Before there was Depeche Mode, there was Composition of Sound, a minimalist synth act that Vince Clarke, Martin Gore, and Andy Fletcher formed in the spring of 1980. COS were able to put together a 4-song demo with Clarke on vocals. A few weeks later Clarke heard Dave Gahan singing David Bowie’s “Heroes” at an informal jam session, and asked him to join the group.
Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records who first signed Depeche Mode and was an early musical influence on the band, said of Composition of Sound: “I just thought they looked dodgy—dodgy New Romantics. I didn’t even hear the music at that point.”
According to Jonathan Miller’s Stripped: Depeche Mode, Composition of Sound did play a handful of gigs. The first COS show with Dave Gahan on vocals happened on June 14, 1980 at Nicholas Comprehensive in Basildon. The poster for the show touted a “Discotheque featuring French Look and Composition of Sound.” Composition of Sound was the headliner and French Look opened. Vince Clarke remembered the gig going pretty well, because Gahan “had all his trendy mates there.”
The most amusing show COS played sounds like something out of This is Spinal Tap:
Composition of Sound played a third, as it turned out, final gig with the same line-up at a youth club at Woodlands School, Basildon, where their audience consisted of a bunch of nine-year-olds. “They loved the synths, which were a novelty then,” remembers Fletcher. “The kids were onstage twiddling the knobs while we played!”
Discogs lists an unofficial Composition Of Sound “album” called A Question of Knowledge that came out in 1986. It has “Ice Machine” on it but not the other two.
Depeche Mode fans will be familiar with as “Ice Machine,” as it was the b-side of their first single, “Dreaming of Me,” which was released in February 1981. Unlike the earlier demo, this demo has Gahan on vocals. Interestingly, Fletcher plays the bass on these tracks.
Track listing:
Ice Machine
Radio News
Photographic
via Post-Punk
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
A young Depeche Mode perform a slice of synthpop perfection on Swedish TV, 1982