Tag: Gary Numan (Page 18 of 20)

GARY NUMAN Back Stage – A Book Of Reflections

24 March 2012 /

Featuring Interviews with RRussell Bell, Chris Payne and Tim Dry

Lifelong Numan fan Stephen Roper has devoted the last three years to compiling ‘Back Stage – A Book Of Reflections’. The book focuses on the years 1979 – 81, when Gary Numan was at the peak of his fame and commercial success. It features first-hand accounts of those who were closest to him at the time including band members, record company executives and friends such as John Foxx, THE SKIDS and DEVO plus support acts OMD, SIMPLE MINDS and NASH THE SLASH. The foreword is provided by Numan himself while he also contributes a chapter. The result is a fascinating and often humorous insight into the eye of the storm, during which Numan was making headlines and topping the charts worldwide.

Numan’s rapid ascent to stardom took him by surprise as much as anyone else, and by his own admission he wasn’t fully prepared for the consequences. As former band member Chris Payne recollects, while ‘Are Friends Electric?’ was still at No1 and the media frenzy was in full force, Gary invited Chris to come on holiday… to a caravan in Weymouth! Chris agreed to go because “it sounded like a bit of a laugh”, but inevitably they were mobbed by fans and the press, and ended up cutting the holiday short.

During this three year period Numan toured extensively, both in the UK and worldwide. The Numan tours were famous for their jaw-dropping stage sets, culminating in the spectacular farewell shows at Wembley in 1981. As sound engineer Alan Morrison says in the book, “Gary needed at least three forty foot lorries to get his point across… but what an emphatic way to do it!”

Also included are the original tour itineraries (all produced on a manual typewriter) and sketches of stage sets, together with handwritten estimates for the productions. It is this level of detail and authenticity that makes Back Stage a compelling read for anyone with an interest in Numan’s glory years.

The ‘Back Stage’ launch party took place on a Saturday night in Westminster, and brought together several of the book’s key contributors including Chris Payne and RRussell Bell from the Numan band and latterly of DRAMATIS, Tim Dry of SHOCK / TIK & TOK, Steve Webbon from Beggars Banquet and of course Stephen Roper himself.  There was a packed house of Numan fans all keen to meet these key figures and have their books signed.

All of the book’s contributors gave their time generously, signing books and chatting freely to guests. With a soundtrack of Synth Britannia classics playing, there really was a party atmosphere! The only poignant note of the evening was the absence of Ced Sharpley, the legendary drummer from the Numan band who was sadly taken ill just days before the event. Many guests wrote personal messages on a drum skin to be presented to Ced, in the hope that he would make a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, Ced’s bandmates RRussell Bell and Chris Payne took the opportunity to make a very special announcement – that DRAMATIS have reformed and that, after a gap of over 30 years, their second album is imminent. This news should delight fans who still enjoy their first album ‘For Future Reference’. What will that creative partnership come up with? Watch this space!

‘Back Stage’ is a remarkable achievement and Stephen Roper should be commended, not only for tracking down the key characters involved, but for collating their contributions into a beautifully presented book that will delight many a Numan fan. Stephen’s enthusiasm for the project showed through at the launch party, as did the positive energy and goodwill of all involved.

Chris Payne and RRussell Bell kindly spared some time to talk about the Numan years, DRAMATIS and that big announcement…

RRussell, you were the last to join the band. So did the others put you through any initiations on ‘The Touring Principle’?

RRussell: No, I saw them on Old Grey Whistle Test and thought “what a brilliant band!” but I thought “that guitarist don’t look much”. I heard on the grapvine they needed one so I phoned up Beggars Banquet to see if they wanted another guitarist… but they said they knew nothing about it! Then I saw an advert in Melody Maker and I went along for the audition, there were four or five blokes there…in fact, Chris auditioned me although he says in the book that I was the only one to turn up! *laughs*

Chris: I’d like to jump in here…obviously, it was a bit of a joke but the reality is that there were twenty guitarists auditioned over a two day period and RRussell was by far the most interesting, innovative and outstanding. That’s what should have been in the book! *laughs*

RRussell: That’s what we like to hear! The first thing I did was this TV in Holland, we were staying in a ‘Boatel’. We got taken out by the record company and we were heading back in about five cars. I’d just nicked this big plastic lobster from the restaurant and got in this car with this Dutch bloke. After about a hundred yards, we crashed into a parked car! I’d smashed my face on the windscreen and was virtually unconscious when this guy shouted “QUICK, GET OUT! RUN!” because if you get caught for drunk driving in Holland, it’s mandatory prison for a week! So I jumped out and I’m running down the street with a lobster in my hand! From thence on, we used to nicked lobsters from everywhere…I’ve got a big collection of plastic lobsters! *laughs*

Chris: That was just a bit of fun! They were really good and had some great songs. But I just had this thing in my head that there’s a tape recorder there in place of musicians… that’s just Chris Payne being his altruistic self!

So I put the brake on it at the last show at Hammersmith Odeon. Andy McCluskey would come out and say “I’m Andy, this is Paul and this is Winston”…

RRussell: …me, Chris and Gary were behind the curtain tossing pennies at them and they went to turn the tape recorder on but because we’d put the brake on, nothing happened!

Chris: We were just p*ssing ourselves! At the end of a tour, there are always comedy moments… OMD were a really good support band, the best support act you could have got for the time actually! Fantastic!

RRussell: SIMPLE MINDS weren’t bad…

Chris: …yes, but that was later in Europe. They were phenomenal, one of the few bands to tour with us because we had people like NASH THE SLASH, HOHOKAM who were solo or two guys. Who else did we have? Oh yes, SHOCK!

Legend has it that Gary Numan only booked SHOCK for the Wembley shows because he fancied one of the girls… who was it?

Chris: Probably all three!!

RRussell: It was Carole Caplin funnily enough! To be honest, there was a line of people who fancied Carole… she was so fit! *laughs*

Ah, she wore that gold cone bikini during ‘Trois Gymnopedies’…

Chris: …she got on really well with my sister! *laughs*

RRussell: I don’t like the way this is going! *laughs*

RRussell, you got quite adept at multi-tasking with guitars, violin, synths, tambourine, electronic percussion…

RRussell: …bass pedals, saxophone! I could play violin already and I was ok on keyboards but sax, I had to learn and did a crash course. I can only play about four things on it! I had to do Mick Karn’s solo on ‘She’s Got Claws’ at Wembley… to this day, that’s about the only thing I can remember how to play. Funnily enough, I got booked to do a session with this jazz band and I walked in with my guitar, but they said they wanted me to play sax! Thankfully, it was a short little bit but I had to phone a mate who played sax to ask him how to play F# as I’d not done that before!

When you did ‘She’s Got Claws’ on that final night at Wembley (and it’s immortalised on the ‘Micromusic’ DVD and ‘Living Ornaments 81’ CD), you all got out of synch with the backing track…

RRussell: That can happen…

Chris: …you’ll probably find that the backing track got out of synch with me!! *laughs*

RRussell: Basically, if you can’t hear the sequencer part… one of the problems at Wembley was there was a massive bounce back from the wall and it was an awkward delay. As you walked away from your monitor, you’re hearing almost half a second delay so you get slower and slower. But at the end of the day, we followed Ced cos he had cans usually.

Chris: You’ve got to bear in mind that monitors were absolutely crucial for the configuration, these days you have ear pieces but then, you were playing a wide stage…

RRussell: …it was 80 feet wide!

Chris: And I was completely cocooned from the other keyboard player and I couldn’t see the drummer or anything! So you were totally reliant on the monitor and if that went down, you were totally stung!

You mentioned Ced Sharpley who is very much in our thoughts…

RRussell: …yes, the three of us were so tight. We were best mates for ten years, really close.

Chris: And we were the mainstay of DRAMATIS…

RRussell: …we were DRAMATIS!!! *laughs*

I understand you have an announcement?

RRussell: Yes, DRAMATIS is back together and releasing the second album, we’ve recorded most of it including tracks that we played live in 1982… ‘Sand & Stone’, ‘Every Night & Day’. The rest of it is new. It’s sounding really good.

Chris: This could be a Guinness Book of Records, the longest time taken for a second album release ever! 31 years!

Ced’s got this status of a legendary drummer who’s influenced the Hip-Hop community, did you see that coming back in the day?

RRussell: If we had, we’d have done it ourselves! *laughs*

Chris: Well, it doesn’t surprise because he’s a great percussionist and brought that to his drumming.

A lot of GARY NUMAN’s stuff was kind of mechanical, it had to be for the nature of the music but Ced brought that extra little thing because of the way he drums. He wouldn’t just play very KRAFTWERK type rhythms, he’d add something to the pieces.

When you were touring America, were you aware that the urban street kids were getting into GARY NUMAN?

Chris: Not at all…

RRussell: …not at that time. I remember Gary’s dad Tony came up to me and told me AFRIKA BAMBAATAA got in touch and wanted to do a collaboration with Gary and I said “BRILLIANT” and Tony said “who is he?”. I said “Tell Gary to do it” and Tony went “NAH!” *laughs*

Chris: How cool would that have been?

RRussell: It happened much later, but not then!

Were there any ‘Spinal Tap’ moments like getting lost trying to find your position on the massive stage sets or the crew playing practical jokes?

RRussell: There was one classic where the production was being built to Gary’s specs and there was supposed to be this square cage that came with him in from a truss…

But they done it in metres instead of feet so it was like the size of a shark cage! He went “I can get the whole f***ing band in this!” It was supposed to be two feet square, not two metres!

So it’s the opposite of ‘Stonehenge’?

RRussell: YES! EXACTLY! *laughs*

Chris: There was also things like you’d play Glasgow Barrowlands which had this roller skating rink and the stage was configured in such a way that you couldn’t get everything in. So me and the other keyboard player were hidden and all you could see was the top of my head!

RRussell: I had a platform and to get on it, I had to climb up a ladder and then crawl through this hole to get on stage… it was like potholing!

Chris: On ‘The Fury’ tour, we all came out in dry ice and this thing rose up and we all came on stage. Gary went “GO! GO!” and we were just covered in dry ice and I walked straight into a pole and smashed my head! I was totally disorientated, walked to wrong set of keyboards and for the first couple of numbers, I could barely play!

RRussell: We used to do this dance like THE SHADOWS on the last track of one shows and one of the crew taped my ankles together… and one of the crew, Archie came on stage in New Zealand with a tray of drinks completely naked!

The Teletour had those steep ramps? Did you ever go a*se over tit?

RRussell: Yeah, we used the same ramps at Wembley and we had diving boots on just to get some grip… but you had to take a run at it!

I usually used a radio pack but at this Wembley show, I was using a lead on my guitar so I came running down the ramp for this big guitar solo; Brian May and Jimmy Page were in the audience, and my roadie had put a short lead in the bloody guitar and it pulled out… I was looking round as if to say “can you plug me in again?” and he was sat there reading! *laughs*

You used to do this funny dance during ‘M.E.’

RRussell: I signed up as a guitarist and having to do all this other stuff… it wasn’t a dance, I was trying to destroy those bloody pie-tins! I had four Synare3 syndrums and used to break all of Ced’s drumsticks on them! I thought “If I break them, I won’t have to play them and they can put it on a sequence”… so I used to hit them as hard as I possibly could! It was hate really, pure emotion! God, they’re bloody tough things, they’re still working now I think! I thought I could either tap them and look like a w*nker or thrash the s*it out of them!

What keyboards were you using and how were you finding setting the sounds up, especially when the lights went down?

Chris: It was a nightmare, I think on one tour I had over eighteen keyboards, some were never used as they were back-ups… two Polymoogs, two Minimoogs, an ARP Odyssey…

RRussell: …I was the guitarist and I had five synths!! I had a Polymoog, two Minimoogs, Moog Taurus pedals, Synares and a Roland guitar synth!

Chris: Everything could breakdown, they’d go out of tune…

Was there any particular device that you never looked forward to playing?

Chris: A bit later on, the Prophet5… nightmare!

RRussell: I had this thing called The Clap!! It made a sound like a bunch of people clapping and it had a foot pedal… I thought if I just stand there, everyone will think I look bored so I picked the pedal up and ‘clapped’ it…I hated that! *laughs*

Now for a trip down memory lane, we have the 1981 Gary Numan Yearbook! You’re all pin-ups here… RRussell, you look like the fifth member of KRAFTWERK. Can you remember what your ambition was?

RRussell: Yes, to play the first gig on the moon! What a memory eh?

Are you still working on that one?

RRussell: Yes, but it’s not going great! *laughs*

Can you remember who was your favourite female singer?

RRussell: In those days… Kate Bush? LeneLovich? Julie London? Ah, Pat Benatar!

Yes, Pat Benatar…

RRussell: …she was quite hot as well!

Chris, can you remember who your favourite singer was at that time was?

Chris: Kate Bush?

No, it was Marie Osmond!!! *everyone laughs*

Chris: I think I might have been making that one up!

RRussell: Nothing he says in this ‘Back Stage’ book is reliable, you’ve seen what he’s like! I rest my case! *laughs*

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK also chatted to Tim Dry aka Tik, one half of TIK & TOK but also, a member of New Romantic dance troupe SHOCK who supported Gary Numan at the three farewell Wembley shows. He subsequently worked with him on the ‘Warriors’ tour and two tracks for TIK & TOK’s debut album ‘Intolerance’…

How did you get invited by Gary Numan to do the Wembley Shows?

Tim: SHOCK did a show at The Embassy Club in London and there’s Gary Numan, standing there on his own clutching a can of coke so we went up to say “Hi”. He said “I really love your show, I’ve got these gigs at Wembley, would you be my support act?” and we thought “Yeah! Right!”. But he was serious so we went down to Shepperton Studios to rehearse and that was the first time I actually felt the power of the music. It was monumentally loud.

One funny story was that Gary came along to see us later at this tiny gig in a horrible club out of town, somewhere going north. He’s watching us unrecognised doing our show. So we’re all in the dressing room afterwards and he’s sitting there with us when this fan bursts in and goes “HEY! I’ve heard GARY NUMAN’s in here” and he pans round the room, passes Gary and says to me “Are you Gary Numan?”, I said “no” so he walked off!

How was it at Wembley?

Tim: We’d come back from New York performing to maybe three hundred people in a club which was in your face. But coming out on stage in the blackout with the dry ice going and we started doing this weird movement, you couldn’t see the audience. It’s only later on in the show when the lights come up that bloody hell, there’s all these thousands of people! We did a forty minute set and the deal was that the three girls in SHOCK would do ‘Trois Gymnopedies’ when Gary went off to change his cossie while Sean and I would do our robotic thing to one of his numbers. But we came out on the wrong number cos we were so nervous! We said sorry to Gary but he said “Brilliant, do the same tomorrow night”.

You supported him on the’ Warriors’ tour as TIK & TOK…

Tim: Normally a major star support act gets short shrift… the audience normally go to the bar but for us, they were there. It was several weeks on the road and we always used to help his mum with her cases, she was such a sweetheart making sure we ate properly.

How do you look back on working with Gary Numan?

Tim: Gary is the most open, self effacing guy I’ve ever met. After the tour, we were making an album and asked Gary if he would play on a track called ‘Show Me Something Real’. He came to our studio with a Polymoog and Prophet5, plays these synth lines in one take, goes into the booth to do a backing vocal and then he’s off.

And then he said: “I’ve got this song ‘A Child With The Ghost’, would you like to record it?”… he’s giving us one of his songs to record!! So we did it. It was quite difficult for me to sing because Gary has a very kind of strange inflection timing wise but I managed to get it right and we had this girl Tessa Niles sing backing vocals who then went off to work with Gary as well. I remember thinking this was a profoundly beautiful song he written for Paul Gardiner. How generous is that? Not pretentious in any way, shape or form.

Dedicated to the memory of Ced Sharpley 1952 – 2012

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to RRussell Bell, Chris Payne, Tim Dry and Stephen Roper.

Additional thanks to Kit Vaughan and Amanda Roper

‘Back Stage – A Book Of Reflections’ is available now as an expanded download book from https://back-stage.dpdcart.com/cart/view#/

Chris Payne’s solo CD ‘Between Betjeman, Bach & Numan’ which features classically influenced reworkings of ‘Down In The Park’ and ‘Fade To Grey’ is released by Coverdrive Records on 23rd April 2012

http://garynuman.com/

Text by Steve Gray
Interviews by Chi Ming Lai and Steve Gray
Launch Party photos by Richard Price
Archive photos courtesy of Melvin Hurd, RRussell Bell, Nick Robson and Stephen Roper
24th March 2012, updated 16th JUne 2023

2011 END OF YEAR REVIEW

30 December 2011 /

The Year Of Capacitors

It was a year which saw classic and new stand side-by-side as comrades in arms for the synthesizer. In possibly the event of the year, April’s ‘Back To The Phuture ­- Tomorrow Is Today’ at London’s Troxy saw godfathers Gary Numan and John Foxx supported by the best new UK synthpop act for many years, MIRRORS.

The Brighton quartet reappeared in the summer over on the South Bank when the Vintage Festival Electronic Phuture Revue gave us a celebration of synthpop cool with performances by ONETWO, RECOIL, HEAVEN 17 and Thomas Dolby. Speaking of the latter, they premiered ‘The Luxury Gap’ at The Roundhouse in 3D sound no less while their production alter-ego BEF presented ‘Music Of Quality & Distinction Live’.

Meanwhile, Mute Records celebrated their influential legacy with a weekender also at London’s Roundhouse featuring ERASURE, YAZOO and THE ASSEMBLY in the same set, plus acts such as RECOIL, NITZER EBB and LAIBACH. With an electro documentary weekend before Easter on the Sky Arts TV channel featuring Gary Numan, DURAN DURAN, NEW ORDER, Jean-Michel Jarre and the late Rorbert Moog electronic music’s cultural legacy was being recognised the world over.

Indeed, Gary Numan’s Inspiration Award from Mojo magazine finally acknowledged those trailblazing Synth Britannia years. There were complaints by one well-known blog however about wrinkly electropop but without these pioneers who changed music, where would we be today? As KRAFTWERK’s Ralf Hütter said: “From all over the world comes inspiration. We have been very lucky, because the music we envisioned, the ideas we had of The Man Machine and electro music, have become reality and technology has developed in our direction and electro is everywhere”.

Shouldn’t the imperial phase of Synth Britannia and its earlier Germanic influence therefore be celebrated in the way that senior blues musicians have been revered within the world of rock ‘n’ roll? Missing from the Mute evening’s proceedings as a collective were DEPECHE MODE who gave the world a U2 cover and a second instalment of their remix collection as part of their year’s work.

One rework that provoked enormous debate was Alan Wilder’s improved rework of 2009’s ‘In Chains’ which added speculation as to whether he would be rejoining the band. Certainly, it would induce some much needed creative tension that has mostly been missing from DEPECHE MODE since the start of the noughties.

But one act truly excelling in the darker side of electronic based music was IAMX who continued to conquer Europe while remaining largely ignored in the UK. Martin Gore could seriously learn from Chris Corner about how to make melodic, accessible music that doesn’t compromise artistically and retains a gritty edge. Meanwhile, Gore rekindled a working relationship with Vince Clarke on a techno project under the banner of VCMG.

Monday 21st March was an interesting day as it saw the release of albums by DURAN DURAN, THE HUMAN LEAGUE and John Foxx. As concert celberity Mr Normall amusingly recalled in his Facebook status “this is 2011, not 1981”! At least two of those albums were the best and most immediate bodies of work from those artists for many years. The bar has certainly been raised for acts such as ULTRAVOX and VISAGE who both announced forthcoming new albums. BLANCMANGE made their welcome return with Neil Arthur’s sense of humour as sharp as ever but sadly, he was unable to be joined for the live shows by his bandmate Stephen Luscombe due to illness. One hopes Stephen is making a good recovery.

MIRRORS showed their promise and delivered the superbly seamless long player ‘Lights & Offerings’. While the band themselves admitted it may have been a touch derivative, it was enjoyed by a small but loyal fanbase who embraced their whole intelligent pop noir aesthetic. However, just as they were about to make a breakthrough, a second high profile tour supporting OMD in Germany was cancelled along with an appearance at Bestival.

Then founder member Ally Young announced he was leaving the group. The situation has been likened by some observers to when Vince Clarke left DEPECHE MODE. Of course, the end result of that was both parties mutated into highly successful acts and ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is hopeful something similar may occur here. Certainly an excellent new darker tune called ‘Dust’ from the remaining trio indicates MIRRORS are not finished yet!

The similarly smartly attired HURTS continued their domination of Europe and while not as adored in the UK, they still did the business touring wise with sell-out shows at Somerset House and Brixton Academy with Kylie Minogue making a surprise guest appearance at the latter.

Of the ladies, Beth Ditto went superbly electronic with her debut solo EP while Claudia Brücken went jazz for the soundtrack of ‘LA Noire’, but not before celebrating the electronic part of her career with a fine retrospective Combined and a fantastic show at The Scala which saw a three quarters reunion of PROPAGANDA plus special guests ANDY BELL and HEAVEN 17.

Another acclaimed German chanteuse Billie Ray Martin returned with her new project THE OPIATES and an album ‘Hollywood Under The Knife’ while LADYTRON released a definitive Best Of ’00-10′ and a new album ‘Gravity The Seducer’. The latter was a glorious, lush masterpiece of aural subtlety which was not universally embraced by their fanbase but is likely to become a cult favourite in the future.

Meanwhile, the spectre of FEVER RAY’s Karin Drejer-Andersson lurked, both musically and politically, within several darker female fronted combos such as AUSTRA, THE HORN THE HUNT and GAZELLE TWIN. The brooding unsettlement of this Hauntronica (or witch house as it was sometimes referred) won favour with some while John Foxx named GAZELLE TWIN’s ‘The Entire City’ as his album of the year. However, this fairly uncompromising strain of electro wasn’t for everyone although it was definitely more preferable to dubstep, the trendy new dance form that even the usually club friendly Chris Lowe of PET SHOP BOYS was having trouble embracing!

But Nordic influences weren’t just about tonal gloom and witchery. Greek maidens MARSHEAUX adopted some FEVER RAY styled percussive moods on their only song of the year ‘Can You Stop Me?’ but remained synthpop while American duo NIGHTLIFE borrowed Sally Shapiro’s sweeter template.

Over at The Finland Station, producer Jori Hulkkonen’s PROCESSORY project delivered an 18 track electronic Sci-Fi concept album entitled ‘Change Is Gradual’. TIGER BABY from Denmark returned with the dreamy single ‘Landscapes’ while from Sweden, both THE GIRL & THE ROBOT and Emmon delivered enjoyable new material. There was also the mysteriously kooky IAMAMIWHOAMI but best of all from the region were THE SOUND OF ARROWS with the cinematic crystalline pop of their debut album ‘Voyage’.

At the pure pop end of the spectrum, Lady Gaga plotted her next move into world domination with new album ‘Born This Way’. With religious lyrical imagery were very much in evidence throughout, this was her ‘Like A Prayer’ with a Eurocentric sound being very much the dominant factor in the music. With her ear firmly on the inventive UK music scene, GOLDFRAPP, HURTS and MIRRORS were commissioned to deliver remixes of ‘Judas’.

LITTLE BOOTS returned with a bouncy house number called ‘Shake’ while SUNDAY GIRL had her album delayed again and didn’t appear to know whether she wanted to be a singer or a fashion designer. Her pop thunder has now potentially been stolen by the similar raspy timbres of Lana Del Rey whose pair of remixes by NIKONN became favourites with many electro enthusiasts. Embracing couture but with her head fully focussed on the music, QUEEN OF HEARTS brought some intelligent sparkle to electropop. With mentions in The Guardian and The Times, her superb EP ‘The Arrival’ realised the potential that was apparent in her earlier girl group days.

Several acts introduced by ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK in 2010 gained prestigious supports slots as a sign of their steady progress. SHH were billed with former BLACK BOX RECORDER vocalist Sarah Nixey whileTHE VANITY CLAUSE opened for a solo Andy Bell performance and Electro Weimar songstress Katja von Kassel did the same at two of ERASURE’s shows in Germany.

VILLA NAH were due to play the biggest gig of their career with DURAN DURAN but Simon Le Bon’s illness, which also caused the postponement of the entire UK tour in May, unfortunately put paid to that. So it could be said that “Synthpop’s Alive” and this was exemplified by Essen based American act MAISON VAGUE who gave the world probably the best wholly independent release of the year.

Clark Stiefel’s wonderful cross of Gary Numan and DEVO was the work of a man brought up in the avant-classical world with hands-on experience of vintage Moog and Buchla modulars. Using the concept of “living in a dream since 1983”, despite the vintage influences, it was electronic music as imagined by the eccentricity of Oscar Wilde crossed with the thoughtful demeanour of late classical composer Franz Liszt.

Over the year, American based electronic acts were starting to come to the fore with XENO & OAKLANDER, SOFT METALS, HIGH PLACES, THE MYSTIC UNDERGROUND and Tara Busch all gaining notable acclaim.

A question that has to be asked though is whether there is too much synth based music at the moment? Interestingly, Thomas Dolby and Sarah Nixey moved away from the electronic world and released new albums that had a more personal, organic quality. Some observers were complaining about “synthpop by numbers” and “Synth Britannia throwbacks”, but as OMD’s Andy McCluskey once said on that very programme, if there was a magic button for a hit single, he’d have pressed it more times than anyone else.

While improvements in technology have made it much easier for the public at large to make music and interesting noises, not everyone has the ability to write proper songs. Not only that but the iPod/notebook generation have been listening to compressed mp3s on tinny speakers for such a long time now that they have no grasp of dynamics. This has hampered many new acts who have taken to doing everything themselves and as a result, produced some average pieces of work.

There is nothing like a second opinion and creative tension to help a new piece of music along. And it is this willingness to understand the cores of songwriting, production and arrangement that ultimately separates the good from the bad, and ultimately the outstanding from the good.

ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK Contributor Listings of 2011

MIKE COOPER

Best album: MUERAN HUMANOS Mueran Humanos
Best Song: VELVET CONDOM Rouge City
Best Gig: KRAFTWERK at Die Alte Kongresshalle, Munich
Best Video: LADYTRON Mirage
Most Promising New Act: MUERAN HUMANOS

STEVE GRAY

Best album: GARY NUMAN Dead Son Rising
Best Song: TENEK What Do You Want?
Best Gig: Back To The Phuture – Tomorrow Is Today at The Troxy, London
Best Video: DURAN DURAN Girl Panic!
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

CHI MING LAI

Best album: MIRRORS Lights & Offerings
Best Song: VILE ELECTRODES My Sanctuary
Best Gig: Back To The Phuture -Tomorrow Is Today at The Troxy, London
Best Video: TIGER BABY Landscapes
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

NIX LOWREY

Best Album: SANDWELL DISTRICT Feed Forward
Best Song: JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Summerland
Best Gig: KRAFTWERK at Die Alte Kongresshalle, Munich
Best Video: LADYTRON Mirage
Most Promising New Act: MUERAN HUMANOS

RICHARD PRICE

Best album: MIRRORS Lights & Offerings
Best Song: JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Shatterproof
Best Gig: HEAVEN17/BEF Weekender at The Roundhouse
Best Video: QUEEN OF HEARTS Shoot The Bullet
Most Promising New Act: QUEEN OF HEARTS

JOHAN WEJEDAL

Best album: AUSTRA Feel It Break
Best song: MIRRORS Into The Heart (Greek Girls Are Not Easy extended remix)
Best gig: AUSTRA at Stockholm Debaser Medis
Best video: EMMON Ghost Dance
Most promising new act: LOUISE (ex-THERMOSTATIC)

Text by Chi Ming Lai
31st December 2010

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2011

21 December 2011 /

So what did ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK think was hot back in 2011?

It featured a day in March when THE HUMAN LEAGUE, DURAN DURAN and John Foxx all released new albums, while VILE ELECTRODES launched their debut EP. In a year when the synth pioneers were finally recognised for their valuable contribution to popular culture, here are our 30 favourite songs of 2011 presented in alphabetical order by artist…

AUSTRA Spellwork

Canadian trio AUSTRA deliver a stark, baroque form of electronica fuelled by sexual tension. Like a gothic opera which successfully blends light and darkness with fragility and power, Katie Stelmanis and friends borrow the tones of classic DEPECHE MODE and cross it with THE KNIFE for this, their most accessibly brilliant synthpop offering from their debut album. The B-side ‘Indentity’ is a worthy listen too.

Available on the CD ‘Feel It Break’ via Domino/Paper Bag Records

http://www.austramusic.com

TARA BUSCH Rocket Wife

Fresh from opening for John Foxx, Tara Busch released a charity EP for The Bob Moog Foundation. If you’ve ever wanted to hear that bizarre sonic other worldiness of GOLDFRAPP’s first album ‘Felt Mountain’ again, it’s right here on ‘Rocket Wife’. With hints of the eerie classic Star Trek theme, this is really does sound like THE CARPENTERS in outer space! Calling occupants of interplanetary craft, across the universe…

Available on the download EP ‘Rocket Wife’ via The Bob Moog Foundation

http://tarabusch.com/

DAYBEHAVIOR It’s A Game (MARSHEAUX Remix)

With wonderful riffs and an uplifting chorus, this is delicious electronic pop from the cult Swedish trio of Paulinda Crescentini, Tommy Arell and Carl Hammar. Remixed by Athens synth maidens MARSHEAUX, this has the best of both worlds and could easily be mistaken for Sophie and Marianthi. However, PaulindaCrescentini’s Italo Nordic charm gives ‘It’s A Game’ a wonderfully distinct and alluring Mediterranean flavour.

Available on the download EP ‘It’’s A Game’ via Graplur Records

http://www.daybehavior.com

BETH DITTO Do You Need Someone?

BETH DITTO would probably be the Alison Moyet of modern electro if she didn’t prefer the funky punk of her band GOSSIP. ‘Do You Need Someone?’ sees Ms Ditto’s powerful and passionate yearning adding soul to the sparkling electronic dance groove. With production from SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, KRAFTWERK’s ‘Computer World’ tones towards the song’s coda are a marvellous touch. A future career as an alternative disco diva beckons.

Available on the CD EP ‘Beth Ditto’ via Deconstruction Records/Sony Music

http://www.gossipyouth.com

http://www.simianmobiledisco.co.ukk

THOMAS DOLBY Spice Train

While Dolby’s album return was largely organic with hints of bluegrass and Americana, its token synthpop offering was the wonderful ‘Spice Train’. Over its hypnotic, squelchy sequence and mechanised dance beat, it gets strangely humanised by a Mariachi horn section. With the kitchen sink and a host of exotic influences thrown in via Bollywood and the Middle East, ‘Spice Train’ does exactly what it says on the tin.

Available on the CD ‘A Map Of The Floating City’ via Lost Toy People.

http://www.thomasdolby.com

DURAN DURAN Being Followed

‘All You Need Is Now’ saw DURAN DURAN cyclically return to the funk-led syncopated pop of their first two albums. ‘Being Followed’ is a superb sequencer assisted disco number with a tingling metallic edge, touches of THE CURE’s ‘A Forest’ and Nick Rhodes’ vintage string machine capture the tension of post 9/11 paranoia. Simon Le Bon gives it his all and while he is technically one of the most chronic singers of his generation, he is unique AND untouchable…

Available on the CD ‘All You Need Is Now’ via Tape Modern

www.duranduran.com

LANA DEL REY Blue Jeans (NIKONN remix)

NIKONN’s brand new album ‘Instamatic’ is suitably Mediterranean so add that instrumentation to the voice of raspy New Yorker Lana Del Rey and the end result is a glorious sun-kissed dancefloor moment. Somehow, you end up feeling much happier after dancing to, what is essentially in its original form, a quite stark, heartfelt minor key ballad. Now officially sanctioned, the remix brought the former Lizzie Grant to an electronic pop audience.

Originally issued as a free download but currently unavailable.

http://www.lanadelrey.com

SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR Synchronised

From her under rated album ‘Make A Scene’ which includes contributions from Richard X and Armand Van Buuren, the appropriately titled Synchronised is a synthpop tune with a distinct YAZOO flavour to it. All highly appropriate as she supported ERASURE during their forests tour this year. This superbly cements her electro kinship which has been apparent since ‘China Heart’ from her ‘Tripping The Light Fantastic’ in 2007.

Available on the CD ‘Make A Scene’ via Douglas Valentine Limited

www.sophieellisbextor.net

JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Watching A Building On Fire

The best track on the ‘Interplay’ album is a co-written duet with Mira Aroyo of LADYTRON. ‘Watching A Building On Fire’, with its chattering drum machine and accessible Trans- European melodies, oozes a synthetic smokiness. Aroyo’s counterpoint is almost playfully feline although Foxx’s inherent dystopianism gives it his stamp, making this a second cousin of ‘Burning Car’. The Andy Gray remix is also a worthy acquisition.

Available on the CD ‘Interplay’ via Metamatic Records

http://blog.johnfoxxandthemaths.com/

www.metamatic.com

GAZELLE TWIN The Eternal

JOY DIVISION’s original on ‘Closer’ was one of the most fragile, funereal collages of beauty ever committed to vinyl but Elizabeth Walling has covered this cult classic and made it even more haunting! Replacing the piano motif with eerily chilling synth and holding it together within an echoing sonic cathedral, she pays due respect while adding her own understated operatic stylings… you should hear her version of ‘Louie Louie’!

Available on the download EP ‘I Am Shell I Am Bone’ via Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records

www.gazelletwin.com

THE HUMAN LEAGUE Never Let Me Go

Susanne Sulley does her best LITTLE BOOTS impression with this opener to ‘Credo’, the long awaited comeback album from THE HUMAN LEAGUE. Sounding like ‘Crash’ gone right or CLIENT gone funky, it is also auto-tuned to the hilt as Da League go all contemporary with this marvellous slice of electronic pop. Let’s hope it’s not another ten years before there’s new material!

Available on the CD ‘Credo’ via Wall Of Sound

www.thehumanleague.co.uk

IAMAMIWHOAMI Clump

‘Clump’ could be the sound of the drums on OMD’s ‘History Of Modern Part 1’ but it’s actually this kooky little number by IAMAMIWHOAMI aka Jonna Lee. A synthetically charged amalgam with vintage sounds and even a toy piano thrown in, this is a bit brighter than some her contemporaries if still delightfully odd and mysterious. It’s musically more Bjork than FEVER RAY although she does share the same management with the latter.

Available on the download single ‘Clump’ via iTunes and Amazon

http://www.facebook.com/pages/iamamiwhoami/270417754335

IAMX Ghosts Of Utopia

IAMX have captured an electro Gothic aesthetic that combines the theatrics of Weimar Cabaret with themes of sex, alienation and dependency. Despite the lyrical and aural fervor, Corner’s songs are strongly melodic with an accessible grandeur. The superb lead single ‘Ghosts Of Utopia’ from new album ‘Volatile Times’ has instant appeal with its exhilarating mechanical drive and electrickery. His scream of “this is psychosis” is wholly believable! Dance in the dark!

Available on the CD ‘Volatile Times’ via Republic of Music/BMG

http://iamxmusic.com/

LADYTRON Mirage

Flautist textures dominate the more sedate pace of ‘Mirage’ almost as a reaction to the loudness war of previous album ‘Velocifero’. Helen Marnie’s voice beautifully suits the synthetic atmospherics while the widescreen, spacious mix compliments a catchy tune that has hints of SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES. Although confusing some of their fans, given room to explore, ‘Gravity The Seducer’ is that under rated album which will be hailed as a classic in years to come.

Available on the CD ‘Gravity The Seducer’ via Nettwerk Productions

http://www.ladytron.com

MAISON VAGUE Synthpop’s Alive

Living in a dream since 1983 and as a homage to ‘The Pleasure Principle’, MAISON VAGUE mainman Clark Stiefel responded musically to a YouTube video entitled ‘Synthpop Is Dead’. The opening salvo is brilliant and the lyric of “Everyone’s entitled to opinion, you have yours and well I have mine” hits home. But it’s the retort of “And though it seems that our opinions differ, you’ll agree in time!” that says it all as the sound of PLACEBO gone electro. This battlecry has heart, soul and humour.

Available on the download album ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ via Amazon

http://www.maisonvague.com

MIRRORS Secrets

Closing MIRRORS’ outstanding ‘Lights & Offerings’ long player, ‘Secrets’ shifting phat bass riff across two octaves is pure Kling Klang, driven by an intense percussive march. An epic at over ten minutes in length and split into three movements, the ambient interlude of the second section consists of an aural sculpture that plays with the mind. It then suddenly reprises with a piercing military tattoo for its finale with unsettling voices for some added claustrophobic edge.

Available on the CD ‘Lights & Offerings’ via Skint Entertainment

https://www.facebook.com/theworldofmirrors/

MOBY Be The One

Yes, Moby has settled into a formula but he does it well. One of the more immediate tracks from the excellent independently released ‘Destroyed’ album, ‘Be The One’ is full of rich layered synth strings with moody chordial sweeps over a motorik beat and textured vocoder. Despite the simplistic robotic couplet “I was the hell that you needed – I was the one when you needed love”, it strangely exudes warmth and emotion.

Available on the CD ‘Destroyed’ via Little Idiot Records

http://www.moby.com

NIGHTLIFE On The Run

From their second EP Radio, with Caroline Myrick’s soft vocals attached to Darin Rajabian’s classic electro disco inspired backing, ‘On The Run’ could be described as Ellie Goulding gone right and is free of folkisms. : “I want back the soft quiet days of ever, when there was lemonade and sand, and rainy screen doors and sad movies; when the minutes were no one else’s but ours”.

Available on the download EP ‘Radio’ via their website

http://nightlifepop.com/

GARY NUMAN The Fall

Anthemic gothic rock is what the former Gary Webb deals in these days but ‘The Fall’ is a lot less heavier and one-dimensional than the offerings on previous album ‘Jagged’. Co-written and co-produced by Ade Fenton as an interim project when work on the ‘Splinter’ album was put on hold, with a fair smattering of gritty synths, this achieves a much better sonic balance and Gary Numan’s most accessible number in years.

Available on the CD ‘Dead Son Rising’ via Mortal Records

https://garynuman.com/

THE OPIATES Anatomy Of A Plastic Girl

THE OPIATES are former ELECTRIBE 101 chanteuse Billie Ray Martin and Norwegian DJ and producer Robert Solheim. They have been dubbed as The Carpenters of Electro. Several years in the making, the debut album contained ‘Anatomy Of A Plastic Girl’, a fine avant pop structure that told the tale of a young wannabe actress in Los Angeles who reflects on the facial surgery that has left her scarred…

Available on the CD ‘Hollywood Under The Knife’ via Disco Activisto Records

https://www.facebook.com/theopiates

QUEEN OF HEARTS Spanish Sahara

QUEEN OF HEARTS is Liz Morphew, formally of RED BLOODED WOMEN; this mysterious young royal with her assorted headgear and couture is modern electropop’s own Queen Amidala. From a galaxy far, far away and light years ahead of the poptastic competition, this moody, pulsing cover of indie rockers THE FOALS is transformed by a hypnotism textured with spacious synths to give our Queenie room for some sexy breathiness.

Available on the download EP ‘The Arrival’

www.iamqueenofhearts.com

SECTION 25 Colour, Movement, Sex & Violence

Best known for ‘Looking From A Hilltop’ in 1984, the song’s husband and wife vocalists Larry Cassidy and Jenny Ross have sadly since passed away. So it was highly appropriate that for SECTION 25’s recorded return, fronting the former punks would be Larry and Jenny’s daughter Bethany. She does a fine job with this danceable synth led ditty which captures that classic hedonistic Manchester vibe that recalls THE OTHER TWO’s ‘Tasty Fish’.

Available on the download EP ‘Invicta’ via Fac 51 The Hacienda

www.section25.com

SOFT METALS Eyes Closed

SOFT METALS are a newish electro duo comprising Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks. Now resident in Los Angeles, they have an accessibly minimal sound with Hall’s pretty vocals being a particular delight and reminiscent of Dot Allison’s flirtatious aura. ‘Eyes Closed’ is probably the highlight from their very promising self-titled debut album, elements of ORBITAL creeping into the danceable bleep fest.

Available on the CD ‘Soft Metals’ via Captured Tracks

www.facebook.com/softmetals

THE SOUND OF ARROWS Longest Ever Dream

Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand hail from Gavle in Sweden. Both filmic and musical elements are important factors in THE SOUND OF ARROWS. Produced by Richard X and featuring a sweet guest vocal from Sarah Nyberg Pergament aka action biker, the choral patches and the symphonic templates are just so reminiscent of OMD. Coupled to some fantastically optimistic ambition, ‘Longest Ever Dream’ is a panoramic joy!

Available on the CD ‘Voyage’ via Skies Above

www.thesoundofarrows.com

TENEK What Do You Want?

Featuring mournful violin by Chris Payne from The Gary Numan Experience, ‘What Do You Want?’ is the first TENEK track that could be described as possessing a degree of beauty. The Brtish duo’s more rousing anthemic style takes a breather here and although this has more in common with their other ballad track ‘The Art Of Evasion’, the subtlety and strings add a new sonic dimension to the developing TENEK sound.

Available on the CD ‘EP2’ via Toffeetones Records

www.tenek.info

TIGER BABY Landscapes

TIGER BABY are a Copehagen trio led by singer Pernille Pang with Benjamin Teglbjærg and Nikolaj Tarp Gregersen in synthetic support. They released their debut album ‘Noise Around Me’ in 2007. Stylistically, this has all the unmistakeable melodic sensibility that Scandinavian pop acts seem to naturally possess as pretty arpeggios and wispy vocals combine for some dream laden electro accompanied by a fabulous video.

Available on the CD ‘Open Windows Open Hills’ via Gunhero records

http://www.tigerbaby.dk

VILE ELECTRODES My Sanctuary

VILE ELECTRODES are a colourful beat combo who combine analogue synths with fetish fashion. Their sound could be described as THE SMITHS reincarnated as CLIENT but ‘My Sanctuary’, the closing track on their debut EP is a sweeping moody epic that recalls imperial phase OMD. Anais resigned melancholic vocal gives that ice maiden demeanour over glorious symphonic synth strings and deep sombre tones. It’s magnificence embroiled.

Available on the CD EP ‘Vile Electrodes’

www.facebook/vileelectrodes

WHITE LIES Strangers

They’re the 21st Century equivalent of THE TEARDOP EXPLODES but with no brass. WHITE LIES however are much more bombastic with synths carrying melodies and assorted effects. Driven by a sweeping theme and deep bass thud before leading to a sense of urgency in the verse, a thoroughly anthemic chorus doesn’t appear until halfway to increase tension. This is possibly what TX could have sounded like if Julian Cope hadn’t gone to live under a tortoise shell!

Available on the CD ‘Ritual’ via Fiction/Polydor Records

https://whitelies.com/

XENO & OAKLANDER The Staircase

Chugging arpeggios, clattering primitive drum machines and slightly unorthodox vocals, minimal duo XENO & OAKLANDER give a brilliantly vibrant offering of vintage futurism. ‘The Staircase’ is their most immediate offering yet. Based in Brooklyn, part of their authentic Europeanism comes from Liz Wendelbo’s wispy French / Norwegian charm. Writing with partner Sean McBride since 2004, they successfully supported JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS in 2011.

Available on the CD ‘Sets & Lights’ via Wierd Records

http://xenoandoaklander.com/

ZEBRA & SNAKE Empty Love Song

Those dark Nordic nights certainly have their effect as this cynical tune from this Finnish duo indicates. Comprising helpfully of two friends Tapio and Matti, ZEBRA & SNAKE fuse vintage electronics with a touch of ambient dexterity as an “artistic form of therapy”. ‘Empty Love Song’ is suitably bittersweet and sounds a bit like MGMT’s ‘Time To Pretend’ after six months in deep freeze! However, despite its lyrical stance, it possesses a grand anthemic quality.

Available as a free download from http://soundcloud.com/freeman-pr/zebra-snake-empty-love-song

www.zebraandsnake.com

Text by Chi Ming Lai
21st December 2011

GARY NUMAN Dead Son Rising

31 October 2011 /



Gary Numan has returned with ‘Dead Son Rising’, his first studio album since 2006’s ‘Jagged’. 

Produced and co-written and by Ade Fenton, the album started life as a set of discarded demos from previous projects, but quickly took on a life of its own.

As Numan explained, the original ideas that sparked off these songs are now barely visible. It’s grown into another animal, something more experimental. In his interview with ELECTRICTYCLUB.CO.UK, Gary Numan revealed that the first track to be completed on the album was ‘The Fall’.

The song is already familiar to most fans as it has been included in his live set since 2009’s ‘The Pleasure Principle’ tour. The studio version provides one of the album’s standout moments. This is 21st Century Numan at full tilt, wearing the NINE INCH NAILS influence proudly on his sleeve. Industrial beats and a blistering chorus combine to make ‘The Fall’ a modern Numan classic.

‘When The Sky Bleeds He Will Come’ begins on wistful note before guitars kick in and transform it into something much darker. There are reflective moments too; the largely instrumental refrain of ‘For The Rest Of My Life’, with its piano and acoustic guitar is evocative of early ‘Telekon’ B-sides.

Perhaps the most welcome surprise of all is ‘Not The Love We Dream Of’, a melancholy ballad featuring a superbly restrained vocal performance from Numan. A haunting piano reprise, played by Ade Fenton, provides the perfect album closer.

The Numan / Fenton partnership has clearly found its feet on this project; Ade Fenton’s production is solid throughout, whilst Numan’s voice has never sounded better. However, what really makes ‘Dead Son Rising’ is its diversity.

There is a variety of texture and tempo employed throughout the album, and as such it avoids the pitfall of its predecessor ‘Jagged’, which suffered from being rather one-paced. As a project that began its life on the cutting room floor, ‘Dead Son Rising’ exceeds all expectations and is Numan’s most rewarding album for many years. Numan is back with an album of which he can be justifiably proud. And with the long-awaited ‘Splinter’ release and tour planned for 2012, the future looks bright.

Special thanks to Steve Malins at Random PR

‘Dead Son Rising’ is released by Mortal Records and available now from a variety of retail and digital outlets.

The second leg of the ‘Dead Son Rising’ tour includes:

Leamington Spa Assembly Hall (7 December), Manchester Ritz (8 December), Southampton Guildhall (9 December), Nightmare Before Christmas ATP Festival ­ hosted by BATTLES (10 December), Hatfield University The Forum (11 December)

www.numan.co.uk

Text by Steve Gray
Photo by Ed Fielding
31st October 2011

Missing In Action: CHRIS PAYNE

21 October 2011 /

Best known as a member of Gary Numan’s band between 1979-89 and for co-writing VISAGE’s ‘Fade To Grey’, Cornishman Chris Payne was also DEAD OR ALIVE’s musical director when the band were touring their ‘Youthquake’ album.

A graduate of Medieval music, he even mastered a reed instrument called a Cornamuse. Now domiciled in Normandy, he happily chatted about his period with Gary Numan, the genesis of ‘Fade To Grey’ during soundchecks on ‘The Touring Principle’ in 1979 and his post-Numan band DRAMATIS.

Can you remember much about your audition for Mr Numan? 

Oh yeah. I remember as if it was yesterday. I had finished Music College and was taking some time out working for our local council taking down trees. I turned up in my ‘chain saw’ gear ie workman’s jacket, large boots and sporting a very bad moustache with hair like King Charles II. All that was missing was the chain saw!

Is it true you hadn’t ever played a synthesizer before that?

I had never played a synth before. Bluffed my way through the audition pushing every note under the sun and making it look as if I had a clue. The real bonus for me was playing the viola and Gary, being a big fan of stringed instruments, loved the sound.

After the audition I remember events moving very swiftly, and before I knew it we were in Shepperton rehearsing for the ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’, a live BBC TV music show that used to broadcast every Tuesday night.

Later that evening, we were told that a spot had come up for us on ‘Top Of The Pops’, which at the time was the ‘God’ show for music as MTV etc didn’t exist. Four weeks later ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ was at No1. Was it hard work? No, not at all. I loved every minute of it.

From September 1979 we were just continually touring and recording, were all young at the time, and had plenty of energy and enthusiasm. I won’t mention names but I remember hearing on Radio 1, a well known band being asked about life on tour and they complained about how tough it was, and how people didn’t realise what they had to go through. I just thought… OK!!!!

You don’t realise how lucky you are to be in your position, after all what’s better, a world tour when you’re 23 years old or working in a factory making car batteries (a job I did as a student)?


Did you have any inkling that something was about to happen when you were on Old Grey Whistle Test and Top Of The Pops doing ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ in the same week?

It was a frantic few days and as it was happening, I think we all sensed that something was about to happen. Not only did it happen but at such a pace!

I didn’t realise at the time but Numan’s label Beggars Banquet were on the brink of bankruptcy and Gary’s success not only made his own career take off but also saved the label. Imagine if Beggars had gone under. They’ve a lot to thank him for.

You appeared on a number of Gary Numan albums including ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and ‘Telekon’, usually playing viola, but would be called on to play keyboards occasionally. What would you normally be asked to do as it would appear Gary handled many of the synth parts himself in the studio?

Actually Gary was extremely generous letting me play a lot of parts on ‘The Pleasure Principle’. We shared the workload, although he had created all of the parts. It was interesting as the main synths were a Minimoog and Polymoog.

No guitars, just drums, bass, synths and viola of course! My only issue was trying to stay awake, as these were all night recording sessions after the pubs had shut. You’re correct, by the time ‘Telekon’ came along Gary played most of the keyboard parts.

What are your overriding memories of the first two Gary Numan tours?

Well they were both phenomenal, and bear in mind nothing had ever been seen like it before with these great futuristic sets and lighting effects etc. Far too many great memories of these days, you’ll have to come and see me and I’ll spend a few hours chatting about it… we did two world tours with both of these sets and my regret is we didn’t tour abroad with ‘Warriors’, which also looked amazing.

Which Gary Numan songs were your favourites, either because of your contributions or from playing them live?

It’s no secret that my favourite track was ‘Down In The Park’. It was truly spine tingling to play with its anthemic power, and I loved playing the piano intro to it before launching into the thunderous Polymoog chords.

 


With VISAGE’s hit single ‘Fade To Grey’, what inspired you and Billy Currie to recording togther?

It just sort of happened and became our soundcheck song during the first tour back in 1979, with Ced Sharpley adding some drums. That’s basically how it developed. As Billy was intending to leave and rejoin ULTRAVOX after the tour, he wanted to record it as a kind of souvenir of the time spent with Gary Numan and myself as the other keyboard player. He organised the recording at the late Martin Rushent’s studio, and we (Billy, Ced and myself) went in and recorded it the day after the tour finished.

By the way, the entire song except vocals was recorded in a day…those were the days! And the rest is history…

This became such a signature track. What do you think was the key to its huge success?

The key to its success… A Minor!!! Ha ha!

But seriously! It was part of a movement which, image wise, was very strong. This will always help the promotion of a song. Technically it was very simple, relying on a cyclic movement from A minor to D minor and using the A minor as a pivot chord to re-introduce the verse. Plus it had a very strong but simple chorus… “Ohh-OOH we fade to grey”! It also had a certain atmosphere, which was relevant to the times.


How important were synthesizers in the shaping of music post-punk and why was there such a huge success rate during this period?

It was important and it enabled non-trained musicians to be able to express themselves. The beauty of a synth is that you can use your imagination to create all manner of soundscapes, atmospheres – call it whatever, without the need to be a great player.

Some people remarked on how soul-less the synths were compared to real instruments. If you ever heard Billy Currie playing his solo ARP Odyssey, you’ll realise how wrong that is. He was a phenomenally expressive player who could make the instrument scream and growl, and also sound very emotive.

I’ve since spoken to many players of early synths and it’s interesting that we each in turn have a different favourite. Mine was the Minimoog. A classic little demonic monosynth that could play the most intrinsically beautiful sounds, and also shake a building down to its foundations that you were playing in.

Is there an artist from that era whom you felt was particularly innovative in embracing the synthesizer technology?

Obviously KRAFTWERK plus the other German bands mentioned before, Jean-Michel Jarre and YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA. As mentioned, Mr Currie, and let’s not forget Gary Numan who had probably the most influence on the commercialisation of synths.

You toured the skies but it all suddenly ended with Gary Numan’s three farewell shows at Wembley Arena in April 1981. What were your own emotions and thoughts during those gigs?

Because of the immense scale of that production with the three back-to-back concerts and sell out crowds, half of me thought that this was crazy stopping at that moment with such huge interest and the fact that nothing had been seen like this before and if it could grow bigger. Who knows what would have happened? It was also sad and a bit disconcerting as I had been in regular employment for the last three years. On the other hand, Gary had made this decision and it was a case of moving forward with DRAMATIS and looking forward to a new adventure.


You formed DRAMATIS with RRussell Bell, Ced Sharpley and Denis Haines from the Gary Numan band and released the album ‘For Future Reference’ on Elton John’s Rocket Records in late 1981. Simon Heyworth who worked on Tubular Bells was the co-producer. How do you look back on the recording of that?

Oh God, it was a mess! I never understood why we spent ages recording it in one of the best studios in England at the time, a studio called Ridge Farm, only to remix it in London, which was bloody awful.

All this messing around when we had perfectly good mixes drove me to despair. It took forever, cost a fortune, we had to re-do the cover of the album and when it was finally released, Denis left the band! Having said that, the time spent at Ridge Farm was brilliant. It was a really inspirational environment and had a great pub in the village just up the road. Needless to say where we were most evenings.

RRussell and Denis were the main vocalists for DRAMATIS. But Gary Numan sang on the terrific ‘Love Needs No Disguise’ and you even did a lead vocal on ‘Turn’. Was there initially a reluctance for someone to take up the mantle of fronting DRAMATIS, especially as you were all more used to the role of being seasoned multi-instrumentalists?

That’s an interesting point. In retrospect, RRussell should have been the only vocalist (apart from Gary’s contribution) as this would have set a certain continuity. I don’t know why it ended up with Denis and myself singing. Turn was my composition, which explains why I sang it, but I really have a shocking voice, my wife Dominique will verify that! I remember that it took about two to three days to get it. No ‘auto tune’ to save the day in those days…

Interestingly, I remember that Adam Ant’s ex-wife Eve, who I was sharing a flat with at the time, suggested we tried out a hairdresser friend of hers who was looking to sing in a band. His name: Boy George! Imagine if he had joined DRAMATIS?


In hindsight, why do you think Gary Numan’s fanbase didn’t take to DRAMATIS in large numbers?

I don’t know. Perhaps we didn’t have a strong enough identity? The music was too removed from the Numan style? Badly promoted? It could be a combination of all of these or other factors. It might even have been my dodgy haircut!

After ‘For Future Reference’, DRAMATIS did some cracking singles like ‘Face On The Wall’ and ‘The Shame’. ‘I Can See Her Now’ even got into the lower reaches of the chart and you toured in your own right. Was a second album ever close to completion?

We were working on quite a few songs for a second album. But I think we just lost our way and enthusiasm for the project with all the problems that beset us. Maybe we’ll release them someday?

You rejoined Gary Numan’s band for 1983’s ‘Warriors’ tour and remained until 1988. But in between, you also did a stint touring with DEAD OR ALIVE after they secured a No1 with’ You Spin Me Round’. Do you have any amusing recollections of that DEAD OR ALIVE tour? What was it like working with Pete Burns?

I actually stayed officially until 1990. As for DEAD OR ALIVE, that was a fun tour. Three weeks or so and I wish it could have gone on. It was a summer tour as well, which made it feel even more like a holiday. As for anecdotes, there are loads too many to mention here. You’ll have to buy a copy of my eBook ‘My Numan Years’ due for release soon.

Pete was great, and actually very shy. He kept a low profile and after the shows went back to his room with his wife Lynn. The drummer Steve Coy was also really nice and a serious nutcase. Tim Lever (keyboards) and Mike Percy (Bass) were also great. In spite of the image, I found them to be just a typical down-to-earth bunch of scousers!


You returned to play viola with Gary Numan on Complex at a few of ‘The Pleasure Principle’ 30th Anniversary shows in 2009 to a rapturous reception. What was it like to be back on stage with him?

It was fantastic. The only downside was that I’d loved to have done the tour. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed live work. I’ll have to get DRAMATIS back together!

Rusty Egan recently invited you to write a song? 

Rusty tracked me down on Facebook. At first I thought it was a joke and that some one was scamming me for a laugh. But after some careful further investigation, I knew it was for real. The latest I heard was that two of my contributions including a co-written track with producer Nigel Bates were shortlisted along with contributions from Midge Ure, Youth etc. But you just never know if they’ll eventually make the final cut.

DRAMATIS’ first single ‘Ex Luna Scientia’ celebrated the spirit of NASA. How do you see the future of space travel now that the Space Shuttle has flown its last mission?

Sad in a way. We have moved on in science so radically in the last few decades but we still know so little (apart from how to destroy ourselves). We still can’t account for 94% of the mass of the Universe, which is really quite worrying.

Perhaps the missing parts are this great energy force which the Chinese called Qi (or Chi). I have recently completed studies in Chinese medicine and I’m actually a practitioner over here in France. My aim will be to discover the mysterious Qi and who knows after that… maybe DRAMATIS will make a comeback? “May the Force be with You”

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Chris Payne

http://www.chrispaynemusic.com/

https://www.electroniccircus.co.uk

http://www.electronicmusiclibrary.com

http://newwavecomplex.com/dramatis.html

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
25th October 2011

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