Biography

After his split from Depeche Mode, Wilder was approached by Robert Smith with an offer to join The Cure. Wilder respectfully declined. According to Wilder himself, the possibility was offered by Daryl Bamonte on behalf of The Cure, and he declined as joining another band was the last thing on his mind. Roger O'Donnell, who re-joined The Cure around the same time, has in turn suggested this actually never happened, saying "I'm sure Alan would have lasted about 5 minutes in that environment especially after having left Depeche Mode for the reasons he did!".

Following the departure of Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode put out an ad in the music magazine "Melody Maker": "Keyboard player needed for established band - no timewasters." Even though the ad was looking for someone under 21 (Alan was 22) he lied about his age to get the job, and got away with it. He joined Depeche Mode in January 1982, initially as a tour keyboardist, and soon thereafter as a full member of the recording band.

Wilder briefly reunited with Depeche Mode during the Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 17 February 2010, and enjoyed a rapturous reception. During the encore, Alan accompanied Martin Gore on piano for "Somebody". He also attended Depeche Mode concert at O2 on 20th February 2010.

As DJM housed it's own record label, Alan found himself engineering on in-house productions as well as working with outside artists, and it wasn't long before his keyboard skills were being sought after for session work. Inevitably, this demand for his services and his desire for a more creative role, would lead him away from his current position and he remained with DJM Studios for just year before moving to Bristol to join one of their bands, The Dragons. The Dragons released the single 'Misbehavin' through DJM Records but after a frustrating lack of success and, more importantly, money, the group folded when the record deal eventually ran it's course. Together with fellow Dragons bassist Jo Burt, Alan returned to London some 6 months later under his pseudonym 'Alan Normal' - a necessity in the anarchic days of punk - to join newly-formed group 'Dafne and the Tenderspots'. Though originally playing the restaurant circuit, the band unscrupulously manipulated it's style from dinner lounge schlock to 'new wave', thus securing a deal with MAM Records. After releasing 'Disco Hell' in 1979 to a tepid response, the Tenderspots fell foul of a disinterested public and a lack of funds, leaving Alan to move on to his next group 'Real to Real'. Signed to Red Shadow Records, they released several singles and an album entitled: 'Tightrope Walker'. Despite moderate success, 'Real to Real' eventually suffered a similar fate to Alan's previous bands and he moved on to pastures new, playing keyboards with established but somewhat staid CBS group 'The Hitmen' (whose lead singer, Ben Watkins, later went on to form 'Juno Reactor', a one-time Mute act). Boasting a minor hit with 'Bates Motel', but not enough for a band who were on the rocks, it wasn't long before Alan was again hunting for work. However, this all too familiar cycle was about to change.

Alan had always experimented with his own individual ideas (alongside his rather higher profile as the now acknowledged musical formulator of Depeche Mode) but it wasn't until Dan Miller heard some of his demos (recorded on a 4-track cassette machine) and asked him to reproduce them, that the reality of Recoil as a solo project came to light. The early Recoil recordings revealed Alan's position as a pioneer in the newly emerging world of sampling technology and demonstrated how he could turn the Depeche sound around to create something entirely new. Simply entitled '1 + 2' , his first collection of primitive demos, though completed in the early 80's, was inconspicuously released as a mini-album in the summer of 1986, alongside Depeche Mode's top five album, 'Black Celebration'.