Gary Numan interviewed by "Crack"
Gary Numan is a unique breed of electronic animal. Relentless in output and evolution of sound in a career now going into its 33rd year, to describe Numan as a tour de force of electronic music is not hyperbole. One of the most reassuring things about Crack’s conversation with Numan is that despite his position as an elder statesman of the electronic music community, he maintains a humble and honest approach to crafting music. With the ticking clock of age against him and his time as a musician, he has adopted an attitude which is stripped-down and unmuddied. Previous variables such as fashion, attitude and the self-consciousness of youth which can clutter the creative process inevitably wither with age, leaving Numan a carefree open book, able to express himself with a degree of nonchalance. The style and image conjured by Numan throughout his rise to prominence influenced countless 80s fashionistas, emanating a coldness and detachment that perfectly complimented the methodical nature of the synth arrangements employed on first two solo records, The Pleasure Principle (1979) and Telekon (1980). Numan became a pin-up for the era. However, it’s the man’s ability to remain varied and contemporary that has seen him leave many of his 80s electronic peers in the shade with a career has maneuvered with the decades. Dalliances in straight-up pop music, experimental electronica and hard rock spread across 18 albums have made Numan more than qualified to contextualise music in its broadest sense, but it’s the vigour and enthusiasm with which he does this that makes him such an endearing character. You get the impression that if Numan is ever to extinguish his creative fire, he will do so kicking and screaming, and based on latest offering, Dead Son Rising, it will be a significant loss. On this new album, smouldering industrial rock suggests a pairing off of influences with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who open cites Numan as a significant influence on his work. Dark machinery clatters and is married with brooding undertones that sees Numan return to his austere best. As opposed to his aloof creative persona, Numan in person is warm, welcoming and congenial, a fact kept under wraps by the degree of mysticism that has always run alongside his music.Ladies and gentleman: Mr Gary Numan.
So how did the new record come about?
"It actually started out as a load of out-takes that I’d put to bed for a while. I listened back to them and thought ‘blimey, these are quite good.’ So what started out as a load of filler material ended up being a brand new album. Because of that it’s much more varied. I’m actually writing a book, a science-fiction book which I’ve been working on for the last 10 years. Every day I write out little notes for it and try to develop the story. It’s become a never ending thing. I hope it’ll finally see the light of day at some point. But some of the ideas from that have bled into this record. There are also more conventional themes that have gone into it, such as the fact I had a massive falling out with a close friend of mine a while back, which unfortunately has got worse as time has gone on. Normally when I do an album I have a pretty clear idea where I want it to go, and all the songs musically and lyrically fit in that direction. But I think because of the way it came about and ambled along, being fitted together from these bit parts, it’s a little more varied than my normal record".
So has anyone else been involved?
"While I would say this record is still very much Gary Numan, it’s much more of collaboration. It’s the first properly collaborative album I’ve ever done. In my opinion, it should have gone out as a Gary Numan and Ade Fenton album, but he didn’t think that was a good idea, so it’s gone out as a Gary Numan album".
Was he quite happy to sit in the background and not take credit for anything?
"I’m certainly at pains to make it clear when I’m talking to people that it’s very much a collaboration, though it is true they are all my melodies, all my chord structures. The fact they have gone on from there with Ade showcases the fact they should be labeled as co-written; he’s done more than a producer should do".
So have the songs morphed and changed significantly from what you intended?
"Well, this was meant to be a bit of filler between my last album, Jagged, and the new album I was due to release next year, Splinter. There is a big gap, so the idea was to pop something out that wouldn’t take up too much of my time or interfere too much with what I was doing with Splinter. It’s strange, because when I came back to this music a year and a half later, it was exactly the same, Ade had done nothing to it. So I think it was a confidence thing. You get a bit down on something and your confidence plummets and everything you listen to sounds like shit. Then you hear it again a year and a half later in a different frame of mind and suddenly it sounds alright".
Is that to do with your personal situation at that particular time distorting the quality of music that had been produced?
"I don’t know really, because for quite a while now career-wise, things have been great. I have a much better relationship with the media than I had before. I have lots of people doing cover versions and sampling my stuff and talking about me. From a confidence point of view I should’ve been riding high. I can’t imagine what else it was though. It just doesn’t make any sense for me at all".
Over the years the regularity of your releases has remained ever consistent. You seem to be a workhorse. What keeps you going at such a pace?
"For me it was always a hobby that became something else. I was chatting to someone else the other day and they were saying that if they didn’t think they had an audience to play to they wouldn’t do it. I just couldn’t understand that. Surely you loving doing it, and having an audience should be the icing on the cake. From my point of view if I didn’t have an audience to play this stuff to, I’d still do it, because first and foremost I like it. The fact that I’m able to take the music out on tour and play it in front of people is the most amazing piece of luck. From an incentive point of view, or a desire point of view, getting motivated doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. I’ve really, really wanted to make records and record songs since I was 18 or 19. Your goals and ambitions just change".
So is making a new album a relatively pain-free process for you then?
"I actually find touring more enjoyable at the moment. I find the thought of being stuck in a room on my own for a month recording an album a little bit daunting".
You just finished a tour where you were performing your debut album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety, so are you looking forward to be touring the new album?
"I got into touring the retro album very begrudgingly. It wasn’t really top of my list of things I wanted to do. When I tour normally, I do very little older stuff, which causes a bit of friction between myself and the older fans who want to hear as much of the older stuff as possible. I don’t want to be tied down to doing a Greatest Hits set. It became a real issue for some fans, so I said how about if I do all the songs from one album so I can avoid diluting my conventional tour. It seemed that if I did that then some of the fans would get off my back. So I did one for my 50th birthday and my 30th anniversary of being in the music business. Then the 30th anniversary of The Pleasure Principle came along so I did that one. So I just try to pop these things in once in a while".
Do these tours afford you a bit of breathing space then?
"It’s a great compromise to keep the older fans happy. The Pleasure Principle thing got a bit out of hand and ended up going all round the world when it was only meant to be a handful of shows in the UK. I won’t be doing any of that for quite some time. It is very nice to be coming back and have something new out. We’re doing the September and December mini-tours to promote this and then in the new year Splinter is coming out which I’m really excited about. Then for the bulk of next year we are going to be primarily touring the world doing Splinter and Dead Son Rising. We’ll be doing that for the next couple of years I reckon".
So are those old album gigs made up of older people then?
"Not at all, the demographic is really split. One thing I didn’t realise is that a lot of the younger audience haven’t heard of this material before. It was 60-70% kids under-25 who know the album because it’s a big part of my history, but they haven’t ever heard any of the songs live. It’s also because people like Trent Reznor talk about it being a particularly large influence on them. So you’ve got people coming along who weren’t even born when the record was released. I thought it would be all about 55-year-old people reminiscing about their youth but it wasn’t like that at all, so I had to stand corrected there".
As you’ve got older do you still find yourself drawn to keeping abreast of modern music and modern fashions, or has this got less important to you as you’ve got older?
"It’s easier than it’s ever been, especially with the internet. If you follow fashion then it’s easy enough. You can just pick up a magazine and find out what the latest trends are. But to be honest, I actually don’t give a shit about fashion. Although I did fashion shoot for All Saints yesterday! (laughs) But in all seriousness, I really don’t care about that I look how I look. Keeping up with it all isn’t difficult, finding something you like really is. It’s always been like that. Take 1979 when I first started having success: look at the Top 40 then, and I only liked about two of the records in there. It’s exactly the same today. The chart in 1979 was full of utter shite. Very few things in the chart last for a long time and that’s what makes it such a scary business".
What is it about you that has meant you’ve been able to have such a good run, and sustained such success over an extended period of time? You’re quite a rare breed. How have you survived in such a credible way?
"I’ve always believed you’re only as good as your next album, and you can never have a career based on past glories. It’s obvious, but you always have to continue doing something new and something interesting. I’m not saying I’ve always done that, cause I’ve put out some pretty dodgy albums in my time. It is always my intention, however, to go into the studio and do something I’ve never done before, and come up with some sounds that no one has ever heard before. The reason I got into electronic music in the first place was because it seemed to have an unlimited potential for creating new sounds. I love guitar-based things, but they are inherently limiting to some degree. In electronic music we are lucky as there is always new technology so the potential is neverending. The thought of going in and repeating the same sounds used before seems pointless to me. I juts don’t get it. It’s like entering a Formula 1 race on your bicycle, it’s fucking pointless. I also just don’t get some people who have long careers that mellow and start doing ballads, and it gets bland and middle-of-the-road. You end up saying ‘what on earth happened to you?’ My music for the last 10 years has got heavier and heavier each album that I’ve made. I’m quite proud of that, and I think I still do enough interesting things to keep them coming back. There are probably people who sell more than I do, but that’s probably because they’ve done more ballads".
So who in the main is Gary Numan enjoying at the moment and musically, who has had the biggest influence on you over the years?
"I love Battles, with whom I recently did a single. I love them because I can’t place them. I love everything about what they do and it was great to work with them. Nine Inch Nails will always be a massive influence for me, as will Ultravox when I first started. Depeche Mode too are a huge part of my world and changed my way of looking at music".
