

Vince Clarke and Martin Gore discuss their VCMG project in 2012

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For Depeche Mode fans hoping the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this spring will bring all five current and former members — Dave Gahan, Martin L. Gore, Andrew Fletcher, Vince Clarke and Alan Wilder — together onstage, don’t hold your breath.

The latest edition of the Erasure Information Service newsletter includes a blurb congratulating Depeche Mode on its induction, and noting that Erasure’s Clarke and Wilder each will be inducted alongside the current members. But, the newsletter’s writer Richard Evans adds, “Vince told me that he is delighted ‘for the lads’ but — before you ask! — it’s unlikely that he will be involved in the ceremony in any way.”

This echoes comments Clarke made to Vanyaland in 2018 about a then-theoretical DM induction:

“Depeche Mode, they’ve had an amazing career and they’ve worked incredibly hard to get where they are at the moment. They deserve all of the credit. All I did was started the band — you know what I’m saying? I wouldn’t go. Apart from that, I don’t have a nice suit.”

As for Wilder, who has spent his post-DM years focusing on his Recoil project, it’s not yet known if he plans to attend the May 2 ceremony in Cleveland — and if he does, whether the band will invite him to perform.

Both Clarke and Wilder have maintained ties to the Depeche Mode camp since their departures and even collaborated with the band and its members, with Clarke recording an instrumental electronic project with Gore called VCMG and Wilder both remixing a DM track and joining the band onstage in 2010.

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