Depeche Mode on why they picked Kelly Lee Owens to support them on US tour

Depeche Mode have revealed why they hand-picked Kelly Lee Owens to open for the band on their upcoming US dates.

• READ MORE: Depeche Mode: “Do the best you can – you don’t know if you’re going to be doing it again”
  

In February, the band announced the support acts for the North American leg of their 2023 ‘Memento Mori’ world tour.

The band confirmed that Kelly Lee Owens would open for them on the first leg of their US/Canada trek, with dates including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and Toronto.

In a new interview with NME, Dave Gahan and Martin Gore spoke about their respect for the Welsh electronica genius and former NME cover star.

“We were given a massive list of potential support acts; some of them I knew, like Kelly Lee Owens who I actually really liked, and we decided she’d be a perfect fit,” Gore said.

“What she does is very atmospheric and it never seems like there’s only one person playing – she really puts her soul into it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the band spoke about their long-awaited upcoming album ‘Memento Mori’, which is Depeche Mode’s first record since 2017’s ‘Spirit’ and their first since bandmate Andy Fletcher died at the age of 60 in May 2022.

“The most important thing is to be putting out good music and that people like it,” Gore said. “Once we finish this tour we’ll take a break, then we’ll see if and when we feel like doing it again. Up until now we always have. You never know, and I’m not saying that in a negative way. We just take each project as it comes.”

Earlier this month, the band released an eerie new song, ‘My Cosmos Is Mine’. The song is the second, following ‘Ghosts Again’, to be lifted from ‘Memento Mori’, and is set to serve as the album’s opening track.

Depeche Mode will head to Europe, the UK and Ireland after the North American run. Find tickets for the UK shows here.

The post Depeche Mode on why they picked Kelly Lee Owens to support them on US tour appeared first on NME.