Gary Numan Interview

SYNTHPOP hero Gary Numan sprang to fame in 1979, fronting Tubeway Army. He went on to become one of the biggest stars of British electronic music, scoring No.1 singles with Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars, and chart-topping albums with Replicas and The Pleasure Principle.

Thirty years on his dystopian visions, icy vocals and memorable keyboard riffs still resonate. The 53-year-old father-of-three recently collaborated with US art rock group Battles and is about to release a new album, Dead Son Rising. Next month he’ll be performing in Leeds.

Your latest album is co-written and produced by Ade Fenton. What can people expect from it?

Dead Son Rising is a side project collaboration that started out as something quite different to the way it ended up. Initially it was a batch of songs that I didn’t use on the last two or three albums but still liked and so wanted to finish off and release. But, the end result has almost none of those original songs; in fact at least 95% of it is entirely new. With my conventional studio albums I have a clear aim from the outset, a clear direction that I want to follow and this gives those albums parameters that the songs have to fit into. I didn’t have that with Dead Son Rising and so it enabled me to be more varied and more experimental. I’m not saying it’s a better way to go about making albums; it’s just different to the way I usually do things. It is not the huge gathering of riffs and soaring choruses of my last three or four albums, although it has moments of that, but it is strange in places. Lyrically it covers a wider range of subjects than I usually look at and musically it’s definitely a step sideways.

How is the latest album different from Jagged?

My album Splinter will be the follow up to Jagged and I think the progression will be more obvious between those two. Dead Son Rising has given me the chance to move away a little from what I’ve been doing, but still want to do in the future I hasten to add. Jagged was, as will Splinter be, an album of huge grooves and choruses as epic as I can make them, with great chasms between the loud bits and the quiet bits, a very wide dynamic range. Dead Son Rising is more eerie, overall it has less in your face power but far more variation than Jagged.

Recently you received a MOJO inspiration award, how does that feel?

It feels fantastic and I was very proud to receive it and very grateful to Mojo for giving it to me this year. To get an award for being inspirational is pretty cool and not something I ever dreamed would happen when I started out. At the awards themselves I was in a room filled with some of the most legendary figures in music history so to get something that important in front of such a gathering made it all the more special.

What do you enjoy most about touring?

Being able to travel the world with my wife Gemma and a band that are among our closest friends is definitely the most enjoyable part of it for me. Added to that the shows are always fun and exciting, the people you meet are often cool and interesting and experiencing the different cultures is amazing. To be honest, there is no downside to touring, with the one notable exception of missing the children badly whenever I’m away.

You said when you stopped writing songs to please record companies and started writing them for the love of it they got better. Why do you think that is?

Because you write things that excite you, you write about things that you are passionate about. Record companies are not always interested in that, they just want you to write whatever they feel they can sell the most of. I sympathise with their needs but I don’t want to be a part of that thinking. 

How have you developed as a front man since you first started out?

Beyond all recognition; from a frightened kid, totally out of my depth who practiced every twitch of an eyebrow, to someone who has lived it for over 30 years and grown to love it more than anything. Everything that could possibly go wrong has done, and it’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be. That realisation brings a comfort and that comfort creates confidence and a belief that you know what you’re doing. I’m still learning though, still looking at other people and seeing where I can improve.

What are your thoughts on modern electronic genres like dubstep?

Some good, some not so good; I’ve heard a lot of dubstep that I really like, some that I thought was utter rubbish. Same can be said for much of electronic music these days. Some people seem to want to keep reinventing the late 70s and early 80s and I don’t get that at all. It’s been done quite well already so let’s keep trying to move forward.

Are there any up and coming writers / producers that you think are headed for big success in the future?

Ade Fenton is an obvious choice. I think he’s going to be one of the most important producers in the business. He’s a genius workaholic that’s easy to get on with, not at all precious about his ideas and incredibly creative. Plus he writes some seriously good stuff as well. And girls seem to find him good looking for some weird reason.

What was it like appearing on TV comedy show The Mighty Boosh?

Brilliant, I loved every minute of it. In fact I love my connection to The Mighty Boosh and I’m really quite proud of it. They are a very cool bunch of people to work with, very funny, very easy to be around. If they ever make a film I would love to be in it.

Many of your songs have been sampled by other artists, what are your views on the culture of sampling in music production?

Sampling can be used in two distinctly different ways. The first, which has benefitted me enormously, is when people take a bit of your song, large or small, and build a new song around it. That’s perfectly okay and I’ve been the happy recipient of many a royalty cheque based on that type of sampling. The other is when you use a sampler to create entirely new sounds. That’s the way I use it, and it’s an amazing tool for sound creation.

Do you think that because you have never really fitted into any trend in music it has helped you to have such a longstanding career?

Absolutely, I think it’s a key part of my longevity. As trends come in and fade out, as they all do eventually, many of the bands associated with that trend tend to fade with them. To be outside of all that can be quite scary at times, and is definitely a dangerous place to be for a career at times, but I believe it’s the only way to be if you truly want a long career.

What has helped to keep your inspiration alive throughout your career?

A constant desire to write better songs, to improve on the mistakes of previous albums, to search for the killer sound that no-one has ever heard before, and, apart from all that, I still have a genuine love and passion for it.

What’s the craziest thing a fan has ever done to get your attention?

One of them married me. That’ll do it.

From your extensive discography which is your favourite song and why?

So far, a song called A Prayer For The Unborn,. A remixed version of it by Andy Gray is my favourite. It first came out on an album called Pure about eleven years ago and we still play it live. My wife and I lost a baby during pregnancy many years ago and the song is my message to God. I don’t actually believe in God but, just in case I’m wrong and He is listening, I thought I should write down what an utter s*** He must be. 

Published in Yorkshire Evening Post