Gary Numan says he was criticised for moving to LA — but kids have never seen a fight or a drunk, ahead of the release of his album Savage
Numan may not have been able to finish the his post-apocalyptic novel but it hasn't stopped him using for inspiration for his latest album, Savage (Songs From A Broken World)
FOR years Gary Numan has been struggling to write a post-apocalyptic, futuristic novel.
But his efforts have not been entirely fruitless, having inspired his latest album, Savage (Songs From A Broken World).
It’s a rainy, grey day in central London when I meet Numan who, as you’d imagine, is dressed all in black.
He’s about to go on a family break with wife and manager Gemma and their three daughters, Raven, 13, Persia 11 and ten-year-old Echo.
The timing of the holiday could not be better. He’s been working late and having trouble sleeping.
Numan says: “I have been writing this book a long time and now it’s the future and what can happen because of global warming.
“I’d been struggling with it, trying to find direction, and then President Trump comes along and says he doesn’t want to be part of the Paris Agreement (the UN deal to help reduce global warming) which gave my ideas a focus.
“I’ve got loads of ideas for the book but it’s been slightly aimless without any sense of direction. There are 10,000 ideas but no definite storyline.
“Using the ideas and writing this album has really helped me. And it’s a real reflection of what could happen. If we’re not going to be in a position to stop it and global warming happens, the effects could mean we end up in this desolate place.
“This could be happening right now. These terrible people and the awful things they do might come true.
“What started out as this vague, silly, science-fantasy idea for me is possible — and it could be the way we end up living.”
The story in the songs on Savage tells of a not-too-distant broken world following a catastrophe brought on by climate change.
The intense music reflects the atmosphere and claustrophobic world of his vision.
Numan, 59, says: “This world is very hostile and you just need to survive.
“Basic survival is very difficult and every day is an awful trial for everybody, so it becomes extremely violent.”
Tracks include When The World Comes Apart, The End Of Things, Pray For The Pain You Serve and My Name is Ruin.
The story follows a character known as Ruin. Numan explains: “She is a ferocious person that didn’t start out that way, in a world where food and water is scarce, where cultures have joined and each day is about survival — at any cost.
“In the video is my little girl, Persia, who also sings on the song.”
It’s a dramatic video, filmed in the Californian desert around 29 Palms and Joshua Tree during a heatwave.
The opening song on the album is the twisted atmospheric Ghost Nation.
Numan says: “There is a group called Ghost Nation and they have a strong dislike of hatred and humanity. They’ve gone off to the most hospitable place in the world and have decided they are going to find a way of making it work.”
As an atheist, Numan admits witnessing religious wars and civil unrest around the world affects his writing.
He says: “It bothers me, so I write a lot of stuff where God and religion get mentioned and it’s often scathing. One story in the book and on the album is when a particular group finds an old religious text, dug out of the sand. It’s a small clip of the Bible and the people who find this text feel they were chosen to find it.”
Numan’s last album, 2013’s Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind), was a deeply personal album and critically acclaimed. Reaching No.20, it also earned the electronic legend his highest chart position since the Eighties.
He says: “I gave them similar titles because I wanted them to be connected in some way.
“The last one was more personal and all about real things that had happened, whereas this one is total fantasy and futuristic, though it is based on current events and what is going on.
“I wouldn’t be so cocky as to say it is a prophecy of any kind because I don’t think it will be, but it was a really interesting thing to write.
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“The fact that Trump is here and he’s making these decisions means we are part of some long-term history that people talk about for years. This is a particular era of politics.”
Numan and his family relocated to LA in 2012.
The move was the backdrop to documentary Android In La La Land, where cameras followed them and saw him open up about his Asperger’s and depression. His struggles sometimes left him unable to make music.
He says: “I’ve always known I’ve been different but I’ve always seen it as an advantage. I can’t chitchat to people out in the street — I’m not very good at social situations — but I have phenomenal focus, drive and obsession. Asperger’s is a golden glove. And having Gemma and my family giving me support has been massively important. Gemma understands Asperger’s really well.
“I see no shame in what I go through and no reason to be closed about it. I wrote an entire album about this, it’s hardly keeping it a secret.
“Moving to LA has been the best thing for us. My kids have never seen a fight, a really drunk person or any graffiti.
“People criticised me for leaving the UK. I got quite a lot of stick for it. One paper even dragged up my local priest for his view — I’d never even met him.
“It was a bit weird and just made me think I’ve never felt more right to be leaving. If you can be that petty about someone making a decision for what he thinks is best for his family then f*** the lot of you.
“And we don’t live ‘the LA life’. We don’t live in Beverly Hills, we live out in the valley with ordinary people. My daughters go to a Steiner school and we give them the most normal life that they can get considering what I do for a living.
“When they are in school, I am in the studio and when they are home I am there and I don’t work weekends. I’ve learnt how to work much more quickly. I’ve got two hours and I will get something done worthwhile.”
Savage was part of a fan-backed PledgeMusic funding campaign, announced in 2015. The drive was a huge success, securing more than double its intended goal and Numan says he is proud of his “Numanoid” fans who committed to the making of the album.
He says: “I wondered if you’d get a lot more out of that as a fan than if you just buy it as a cold piece of music.
“So it was a little bit of ego in there trying to find a way to bind fans together.
“It was an open window for people to see the album made from the very first note. Through a studio video they could see me getting wound up, depressed or happy. They could see it all.
“I’m lucky to have such dedicated fans. There is strong commitment from a lot of people and with this album they were committed just on faith and based on the last album.
“I am writing a thank you to them all. Being able to fund me making this album, I am now able to give an album to a record label (BMG).
‘I have given myself so much pressure’
“Although I won’t see any money from it, they will promote me globally, and that means bigger gigs. The reward will be getting albums released in other areas.”
His current mindset is in stark contrast to the times he was unable to look ahead or leave the house.
Numan says: “I’ve had my ups and downs but things are going well for me.
“I will be touring this album to the end of 2018 then that’d be a good time to start the next one. Then maybe I’ll get this book finished.
“I need to finish it as it feels like a cop out that I’ve not been able to turn it into a cohesive story yet — even though the album is really that.
“I talk about it so much that I have given myself so much pressure. I want it to be a broad epic.
“For now I will just concentrate on this album as I am proud of what I’ve achieved.”
- Savage (Songs From A Broken World) is out on September 15.