Marc Spitz:As Depeche Mode’s primary songwriter, you spend a lot of time in the studio trying to perfect each piece of music. Isn’t the idea of a remix antithetical to that, since it upsets everything you’ve worked so hard on?

Martin Gore: It’s been so much a part of our fabric from day one, I don’t even think about it anymore. It’s second nature. The only single we ever put out that didn’t have any kind of remix was our first [1981’s “Dreaming of Me”]. If I don’t like what’s being done or feel there isn’t enough of the song in there, we have total control; we can veto anything we don’t like. But a lot of times, we’re pleasantly surprised.

Do people submit remixes on spec? Or do you invite musicians you admire to remix your work?

People submit songs on spec, but we also get a list together of people who we’re interested in. Between [longtime label] Mute and us, we come up with quite a few people and we choose the best of the bunch.

You’ve watched remix culture grow, to the point that in hip-hop it’s now almost required. Sometimes the remix becomes the hit single. Does someone else’s mix ever change the way you feel about a song?

When we go out and play live, we often use parts of the remixes that we like and it becomes a new live version. [Source]

You can listen to Depeche Mode on New Music United here.