Shudder To Think are back with another new song, and this time they’re taking on Depeche Mode.
The art-punk crew, who reunited last year after a long silence, have shared their cover of “Something To Do,” a track from Depeche Mode’s 1984 album Some Great Reward. The song arrives ahead of their new three-track EP, Who Sent You?, which is out 9/11 on Dischord.
The band’s version is urgently splintered, and it sounds a whole lot like a Shudder To Think track. That makes sense, given how they made it.
The Band’s Own Words on the Cover
Shudder To Think offered a lengthy statement about why they chose the song, and why it means so much to them. They called Some Great Reward the “pinnacle” of Depeche Mode’s “brilliance and creativity.”
“Not that they didn’t make insanely wonderful music — singles and albums both — after that, but SGR was the crescendo of their first phase, where indelible pop hooks collided with kid-in-candy-store synth experiments and impossible yearning fumbled with the bra clasps of the blackest bedroom malaise.”
They described the album’s “garish audacity” as a perfect soundtrack for a certain kind of teenager: “wild on the inside, about to burst, misunderstoooood, romantic as fuck.”
The song itself, which opens Some Great Reward, is about being young, bored and restless in a run-down industrial town. The band called it a “semi-forgotten (relative to other DM singles), under-appreciated banger” about “being miserable and making your own fun.”
How the Cover Came Together
The cover happened almost by accident. The band was finishing work on their new album when “Something To Do” came on the satellite radio and triggered a memory for Craig.
The song “jogged Craig’s sense-memory back to 16, on a family trip to Israel, in love and hate with everyone and everything, candy-flipping the cassette in his Walkman from Some Great Reward to XTC’s English Settlement and the great Dukes Of Stratosphear.” Then came the kicker: “A girl named Robin and a girl named Julie..”
From there, the decision was immediate. “Anyway, we HAD to cover it.”
The recording was fast and loose. They learned the structure minutes after finishing basic tracks for the final song on the album, then “let it rip, maybe three takes, no corrections.”
Their friend Thomas Lennon, who is also Craig’s brother-in-law, happened to be visiting during the session. He stood in a circle with the band while they played, and his enthusiasm helped push them through.
“Tom’s a big Depeche Mode fan and a big Shudder To Think fan, so his energy and enthusiasm completed the circuit and gave us just the energy we needed.”
They compared the result to the last bit of creative fuel left at the end of a project: “magic gunk left at the bottom of the fuel tank, like potent resin at the bottom of the bowl.”
A Band Out of Step With Its Scene
Shudder To Think have never been a typical Dischord band. The group always leaned glammier than their peers.
Back when they were active, a Dischord band covering Depeche Mode would have been a much bigger deal. These days, the boundaries between musical universes are looser, and the pairing feels natural.
Their reunion has continued that streak. Last year, they released a two-song single, their first new songs in 27 years. Who Sent You? follows that release.
The EP’s title track has already been posted. Now, with the “Something To Do” cover, they’ve shown another side of what they’re doing.
The Two Versions Side by Side
Here’s a quick look at how the two versions compare:
| Detail | Depeche Mode Original | Shudder To Think Cover |
|---|---|---|
| Album | Some Great Reward (1984) | Who Sent You? EP |
| Context | Opening track on the album | Cover on a reunion EP |
| Recording approach | Not detailed in the source | Three takes, no corrections, live in a circle |
The source describes the original only as the album’s opening track. What is clear is that the band made the cover sound “a whole lot like a Shudder To Think track.”
What’s Next
The Who Sent You? EP arrives 9/11 on Dischord. It follows the band’s first new songs in nearly three decades, and the title track is already out there for fans to hear.
For the band, the cover honors a record that shaped them. They called Some Great Reward the “crescendo” of Depeche Mode’s first phase, before their albums “became more mature and refined, less messy.”
The song’s themes — youth, boredom, danger and desire — fit right into Shudder To Think’s own world. The band made it their own, and they made it fast.
That speed is part of the charm. No corrections, no overthinking, just a group of friends in a room playing a song they love.
Here’s what drew them to the track:
- The album represents the “pinnacle” of Depeche Mode’s “brilliance and creativity”
- The song is a “semi-forgotten” banger about youth, boredom and restlessness
- The cover came together in “maybe three takes, no corrections”
The band’s statement makes one thing clear: this was a personal pick, not a calculated one. The memory of a teenage trip, a cassette in a Walkman, and a pair of names — Robin and Julie — sent them straight into the studio. The result is a cover that sounds exactly like them.
Source: stereogum.com
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