemic. But that doesn’t keep them from being active. In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, Strangelove has released a brilliant acoustic performance of Depeche Mode’s  1985 hit “Shake The Disease,” created remotely from the four members’ homes as they quarantine.

Stay safe, stay home. Enjoy.

finis

https://www.julianshahtayler.com/

https://www.depechetribute.com/