Gary Numan Interview- Shock of the Numan

Gary Numan is back. The synth-pop pioneer, famed for smashes such as ‘Cars’ and ‘Are 'Friends' Electric?’, is enjoying a surprise resurgence. Latest album Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind) is his biggest hit since the early ’80s and he's understandably chuffed.

“There's been a general improvement in my credibility. I tour constantly. I'm always there. I've kept myself in people's consciousness. A lot of other artists have done cover versions or sampled my stuff or talked about me in a very positive way.”
Numan is one of the headliners at this year’s Body And Soul festival in Co, Westmeath. He’s come a long way since hitting rock bottom with 1992's Machine +Soul, a mega flop that seemed to spell the end of his career.
“I just gave up,” he recalls. “I thought I was done for. So I went back to making music as a hobby, for the love of it. I wasn't thinking about A&R men and my career and radio play. I'd been trying to write songs I thought would get me back on the radio or keep the record company happy. If I could keep them happy, they would put more money into promotion. I was writing songs for a strategic, tactical reason – not from the heart. When I did write from an honest place it was much heavier and darker.”
The new LP is a far cry from the dystopian electro pop of Numan’s early period. The material feels dense, industrial – one long, processed scream.
“It's heavy… not particularly commercial. I enjoy playing the songs live. You won’t hear them on the radio, though.”
The air of darkness around the record is unmistakable. It came together as he was emerging from a deep depression that almost destroyed his marriage. He addresses his marital woes honestly on album stand-out ‘Lost’.
“I wrote the LP as I was sort of coming out of the other end of the depression. It played a part in me getting better actually. Although it’s about the bad spell I was going through, it wasn't written at that time. When I'm singing live, it doesn't plunge you back into that horrible period, except for that one song. I wrote ‘Lost’ when me and my wife were in trouble. It got a bit shaky for a bit. That I do find difficult. It takes me back to when I thought that we were going to split up. It was horrible.”
He’s looking forward to returning to Ireland, a country he feels he didn't visit enough in the early days.
“I was actually quite late getting there during the first part of my career when I was doing the really big pop star stuff. I didn't go, which was a bummer. The crowds have really been just full on, absolutely full on. Probably the most enthusiastic I've played to.”

Gary Numan headlines the Body and Soul Festival, Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath, which runs June 20 – 22