Dave Gahan hasn’t always felt “comfortable” performing in front of thousands of fans.
The Depeche Mode star has just released his new covers album with Soulsavers called ‘Impostor’, and he has admitted he struggles with impostor syndrome as a live performer and hopes to get to a place where he “no longer cares” what other people think.
In an interview with Variety, the 59-year-old singer said: “I’ve been performing on stages for many, many years in front of people, and there have been many times when it’s not entirely comfortable, and when I do feel like an imposter.
“And when I’ve seen [those performances] back, it shows to me, I see through all the stuff. So as a singer and a performer, I’m always trying to get to the point where I no longer care what you think, I’m just singing a song.
“It’s a feeling that’s fleeting in the day-to-day, but when I’m truly in a song, there’s an intimacy that I reveal to myself somehow that, more times than not, I can’t access.
“I think this is true of many performers. Performing has always been a huge part of my life, but there are often times when I’m questioning it. Is that really me? Is that what I am? Is that what I do? Or is this some sort of disguise? But a song? I can live in a song.”
The ‘Personal Jesus’ hitmaker also revealed that he had previously been asked to make a covers album many years ago, but he didn’t feel confident enough at the time, while he wasn’t keen on the idea of working with musicians he hadn’t met before.
He told the publication: “I didn’t have the confidence, for one, when I was approached to do it, it was like, ‘We’ll pick these songs for you, and put these great musicians together for you…’
“But I have to have a relationship with the people in the room when I make music.
“Even if it makes me feel like I’m crawling out of my skin at some points, and sometimes it does, there’s something about that’s very important when you’re trying to find yourself as a singer.”