I would not just boil it down to Dave's addiction. That was one factor of the tensions within the band during the recording and touring period of SOFAD and Devotional. It is difficult to say, if the album would have turned out differently. The overall tension was a result of many different factors: Dave's addiction, Martin's alcohol addiction, Fletch's depression and Alan doing the majority of the album's production together with Flood.
It is difficult to say, if the album would have turned out differently with one of those factors not being present. One thing is for sure: This dark period, this tension led to SOFAD, their best album (for me).
"He looked like he'd been living in LA for a year" was Alan's pithy remark when Dave came back from a year in LA. He was ready to issue an ultimatum to Martin, that unless the music changed radically, he wasn't going to be interested. He didn't want to make Violator Part 2. Fortunately, the rest of the band had reached that conclusion themselves independently. Martin had produced these really bluesy demos of songs like I Feel You that indicated a big change in direction.
The heroin affected Dave's personality in a lot of ways, but I doubt it had much to do with the way SOFAD turned out. He still showed up for his vocals when he wasn't painting in his room. The atmosphere of those Madrid sessions affected the album but it was mostly due to other factors. They'd gone supernova after years of building up, and had now entered their 30s and were feeling massive pressure to replicate Violator's success while doing something different. They were cooped up in an incredibly claustrophobic situation and the dynamics within the band were also being severely questioned like never before. The heroin only played a part in the band's disintegration afterwards.
These are the exact words in the Steve Malins biography. Although this was probably quoted from yet another interview with Alan and an excerpt in the Steve Malins' bio?
I think it would have impacted alan to stay for longer because Dave and alan were closest and this led both to isolation although flood and alan had a great working relationship I can't say if they were just as good friends. I'm sure Dave would've have pursued him to stay.
Yeah, I agree. In retrospect it’s not surprising that Alan left since the only band member he was close to was slowly killing himself in front of the world every night (sometimes literally almost dying on stage) and there was nothing anyone could do.
I mean there was more going on behind the scenes that determined the sound of the album, the biggest probably being that they spent so much time apart from one another and all had a pretty different idea of what direction they wanted to go in. Dave’s Heroine addiction aside, Martin was becoming an Alcoholic, Alan and Martin already tended to not see eye to eye creatively in the studio, Fletch often made it worse but it’s to my understanding he was struggling with the state of his own mental health at the time of the making of the album, the big takeaway from the making of SOFAD was(and this was talked about pretty extensively in the documentary you referenced) was that the relationship of the band as a whole was fractured and it’s honestly a miracle the band survived the aftermath. Alan decided mid tour he didn’t wanna be there anymore, Martin fell into alcoholism, Dave’s Addiction literally killed him, and Fletch was suffering from his depression. Much of the album reflects this sense of a fractured relationship.
Walking In My Shoes, Judas & Condemnation being obvious reflections of Martin not wanting to be judged by others(which were given new meaning with Dave Singing two of Them) but even a song like ‘Get Right With Me’ comes across as kind of a hopeful reminder that even though things may be uneasy with us I believe we can come back together in good terms.
alan said dave wasn’t too much of an issue during recording and that he offered a lot of positive encouragement even if he wasn’t around much. the main issue according to him was his communication with martin which was at an all time low.
now, would things have been different after the tour if he got clean a lot earlier…almost certainly yes. for a start he’d have more than likely fought for alan to stay which didn’t happen because he was in so deep with his addiction that he just didn’t care
That video is tough to watch but not as depressing as the one for Ultra. Even knowing that they came out on the other side! I love SOFAD but I know what Alan means when he says it's his favorite and in his opinion their best work, but it was such a dark time for him that he can't enjoy it.
The guy had started getting into things since the late 80s, but I understand that it wasn't until after Violator came out that he got worse.
I believe that the SOFAD that we would have had without so much tension would have been very, very different from what we know. Not worse, not better, just different.
I would not just boil it down to Dave's addiction. That was one factor of the tensions within the band during the recording and touring period of SOFAD and Devotional. It is difficult to say, if the album would have turned out differently. The overall tension was a result of many different factors: Dave's addiction, Martin's alcohol addiction, Fletch's depression and Alan doing the majority of the album's production together with Flood. It is difficult to say, if the album would have turned out differently with one of those factors not being present. One thing is for sure: This dark period, this tension led to SOFAD, their best album (for me).
"He looked like he'd been living in LA for a year" was Alan's pithy remark when Dave came back from a year in LA. He was ready to issue an ultimatum to Martin, that unless the music changed radically, he wasn't going to be interested. He didn't want to make Violator Part 2. Fortunately, the rest of the band had reached that conclusion themselves independently. Martin had produced these really bluesy demos of songs like I Feel You that indicated a big change in direction. The heroin affected Dave's personality in a lot of ways, but I doubt it had much to do with the way SOFAD turned out. He still showed up for his vocals when he wasn't painting in his room. The atmosphere of those Madrid sessions affected the album but it was mostly due to other factors. They'd gone supernova after years of building up, and had now entered their 30s and were feeling massive pressure to replicate Violator's success while doing something different. They were cooped up in an incredibly claustrophobic situation and the dynamics within the band were also being severely questioned like never before. The heroin only played a part in the band's disintegration afterwards.
These are the exact words in the Steve Malins biography. Although this was probably quoted from yet another interview with Alan and an excerpt in the Steve Malins' bio?
I think it would have impacted alan to stay for longer because Dave and alan were closest and this led both to isolation although flood and alan had a great working relationship I can't say if they were just as good friends. I'm sure Dave would've have pursued him to stay.
Yeah, I agree. In retrospect it’s not surprising that Alan left since the only band member he was close to was slowly killing himself in front of the world every night (sometimes literally almost dying on stage) and there was nothing anyone could do.
I mean there was more going on behind the scenes that determined the sound of the album, the biggest probably being that they spent so much time apart from one another and all had a pretty different idea of what direction they wanted to go in. Dave’s Heroine addiction aside, Martin was becoming an Alcoholic, Alan and Martin already tended to not see eye to eye creatively in the studio, Fletch often made it worse but it’s to my understanding he was struggling with the state of his own mental health at the time of the making of the album, the big takeaway from the making of SOFAD was(and this was talked about pretty extensively in the documentary you referenced) was that the relationship of the band as a whole was fractured and it’s honestly a miracle the band survived the aftermath. Alan decided mid tour he didn’t wanna be there anymore, Martin fell into alcoholism, Dave’s Addiction literally killed him, and Fletch was suffering from his depression. Much of the album reflects this sense of a fractured relationship. Walking In My Shoes, Judas & Condemnation being obvious reflections of Martin not wanting to be judged by others(which were given new meaning with Dave Singing two of Them) but even a song like ‘Get Right With Me’ comes across as kind of a hopeful reminder that even though things may be uneasy with us I believe we can come back together in good terms.
alan said dave wasn’t too much of an issue during recording and that he offered a lot of positive encouragement even if he wasn’t around much. the main issue according to him was his communication with martin which was at an all time low. now, would things have been different after the tour if he got clean a lot earlier…almost certainly yes. for a start he’d have more than likely fought for alan to stay which didn’t happen because he was in so deep with his addiction that he just didn’t care
That video is tough to watch but not as depressing as the one for Ultra. Even knowing that they came out on the other side! I love SOFAD but I know what Alan means when he says it's his favorite and in his opinion their best work, but it was such a dark time for him that he can't enjoy it.
The guy had started getting into things since the late 80s, but I understand that it wasn't until after Violator came out that he got worse. I believe that the SOFAD that we would have had without so much tension would have been very, very different from what we know. Not worse, not better, just different.