Automotivation

>> '80s icon Gary Numan wings it in the oh-ohs

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Personal surreal moment #49: I am awoken by my phone ringing after three hours' sleep and find myself more hung over than Richard Harris on New Year's Day. Still very much drunk from the previous night's Boreal Rousse, I hit speakerphone and grunt as a chipper Brit on the the other end says, "Hello, Johnson, this is Gary Numan." Weirdsville! I instantly sober up (somewhat) and pinch myself as I chew the fat with the godfather of electro-pop.



Mirror: So what happened to you? The last thing I remember you had that kinda Road Warrior look in the early '90s and then we didn't hear from you for a while.

Gary Numan: Well, my new album Pure is my 14 and The Pleasure Principal, the one with "Cars," was my third, so I have kept pretty busy. There was a time that my career went right down the toilet and I was taken out of the public eye a bit. You might be thinking about '92, when I was trying to get back on radio, which wasn't really a good time for me. I had lost my record deal in the U.K., America and Europe and set up my own label in '83. I never seemed to get back on my feet in the U.K. as the rest of the world just faded away. A lot of people didn't even know that I was alive so I'm trying to change that now.

M: So do you think "Cars" kind of typecast you, then?

GN: Well, yeah, I'm really proud of it and I would never want to wish it away, but whenever I'm mentioned they will play "Cars." I have a running problem right now with VH1 because I can go on there and do a session but they want me to play "Cars" in order to play one of my new songs. It's a cloud with a silver lining because I still earn money from it but it has overshadowed everything that has come since. In the U.S. it has been the only hit I've ever had, so it's like I'm a one-hit wonder over there.

Leaving the '80s behind

M: Have you been approached about doing one of those '80s tours with the Human League or somebody?

GN: I won't do any of those nostalgia tours or any '80s television things. I try to avoid anything that would concrete my position as an '80s act. "Cars" keeps popping up in AmericanExpress commercials every night here in the U.K. and that is a bit of problem. I have to minimize the damage as much as I can. At this stage in my career I am probably overtly paranoid, but until I can see my picture in a magazine that doesn't have "'80s pop star" underneath it, I still have a big mountain to climb.

M: A lot of younger fans have been introduced to you by other bands covering your songs--Foo Fighters and Marilyn Manson covering "Down In the Park," Nine Inch Nails covering "Metal" and Fear Factory doing "Cars."

GN: I do about five or six old songs in my set now but they have all been reworked in such a way that they sound contemporary for new fans, while not ruining them for older fans.

M: Do you feel some pride when you can hear your influence on people like Trent Reznor or Orgy?

GN: I do enjoy it but truthfully, it's based on music I did a long time ago. I'm not the sort of person who will sit back with a big grin on my face and say, "Wasn't I clever a long time ago." I need to do the same thing again and come up with new things to influence people again. My songwriting now is better than it's ever been. I am very proud where I am creatively now.

Vehicular activity

M: Are you still flying exhibition planes?

GN: Yeah, oddly enough I own a plane that was made in Montreal. It's a World War II replica.

M: When you're on commercial flights, do you ever go into the cockpit and say, "It's all right, boys, I'll bring this big fella in for ya"?

GN: (laughs) Well, if it's a British flight, a lot of the pilots will know who I am and I will spend a lot of flights up front talking to the crew. My brother is an airline captain for a Boeing 747 so I'm familiar with it but it's a completely different thing from the planes I fly.

M: What happened to that little pyramid car you used to drive around on stage with?

GN: I just found it in my dad's garage about a month ago.

M: That thing was cool. Was it built from a golf cart or something?

GN: No, it was just an electric wheelchair and we just built stuff on it.

At Café Campus on Saturday, April 21, 8pm, $24.50