EP15: Daryl Bamonte - From The Council Estate to The Stadium Stage

When an impressionable young Daryl Bamonte saw Marc Bolan on Top of the Pops, he couldn't have imagined the extraordinary musical journey it would trigger. Growing up on a council estate in Basildon alongside future Depeche Mode members, Daryl's life took a pivotal turn when he left school and became their first roadie in 1980.

From hauling keyboards on beer crates, driving the band's van, and managing backing-tapes to overseeing world tours and even eventually stepping on stage as a performing member of Depeche Mode himself, Daryl shares the remarkable inside story of working with legendary bands who went on to define the alternative music scene. 

He tells host, Alex Maiolo, about Mute Records' Daniel Miller's crucial influence on Depeche Mode's idea of artistic freedom, the surreal experience of being thrown in to playing to a stadiumful of fans without any prior performing experience, and the profound bonds he has formed with others over decades in the music industry.

As well as his work with Basildon's finest, Daryl's touring career extended to a similar role with Hall of Famers, The Cure, where his brother, Perry, had taken a similar path - going from guitar tech to full-time member of the band - and we hear about the fantastic connections between these seminal British acts. 

With characteristic warmth and humility, Daryl (or "Daz" as certain rock gods are allowed to call him) reveals how growing up in a post-war new town like Basildon helped create energetic sub-cultures, shaping a crowd of "weirdos" to build and influence genre-defining movements of music and fashion.

Now running his own publishing company, Archangelo Music, and playing in bands Permafrost and Hence, Daryl's business philosophy of fair deals and creative partnerships reflects lessons learned from working with artists who maintained their artistic and operational integrity despite enormous commercial success and pressure. His attitude stands as testament to how genuine relationships and creative freedoms produce enduring legacies.

We recorded this conversation during the Act In Synch Summit at the Impact Hub in Athens, Greece on 31st October, 2024.

Here is the episode. Thank you for listening.
We made it just for you.

More about our guest:

Homepage: www.archangelomusic.com

Other Links:

Basildon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basildon

The Bridge House: http://the-bridge-house.co.uk/pages/about.html

Depeche Mode Storm LA - Wherehouse "near-riot" & news reports: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKPtQojA8ws

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Transcript

The SuperSwell's Introduction

Paul Cheetham 0:05

Welcome to the SuperSwell Podcast, where each time you join us, we'll be talking to guests about their life, work and whatever else they want to talk about. I'm Paul Cheetham, but I'm not your host for this one. Instead, I got our good friend Alex Maiolo in to talk to our guest today, and he's talking with someone who a lot of us know and love from their time as a tour and project manager for alt- rock legends Depeche Mode and the Cure. Or maybe you know him more recently as a music publisher, conference regular, and all-round excellent guy. I'm talking about Daryl Bamonte. We recorded this in Athens in October 2024. So let's get on with it. I'll put you in the capable hands of Alex Maiolo talking with Daryl Bamonte. Hope you like it. Thanks for listening and remember we made it just for you.

Alex Maiolo 0:54

Welcome to the Super Swell. I'm Alex Maiolo and I'm sitting in for Paul Cheetham. Today we're going to be talking to Daryl Bamonte. Welcome, Daryl.

Daryl Bamonte 1:04

Thank you very much, Alex.

Alex Maiolo 1:06

Now you grew up in Essex and when you were probably about 17 years old, a high school band in your area, known as as Depeche Mode, was starting to play some shows and they needed a little bit of help. And that's when you arrive in this story, correct?

Daryl Bamonte 1:24

I think it depends how far you want to go back.

Alex Maiolo 1:27

Oh, let's go back!

Daryl Bamonte 1:28

Okay, so I don't know if you know what a council estate is, Alex?

Alex Maiolo 1:32

I do because I'm a fake British person.

Daryl Bamonte 1:35

You're a honorary British person. I grew up on a council estate in a town called Basildon and in adjacent streets was Andy Fletcher, me and my brother, Vince Clark, Martin Gore. So I knew those guys from when I was like seven or eight. And when I was eight years old I saw Mark Bolan on Top of the Pops and I'd never seen anyone like Mark Bolan and I was captivated. I didn't want to be him, but I thought I want to be around people like that because I'd never seen people like that.

Daryl Bamonte 2:06

Yeah, that was my kind of moment where I was like, wow, this is exciting. But I thought pop stars were in limos and five-star hotels and I was like how would I ever get into that? Then when I was in my mid-teens I got really into punk and I started going up to London. Central London was only about 30 miles from Basildon and I went to see The Only Ones...

Alex Maiolo 2:29

Oh, really?

Daryl Bamonte 2:29

Yeah, at the Electric Ballroom. I was waiting for them to come on and turned around and Captain Sensible from the The Damned was at the bar and he was just drinking and talking to people. So I was thinking I need to come up with some idiot question and I went up and asked him and he was so friendly. He was like, oh yeah, and he answered it and he was like, yeah, good to see you, and then carried on talking. I was, like, these people are approachable. That's very different to what I thought about pop stars and that gave me this kind of enthusiasm that I could make it work. But you then need some luck, don't you? And when the guys got together and formed Composition of Sound, which was Vince, Martin and Andy, and then that became Depeche Mode, when they started the band the week I left school when I was 16, I started helping them out with the equipment and became their roadie.

Alex Maiolo 3:20

Yeah, the opportunity has to present itself. You have to be in the right space, but then you have to seize it. Fortune favors the bold, and all that. I love the fact that it all happened at an Only Ones gig and Captain Sensible was there. That brings up, you know. That's sort of what I think of when I think of punk rock. What do they say? Like no pop stars, no assholes or whatever.

Daryl Bamonte 3:39

It redefined what I thought. I didn't have a negative opinion of pop stars, I liked them, but I just thought that world is nothing that I could even comprehend getting there. And then when Captain Sensible was so friendly it wasn't normal because he was Captain Sensible, but he gave up his time for people and I just thought, yeah, these people aren't you know. On another, planet.

Alex Maiolo 4:02

That's a pretty good. Only ones pun right there. Sorry about that. Yeah, we can also talk about the fact that you went up and said captain, and he said what?

Daryl Bamonte 4:12

and then we had a happy talk.

Official First Job With Composition Of Sound

Alex Maiolo 4:13

I believe and you're like that was neat, neat, neat. We can go forever man you win, you win, yeah, yeah so officially I you would say that your official first job with Composition of Sound, aka Depeche Mode, was roadie. Yeah, that's how I, that's easy catch-all title. Yeah, you were really the first person to help them with hauling the keyboards around on the tube and putting them on beer crates kind of stuff.

Alex Maiolo 4:43

Yeah, and the backing tapes were on cassette in those days, so like the drums were done on cassette before they went to reel, to reel yeah, it was drums and maybe some sequence bass lines, and they were on a cassette.

Daryl Bamonte 4:56

And then they thought, well, we can't ever change the set, so it was individual cassettes. Oh, and it was when daniel miller came along that it went on to a t-act reel-to-reel right?

Alex Maiolo 5:07

yeah, did it properly and then officially your title changed to assistant. What other skills or like what other responsibilities did you get when you became assistant, when you got that promotion?

Daryl Bamonte 5:18

I'm not sure I like the laughing behind your question.

Alex Maiolo 5:21

No, I'm just joking.

Daryl Bamonte 5:22

No, what it was is because I worked full time. I'd work in the office and I was with them all the time, so on promotional trips and rehearsals and also when they were making records, you know. So I think in between tours you end up doing stuff that's defined as personal assistant. I mean that was a role back in the 80s. It was called Percy Percy Percy, yeah, and that's on as personal assistant. I mean that was a role back in the 80s. It was called percy percy, yeah, and that's on the 101 film. I think in the credits I'm credited as band's personal assistant in depeche mode 101.

Alex Maiolo 5:54

Yeah, yeah at the end, yeah, which you're in I am in it a bit.

Daryl Bamonte 5:58

I'm in it because I'm singing. Well, I can't sing, so I don't know how it made it in there, but DA Pennybaker was filming Martin Gore playing. I saw her standing there by the Beatles and I was singing and Dave Garn playing harmonica and it was sitting on the stage at the Rose Bowl on the soundcheck day the day before. So I was in it, for I don't know less than a minute.

Alex Maiolo 6:19

Ah, it's still pretty cool. I seem to recall you being on the bus at some point too.

Daryl Bamonte 6:23

Oh no, I'll. I'll tell you what it is At the start it's silent, the screen is black, and then you hear Andy Franks, the production manager, say, okay, start the tape. And then the first shot is me starting the two Tascam tape machines. So yeah, I had another five seconds there.

Alex Maiolo 6:40

So throughout the band's career, tour manager, project manager, yeah, on the songs of faith and devotion album, right, and of course, in between all of that, as you said, when you're off the road, you were doing office things like just keeping the momentum up well, we had a white ford transit van, so I was literally white van man from essex.

Working With The Cure

Daryl Bamonte 7:02

We called, called it the beast, and you know, if Martin Gore wanted his equipment serviced or to get new equipment, I was always running around doing something and then sometimes it would be like, oh, I just bought a futon, can you go and pick it up? But I had no problem with doing those kind of tasks because you're being paid. But then I'd bring the futon back and he was like, oh, you couldn't set it up, could you? But you know I don't mind things like that. That only happened once actually. No, I loved it, I really loved it.

Alex Maiolo 7:32

Now how long were you doing that before you moved over to doing work with the Cure?

Daryl Bamonte 7:37

So I mean, how long do you want me to explain this?

Daryl Bamonte 7:40

Go for it. Okay, explain this because go for it, okay. There was in 1983 that on the construction time again tour with Depeche Mode in Europe, there was a UK band called Sense, a three-piece electronic band. They're actually pretty good and they went down really well, which was not always the case with Depeche Mode support bands. And so the promoter said come back next year, we'll put on a tour for you. And they asked me to do it.

Daryl Bamonte 8:01

And that was a big thing for me because I'd only done a couple of. So the promoter said come back next year, we'll put on a tour for you. And they asked me to do it. And that was a big thing for me because I'd only done a couple of little tours with Soft Cell. I didn't want to leave the job with Depeche Mode but I wasn't getting a retainer and I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn't just being carried by my mates. So I went up all the way up to Soho and met with the managers of this band and we had a beer and they said, oh, and it was a really sort of spinal tap excuse. It was like the tour didn't happen due to lack of radio support or something like that and I was like, oh god, they could have told me that on the phone.

Daryl Bamonte 8:36

And they said well, we can sense you're disappointed, but here's a list of bands that are going on tour and we know how to get in touch with them. Oh and, in my teenage years my older sister was more into george benson and earth, wind and fire, and I mean amazing music. But me and my brother and our other sister we were into punk. You know the clash, the damned, the slits, buzzcocks. But our two favorite bands collectively were susan, the Banshees and the Cure. So I looked down that list and I just went bang like that and they gave me the details for Fiction. So I wrote to them and I got a letter back saying oh sorry, the position's been filled. So I went off to live in Sweden for a little while, as you do. Came back. I was living with my mum and she said oh, you've had another letter from fiction.

Daryl Bamonte 9:23

I know Chris Parry asked me to come up to near Baker Street, which was where the fiction records office was, and I even put a shirt on, because that's the only interview I've ever been in my life. I hope you wear a shirt. Yeah, I wore a bowling shirt though you know, I don't mean I was shirtless, but I didn't wear a t-shirt say if I'd go in there topless and just you know, give it large. And then chris said to me yeah, you know, you'll be on this amount of money. And then he paused and said that's if you get the job. And I thought I've got the job. And I walked out and I literally punched the air and then I did the first half of the top tour in 1984 and during that time the passion mode released people are people and it was massive.

Daryl Bamonte 10:04

He went to number one in Germany. One of the big TV networks in Germany used it as their coverage for the Los Angeles Olympics that summer. And they said oh, we've just been added second on the bill to a massive festival near Frankfurt. Elton John is headlining. Can you come back? And I said, all right, I'll go back. And they, they said we'll give you a retainer so you can be full time. And then the cure office called me in the summer and said you're ready to go again? And I was like I can't. Now I'm. They're like what do we do? And I said I have just the person and I recommended my brother. So perry started as a roadie for the cure and then he became robert's personal assistant. In 86 and then 1990, 1990, he joined the band and he's still in the band. He had a break. He's back in the band, it's sort of a side question.

Alex Maiolo 10:52

But how did he end up in the band?

Daryl Bamonte 10:55

It was because Roger O'Donnell decided to leave in 1990. And the rest of the band just said perry can play. Because the difference between me and perry when he started as a roadie, he was a musician. He was in bands and I wasn't. And he reminds me that because I'd only worked with keyboards and tapes. I think it was the first show of the top tour.

Daryl Bamonte 11:18

I actually phoned him on a pay phone, as it was back then, and said what order the strings go? Is it e-a-d-g-b-e right? Yeah, yes, ingrained in there. Yeah, but he, he was a guitarist, he's a bass player, he's a keyboard player, he's much more of a natural musician than I am. So it was just a no-brainer for the band to appoint him.

Daryl Bamonte 11:38

And and the thing is, back in basildon, at our high school you would call it, we'd call it secondary school.

Basildon; the Beer Boys & Weirdos

Daryl Bamonte 11:44

I think Andy Fletcher, who's sadly no longer with us, and Martin Gore from Depeche Mode, my brother from the Cure and Alison Moyet were all in the same class, not just the same school. Really, yeah, so Perry had this amazing musical heritage like that. He was in a band with Vince Clark called the Plan before Composition of Sound, and Perry said at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interview he did five years ago, that he went to see the Cure with Vince Clark at the London School of Economics in January 1980 and it was after that that Vince decided to form a new band, composition of Sound. And if you hear some of the early demos of songs, like photographic, it's all made on a guitar and a bass, so you can sort of you know, if you listen to killing an arab and just can't get enough, you would see no connection between the bands. Right, but if you listen to that, that was the sort of genesis of where composition of sound came from well, let's talk about basildon for a minute.

Alex Maiolo 12:43

Yeah, I get the impression it's very much a suburb.

Daryl Bamonte 12:47

Further out than a suburb. It was a new town. After the Second World War. There was a lot of bombing and slum housing but obviously the baby boom and so they built these new towns all around London, and to the east was us in Basildon, to the south was Crawley, which is where the Cure are from, which is another strange connection. So it was built as this kind of utopia. It was actually quite progressive in some ways. A lot of streets were pedestrianized, there were a load of bicycle lanes, things like that, and people make fun of it.

Daryl Bamonte 13:19

But I loved it. I loved growing up there and it was council housing. So until Thatcher ruined that you couldn't buy them and some were four bedrooms, some were three, some were two, some were apartments, some people had bigger houses and nicer cars and better holidays, but it kept a kind of equilibrium economically Right. So it was actually a really good idea to build these towns where people drank in the same pubs, went to the same shops and we really enjoyed growing up there and there was like people we called beer boys and that includes the girls like that.

Daryl Bamonte 13:50

They're into soul music and football and quite a lot of fighting, as it was in the 70s right, and then they called us the weirdos. But it wasn't like we were being beaten up all the time, it was like a friendly rivalry. But the weirdos was where the kind of bazelden punk scene came from, and then post-punk and then the electronic scene. Right, and it was a healthy thing because there weren't that many venues in bazelden. There was one pub called the bull that used to put on live music every wednesday, but only so they could stay up until 1 am and oh, so go past the 11 o'clock yeah 10, yeah, 10.30, as it was then.

Daryl Bamonte 14:26

You know, not all bands come from the wealthier parts of London or Oxford and places like that. They come from very unusual places and I think it's because of that, not despite of that, the bands it's like well, what are we going to do? There's not much to do here, let's form a band. I mean I to do here, let's form a band. I mean, I've always been into football, but if you're not really into football, you're not into the scene as it was.

Alex Maiolo 14:49

forming a band was kind of escapism well, that's right, because, you know, john robb wrote a really excellent book on the history of goth, cleverly named the art of darkness. Yes, brilliant title. Yeah, it's a read. It's a weighty tome. He goes back deep and far, doesn't he? It does, and one of the things he brings up in there is that, you know, goth pretty much started in the hinterlands. Not to make a pun, he talks about how these masquerade-up, exclusively black clothes wearing for lack of a better term weirdos were all in these smaller towns. There are millions of stories of garage bands starting up in suburbs or similar type things. But yeah, I wonder what the goth bands and the goth adjacent bands, like depeche mode and the cure and all, I don't really necessarily consider them goth. No, they share dna, like definitely, why basildon produced that? Like, synthesize your music with this sort of dark edge and whatnot I don't think that basildon dictated the genre of the music.

Daryl Bamonte 15:53

It was just that time, like post-punk and electronic come so close on the back of punk they really do. But I think it was for a lot of us it was the early Ultravox albums. I mean John Fox, Right, those first three Ultravox albums. Everyone I know from my hometown of that kind of weirdo community loved that. And then of course Gary Newman was influenced by Ultravox. So it went very quickly from punk to post-punk to electronic.

Alex Maiolo 16:27

Yeah, yeah yeah, the whole two-way army thing obviously is is a connection, but this this answers the question of what makes a boy put on mascara, because you have the art towns like leeds where you have gang of four and it's still pretty masculine music yeah, but I I think for dave garn to walk.

Daryl Bamonte 16:45

He used to walk down to the train station to go up to london to go to this club called the blitz. Oh yeah, because the new romantic thing it sort of come out from punk. But there was also a parallel way there that went around punk from bowie right. It was a very interesting time and he used to wear I mean, he always looked amazing but he would walk from where he lived close to the town centre to the train station to go to the Blitz and opposite the train station was a pub called the Bullseye and it was kind of don't walk past there with mascara on Right and he did, but you kind of had to run a gauntlet like that.

Daryl Bamonte 17:20

But I think it gives people a backbone, it gives them nerve. It's because I'm not going to let someone dictate to me and call me all kinds of names. I think it was a determination like that. That was really cool. And when composition of sound started it was Andy Fletcher on bass guitar, vince Clark on electric guitar and vocals and Martin Gore was the only one that had a synth. So they started out with a synth but a more conventional lineup and a drum machine and then very quickly they went all electronic and that was the turning point. A lot of electronic bands in the early 80s, I think they started to lose their nerve a little bit and listening to criticism that they weren't a proper band.

Alex Maiolo 18:01

Yeah, they're button pushers.

Daryl Bamonte 18:02

Yeah, and I think they were starting to bottle it a bit and introducing the drummer and there's nothing wrong with drums and bass but I think the fact that depeche mode kept all synthesizers and the tape machine was on stage, there was no, like the people you say, oh, is it miming? It's not miming because you can hear that playing. Yeah, and they're not miming to it, they're playing as much as they physically can, right? And then the tape machine picked up the slack of the drums and the sequence bass.

Alex Maiolo 18:28

That was sure I mean. There's no difference between a tape machine and a sequencer and a drum machine exactly, and they can both fail, yeah tell me about that.

Residency at The Bridge House & Meeting Daniel Miller

Daryl Bamonte 18:37

Yeah, yeah, but, yeah, but I think it was when they went all electronic. And then the fact that daniel miller had invented a band called silicon teens. Silicon teens, yeah, that one album he made is brilliant. And he invented this band four teenagers from dagnam, which is the furthest east that london goes, but it's only about I don't know, 10 or 12 miles from basildon, and it was two boys and two girls that was the only difference, rather than four boys.

Daryl Bamonte 19:04

And there's a lovely venue called the bridge house in canning town in east london which at the time was quite a rough area, and terry murphy, the owner, ex-boxer, turned it into a venue. It was still a pub, but as a venue as well. And he took a real chance on depeche mode and gave them a residency. Really, yeah, every monday night, which was a quiet night, right, the first night, not many people and by the sixth night it was absolutely packed. And later on he gave them a support to Fad Gadget at the Bridge House, and Daniel Miller was Fad Gadget's label but also used to do Front of Our Sound. So when he saw Depeche Mode he must have thought this is basically what I was thinking about.

Daryl Bamonte 19:46

What year, was that 1980, 1980. They formed in March 1980, played a couple of gigs, they joined 14th of June where they played at my old high school and but they were still composition sound and I think they changed the name in about September of 1980. And then October 1980, that's when Daniel saw them and offered them a deal. That's all pretty quick, yeah, very quick, yeah.

Alex Maiolo 20:13

It's pretty cool that they were given a residency even on a Monday night, because obviously playing on stage there's a big difference between that and playing in your practice space, even if you're playing to three people. That kind of boot camp thing probably mattered quite a lot.

Daryl Bamonte 20:29

Yeah, and Terry was such a good guy. He was a boxer. His son, glenn, was a boxer and then became quite a well-known actor, and his other son, darren, who's sadly no longer with us. He was in a fantastic post-punk band called Wasted Youth.

Alex Maiolo 20:44

Sounds familiar.

Daryl Bamonte 20:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah they had a song called Jealousy that I've got on 7-inch still. So he had that kind of musical thing. And then in 1982, depeche Mode played two nights I think they played a Friday and a Sunday at Hammersmith Odeon. Saturday was their day off and they went and did a show at the Bridge House for terry where he advertised it as a demode patch or something. It was, wow, not very well disguised, but. And when he came in the dressing room afterwards with a big stack of cash and they just said, no, that's for you, fantastic, that's for you, because he gave them such a break. Right, terry might have lost money on those first few residencies.

Daryl Bamonte 21:23

You know, remember where you came from yeah exactly, and it was good that they did that. Yeah, and that's.

Alex Maiolo 21:29

I've spent very little time with, but some time with, Daniel Miller. I've interviewed him and I've gone to dinner with him and things like that and he just seems like a normal guy to me. And then I have to remind myself he's not a normal guy Like he's, you know, doing those normal records and starting Mute and all of those things. Where did that come from? That year zero-ness that that guy has is shocking to me.

Daryl Bamonte 21:56

Yeah, the thing is the band are a bit older than me, so I was like 16 when I met daniel. They were late teens. I think vince clark was already 20 and daniel was only like 29, but he'd already had a wealth of experience. He started mute in his bedroom at his mom's house in 78 and there was one time when in the dressing room at the bridge house someone came in from a much bigger label and actually said you know, don't sign with him, he's got no clout. You know, he's just one guy in his bedroom. And that actually galvanized the band's determination, as far as I remember it, to stay with daniel rather than putting them off because they thought well, why would we want to deal with that guy?

Daryl Bamonte 22:35

And it was trust and they didn't have a contract until the 90s, they didn't have a manager until the mid-90s and Daniel was the record label, but he was much more. He was their mentor and even though they've been signed to Sony for years, they'll still send him music and ask for his opinion. And for me I think he is so massively influential in the way I think about the bands that I deal with, because I really like labels like Mute, where Daniel is sort of a reflection of his character, like with Jeff Travis and Jeanette at Rough Trade and Lawrence Bell at Domino, derek Burkett at One Little Independent. It's kind of like their personality is the label and they've always been known for being really fair. And also, like someone asked me recently about depeche mode and the cure, why is it that they've endured and both those bands had so much creative freedom? Right, because depeche mode if they hadn't been so savvy and they hadn't met daniel, they might have been packaged in a way that made a much more famous and successful more quickly.

Alex Maiolo 23:38

And then it's the pyramid effect yeah, kind of like you know the thompson twins are doing. Well, we need you to do that well, it's the classic thing.

Daryl Bamonte 23:45

And he wasn't trying to manufacture them or model them into something. He was never competing with trying to be as big as spandau, balletet or Duran Duran and Culture Club. And those bands became much bigger much more quickly. But by the end of the 80s Depeche Mode and the Cure were selling stadiums in America.

Alex Maiolo 24:03

Which is shocking to me, like because in the United States, bands like Depeche Mode and the Cure were sold to us as indie bands, right, you know, and I remember that it almost shocked me one day. It was like, well, there's stadium band, what? Yeah, what is this?

Alex Maiolo 24:21

and I think people forget that the music industry, particularly back then, was littered with people who went to the next step and left the people who helped them get to where they are behind, because somebody came in with more money and more cloud, yeah, yeah and turn their head and, and you know, talk to them out of staying loyal and creative control is something we're kind of getting back into, but back then, having somebody offer you creative control and choosing that over instant fame is yeah, I think it would have been difficult to survive without a manager if they didn't have daniel, and I mean that in a complimentary way to everyone involved.

Breaking America

Daryl Bamonte 24:56

He still is like a mentor to them. But it's interesting what you say about them going under the radar, because in March 1990, the Violator album was released and the band did an in-store, a record store called Warehouse, and 17,000 fans turned up for an in-store and it got so crowded that they just weren't expecting it and the glass window at the front caved in, which was obviously very dangerous. So the band were whisked out and the police said to the fans disperse, went back to the Sunset Marquee Hotel and put on the TV and all the news channels were reporting on it. What was really annoying is that when they said there'd been a riot, there hadn't. It was sheer volume of people and a kind of misunderstanding of how many people would turn up. I mean 17,000 for an in-store. People would love that for a gig.

Daryl Bamonte 25:48

But what was really funny is that the news stations were gobsmacked. They'd never heard of this band. They described their genre as Anglo-angst, which I thought was hilarious, and they were gobsmacked. They'd never heard of them. They were played on K-rock a lot by then. Music for the Masses album was really big. The Rose Bowl was really big, but it still somehow sat under the mainstream Right. I think the Cure De depeche mode. They were selling we used to call them the sheds you know the outdoor amphitheaters like ervo meadows in la and jones beach in long island and they could sell them out without having that kind of mainstream support yeah.

Alex Maiolo 26:28

So, returning back to where we were, you're now now back in the employ. Depeche mode, yeah, and things are very different now. Yeah, you probably have a lot more responsibility and there's a lot more irresponsibility happening.

Daryl Bamonte 26:42

Yeah.

Alex Maiolo 26:42

The rock and roll cliches are starting to creep in, Considering what you originally thought your life was going to be with these bands. You hitched your cart to how are you handling it? It's well documented how the bands handled it. Your cart to how are you handling it? It's well documented how the bands handled it. But like, how did somebody in your position handle it?

Daryl Bamonte 26:58

well, I didn't really think about it too much. I don't mean because I lack self-awareness, but I just didn't really think too deeply about it because I mean they became popular really quickly, um, and you know, I tagged along with them. I always assumed that they would keep on becoming successful. There was a point where dave garn came around to my flat in basildon and said they'd been booked to play the hollywood palladium 5 000 capacity. So I thought 5 000 people in los angeles. And he came around and he said it sold out so quickly. They put us into this place called irvine meadows 12 000 people. And I was like, instead of Hollywood Palladium, he's like no, as well as. And that's what the point was like, wow this is 17,000 tickets.

Alex Maiolo 27:40

Yeah, a couple days.

Daryl Bamonte 27:41

I mean in Germany they were already playing like Deutschlandhalle, which was several thousand on places like that. But there was always the fascination with America. You know, breaking America sure and that was the point.

Daryl Bamonte 27:52

But the point. But I really liked touring. I really liked being on the tour bus and the band treated us so well. They made us feel welcome and nobody got shouted at and you expected to pull your weight and so those years I didn't really have that much more responsibility but I really really enjoyed it. Right, it was incredible the way we got treated and the camaraderie between the crew. I mean, we used to all help each other out at the loadout. We would always try and beat the house record for how fast you could get out, so you know people would help me get my keyboards out, I'd help the lampies get the lights out, and it was amazing and the crew. We've still got a whatsapp group called the dmogs and and we had six o'clock on a sunday all through lockdown. We had a zoom call which started with about six of us and after two or three months I think the most we got was 21 of us.

Becoming A Member of Depeche Mode

Alex Maiolo 28:47

Wow yeah, well, on the subject of getting extra responsibilities, at one point you actually found yourself on stage I did so.

Daryl Bamonte 28:58

I think the turning point of getting more responsibility was the band had a policy that every time they sat down to talk about making a new record, they would say where did we have the best time on the last tour and that's where they would go to record the next album.

Alex Maiolo 29:12

Wow.

Daryl Bamonte 29:12

Yeah. So on the Violator tour the best time we had was Barcelona and Madrid. So we looked for studios and the thing is they at that time didn't really need much of a live room, it was all about the control room. And to find studios of a massive control room was hard to find, so we couldn't find one. So we rented a house in the diplomatic quarter of a suburb of Madrid and built the studio, lived there, and that's when I was made project manager. So it wasn't like a kind of ego thing, but I just wanted more responsibility, like we all do. So that that was really good. I mean, it was a hard slog that you know the relationships going on between everyone in that house. But that kind of become the point was like, okay, well, I want to do more of this. So I stepped up to be one of the tour managers on the devotional tour. So I kind of felt like I was getting somewhere.

Daryl Bamonte 30:06

But then we were on tour for 15 months and after a year we were in Australia and Fletch said that he just didn't want to carry on. He said I can't do any more, I want to cancel. And the rest of the band were like, well, we don't really want to cancel the last three months. So we got to Melbourne and they said to me go out to dinner and we'll call you later. So I went out for this lovely japanese dinner with the backing singers. They were lovely. And I came back and we were walking for the hotel lobby and I said I'll get me a drink. I just want to go and check my messages. So I went up to my room, red light was flashing and dave garn always called me daz, daz, d-a-z-a-z, yeah, z. So yeah, yeah, yeah, and I got his message. He went all right, d, we've had the meeting, fletcher's going home, you're joining the band. And that was it.

Daryl Bamonte 30:58

And I was like what? Because I knew that it was a possibility. So it's exciting because you think, oh, if that happens it would be nice. But then, when it was happening, I was just suddenly thought, oh God, I've actually got to do it now. And I'm not trying to overplay it like I climbed Everest or went to the moon. But there's somebody who'd never really been on stage before, never played in a band. Right, because you know, if a band starts, they play together in the youth club. Right, the pub, the club, the theater, the arena, maybe a stadium, but I was sort of abseiled in at that level Right and where they already had a massive audience. So I got a bit, you know, freaked out by it. So I went and sat in the bathroom, sat on the edge of the bath, and I thought, okay, I'm going to phone my brother because four years earlier he had joined the Cure. I phoned him and of course it was busy.

Daryl Bamonte 31:51

I said get off the phone with you and then I thought about, I thought I can't, I'm not going to turn it down. I mean, it's that you know. It's such an amazing opportunity and I saw it in isolation. I didn't think, therefore, I'm then going to become a musician, right? And then we went to the Philippines and Fletch invited me for lunch and I thought it was really nice. He didn't have to do that and he sat down and he said I'm just so glad it's not an outsider. Wow, there wasn't a short list drawn up. It was never any question, because I know how I would have felt. He didn't want the tour to continue and I wouldn't have wanted if I was in that position well, he was just what burnout, yeah he was just burnt out and his wife was pregnant.

Daryl Bamonte 32:32

They were due to have their next child and he wanted to be at home and that was really lovely of him to do it, so I'm really glad it's not on our side Getting the blessing.

Alex Maiolo 32:39

Yeah, it's really nice.

Daryl Bamonte 32:40

Exactly that. He gave me his blessing and then we went to Hawaii. It was always planned as a week off before we went on the final push over the top of South America and then the States again.

Alex Maiolo 32:53

It over the top of South America and then the States again. It turned out to be a very much.

Daryl Bamonte 32:57

Week on it seemed like of work. Well, all our wives come over and friends from all over the world. You know it was a lovely hotel and my room, me and Alan Wilder, had a keyboard, a DAC machine and some speakers and he taught me the entire set in a week and you know, andy was such an important part but it's not virtuoso parts. I didn't have to be like Alan and Martin.

Alex Maiolo 33:21

Yeah, like Alan seemed at that point to handle like the really complicated stuff.

Daryl Bamonte 33:27

Him and Martin are amazing musicians. Alan is like a grade eight in piano. He could be a piano teacher and he was the best teacher. He's patience with me and the way he did it. But looking out of my window I overlooked the beach and we could see all of our friends and our wives drinking cocktails and playing volleyball. But we had a job to do. And then Andy Franks, the production manager, had an idea. Then they played two shows with Fletch in Hawaii. I was set up behind a curtain but my parts weren't going out up front and it was seen as like a halfway house. So I got the feeling so that when I did the first show I wasn't dropped in completely and I really benefited from that because Andy went home and we went down to Sao Paulo and we never had a single band rehearsal.

Daryl Bamonte 34:14

We played two nights in sao paulo, and the first night we just did an extended sound check where we just run through the set once, right. But not like rehearsals where you can stop and say, let's do that again. We just played it like it was a show, right. And then when we went on that night, I heard the intro tape starting and I went to walk on stage and I stopped and thought, god, I can't. And I went to walk on stage and I stopped and I thought, god, I can't. And I thought, well, I can't turn back now. And I thought, well, I'm just going to have to go out and do it. My knees were literally knocking together.

Daryl Bamonte 34:43

I thought that was just in cartoons or comics or something but then afterwards I came off and I sat down and I was so drained and then Martin Gore said to me you did it, no one can ever take this away from you. And it was like wow, yeah, and then we did. We did 39 shows, and the third and fourth shows in buenos aires and santiago were stadiums yeah, the first show you played was to how many people the two shows in sao paulo about 8 000.

Daryl Bamonte 35:12

Right, it was a massive nightclub, yep, I mean 8 000 capacity, but I don't think they even had a crash barrier, so the people were very close, right. So I actually found the stadiums a bit easier because I couldn't really see people, unbelievable.

Daryl Bamonte 35:27

I don't know any musician whose debut gig was 8 000 people yeah, yeah, because I'm I don't know why, but psychologically I was glad it wasn't a stadium first, because that would have been even more mental. So yeah, and then we were supposed to do 40 shows but we cancelled one I think dave lost his voice in the denver show but we did 39 and went back around and did all those venues that I'd toured for the previous eight years or something. Yeah, I don't have any regrets, but I think I wish I'd been a little bit more present to breathe it in, you couldn't be.

Alex Maiolo 36:01

I think the biggest crowd I've ever played to is probably 2,000 people and that came after playing to five people a lot, and 10 and 20 and 50 and 10 again.

Alex Maiolo 36:18

Yeah, but I was parachuted into an existing behemoth but that's what I mean is like when I've been able, when I've been fortunate enough, because of some stroke of luck, to play in front of a lot of people, I wasn't in the moment, right, and I've been a musician my entire life. I don't go like drink it all in buddy. No, yeah, that's right, you're right. Yeah, how could you be? And I mean you had your mind on the job and all of that, but it was a long tour, and that was, I think it was also.

Testimonials from Dave Gahan & Martin Hopewell

Alex Maiolo 36:42

Everyone was just a bit frazzled by then right, well, before interviewing you, I got in touch with dave gone and just asked if he would give some sort of you know, just some thoughts on you and what you mean to the band, and his response was incredibly sweet. Right, he said daryl was part of the depeche mode team starting slightly before 1980. He was a really good friend and we've always had so much fun together. There are countless stories I could tell the shenanigans we were involved in, but the one I'll share was when Fletch was doing poorly and couldn't finish the infamous Songs of Faith and Devotion tour. Daryl actually became a member of the band for about three months, playing Fletcher's parts and replacing him on stage. We're still friends to this day and I have nothing but good things to say about him. And I have nothing but good things to say about him, which is a pretty lovely thing for a guy who has been a lot of places and spent a lot of time with you.

Daryl Bamonte 37:40

No, that's very moving. It's very nice as well that you went to the trouble of seeking that out. So thank you oh well bravo, that's very nice to hear Dave say that, because normally he does message me on my birthday and stuff and it's normally sort of playful abuse, you know. But that's actually. Those words are lovely and I'm really touched by that.

Alex Maiolo 38:02

Well, daryl, you're a great guy and I don't think I'm really touched by that. Well, daryl, you're a great guy and I don't think I'm the only person who thinks that. It's been absolutely apparent to me in this interview that you've fostered some great relationships with some interesting people who still love you very much and you know, getting Dave to write me back or actually send me a voice memo about what he thought of you. I got in touch with Martin Hopewell who's worked with Acura for quite some time. I asked him to give Acura memory for me related to you. Okay, he said.

Alex Maiolo 38:37

Well, it's all a bit of a blur these days, but I have some happy memories of Daryl and burning the midnight oil in the old office of Daryl and burning the midnight oil in the old office pouring over endless spreadsheets of venue availabilities, trying to find anything that looked remotely like a piece of routing. That would bring a smile to Mr Smith's face. Often we were back doing the same thing a few days later when it hadn't. He got back to me in 10 minutes, really, yeah.

Daryl Bamonte 39:01

Yeah, that's moved me as well, because Martin is a classic example of he's been with the Cure since 1979 or something and has watched them or helped them to grow throughout that time. And it also says a lot about the band, especially Robert's loyalty to people, because sometimes people get moved on even if they haven't done anything wrong, yeah, but their head gets turned by, you know, a proposal and and robert stuck, you know, stayed with mine, for very good reason. That mark is a fantastic agent, but it's it's unfortunately rare, I guess, to see those relationships last the entire career. I think he's their first agent from the first album.

Daryl Bamonte 39:49

Yeah, you see that, with U2 and REM and Radiohead maybe, and not too many other no and that's something that's very important to me is that I want to work with people until I decide that I just don't want to do it anymore. But also it's important for the younger artists that I just don't want to do it anymore. But also it's important for the younger artists that I work with. I want them to make a career out of music that goes on until they're my age and beyond, long after I've gone. You know, I feel a responsibility to do that so that they learn and they don't get caught out by anything, and I think that's important. Those relationships should be revived.

Bouncing Between Depeche Mode & The Cure

Alex Maiolo 40:25

I think, yeah, wonderful yeah, so just to get our timelines right, were you bouncing back and forth between depeche and the cure? Did you do more work with the cure?

Daryl Bamonte 40:36

yeah, I did actually because I went to see them in rehearsals in the summer of 85 and they asked me if I would go on tour with them as a keyboard tech and I thought it'd be nice for me and my brother to do a tour together. So we did the whole of the head on the door tour the whole of the fall into winter of 85 still my favorite record by them?

Alex Maiolo 41:00

yeah, I think it is, and trent resnors I. Is it really?

Daryl Bamonte 41:03

He inducted or did the induction speech at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he said when he heard Head on the Door he felt like they were speaking to him. I would say so, yeah, loads of disenfranchised kids or fans would have said the same. So I loved doing that tour. I just took a four-month break and then carried on. And then, after the devotional tour, I turned 30 during that tour and my kids were young and I was like I need to do something else.

Daryl Bamonte 41:31

I think sometimes to go upwards you have to go sideways. First the cure making an album, and I was going out and hanging out with them in the studio and then they asked me if I would tour manager, a festival tour in the summer of 95. And then towards the end of 95, robert offered me a job. So I felt very much part of the Cure team as well. So it was just quite funny because, like we were saying, when those bands started they were very different, but they become the two sort of giants of alternative modern rock, as you call it in America. And so I actually feel really very glad that my career path took me through several years with both of those bands, 15 years with Depeche 10 with the Cure Right and then after the 10 with the Cure.

New Life: Music Publishing

Alex Maiolo 42:20

that's when you went on to a new career path.

Daryl Bamonte 42:23

Yeah, then I was wondering what to do, so I set up my management company and I was managing songwriters, but it was really when I got offered the job at Schubert Music in 2014. That's when I really got into publishing.

Alex Maiolo 42:37

And how does one make that jump? Did you just sort of send up your flag and say I'm looking to do something and here's my resume?

Daryl Bamonte 42:45

I'd love to say yes, but no, I didn't. So the thing is because working with the Cure I learned a lot more about publishing and then I was managing songwriters, so I saw publishing from the other side. So it gave me a good understanding of publishing. And I was working for a band and managing the band and I went to Reaper Barn to find publishing, pr and distribution. And I was introduced by a friend of mine to Eric Burton, who's from Schubert, germany, and we kind of knew of each other and we had put on a Cure show years earlier, but don't remember meeting. And I told him about this band and he went I'll sign the publishing. I was like you haven't heard it yet and he's like, no, we did the first album. I know it and I'll do the PR and I'm gonna phone my friend Volker and Volker said, yeah, I'll do the distribution. So it all fell into place like that and I thought, well, this is going really well. And I got back to the UK and then Eric emailed me and said our UK office, the guy runs it. He's announced at very short notice that he's retiring and can you recommend someone? And I was like, well, yes, I can me, you know.

Daryl Bamonte 43:56

And I did deliberate for a second. I didn't go sort of feet first and I was like, well, why, why shouldn't that be me? Because I do understand publishing from the other side of management, but also it's not just about publishing admin. I can do admin, but I really, really prefer the creative side of it and I went for it and they gave me the job and I still work for them. The UK office is now merged with the parent company in Austria, so I still work for them in that respect. But I run the uk for like eight years and signed roger o'donnell from the cure and jules maxwell from dead can dance and polly scattergood who was on mute. I said I made some brilliant signings.

Daryl Bamonte 44:39

It's funny because it actually redefined me as a publisher yeah and so when Schubert UK closed, I didn't even have to deliberate about what I wanted to do. I set up my own publishing company, then I got worldwide sub-publishing with BMG, so it's been a nice progression, do you?

Alex Maiolo 44:57

find the people who do best by musicians and who do best in the industry have had time in the trenches either playing in a band or working with a band.

Daryl Bamonte 45:06

Like actually getting out there and doing the physical labor and the drudgery you know I'm a rights holder but I can't help seeing it from the musician side.

Daryl Bamonte 45:16

But also, like going back to what I said about daniel, the way that he dealt with things is kind of almost like a blueprint for how I want to do things.

Daryl Bamonte 45:25

I don't want to hold on to rights for too long because I don't want someone to feel they're handcuffed to me. I want them to work with me because they want to. And I think if you handcuff someone into a deal that's kind of like a bit you know, long and a bit repressive, then it leads to resentment and I think that people shouldn't be made to feel like that. And I mean that as a point of principle overall about the industry. Of course, if you invest time and money and contacts and everything, you have the right to then benefit from that longer than just a short contract. But you then don't want to take it to the ridiculous extremes of holding on to people's rights and I think if deals can roll over and people know they can get out of it quickly, you'll probably end up working with that songwriter, that artist for as long, if not longer, than if you kind of tied them into something.

Archangelo Music & Still Performing

Alex Maiolo 46:19

Right. You seem to have found that level of empathy to where you think like well, if I were an artist, I wouldn't want to feel handcuffed to anything. So explain the transition from schubert into doing your own thing.

Daryl Bamonte 46:31

Tell me about arcangelo yeah, I just always had this dream of forming a company called arcangelo music. It's my great-grandfather's family name, because you're a fellow paisan I am, yeah, from salerno and then it was my granddad, my dad, my brother and my son's middle name. So I always had this idea it's a family name. And then I'd spoke to a couple of my clients, like roger from the cure, jewels from dead can dance, james chapman from maps, and they were my first free sign-ins just over two years ago. And then I got this amazing deal.

Daryl Bamonte 47:08

I spoke to a good friend of mine called Ian Ramage who was at BMG. I knew him from when he was at old BMG. He was the general manager, the cures publisher, and they gave him this deal and that was a big break for me, because what's brilliant about BMG is that they take care of the registrations. They account directly to my writers, so I don't have to deal with that stuff twice a year. And so I love the creative side of it. I'm so excited when I get new songs coming through and I love dealing with that side of it and pitching stuff and reaching out and having the big machine BMG behind me, who are for a major, are absolutely lovely. I love their kind of philosophy, the way they work. They're a perfect partner. Because I don't want to spread myself too thin, but I'm releasing one of your records, apparently soon aren't I?

Alex Maiolo 47:59

Are we going to do that, because I'd love that.

Daryl Bamonte 48:01

Yes, we are. No, because I said I would, and that's what I'm going to do. Yeah.

Alex Maiolo 48:04

And you're still active as a musician. So you're doing Permafrost and you also have another project called Hence.

Daryl Bamonte 48:11

Yeah, I don't think I'm a classic musician like you are. I'm probably more musical than people realize. I've got a certain amount I can play, but I'm not like any way virtuoso. But I was contacted by a friend of mine, trond, who was the drummer in Permafrost in 2016, and they asked me to be their manager and I said yes without hearing it. And then when I heard the songs, I was like there's keyboards on here and you haven't got a keyboard player. And I sent them my Wikipedia page, my credentials of being in Depeche Mode for three months, and I become the keyboard player. And I sent them my Wikipedia page, my credentials of being in Depeche Mode for three months, and I become the keyboard player. The band formed in January 1982 and on October, the 11th this year, we released our debut album.

Alex Maiolo 48:56

Slow down, man. Yeah, I know we don't like to rush things, but it's a really rewarding experience.

Daryl Bamonte 49:02

We don't do it for fame or money, but if any small part of that comes and of course no one's trying to stymie their own career but we do it because, for me, I felt really good about being a part of that. Of course, yeah, and it was a, it was amazing, and we're going to play shows next year. And then hence is the other band which, when I was at the first act in sync event last year, I met canoe, who was talking there and I was talking there and he's a massive depeche mode fan and over lunch one day he said I bought some modular simps and I'm gonna start writing some songs and you're like, oh, modular sense, no, no, yeah, back back to square one no, no.

Daryl Bamonte 49:45

I said to him if you write and record something, I'll release it, and he said well, that's mad, because you haven't even heard it. He said I haven't even written it yet. And I was like I'm not trying to say that I'm kind of some like maverick, who just makes crazy promises to people and crosses my fingers. I've had such a good feeling about him and you've met him here.

Alex Maiolo 50:06

Yeah, he's lovely.

Daryl Bamonte 50:07

And I said to you the other day when we were drinking ouzo, I said with Canoe I got the feeling that whatever he does, he does it in a bit of an unorthodox way but does it brilliantly. And I just had a good vibe about him and I think it's important to go with your gut instinct. And it was going to be. He was the band and I was the label, but then we decided to do it as a band called Hence and started our own label and we've released three singles this year already.

Lovefest

Alex Maiolo 50:35

Fantastic, thank you, I think it's great. Well, daryl, when I met you, I saw what a lot of people see in you. I could see it instantly that you're a lovely man and your friendship is something that means very much to me. I love you very much, bruv. I really do, and our time together is always precious, and when we part, I always look forward to the next time. I really do. I cannot wait to spend time with you. You're a lovely guy, and thank you for talking to us today.

Daryl Bamonte 50:59

Well, Alex, you know that. British people have anxieties with the love word but, that's so moving that you would say that, and I've got lots of friends from my childhood that I'm still very good friends with. But some of my equally deep relationships are people I've met in the last 10 years or less, and, of course, you're a prime one. My 60th birthday in New York last year was me and my kids and some friends, and you were one of them.

Alex Maiolo 51:26

That's right, we went to see Depeche and Madison Square Garden together. We did.

Daryl Bamonte 51:30

So thank you so much to you, Alex, for being a good friend and for being such a great moderator and interviewer, and for this guy over here, the silent producer Paul Cheetham, for running an exceptional podcast, and I'm so honored to be a part of this series.

Alex Maiolo 51:45

Finky, I don't know if I'd know you if I didn't know Paul, because he got me to talent in the first place.

Daryl Bamonte 51:50

Well there, you go Okay, Well, this has turned into a right love fest, hasn't it? It has All right. Thank you very much, guys. Thank you, Daryl Paul. Do you think you can get anything from that? Do you think you can?

The SuperSwell's Outro

Paul Cheetham 52:03

get anything from that? Oh, I could definitely get something from that, daryl. Thank you very much. And wasn't that just great. What a guy, what a story.

Paul Cheetham 52:12

Depeche Mode and the Cure are just two of my absolute favourite bands of all time. I followed them from the start, growing up, listening to them, buying tickets to go and see their concerts and eventually being fortunate enough to even work with them in a small way too. An absolute dream come true, and it's fascinating to think that my past may well have crossed with Daryl's at one or two points along the way, who knows? Anyway, I wanted to get Daryl on the podcast for ages, so I was delighted when he agreed to sit down with our mutual friend Alex to have a chat. I just sat in the corner listening in absolutely spellbound, but having to remember to press the record button on the podcast machine. Well, I managed to do that at least.

Paul Cheetham 52:58

So thanks to Alex once again for doing a great job hosting, and a big thank you to Daryl Bermonte for being such a brilliant guest. If you like this edition of the Super Swell, you're doing a great job hosting, and a big thank you to Daryl Bermonte for being such a brilliant guest. If you like this edition of the Super Swell. Then check out other episodes at the superswellcom and you can contact us at podcast at the superswellcom. That's it for now. Thanks for listening. Until next time, ciao.