Interview: Gary Numan

Gary Numan was a huge pioneer of electronic music and his singles ‘Are Friends Electric’ and ‘Cars’ were huge hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

Steering electronic music away from Kraftweck-style experimentalism towards stronger pop structures and mainstream popularity, Numan paved the way for bands like Nine Inch Nails in fusing electronic sounds with the analogue to make brilliantly daring music. All the while he retained an extremely dark literary edge, influenced by his wider reading of classic sci-fi and literature. Instead of resting on his laurels, Numan pushed forward musically, creating progressively darker and less commercial albums.

I begin our interview by asking him what he thinks of contemporary electronic music. Although pleased by its popularity, Numan appears to have mixed opinions about some aspects of the scene. “It seems to have developed its own nostalgia. It was such a forward thinking genre in the first place”. As such, he finds the trend of newer artists using vintage equipment rather odd. “I remember that old gear and I couldn’t wait for something better to come along.”

On the subject of new and affordable technology, he is generally a fan. “If everyone can now afford quality equipment then you have the potential for more good music to come along”. It’s true; nowadays anyone has the time and money to create great music. However, Numan points out, great music is not always the case. “You may have to wade through a greater amount of rubbish to find it but that’s all part of the fun, part of the journey.” The musical landscape now is much bigger and wider ranging than the one Numan grew up in. When I ask him what current bands he is a fan of he recommends Officers, an electro band who, rather than copying Numan, take his ideas and develop them in a very modern way.

Our conversation moves on to influences and I ask Numan in what way literature, particularly sci-fi and the beatnik author William Burroughs, has had upon his music. “Sci-fi was a big part of it in the very early days, mainly on the first three albums made in 1978 and 1979. But it’s played very little part in the music since then. I do read constantly, though, so it’s true to say that I’m often influenced by the things I read.” Numan’s latest album Splinter was mainly drawn from his own personal experiences of the preceding four years. “I began to suffer with depression, which got worse until I was put on medication.”

I asked him what he feels about the state of Britain today compared to when he was young and if it is in any way affecting the quality of its music. “Unfortunately, I have no idea how the current state of Britain might be affecting the music being made. I would need to be a sensitive soul for that kind of observation and understanding and I am anything but that.” Recently having moved to LA, Numan seems to feel that he has lost his understanding for what the Britain of today is all about. “I was back there recently and it doesn’t feel at all like the place I grew up in. But, that was also part of the reason for leaving. It feels less and less like the England I knew as a child.”

On the subject of whether his dark music is the reflection of a tortured inner soul, he is pretty open. “I’m plagued by worries to be honest. I seem to be born to worry but, having said that, I do consider myself a happy man. I will never write a song like ‘Shiny Happy People’, for example. But, the music does not leave you with a down experience. Rather, like a good horror film or thriller it leaves you excited and entertained despite the somewhat heavy nature of the content. Splinter certainly reflects a different man than the one I was in 1979, and a man with some serious problems sadly. Luckily that’s all behind me now and I seem to have come through it stronger than ever.”

I ask him if he feels there’s any truth in the line by Sick Boy from Trainspotting: “Well, at one time, you’ve got it, and then you lose it, and it’s gone forever: all walks of life; George Best, for example, had it, lost it; David Bowie; Lou Reed …”

“They bland out into mediocrity and don’t seem to either notice or care. It does seem as if they just run out of ideas but keep going anyway.” Numan ambitiously hopes he shall not give in to the same temptations. “It’s rather annoying to see people widely touted as ‘legendary’ doing nothing ‘legendary’ at all, but just drifting blandly through the latter stages of their careers, a pale shadow of the glory they once were. I’m positive that will never happen to me.” He takes pride in the fact that in his own career he has strongly resisted this general tendency to devolve into mediocrity: “My music has been getting progressively heavier and less commercial, less middle of the road, for the last twenty years, and I wasn’t exactly middle of the road to start with.”

In short, Gary Numan is something of an oddity in 2013. An old legend in a futuristic forward looking genre, whose bleak, experimental sci-fi inspired songs bring a sense of nostalgia for a time thirty years ago; whose current output pushes forward a genre that increasingly looks backwards for inspiration and material. He’s managed to influence a generation of musicians and create a large, ever-changing body of work that stands by itself, filled with both maturity and sophistication and a keen eye for musicality. Numan seems unique and conflicted in many ways, and will hopefully remain a fixture on the UK music scene for quite some time.