Depeche Modem

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Depeche Modem is

Carl Strempler (Guitar)
A man who needs no introduction; the tireless musical director of Techapalooza who’s been integral to the event for it’s entire 13 year run. A bonafide guitar master, Carl has played with countless musicians on stages around the world. In addition to playing and being musical director for Techapalooza, he produces the videos, donates equipment and jam space, and is the very heart of the event — we couldn’t imagine it happening without him. Fun fact, Carl owns one of Patti Smith’s acoustic guitars! In real life, Carl is a managing director at Accenture with a long career in IT and consulting services. Carl is obsessed with minute nuances in guitar sounds, noticed by few except his bandmates, who appreciate his utter commitment to our over the top nonsense.

Robert Mills (Bass, Backing Vocals)
Robert is a guitarist who only played the bass as a favor to Warren (his brother-in-law), but had so much fun, he’s decided to slum it with us again for another year :-). When he’s not playing guitar, he’s endlessly tweaking his turntable and audiophile playback system. A vinyl aficionado, he’s obsessed with the Beatles. Fun fact: he owns 27 (and growing) copies of the White album, and can give you detailed rundowns of the differences between all of them. Rob worked at Bell MTS for 20 years in their Advanced Technical Support team. He’s been playing guitar since he was a teenager and is known to wander summer festivals like the Folk Festival and Rainbow Trout, playing his acoustic and campfire jamming. Another obsessive, Rob has been on a years-long search for the perfect bass strings (remember, he’s not really a bassist), which you will hear in all it’s glory on the Techapalooza stage. Listen closely!

Warren Massey (Drums, Backing Vocals)
Warren is known to develop unhealthy obsessions with minute details of sound, so putting him, Rob, Derek and Carl together in a band was sure to result in last years very faithful Police tribute and to raise the bar for insanity this year. He pretends to be a somewhat competent drummer, and dabbles in anything else that can make noise, albeit poorly, often covering it with effects to hide his sloppy playing. Spending hours in his soundproof studio tweaking a minor keyboard sound that no one else will notice is his idea of a good time. Fun fact: as a hobby Warren runs a small boutique guitar effect pedal company called Artisanal Effects. In regular life Warren is Director of IT applications at Winpak. Another child of the 80’s, he loves new wave music and analog sound, and once sourced a guitar pick from Europe to replicate a specific U2 guitar sound for no reason other than just because. Ask him about it, it totally nailed the sound.

Derek Robertson (Vocals)
Last year for our Police tribute, Derek was our secret weapon, and it would not have happened without his formidable tenor pipes. He’s been playing music for more than 30 years and is a go-to vocalist around town. He can be found most weekends in coffee houses, pizza places, or any other place with a stage. With his acoustic guitar and endless list of songs in tow, we’re convinced he knows every popular song since 1978, but especially 80’s music. Do you have a Rush, Yes, Duran Duran or Police request? He’s your guy. Want to hear a rare version of the Outfield from a Youtube video that only a few hundred people in the world ever saw? Guaranteed he knows it, it’s probably in his regular set. In real life he’s a plumber and father of a teenager, and as a non IT person, finds the rest of us pretty weird, but loves music so much, he puts up with us. He also obsesses over 80’s new wave — you can probably see a pattern developing here. Fun fact, Derek played music on cruise ships for a couple of years, honing his chops in the high seas.