Gary Numan and the 30th anniversary of his classic The Pleasure Principle will grace the stage of Seattle on Halloween night. Luckily for me, who will be dressed like the ’90s Mtv teen cartoon Daria, got a ticket in time for the quickly sold out show at Neumo’s. I had a few questions for Mr. Numan about the PP tour, Die Hard batteries, and, of course, Halloween plans!
Jackie Canchola: First things first! How did we [Seattle] get so lucky to have you perform for us on Halloween? Do you have any plans to dress up for Halloween?
Gary Numan: I’m still trying to decide whether to do that or not. Halloween seems to be a much bigger thing here than in the U.K., so I’m trying to get a feel for whether the crowd would like it or be annoyed by it. It’s great to be playing on that night though.
JC: What made you decide to have The Pleasure Principle tour (as well as other anniversaries tours for older albums)?
GN: It started a few years ago as an attempt to appease the older fans who complained a lot that I don’t do very much older stuff when I play live. I said that if I played an old album in its entirety would that be enough to stop them from complaining about the lack of old songs on my regular shows. I only played four nights doing an old album called Telekon, but it seemed to work out okay and they did seem to settle down and be more comfortable at my regular shows. So it’s something that, in the U.K. at least, I now do from time to time, mainly when there is a significant anniversary of an old album or career moment. This is the first time I’ve taken it out of the U.K. I’m not really a fan of retro or nostalgia, so these old album tours are not at the top of my list of things I want to do. But the fans seem to like them and it definitely means that I can get on with my main interest, new songs and albums and promoting those, with a clear conscience that I am giving old and new fans what they want. I won’t touch retro now, after this PP tour, for quite some time. We have two new albums planned for 2011, both of which I’m excited about and looking forward to taking on the road for most of next year.
Jackie’s favorite track off The Pleasure Principle- “M.E.” which is also sampled by Basement Jaxx.
JC: Would you have performed the entire Pleasure Principle album at Coachella and the rest of the U.S. mini tour? Will you be at Coachella 2011?
GN: No, Coachella was going to be a regular set with the main focus on where I am now musically and some new songs to show where the new album is going. I probably would have played “Cars” and one or two other older songs, but to me, Coachella was an opportunity to show people what I’m doing, not to remind them of what I’ve done. That volcano really f**ked things up.
JC: With the music of today, do you see any new acts that might come somewhat close to the impact that you continue to have?
GN: People are influenced by different things, so I’m sure that a lot of bands are having an influence in one way or another. I’ve been very lucky in that I seem to have had an influence on a wide range of musical genres, not just electronic music. That’s something I’m very proud of as it says a lot for the quality of the songwriting. I think Nine Inch Nails are hugely influential and have been for some time.
JC: Do you see any potential in new bands today?
GN: I think it’s difficult for new bands today to be as groundbreaking as we were in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Not because we were better in any way, we were just lucky enough to be around as synth technology started to become available to the man in the street. We only had to turn a Moog on and we were doing something new. I look at bands like Health and see clear evidence that people are still trying new things.
JC: How did you get involved with Die Hard automotive batteries for their commercial?
GN: I’m not sure how my name came to be considered for that commercial, but it was a great experience. It was four o’clock in the morning, a dry lake bed east of Los Angeles, rattlesnakes, and two rows of cars powered by a single battery, and me playing “Cars” from a keyboard connected to their horns. To say it was surreal doesn’t come close, but it was good fun.
Check out the amazing ad for Die Hard here:
JC: How did you figure out how to play “Cars” with the horns?
GN: I just played the main riff of the song, someone else, out of sight, played the high string part, and the keyboard had been pre-configured to control the car horns. It did seem to be quite a troublesome set up, but credit where it’s due, it was all genuine. They really did power the cars and the keyboard from a single Die Hard battery. I couldn’t believe it to be honest. I thought it would all be faked in the studio at a later date, but it was all for real.
JC: Other than the continuation of The Pleasure Principle tour, do you have any upcoming plans or collaborations coming up in the near future?
GN: I have my own two albums, Splinter and Dead Son Rising, to finish off when I get back. I’ve recorded a vocal for a new band called Motor, who will be supporting us on part of this PP tour. I’ve recorded lyrics and a vocal for another new U.K. band called South Central for a song called “Crawl,” and that will be released quite soon I believe. Possibly doing something with Trent Reznor, which would be cool, and we have more shows in the U.K. in December.
The west coast leg of this iconic album :
Sun 10/31 Seattle, WA Neumos
Mon 11/1 Portland, OR Roseland Theatre
Tue 11/2 San Francisco, CA Fillmore
Wed 11/3 Los Angeles, CA El Rey
Thu 11/4 Los Angeles, CA El Rey
