David McElroy

The end of a thingis better than its beginning . . .(Ecclesiastes 7:8, NKJV) From a very young age I had a love for music. With faith in God and His help, I accomplished my goal of sharing the joys of music with students, audiences, and family and friends, despite my difficulties.I want others to know they can accomplish much in spite of tribulation, which produces perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-5). For me, the end of a thing was truly better than its beginning."

Recorded in England, Denmark and Italy between May and September 1989, Depeche Mode’s seventh studio album ‘Violator’ was a landmark record beloved by fans and universally regarded as the band’s creative highpoint. Eventually selling 7.5 million copies following its release in March 1990, ‘Violator’ gave the cult British band – Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy ‘Fletch’ Fletcher and Alan Wilder – the critical acclaim they finally deserved. The adventurous, highly experimental approach that the band took for ‘Violator’ recording sessions also yielded two of the band’s most recognisable and successful singles in ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Enjoy The Silence’. Produced by the band with the influential studio guru Flood and mixed by the legendary François Kevorkian, ‘Violator’ is viewed as a hugely groundbreaking body of work by countless musicians and DJs, such was its progressive synthesis of electronic, rock, dance and pop music. The album revealed a new maturity and sensitivity to Martin Gore’s songwriting and allowed the band’s inquisitive Alan Wilder to come to the fore as a principal architect of the band’s approach to studio production. This period in the band’s history also found them forging a deeply trusted and influential partnership with photographer and designer Anton Corbijn, often viewed as the fifth member of Depeche Mode at this time. Corbijn’s work with the Area creative agency for the ‘Violator’ project delivered iconic, integrated artwork, photography, videos and short films across the album, its singles, and tour design. Written by uber-fans Kevin May and David McElroy, with ‘Halo’ we find ourselves shadowing the band in the studio, on an intense, pivotal worldwide tour and on the sets of arty Super 8 vignettes. We watch as samples and sounds are painstakingly wrought into rhythms, as flights are missed to secure additional seconds of mix time, as label executives in boardrooms deliberate over the order of the album’s singles. We find ourselves in downtown LA at the scene of an apocryphal riot as fans clamour to get their copies of the album signed. We observe the often misunderstood but hugely important role that the late Andy Fletcher played in the band and witness the tumultuous emotional pressures on the band’s frontman, Dave Gahan. During an intense and pivotal two-and-a-half years in the life of the group, we follow Depeche Mode as they complete their metamorphosis into one of the most significant bands of a generation, and place the success and innovations of ‘Violator’ at the dead centre of the rapidly-changing late-80s, early-90s musical zeitgeist. More than an album biography, ‘Halo’ goes deep behind the scenes of the band’s ‘Violator’ period. The book takes the form of a detailed oral history from those who were there in the studio with the band, working behind the cameras, designing sleeves and appearing in the videos; support acts, tour managers, publicists and fans. The book features detailed interviews with central figures involved with the band as they transitioned their sound and image to a stadium-friendly aesthetic, as well as those whose trusted contributions were essential for the creation of ‘Violator’. With ‘Halo’, authors Kevin May and David McElroy have produced an essential guide for Depeche Mode fans and anyone inquisitive about the making of a classic, genre-defining album.

The poems of Water the Rocks Make commit into words the turbulence of emotion and thought stirred up by life's events: family trauma, psychiatric instability, the legal system, the death of a loved one, identity, cultural displacement, work, loss, creativity, and through everything, love. Set primarily in Alaska, where author David McElroy has lived most of his life, the real action in these poems is in thought--the mind coming to terms (words) with consciousness, the mixing and rendering of reality and imagination. McElroy delves down the many rapid turns toward meaning through these contemplations on personification of a long-tailed boat in Asia; Adam tasked with naming the creatures; synthesizing the agony of accident, disease, and death; Descartes musing about an oilfield bridge; the excitement of sensual love; or the history and creativity emerging from a landfill. There is sadness here, but through the rigorous manipulation of imagery, rhythm, and sound, Water the Rocks Make strives to "...contribute their daily/ details in our remarkable trick of happiness...to rise from the mulch/ of dreams like seedling teak goofy with life/ and floppy leaves."

Not all goblins are bad.But thanks to a mask that allows him to appear human, Ben isn't spending much time as a goblin anymore. Released from distrustful glances and prejudiced librarians, Ben luxuriates in his freedom, spending most of his time in the library, a place he can no longer go as a goblin.His newly peaceful life is soon broken, though, when an unknown goblin arrives in Saint Louis, causing a stir with the Green Watch. When Ben discovers the identity of the goblin, he's forced to make a decision: to give him a chance or to treat him with the same distrust that Ben was always shown.His friends' lives, and his own, hang in the balance.

Not all goblins are bad. Even so, Ben is not trusted in his new home of Saint Louis. The Green Watch is following him, humans make a wide path as he walks by, and he's not even allowed inside the city library. However, even though most of the city is wary of him, Ben's life among humans is a vast improvement over his old one. When he finds a book that may hold the secret to his abnormality, Ben will stop at nothing to get a look at it. With the help of two new friends, he soon discovers, however, that his search is hopeless. His only option is to travel out of the relative safety of his new home to a mysterious market known, among certain circles, for harboring rare and mystical goods. But what Ben finds is even more startling than he expected. The second in a series of short novels set in Saint Louis in the early 1900s and based on the 13th century Latin tale, The Benevolent Goblin.

Just Between Us is a celebration of the vivid human connections that occur when traveling through some of the world’s most stirring landscapes. David McElroy, a former pilot in the far north, transports us from the Arctic to the tropics, over rural and urban lands, and even into the landscape of dreams. Throughout his verse is a sense of longing and the desire for intimacy, showing that despite our diverse lives, we are all driven to share our existences with one another.

Not all goblins are bad. Ben is unlike any other goblin he's ever met. He was born different and because of that, he's spent his life as an outcast. So, he decides to try his luck in the city of Saint Louis, the nearby home of goblinkind's sworn enemy... humans. But will living with humans be any different or is Ben destined for a life of loneliness? The first in a series of short novels set in Saint Louis in the early 1900s and based on the 13th century Latin tale, The Benevolent Goblin.