Tributes have been pouring in for the past two days, praising his contributions to the band. But prior to this week, you probably had to be a die hard Depeche Mode fan (fortunately there are tens of millions of these) to appreciate what Fletch brought to the table. He wasn't the singer, or the songwriter, or the lyricist, and wasn't much of a musician. He wasn't the hidden hand who guided the band aesthetically or ideologically. Watch the "101" documentary and you'll see shot after shot of a smiling Fletch, looking proud yet awkward in skin tight spandex, dancing behind his keyboard, surveying the crowd, not doing much of any importance. In recent promo shots, Gahan and Gore still have rock star swagger to spare, whereas Fletch is the grumpy uncle who crashed the photo shoot.
The best longform Depeche Mode article I ever read is a very famous two parter from the NME, written by Gavin Martin and published on September 18 and 25, 1993 during the Devotional tour. It's the definitive document of DM's most debauched period. Gahan's brush with death a few years later is cruelly foreshadowed. A theme of the article is the open speculation that Gahan wouldn't make it through the tour (he did, and IIRC, didn't miss a single show). Near the end, a DM insider speaks about the frontman's troubles, while flatly stating that "[Gahan] must know that if it wasn't for Martin there'd be no songs, if it wasn't for Alan the records wouldn't sound the way they do, and if it wasn't for Fletch there probably wouldn't be any money."
That basically sums it up. Fletch had settled into a manager type of role (although he hated the word and wouldn't use it to describe himself), handling a semi-infinite list of minute yet crucial details, not the least of which was keeping the peace between the band members. He took a leave of absence from the band and sat out the Summer 1994 leg of the tour, but was otherwise a constant presence for over 40 years. But look again at that quote. Alan Wilder left the band and what happened? They continued making great albums and toured even bigger stadiums. Martin Gore's monopoly on the songwriting was later broken and the band still thrived, they still sounded exactly like Depeche Mode. But without Fletch? As of this writing, most observers are pessimistic about the band continuing. He was the glue, the stabilizing presence. He was the legitimizer, when he was around DM was a band and not an interlude between various solo projects.
He was the steady hand through it all. An unlikely teen idol in the 80's, steering the band through the troubled waters of the 90's as they reached the zenith of their coolness, and ensuring they stayed on as a commercial powerhouse well into the 21st century. By all accounts he was a loyal friend with hardly a trace of a rock star ego, even though he'd toured the world many times over. How many teen mag regulars from the 80's survived that decade, without ever breaking up, while remaining relevant, and without gloryhogging their way into a reunion tour years later when the 80's because cool again? Depeche Mode's career was a black swan, and we'll never see the likes of it again.
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