Gary Numan with Battles
And playing on stage with my favorite piece of gear in my rig, an Access Virus. Absolutely the best piece of EDM equipment ever made.
It’s weird that someone who “doesn’t like nostalgia about early electronic music…and is interested in pushing electronic music forward into new places” would use a virtual analog synthesizer.
This morning I read up on Numan and found out he’s a musician’s musician, counting Dave Grohl and Trent Reznor among his ardent rockstar fans.
I think the influence goes both ways: the last two albums I have (“Dead Son Rising” and “Exile”) are rather NINish. In a good way.
And if you’re just learning about him, there are some gems to be found on the tribute album “Random”.
I saw his show in Portland a couple of months back, mostly out of admiration for the old songs and curiosity about the new. It was one of the most interesting crowd blends I had seen at a show: goths and industrialists, synthpop fans (one man was wearing a Howard Jones shirt from a show that was only a few days earlier), metal, and ardent Gary Numan fans wearing shirts that spanned the decades of his career. By the end of the show I could see why those fans keep coming. The old songs are reenergized - the rendition of Are Friends Electric was anthemic and really moving to experience a whole crowd singing along - and the new material is strong on its own.
Never heard him play, but I have seen him flying a stunt plane at an airshow…
I’m just glad Vince Noir lets Gary out once in a while.
(Also, “in Cars!”)
pre-ordering so hard
Amoeba Music just posted a killer What’s In My Bag? episode with him.
He’s also doing a free & all-ages in-store at their hollywood store on wed. 10/16
Now that Gary made the move to Los Angeles with his family, we can look forward to hearing a lot more of his great music which just keeps getting better.
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