The reunion of Martin and myself happened because I started recording, working on a kind of techno record, and after a couple of tracks, I realised that I needed and would like someone to collaborate with.

So I contacted Martin via email and said are you interested in working with me on this project?

There's no pressure, no timeline, there's no release date, it's just something for a bit of fun and we can swap ideas via the internet.

Vince's email just said that he was interested in making a minimalist techno record, which, you know, with the two of us involved, kind of got a little bit more than minimalist probably because you were sending me about 50 tracks, and then I was adding to it.

There was no plan or there was no kind of grand scheme or concept for the record.

It was really just about exchanging ideas.

Of course I was surprised, I mean it wasn't something I was expecting but pleasantly surprised.

You know I've been interested in techno music for a long time and the prospect of actually doing something with Vince again was quite exciting.

The whole process of making this record was really easy going, there was really no, it really felt like there was no egos involved or it was very simple.

Martin would present an idea and I would never know what was coming to me and then I would add something and he would never know what was coming to him and it was built up.

That's what made it extra kind of interesting I think.

We really didn't analyse this record at all.

Everything was kept to a minimum and the emails were very brief and we just shared files and just, you know, enjoyed making the music.

Vince brought up a fiver I owed him.

I think we've probably both been aware of what we've both been doing just because we're on the same record label.

Yes.

If not for any other reason.

But no I've not been collecting Depeche Mode remixes.

One of the very odd things is that from everything in the Mute catalogue for some weird reason I get every single Erasure release sent to me and I literally don't get anything else.

It's very odd.

That is honestly the truth.

I don't know why.

Someone must have put me on an early mailing list for Erasure so I get everything.

That was me.

Vince earlier said that for you doing a Plastic Man remix was a big thing.

Yeah, for me that was like, because I was asked to do a remix for Plastic Man. Knowing nothing about techno music, it kind of got me curious, and that's when I started looking into techno music and discovering the sounds and the kind of arrangements that people were using.

I was just really intrigued and that's what really got me started in the idea of making this particular record.

I think when you make a record, you're trying to make the best record you possibly can for yourself, and you're not trying to please anybody else because if it doesn't sound good to you, then it ain't going to sound good to anybody else anyway.

The name of the title comes from, some of the tracks have a kind of a white noise sound in them and I would always name those tracks on the computer as hiss.

So apparently Martin felt that that was the start of the title of an album which I thought was quite cool.

The songs really evolved by us just sending the track backwards and forwards.

It started off with Vince sending me the first couple of tracks that were ideas, basic ideas that he had.

Then, I would add bits to that and send it back to him.

He would send it back to me, and we'd get back to about version 4 or 5 before we felt that we were at a stage where they were ready for mixing.

Mine's like 100 yards or something away.

I usually drive there.

It feels like going to work you know.

Do you put an outfit on and you get changed when you come home?

No.

That's weird.

You don't drive there do you?

Do you seriously?

100 yards?

Well it's just because it feels like you're going to work.

What do you drive?

I've got a Jeep.

So you drive a Jeep to 100 yards.

That's quite a journey.

Can you get a golf cart?

In the summer.

A man called Q, and originally he was suggested to us by Daniel.

The idea was for him to just mix the first single, and we really liked the outcome of that.

So we asked him to then mix another few tracks, and we liked the outcome of that.

So then we thought, why don't we just get him to do the whole thing?

That way, it will have cohesion, and it takes the pressure off us.

We don't have to do it.

I think he just kind of brought it all together really.

I mean, you know, I think the tracks were pretty cohesive anyway, but he would like obviously mix it and also add little tiny little touches and little gaps.

They weren't obtrusive; it was just little details that made the record sparkle a little more, I think.

Really this is the first dance record either of us have really made so I think it's just really a dance record.

It starts off at I don't know 126 beats a minute.

And ends up at 128.

I'm like Vince as well.

I don't really listen much to stuff that I've done before.

I will listen to this album today because we've just got the copies in.

Oh really?

Yeah so I'm going to put it on in my room and I might dance then.

What about that?

I think the best place to listen to this is you need to buy yourself a really expensive recording studio and then listen to it because it sounds great there.

I heard that famous DJ Andy Fletcher played it.

Did he?

What in Ibiza?

He played it somewhere.

He played it on his world tour apparently.

Oh wow.

For me I think it's really nice because I didn't really know Martin very well in Depeche Mode.

I didn't know him before.

He wasn't one of my close mates or anything.

I was more closer to Fletcher.

So I probably got to know him better in the last couple of days than I probably did the whole time in Depeche.

I've been saying that in all the interviews that I've been doing that I didn't really know Vince very well even when we were together in the band.

Because we were together for a very short time.

It was from March 1980 to about October, November 1981.

And we didn't do long tours then.

We did three weeks here and then we'd have a big break.

We didn't go to dinner every night or go down to the pub particularly I think.

We recorded the album in three or four weeks.

Yes, exactly.

And he was working.

He had a day job.

Yes, I popped in and out.

Well, as I explained to the last journalist, what happened was that I had a major road accident.

I lost my left big toe and I couldn't stand properly.

And so the tour had to end.

I couldn't tour anymore.

I just kept on losing my balance.

And so then I decided to quit the band.

Oh, right.

Is that widely known?

That's completely untrue.