Date: Thu, 7 Sep 95 01:00:02 CDT From: numan@cs.uwp.edu Reply-To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #155 Gary Numan Digest Thu, 7 Sep 95 Volume 1 : Issue 155 Today's Topics: "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY - AUGUST 1995" FOR SALE: Vinyl (Canadian/UK) Isolate LP and Concert License Plates and stuff... Lyric spotting - a new hobby? Outland's Not Bad (Pt. 2) Response to Gary's request for WWW help still trying.... US store with Numan discs in stock Wanted : "Outland" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 13:04:28 -0800 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY - AUGUST 1995" To: numan@cs.uwp.edu THE DIGEST ASKS GARY - AUGUST 1995 ---------------------------------- This is the first edition of what I hope to be a long series of monthly contributions by Gary himself to the Digest. The promptness and detail of Gary's responses to the first set of questions is very encouraging. Don't forget to email me with your question's for Gary (see details at bottom of this post). I'll be sending him questions towards the end of each month. ---- Andy McHaffie of Reading, Berkshire, UK asks: Hi Gary... Q1. Where do you stand on people taping your shows for their personal use (or to swap with friends) ie no selling.... Thanks a lot for your time... A1. I have no problem at all with people taping shows for their personal use, or taking photographs or video for that matter. My only objection is when fans, or non fans, go out to record a concert with the sole aim of pressing up a few hundred or a few thousand copies to sell to others at a profit. In the past I've had people sending bootleg T-shirts to me complaining about the quality as though it was my fault they bought it in the first place. Bootleg records as well. I like to see a reasonably healthy bootleg scene going on but it must be kept in proportion. It could at times undermine my own efforts and the only way that I could control it would be to ban all cameras and recorders which would mean extra security to enforce the ban and that would mean extra cost which means higher ticket prices. If the bootleg scene gets out of hand we all suffer except the people who would most deserve to. ---- Edward Carmack of San Franciso, California, USA asks: Q2. On the 1996 tour do you plan to do more rarely or never performed songs on stage as you did in 1993 and 94? Would songs like "Crash", "Subway called 'you'" and "Complex" be possibilities? A2. Yes, I hope to do as many rare, older songs as possible. We will be recording and making a film of the next tour so it is important to have as few songs from the last two albums played on the next tour as possible. If I duplicate too many songs from one tour to the next you don't get value for money with a live album. It can be a difficult thing to judge though. When you've written as many songs as I have it becomes increasingly worrying trying to decide what goes, what stays and what's to be added. Not only that but one persons favourite is another persons most hated, especially when you are talking about rare B-sides and some of the more obscure album tracks. I just don't know what people want to hear. Q3. Did you know that rap artist Sir Mix-A-Lot built his 1991 song "Lockjaw" around a sample from "Zero Bars"? A3. I've never heard of Sir Mix-A-Lot but I guess he owes me some money. Q4. Any plans to use acoustic drums in the studio again? I thought the "Sacrifice" material sounded real sharp with acuostic drums on "Dark Light". A4. The truth is my studio is actually in a fairly small room in my house and I don't have room for real drums even if I wanted to use them, which I don't to be honest. Real drummers in the studio are, or can be, a complete pain. It takes hour upon tedious hour to get a drum sound together. Then when it is finally sounding okay and your ready to record they have a break, come back refreshed, hit the drums harder and the entire sound is gone again. Plus they never play the same thing twice which can be exciting but normally isn't. I would say 'That was great, do it again' and they would say 'Do what again?'. Besides which I only have two microphones and I'm buggered if I'll buy any more just to record a drummer. Live is different and I agree they really do add something but maybe that's the way it should be. Live albums should have something special about them, something more immediate. ---- Jake Zweig of Berkeley, California, USA asks: Q5. I write music with my computer. I would like to start playing some analog synths from the '80s. I thought I would ask you, since you are the sythesizer god, which ones you would recommend? Your music is great... A5. My favourite analogue synth is, without doubt, the Oberheim OBXa. I still have one in my garage and one of these days I'll get it fixed and use it again. The Prophet 5 also had some good moments. I know people go on a lot about Mini-Moogs and bass end but to be honest they were very limiting and I preferred the ARP Odyssey for bottom end anyway. ---- Jeff Tolva (The Machman) of Elgin, Illinois, USA asks: Q6. When do you think you might tour America again? A6. I would like to say next year when the new album comes out but the truth is I don't have a clue. We are intending to try for another deal with a major (ish) record company with the next album and if we are successful then touring outside of the UK becomes much more likely. Without that deal though, and the financial and promotional support that it would give us, any tours away from home are extremely difficult to envisage. Please believe me when I say that I would love to tour abroad again. I feel that I have learnt so much since I was last abroad, I'm better at it now, I have better songs or at least a greater variety, better everything really and it is incredibly frustrating to see it going to waste. Q7. Are there plans (for you) to work with Chris, Cedric, Rrussell or Andy in the near future? A7. No. I haven't seen or heard from RRussell for about 5 or 6 years I think. I saw Chris once after a show about 4 years ago but apparently he now lives in France and has a family. Cedric I haven't seen for about 3 years and Andy something similar. I'm very bad at keeping in touch and to be honest even when I was working with the people you mention I only ever saw them when we toured, never socially. We were never close friends. The only band member that I was ever truly friends with was Paul Gardiner. ---- Rudy of Palmdale, California, USA asks: Q8. Gary, do you plan to continue making extended albums? Since 1979 I have always treasured those extended mixes. Now instead of getting one per 12 inch vinyl, I get a whole album. I really enjoyed Sacrifice Extended. A fan from afar for many, many, years. Rudy. A8. Yes but only if people want them. When I record songs the original versions are often much longer than the final edited versions. Songs have to be edited some times so that you can fit them all onto an album. A vinyl album, which is still the time standard that most people follow, can only have about 20 minutes or so per side. CD's are better but if you put more stuff on a CD than on vinyl people without a CD player complain. This problem is becoming less as more and more people get into CD and soon vinyl will be a rarity but at the moment it still causes some problems. The reason for the extended mixes albums is so that those original longer versions can be heard. Also, it is sometimes possible to stretch a song, much as you can do with a 12" mix. These stretched mixes are also going to go to waste unless they go out on a 12" single or as an extra track on something or other and so the extended mixes album gives those tracks an avenue as well. Q9. I have been reminiscing over "The Fury" lately (one of my favorites) and "God Only Knows" has special meaning to me (most of your songs do). Where did you come up with "The Oxygen Law?" A9. 'God Only Knows' is about being in an aeroplane when you know something is wrong and you're sitting there waiting for it all to happen. The oxygen law is just a referance to burning and fires need for oxygen. Nothing clever or deep I'm afraid. By the way the lyric sheet on the album is wrong for the following line. The line printed as 'It Remains Me' should be 'It Reminds Me' as the character in the song is thinking back to a previous accident. ---- Chris Campbell of Highland, San Bernardino County (murder capital of the world), California, USA asks: Q10. How's the search going for a contract with a major record label? A10. It starts seriously when the new album is finished which will be just before Christmas. We have a major business festival in France called MIDEN where most of the dealing goes on. Q11. Is there still going to be an unplugged album, and when? A11. I'm not sure. The reaction to the unplugged album idea was quiet to say the least and so I have doubts about fans interest in it. At the moment I've put it at the bottom of the list of things to do but, if people do actually want it and I've misread the feeling, just let me know and I'll do it next year. Q12. What kinda computer are you using? A12. I use an Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 for most things. I also have an Atari Mega 4 that I use as my stereo hard disc recording and editing machine for mixing down to and an Atari 1040 to play games on. I did have another 1040 but I gave it to my brother last march. Q13. Do you ever vacation in the States? A13. Vacation means holiday doesn't it? I had a 6 day holiday in 88 when I went a Greek island called Skiathos. I had another 6 day holiday in 89 when I went to Reno to watch the air races. They were the only two holidays I've had since about 1977. We do intend to go on holiday next year though for a couple of weeks and at least one week of that will be in America. Of course if I get a decent record deal that plan could fly out the window so nothing is certain. ---- Derek Langsford of San Diego, California, USA asks: Q14. Now that you appear to have some control of your IRS catalogue is there any chance of a comprehensive "Gary Numan - The Singles" compilation, from "That's Too Bad" and "Bombers" to "A Question of Faith" and "Absolution"? Q14. As far as I understand it I can re record the IRS songs but not use the originals. A compilation album from 'Thats Too Bad' to 'Absolution' would therefore involve a joint project by Beggars Banquet, IRS and Numa or BB and Numa with the IRS songs done anew. You may also want to include the other collaberation singles that I've been involved in, although I certainly would not, and so the difficulties would begin to mount up. I think the number of singles must total something like 35 or more now so it would be a double CD at least. The problems become even more difficult when you begin to consider that Beggars are perhaps likely to want a larger than pro rata slice of the cake because 'Are Friends Electric' and 'Cars' are the biggest sellers and they belong to them. Such an album is not impossible to get together but it's far from simple. As you've said at another time a compilation album that included 'Cars' being released in the states and having a reasonable amount of the more recent material 'Sacrifice' inparticular could be a very useful thing to release. Maybe a new record company would do that as a lead in to the next new album (which has the working title 'Exile' by the way). ---- Joe Lindstrom of Calgary, Alberta, Canada asks: Q15. What, if anything, can we as fans do (besides keeping our faith) to assist you in obtaining a record contract in the US? Would a letter-writing campaign help? Who would we target? Radio stations? Record companies? In short, if we were YOURS TO COMMAND, what would you have us do? A15. I really don't know. Fans in the UK organised a rally outside Radio One here to try and get them to play my music but it actually did more harm than good and simply hardened the radio stations attitude toward me in a very negative way. Letter writing can help but it can also piss people off if they get too much of it. Keep the faith, spread the word and hope that I get my act together soon. Q16. Assuming that contract became a reality, how would you feel about bringing in a big-name producer... someone like Daniel Lanois, as an example... to produce your next album? How much loss of creative control would that represent? A16. Each producer works in different ways. Some insist on complete control and domination of an album, some do little more than engineer and suggest something once a day. Some think they should be stars and act accordingly, others are intimidated by stars and so contribute nothing meaningful at all. As a rule I don't like working with producers. I have my own vision and I don't like people to mess with it. Sometimes I've been forced to work with others and sometimes I felt the need to but, in the main, I prefer to be on my own. The biggest problem with record companies is that, despite all the bullshit and the crawly bum licking that goes on, they very rarely believe enough in the artist to leave him or her alone and just let them get on with it. I hate the political dance that goes on as soon as a record company gets involved. I need their power but I really don't need their opinions. I hate the way an album is watered down, diluted to appease the opinions from everyone that has one from the top man to the door man. They say a truly great album is a masterpiece of comprimise but that's bollocks. How much more interesting and varied the music biz would be if we were all allowed to make what we wanted to make, mistakes and all. Q17. I would like to create and sell the Digest's own Gary Numan memorabilia to subscribers. One-off samples of a t-shirt, hat, mouse pad, and keychain appear to be of VERY good quality. Only the store making the stuff would make a profit. In an interview, some 10 years ago you said "it's ok as long as it ain't crap and I don't take the heat for it if it falls apart after three washings". I'd appreciate knowing how you feel about my idea. If you have no problems with it at all, I wouldn't mind (if possible) getting that in writing (in case any questions come up later with people like customs agents). Thanks for your time and thanks for making yourself available to us. A17. I have no idea whether you need my approval in writing or not. I'm not sure what you intend to sell and whether I should be worried or pleased about it. I have about as much business acumen as my cat has meaningful conversations so I suppose I should ask someone. To be honest I don't mind. It would be cool for people that are part of the digest to have something that only they can get. ----- That's about it. Thanks again for taking the time to do this and please pass on my thanks to all the digest subscribers for their support. Bye bye. Gary Numan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "THE DIGEST ASKS GARY" is a new monthly feature where Digest subscriber's can ask Gary questions via the Internet! Send your questions via email to Derek Langsford with a subject line of: Gary's Qs Please include your real name and the town/city, county/province/state and country where you are located. I reserve the right to delete and edit questions for content or length. Thanks to all who asked questions in August, Derek __________________________________________________________________________ Derek Langsford "Numanews" dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu The Gary Numan Digest SDSU Dept of Biology email numan-request@cs.uwp.edu San Diego, CA for information or to subscribe __________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Sep 95 12:55:07 PDT From: jakubec@mprgate.mpr.ca (Trent J Jakubec) Subject: FOR SALE: Vinyl (Canadian/UK) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Greetings: In an attempt to dump my vinyl collection, I figured I would offer up my Numan collection to those who might have an interest in it. I am not in this for profit, so any offer is welcome. Please direct requests to my personal account, as I do not want to clutter up the digest with unnecessary traffic. Album Number Country of Release ----------------------- --------------- ------------------ Tubeway Army XBEG4 Canada Replicas BEGA7 Canada The Pleasure Principle BEGA10 Canada Telekon XBEG19 Canada Dance BEGA28 Canada? (not shown) I, Assassin XBEG40 Canada (Note: deleted holepunch) Warriors 24 02441 Canada Berserker NUMA 1001 UK Berserker/Empty Bed NUM 4 UK Empty Heart White Noise NUMAD 1002 UK The Fury NUMA 1003 UK Miracles/The Fear NUM 13 UK (Red Vinyl) Change Your Mind/ 881 657-1 Canada (Bill Sharpe/Gary Numan) Remix, Remake, Remodel/Fools in a World of Fire Trent Trent J Jakubec (jakubec@mpr.ca) (http://www.mpr.ca/) (604)293-5379 MPR Teltech Ltd. Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 4B5 Fax: (604)293-6100 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 11:09:04 -0400 (EDT) From: "Edward Carmack (AEN)" Subject: Isolate LP and Concert To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hey There!! Does anybody out there have the vinyl to Isolate or have access to it? I'd be willing to buy or trade!!! Also, anyone out there who collects Numan live shows.. I just got in a way cool show from Oxford in 1992 on the ISOLATE tour. Some rarer performed songs such as "U Got the Look", "The Skin Game", "Emotion", "Time to Die" were all performed that night. Quality is real good and listenable. Other songs included are:: Respect/Devious/Confession/America/Call out the Dogs/Soul Protection/Outland/Me! I Disconnect/Cars/From Russia Infected/ Young Heart/Cold Metal Rhythm/We are Glass/Your Fascination/ My World Storm For others interested- Shows just in 1984 Birmingham, 1993 London- a boot from the audience the same night "Dream Corrosion" was recorded (Great collectors item!) e-mail me if interested or if you are accessable to "Isolate" vinyl! Ed carmack@madonna.coedu.usf.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 13:27:35 -0800 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: License Plates and stuff... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu In # 154 Robert Trousdale said: >License plates - I've had my heart set on "TELEKON" since before Washington >state allowed seven letter plates- so if any of you other Washington >State Numan fans out there want it - better hurry. > >If I can't get that one NU-CAR will have to do... >Maybe MYCRSLDS for those of you in states with 8 letters (California, etc.) Actually we only have 7 letters/digits in CA (number, three letters, three numbers) which limits things further. One thing I have found is that some special plates have too many abbreviations or are so obscure few, if any, probably understand them. >If you were really morbid you could put IDI UDI >or CRTDRVR (Crash the driver) I think most people would read this as "Cart Driver" :-) >Of course putting THE FURY on a pontiac Fury would be redundant... >How about a really obscure one: TBWYARMY >Hey that one is pretty good, maybe I'll use it.... Too many letters. Try TBWYRMY. I've thought about NUMNOID. Or for the very obscure (I'll do this in lower case so it's easier to understand) "my100on". There must be losts os others. Derek -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology Tel. (619) 594 2885 San Diego State University Fax (619) 594 7831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: 04 Sep 95 01:10:04 EDT From: Subject: Lyric spotting - a new hobby? To: I enjoyed Rudy's comment in #154 about Numan's vocal skills - especially on "Listen to the Sirens" on Dark Light. I posted some similar comments on "A Question of Faith" in #151. Here I was suggesting that the Dark Light version was vocally a lot better than the bootleg. I was wondering if somehow Numan was able to tinker with the vocals in the studio. Obviously not. Rudy says that Gary sings: "It's always so close" "But never quite arrives" Rather than "They can die" "They can just turn off" Well, on the bootleg, it's different again! The bootleg is from the Birmingham gig - one day later than the Dark Light recording. You would think that Gary would have read up on the lyrics on the motorway from London? Here is what I think he is saying on the bootleg: "This always" "Boys are never close to me" This is great! It could be a new hobby - spotting these mistakes or perhaps proposing alternatives. How about: "I'm hun - gry" "Can I have - some pizza?" Anyone else got any observations? I regularly swap messages with other members of the Digest - especially John Benbow. John was on the tour coach for half of the Sacrifice tour and he says that each night Numan came out to do Jo The waiter, one of the crew would place the lyrics and a torch at his feet! Presumably this is why the song is always an encore track! Matthew Holbrook ------------------------------ Date: 4 Sep 95 09:44:00 +0100 From: Sean.Francis@psemail.ps.net Subject: Outland's Not Bad (Pt. 2) To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I must agree with A.J. regards "Outland". It's really not that bad ! Coming as it did after "Metal Rhythm" it did have a lot to live up to. I don't think it's as good as MR, but there's some real quality there. "Confession", "My World Storm", "Dream Killer" and "Outland" are all classic Numan (IMO). It does, however, contain one of my two least fave tracks, "Devotion" (is that a trumpet sample solo ? I mean, what is going on ?). My other least fave is "The Need" (just in case you were interested). What's all this 'Janet Jackson rip off' stuff about then ? I've not listened to her "Rhythm Nation" album myself. Are the rhythms on Outland really that close to hers ? Whilst on about rip offs, I seem to recall JJ releasing a single called "The Pleasure Principle". Nuff said. Later, Sean. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 13:13:34 -0800 From: dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu (Derek Langsford) Subject: Response to Gary's request for WWW help To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I have been overwhelmed with the response to my request to help Gary get a WWW Home Page going. So much so, I will have trouble replying to all of you promptly. Several offers of help have come from the UK and I believe they may provide the most relevent advice for the UK situation. Still, some others have made some very good points which I will summarize and send to Gary. I will try and respond to each of you in person but I think I have enough sources of help to help Gary achieve what he wants. Thank you to all who responded. Derek -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Derek H. Langsford dlangs@sunstroke.sdsu.edu Dept. of Biology Tel. (619) 594 2885 San Diego State University Fax (619) 594 7831 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 16:00:02 -0700 (PDT) From: atomic@netcom.com (Mike Metlay ++ Atomic City) Subject: still trying.... To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Numanews Mailing List) ...to find a copy of Machine and Soul Extended that actually has all 13 tracks. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone? get in the car i've something to say, mike -- 'ambient techno' is an oxymoron =========================================================================== Mike Metlay ~ ATOMIC CITY ~ P. O. Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 USA --- atomic@netcom.com --- http://pd.net/atomic-city --- All of our CDs can now be ordered directly from our WWW site, or by calling INFINITE ILLUSIONS: vox 904-385-6463 or 1-800-548-6724, or FAX 904-668-5825 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Sep 95 16:12:30 PDT From: skane@ruby.wv.tek.com (Scott Kane ruby-t4) Subject: US store with Numan discs in stock To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hey y'all - As I mentioned in last week's digest, I'm friends with a US vendor who has quite a bit of Numan's catalog in stock including some lone copies of out-of-print discs. Given the number of people I've talked to through email, I'm guessing that there are others out there who'd want this address. Depending on your tastes, you might be interested in some of the other imports he stocks too. (A complete Bronski Beat catalog, Erasure's Ultra Rare Trax 1-3, a good number of Marc Almond/Soft Cell's discs,...) Route 66 722 Sw Alder Portland, OR 97205 Tel: 1.503.228.3170 The owner isn't on the Internet and is a little dubious about the whole thing. For some reason, he doesn't believe that anyone would read about his store on a computer and call/come in. So if you stop by, be sure to mention that you heard about the store on Internet. He'll get a kick out of it and I'll get the chance to tell him that I told him so. ;-) Scott ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 16:07:43 -0400 From: Masselyn6@aol.com Subject: Wanted : "Outland" To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hi. I am new to the Mailing List, but I thought I would use it to get some information. I am desperatly searching for an Import/Domestic copy of "Outland". I live in Southern California (Los Angeles to be exact) and would love to know if someone knows somewhere out here where I can get a copy of the CD. I know that it is out-of-print. But, maybe someone else has had some luck in places I have not tried...... Massy ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************