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Gary Numan announces first ever acoustic tour for autumn 2023

14 April 2023, 13:02

By Tom Eames

Electronic icon Gary Numan has announced a special series of gigs that promises fans something very different.

The 'Cars' icon has revealed plans for a special acoustic tour for October 2023.

The unique concerts will see Gary Numan perform select songs from his 40+ years of music, giving fans a chance to experience a totally new sound in an intimate acoustic setting.

• Freddie Mercury's kindness revealed in heartwarming story from Gary Numan involving a Big Mac in Tokyo

The acoustic tour follows his album Intruder reaching number two in 2021, and the paperback release of his autobiography (R)EVOLUTION .

Tickets go on sale on Friday, April 21 at 9am from here .

Hey Gary Numan fans! @numanofficial has just announced a very special UK acoustic tour this October ❤️ Tickets on sale Friday 21st April at 9am via https://t.co/zuvjCN5VGk pic.twitter.com/qd5D656sB8 — gigsandtours (@gigsandtours) April 13, 2023

The tour dates are:

• October 8th           Newcastle, Wylam Brewery
• October 9th           Glasgow, St Lukes
• October 10th         Birmingham, Town Hall
• October 11th         Bristol, St George’s
• October 13th         Brighton, St George’s Church
• October 14th         Manchester, Cathedral
• October 16th         London, Hackney Church
• October 17th         London, Hackney Church

Gary Numan is currently celebrating his 1,000th solo show with a series of gigs at London's Electric Ballroom venue.

He is being supported on the tour by his daughter Raven Numan, who is currently working on her debut album.

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Gig review: gary numan, acoustic, at birmingham town hall (10th october 2023).

When it was announced earlier this year that Gary Numan was doing an acoustic tour, I knew it would be something special. His music is known for industrial and synth sounds, so there is a lot of interest in these shows. Which songs will make the set list and how do they translate into acoustic versions? With drums, two guitars, a bass guitar, double bass and keyboard, not forgetting Gary’s unique voice, Numan and co. delivered a brilliant performance. I actually preferred it to the Intruder show I saw last year – which was a great show, but the acoustic one had a happier, more relaxed vibe. Maybe it was because Gary chatted to the audience in between songs, something he is not known for. He laughed about how ‘miserable’ his songs generally are, described the inspiration behind the songs and some shout-outs to his family, who are very much a part of his music. This was all punctuated by the inevitable shouts of ‘Nu-maaaan’ from the audience.

Backtracking for a moment, there was no support act. Instead, there was a screen showing about half an hour of Gary’s Wembley show from last year, which mostly had different songs to the acoustic set. I think this was a good idea as it made everyone even more excited to see him in person and was also a reminder of what the full sound was like and how energetic the band are, as a contrast with what we were about to experience. It was admittedly odd to see Gary, Steve and Tim seated the whole time instead of swooping around the stage.

The opening track was ‘When the World Comes Apart’, which was an excellent omen. The rhythm is quite fast and the twanging guitars helped it keep that mean edge. This was followed by: ‘You Are in My Vision’, ‘Stories’, ‘For the Rest of My Life’, ‘The Life Machine’, ‘Metal’, ‘I Am Screaming’, ‘The Machman,’ ‘Lost’, ‘Walking with Shadows’, ‘Ghost Nation’, ‘Everyday I Die’, ‘Down in the Park’, ‘Crime of Passion’, ‘Bleed’, ‘And It All Began With You’, ‘Jo the Waiter’; for the encore ‘Cars’ and ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ This was an ambitious selection of songs. Some of the choices were what you might expect, particularly the ballad-type or very early guitar-based ones, but some were a surprise. ‘Metal’, for example, is a very electronic-sounding track but they made it work beautifully and it just might be my favourite of the whole evening. You probably won’t believe me when I say that ‘Cars’ was a surprise, but I’d assumed that it was too electronic and iconic to touch. Gary explained that Steve had an idea of how to go about it, so if we didn’t like this version, that’s who to blame! I really liked this re-working of a much-played classic, so well done Steve.

The sound in the venue was excellent and so was the lighting, which used colour and strobe effects to enhance the mood of the music and even reflected off the enormous pipes of the organ above the stage. I don’t normally take photos at gigs (mainly because they always come out blurry!) but I had to capture the lighting. Note the deep blue during ‘Lost’ which suggests the melancholy of the piece, the eerie green which matches the creepiness of ‘Down in the Park’ and the starry white strobe lighting for the final showstopper ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (or should that be, acoustic?)

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4 thoughts on “Gig review: Gary Numan, Acoustic, at Birmingham Town Hall (10th October 2023)”

Been a fan since 79 and it was amazing to see this acoustic show. I was at this show and chatted with Gary on the afternoon…

It was such a brilliant performance! Glad you loved the show, wasn’t it a good atmosphere? That’s cool you talked to Gary, he seems like a great person who likes to meet the fans. I’m sure I’d be too star-struck to talk to him!

Are these your photos? Amazing! I love the lights and the stage. Sounds like this was a memorable performance.

Yes these are mine! I was in the circle so I had a good view. It was wonderful and a really good atmosphere.

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Gary Numan announces first-ever acoustic tour

Gary Numan is ditching the electronics as he prepares to head out on his first-ever acoustic tour. 

The Are ‘Friends’ Electric? hitmaker – who recently played the 1,000th concert of his decades-spanning career – will embark on his latest venture this October. 

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Gary numan announces 2024 us tour dates with ministry and front line assembly, gary numan announces three-night residency at london’s electric ballroom.

Something a little different (for me anyway) is coming. In October I’ll be playing an 8 date acoustic tour in the UK. Pre sale tickets will be available at 9am on April 19th. https://t.co/0LHwSIp985 pic.twitter.com/u07jPrDzn3 — Gary Numan (@numanofficial) April 14, 2023

The shows will offer the first opportunity to hear his classic hits stripped back in a live setting. 

In 2021, Numan returned to the UK charts with his 19th album ‘Intruder ’, which peaked at No. 2. 

Most recently, he released the paperback edition of his autobiography ‘ (R)EVOLUTION ’.

Tickets for Gary Numan’s acoustic tour go on general sale Friday, April 21 at 9am BST.

Connor Gotto

Founder and editor of RETROPOP. Self-proclaimed pop aficionado. Usually seen with a wine in hand.

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CONCERT REVIEW : GARY NUMAN ACOUSTIC TOUR – Saint Lukes Glasgow 9th October 2023

Gary Numan, the godfather of synth, the influencer of such luminaries as Trent Rezor has taken a huge leap and gone all acoustic on his latest mini tour… yes you read that correctly, Gary Numan is playing a totally acoustic tour!

If you’ve seen Gary’s live show in the last decade or so you’ll know how much of a leap this is and a huge risk.

Did it work? Read on to get the opinion on Scottish Music Network.

The venue, despite holding 650 people, is an intimate venue for Gary and his band. They are usually accompanied by a massive light show and the stage is awash with musicians who barely stay still for a second. It’s dark and it’s heavy with an air of foreboding so the leap to a small(ish) venue and a small stage and everyone on stage sitting down in a local folk band style is quite a challenge.

There was no support band as such; the preshow entertainment was a 30 minute sample of the forthcoming DVD from Gary’s Wembley shows earlier this year. This could also be considered a risk as Gary will be hoping to sell as many copies as possible to his fans but they will already have seen 30 minutes of it and the quality of the visuals from the projector was not of decent standard. The diehards will buy it (obviously) but any casual fans will, I wager, think twice… I hope I’m wrong.

To the show… The stage set up was comprised of seats for each band member and various acoustic guitars and other instruments. The small stage was crammed with very little spare space but lent itself to the intimate show promised by Gary and his band.

As the band took to the stage there was the usual Glasgow welcome for Gary… a deafening roar!

The 18 song set started with ‘When the World Comes Apart’ and the tone for the evening was set. It was a damn fine rendition of a classic song. The songs came from different eras of the Numan catalogue and the musicianship was completely on point.

There were some of the usual classics that he MUST play although he did say that he wasn’t going to play ‘Cars’!

Gary, despite being a very engaging man, isn’t known for speaking to the crowd (he is painfully shy at times). However, he spoke in the gaps between most of the songs and explained the thought process or reasons behind the songs. This was a nice touch and befitting for an acoustic tour. His wife, Gemma, was sitting up in the balcony and, even from that distance, they interacted with each other (by interacting I mean Gemma was shouting to him and grinned with embarrassment). They have been a rock for each other over the years and their love for each other absolutely shone throughout the shouting and song explanations.

The show ended on an absolute high for all in attendance as firstly they played ‘Joe the Waiter’ followed by ‘Are Friends Electric’. The crowd involvement on the final song was fantastic and then it was over.

Witnessing the show and speaking to fans afterwards it was unanimous…

The Gary Numan acoustic experience was a huge gamble that paid off and then some.

He seems to be able to do no wrong and the Midas touch continues to bless him.

Photographs & Review by John Brown 

Author: Admin_SMN

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Gary Numan: Acoustic Tour

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Ahead of his 1000 th live performance this weekend; Electronic pioneer, revered songwriter and renowned musician Gary Numan has announced a very special acoustic tour for October 2023.

These unique concerts will see Gary perform select songs from his vastly acclaimed repertoire giving fans a chance to experience a whole new sound in an intimate acoustic setting.

Since coming to prominence with era-defining hits such as ‘Cars’ and ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (with Tubeway Army ), Gary Numan has remained consistently creative and released a huge catalogue of work. His impact on electronic and alternative music has been hailed by pioneers such as Prince , David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails and remains impactful today and in 2017 , h e was rewarded with the prestigious Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novellos . The acoustic tour also follows a wealth of critical acclaim in support of his #2 album Intruder and the paperback release of his remarkable and candid autobiography (R)EVOLUTION .

Doors: 7pm Film (35mins): 7:30pm Interval: 8:05pm Gary Numan: 8:30pm Estimated Finish: 10pm

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Gary Numan Announces Acoustic Tour 2023

Ahead of his 1000th live performance this weekend; Electronic pioneer, revered songwriter and renowned musician Gary Numan has announced a very special acoustic tour for October 2023. These unique concerts will see Gary perform select songs from his vastly acclaimed repertoire giving fans a chance to experience a whole new sound in an intimate acoustic setting.

Tickets go on sale Friday 21st April at 9am HERE.

Since coming to prominence with era-defining hits such as ‘Cars’ and ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (with Tubeway Army), Gary Numan has remained consistently creative and released a huge catalogue of work. His impact on electronic and alternative music has been hailed by pioneers such as Prince, David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails and remains impactful today and in 2017, he was rewarded with the prestigious Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novellos. The acoustic tour also follows a wealth of critical acclaim in support of his #2 album Intruder and the paperback release of his remarkable and candid autobiography (R)EVOLUTION.

GARY NUMAN ACOUSTIC TOUR 2023

October 8th           Newcastle, Wylam Brewery

October 9th           Glasgow, St Lukes

October 10th         Birmingham, Town Hall

October 11th         Bristol, St George’s

October 13th         Brighton, St George’s Church

October 14th         Manchester, Cathedral

October 16th         London, Hackney Church

October 17th         London, Hackney Church

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Past Events

Here are the most recent UK tour dates we had listed for Gary Numan. Were you there?

• Sun 9 Jun London, The Roundhouse Gary Numan
• Sat 8 Jun London, The Roundhouse Gary Numan
• Thu 6 Jun Manchester, O2 Ritz Gary Numan
• Wed 5 Jun Manchester, O2 Ritz Gary Numan
• Tue 4 Jun O2 Academy Liverpool Gary Numan
• Mon 3 Jun O2 Academy Leeds Gary Numan
• Sat 1 Jun Nottingham, Rock City Gary Numan
• Fri 31 May Birmingham, O2 Institute Gary Numan
• Thu 30 May O2 Academy Bournemouth Gary Numan
• Tue 28 May Cardiff, Tramshed Gary Numan
• Mon 27 May O2 Academy Bristol Gary Numan
• Sat 25 May London, The Roundhouse Gary Numan
• Fri 24 May Manchester, O2 Ritz Gary Numan
• Thu 23 May Newcastle upon Tyne, NX Newcastle Gary Numan
• Thu 23 May Newcastle upon Tyne, O2 City Hall Newcastle Gary Numan
• Tue 21 May Glasgow, SWG3 Gary Numan
• Tue 21 May O2 Academy Glasgow Gary Numan
• Mon 20 May Sheffield, Leadmill Gary Numan
• Sun 19 May Norwich, UEA Gary Numan
• Fri 17 May Belfast, The Telegraph Building Gary Numan
• Fri 17 May Belfast, The Limelight Gary Numan

October 2023

• Tue 17 Oct London, Hackney Church Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Mon 16 Oct London, Hackney Church Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Sat 14 Oct Manchester Cathedral Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Fri 13 Oct Brighton, St Georges Church Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Wed 11 Oct St George's Bristol Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Tue 10 Oct Birmingham Town Hall Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Mon 9 Oct Glasgow, Saint Luke's Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Sun 8 Oct Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Wylam Brewery Gary Numan Acoustic Tour
• Thu 25 May → Sun 28 May Walton On Trent, Catton Hall Bearded Theory's Spring Gathering 2023 Interpol, Primal Scream, Gogol Bordello, Gary Numan, Echo & the Bunnymen…
• Thu 13 Apr → Sat 15 Apr London, Electric Ballroom Gary Numan

August 2022

• Thu 4 Aug → Sun 7 Aug Blackpool Winter Gardens Rebellion Festival 2022 Levellers, Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Anti-Flag, Misty In Roots…
• Fri 20 May O2 Academy Sheffield Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Thu 19 May O2 Academy Leicester Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Wed 18 May Manchester, Albert Hall Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Mon 16 May Nottingham, Rock City Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Sun 15 May Norwich, UEA Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Sat 14 May Northampton, Royal & Derngate Theatre Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Thu 12 May O2 Academy Leeds Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Wed 11 May Newcastle upon Tyne, O2 City Hall Newcastle Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Tue 10 May O2 Academy Glasgow Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Mon 9 May O2 Academy Edinburgh Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Sat 7 May London, OVO Arena, Wembley Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Fri 6 May Plymouth Pavilions Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Thu 5 May O2 Academy Bournemouth Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Tue 3 May O2 Academy Liverpool Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Mon 2 May Birmingham, O2 Institute Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Sun 1 May Brighton Centre Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Sat 30 Apr O2 Academy Bristol Gary Numan Divine Shade
• Thu 28 Apr Cardiff University SU Gary Numan Divine Shade

August 2021

• Fri 20 Aug → Sun 22 Aug Nr Fairmile, Beautiful Days Festival Beautiful Days 2021 Frank Turner, James, Levellers, Gary Numan, New Model Army…
• Fri 30 Jul → Sun 1 Aug Giffnock, Rouken Glen Park Playground Festival 2021 Underworld, James, Leftfield (DJ Set), Hot Chip, Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5…
• Thu 17 Jun Online / Streaming Events Gary Numan: Intruder Online Concert

November 2020

• Wed 4 Nov Online / Streaming Events A Night In With Gary Numan

October 2020

• Mon 19 Oct Online / Streaming Events Gary Numan: Live Q&A

September 2020

• Sat 5 Sep Cheltenham Racecourse Gary Numan
• Fri 4 Sep Newmarket Racecourse Gary Numan
• Wed 2 Sep Potters Bar, Colesdale Farm Gary Numan
• Tue 1 Sep Birmingham, Resorts World Arena Gary Numan

August 2020

• Sun 30 Aug Milton Keynes, The National Bowl Gary Numan
• Fri 28 Aug Bristol Filton Airport Gary Numan
• Thu 27 Aug University of Bolton Stadium Gary Numan
• Wed 26 Aug Liverpool, Central Docks Gary Numan
• Mon 24 Aug Edinburgh, Royal Highland Centre Gary Numan
• Sun 23 Aug Darlington, Teeside International Airport Gary Numan
• Fri 21 Aug The Leeds East Airport Gary Numan
• Thu 20 Aug Lincolnshire Showground Gary Numan

October 2019

• Fri 25 Oct London, The Roundhouse Gary Numan, KANGA
• Thu 24 Oct London, The Roundhouse Gary Numan, KANGA
• Tue 22 Oct O2 Academy Bristol Gary Numan, KANGA
• Mon 21 Oct O2 Academy Bournemouth Gary Numan, KANGA
• Sat 19 Oct Birmingham, O2 Institute Gary Numan, KANGA
• Fri 18 Oct Nottingham, Rock City Gary Numan, KANGA
• Thu 17 Oct O2 Academy Leicester Gary Numan, KANGA
• Tue 15 Oct Coventry, hmv Empire Gary Numan, KANGA
• Mon 14 Oct Hull University Gary Numan, KANGA
• Sat 12 Oct O2 Academy Leeds Gary Numan, KANGA
• Fri 11 Oct O2 Academy Sheffield Gary Numan, KANGA
• Thu 10 Oct Manchester, Albert Hall Gary Numan, KANGA
• Tue 8 Oct Norwich, UEA Gary Numan, KANGA
• Mon 7 Oct Cambridge Corn Exchange Gary Numan, KANGA
• Sat 5 Oct O2 Guildhall Southampton Gary Numan, KANGA
• Fri 4 Oct Southend-on-Sea, Cliffs Pavilion Gary Numan, KANGA
• Thu 3 Oct Cardiff, Tramshed Gary Numan, KANGA
• Tue 1 Oct Northampton, Roadmender Gary Numan, KANGA

September 2019

• Mon 30 Sep O2 Academy Liverpool Gary Numan, KANGA
• Sat 28 Sep O2 Academy Glasgow Gary Numan, KANGA
• Fri 27 Sep Aberdeen, The Beach Ballroom Gary Numan, KANGA
• Thu 26 Sep Newcastle upon Tyne, NX Newcastle Gary Numan, KANGA
• Tue 24 Sep Worthing, Assembly Hall Gary Numan, KANGA
• Mon 23 Sep Bexhill-on-Sea, De La Warr Pavilion Gary Numan, KANGA

January 2019

• Wed 16 Jan London, Queen Elizabeth Hall Gary Numan
• Tue 15 Jan Manchester, The Stoller Hall Gary Numan

November 2018

• Tue 20 Nov Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Mon 19 Nov London, Royal Albert Hall Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Sun 18 Nov London, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Sat 17 Nov Manchester, Bridgewater Hall Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Thu 15 Nov Newcastle upon Tyne, O2 City Hall Newcastle Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Tue 13 Nov Birmingham, Symphony Hall Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra
• Mon 12 Nov Cardiff, St David's Hall Gary Numan, The Skaparis Orchestra

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GARY NUMAN's Steve Harris: Skirts, Lippy and Playing the Albert Hall with a £70 Guitar!

Published on 15 December 2023

Gary Numan is an icon of darkly epic, electronically infused rock music. For over 40 years, this synth pioneer has defined and redefined the landscape of industrial rock, inspiring the likes of Trent Reznor and Beck in the process.

The last five or six years have been a real golden period for Numan, with 2017’s Savage record reaching number 2 in the UK album charts. He’s been riding high ever since, touring the world a number of times and releasing the similarly acclaimed Intruder album.

A fun curveball was thrown earlier this year when Numan announced a UK-wide acoustic tour, the first such tour he’s ever conducted. For somebody hailed as the Godfather of Synth-rock, this is not what anybody expected, but the ensuing shows proved to be a massive success, with old songs and newer numbers rubbing shoulders in some quite radically altered ways.

At Numan’s side throughout all of this since the mid 90s is Steve Harris, his guitarist. Steve is a familiar sight to all Numan fans, with his tall frame and distinctly alien-sounding guitar tones framing and punching through Gary’s epic synths. I’ve long-since wanted to chat with Steve, to see what life is like from his perspective, and to find out more about how he got into the band. We don’t often get to hear from Steve, so this was a special opportunity to get a unique, inside take of life in Gary’s band. 

I've interviewed Gary before, around the time of Savage's release, but I'd not yet spoken to Steve. The time felt right to reach out!

Happily, Steve was happy to talk to me after the acoustic tour concluded, and we had ourselves a nice long Zoom chat in November, discussing everything from fuzz pedals to pawn shop Hohners. We talk about his relationship with Gary, how he handles being on tour, and the importance of recognising the underdog. 

(Photo: Will Wilson)

Early Days: From Jesus Christ Superstar to Gary Numan

Steve’s machines: pedals & amps, steve’s guitarmory, touring life, and 20 years knowing gary numan, acoustic tour, theatricality and putting on a show.

Guitarguitar: For the sake of our narrative today, Steve, could you fill us in on your background as a musician, and how you got in touch with Gary Numan?

Steve Harris: It’s all a bit hazy for me, really. I had a pretty directionless youth. I just didn’t have a clue what I was doing! I worked in a fairground, I worked cleaning toilets, then I got a job with the local council but I used to sit in the office, look at people and hate them ( laughs )! I was just thinking ‘You fucking love this, don’t you?’ The hierarchy and everything, just awful! But I’d started playing: in Portsmouth, where I grew up, there was a great community there and one guy especially: we’d go round in the evening and there’d be up to six guitar players sitting around there, smoking, putting on tunes and passing the guitar around. I was by far the youngest and I learned from everybody there, just what was making people go ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’, that sort of thing.

I started playing in bands down there - I was playing in a country band for a while - and a guitar player in a studio I went to broke his wrist. He was in a blues band and they asked me if I wanted to do it. It was so far over my head but I just said yes anyway. That was my first tour, and from that, the MD (musical director) in the studio did musicals, so I got the offer of doing Jesus Christ Superstar for 5 weeks! I only had three weeks of annual leave left, so I just handed my notice in! ( laughs ) That was that! Off I went!

I couldn’t read music either, but one of my mum and dad’s record collection was the original studio version of Jesus Christ Superstar, with Ian Gillen as Jesus, Murray Head, all these people. I absolutely loved that album, so I kinda knew it. From there I did lots of pantomimes & things in the pit orchestra. Through doing those, I met a drummer who was playing in a fairly well-renowned band called FBI in London. Their guitar player was moving on so I got a job with them and moved up to London.

The London scene at the time was rife: I mean, I loved down the road from Darren Mooney, the drummer in Primal Scream. He was playing in a covers band. All these people, apart from their prestige gigs, they’re all hammering away in pubs at night, you know? That’s where I met Dave Brooks from Gary’s band. And Rob Harris - the guitar player before me - he got the job with Jamiroquai, and so Dave said to me “Do you want to come along and step in at a rehearsal?” 

So that was how I met Gary. I went there, absolutely shitting myself just because of the enigma that is ‘Gary Numan’ and we went straight into rehearsal. He kind of - well, it sounds like I’m bigging myself up - but he’s a great judge of character, he’s always had really lovely people around him. It doesn’t matter to him whether you’ve got a name for yourself, it’s just how good are you, and how easy are you to get along with. I didn’t know it, but I was rehearsing for the tour from day one!

GG: Wow! Now, is that sort of 1997-8 kind of time?

SH: I think it was 97?

GG: So, you’ve been with Gary mostly since then, is that right?

SH: Well I had a lot of time off because I played with a couple of other bands. I played with a band called Archive, and I did about 5 albums with them. Absolutely huge in mainland Europe, like we were headlining festivals. One festival we did was My Chemical Romance, then Deftones, then us with an orchestra.

GG: Oh wow, that’s huge!

SH: Yeah ( laughs ) it was a big one in Paris, yeah.

GG: Holy shit! Apologies for not knowing that: even when I was researching, the name ‘Archive’ didn’t really jump out at me. It must be that British people aren’t so clued up on it, eh?

SH: They couldn’t get arrested over here! Funnily enough, I stopped playing with them around 2013 to do full time with Gary. They were ever-evolving, it was more like a collective. They’ve always come from a more electronic, DJ, sampling background and they were getting much more into that. The two guys singing both played the guitar, so there was not an awful lot of point for me to be there. Thank the lord Gary welcomed me back to the fold! I owe Gary a huge debt of gratitude.

GG: Well, you’re obviously the right man for the job! 

SH: Maybe it’s better the devil you know! ( laughs )

GG: That could be more true than you might think, haha! So, you mentioned how Archive is largely an electronic band. This is true of much of Gary’s music as well. As much as it’s presented as a live rock band with guitars, bass and an acoustic drum kit etc, in terms of the listening experience on the record, it’s very much electronic music with guitars and things on it. That’s not your average gig as a guitar player, and you’ve recorded on a number of his records, from Pure onwards, if I’m not mistaken?

SH: I think it’s before then, but we’re both in the same boat here a bit hazy with dates! For me, this whole journey is about tomorrow, it really is. I’ve got a little cabin at the end of the garden and there’s a corner of it all stacked up with photos, people have done paintings of me, and there’s a few gold discs and things like that…I would NEVER put them on the wall! It’s just not about that. The best thing in the world is: I’m in the band! I don’t need to show people; I don’t need to remind myself, but it’s because I am! That’s fantastic, but if I’m shit tomorrow, I will feel awful. I won’t think ‘Well, I’ve been great all this time’.

Anyway, that’s why I don’t know specific dates: I’m always working for tomorrow, you know?

GG: Sure, that’s a good answer! And that old cliche ‘you’re only as good as your last gig’ applies there. It’s a cliche because it’s true, right?

SH: Absolutely true, yeah. Getting back to what you were saying about the electronic side of things, I’ve smarted a little bit in the past where I’ve gone into the studio and of course the mix that I have is Yours Truly and a little bit of tinkling in the background ( laughs ), you know? Then of course there’s a feed from the pedalboard and everything, and then there’s the dry feed. Ade Fenton the producer, he puts all his toys onto that, and sometimes - for the betterment of the track - it ends up sounding like white noise! I have to be told what is guitar, sometimes.

GG: Even though you played it!

SH: Yeah! But more recently, the last album ( Intruder ), it’s fairly bold. I was much more pleased with the mix on that. But I sat down and watched Gary on Top of the Pops. It’s his name on the ticket, it’s his name above the door. I’m not gonna start complaining about getting up in the mix. 

GG: That’s really interesting about how Ade gets his hands on your guitar parts, as of course ultimately he’s gonna do, given that he’s producing. My take on this one is: if you’re playing an old-school boogie-woogie blues tune and you’ve got your vintage Strat and your Tweed amp, there's an expectation there of a sound. Guitar players are way more conservative, generally speaking, than we want to let on. The oeuvre that you’re working in isn’t really like that, because it's forward thinking, much like your attitude as you described it a second ago. It’s mainly about futuristic sounds that aren’t necessarily indicative of guitars in themselves, even though guitars are creating them. Do you approach it like: there’s a certain space and frequency, how do you fill it? Or does Gary want you to do a certain thing? How does your performance actually percolate?

SH: It’s very much that. Over the years, I’ve kindred of painted myself into a corner when it comes to what I’m known for doing. It’s very effected stuff. Sometimes I used to have the Eventide H9 blazing away, and then I’d have an octaver on that, then I’d swamp it in reverb and always cock the wah and filter it backwards and forwards. And maybe I might be holding a chord and then sliding octaves. By the time you do that, and it’s in the mix, you’d never know it was a guitar.  

I’m really proud of that part of my playing to tell you the truth, because there’s no ego involved with any of it. I’ve just done a couple of sessions remotely for a couple of people, and they’ve both been fairly heavy, so I’ll double the riff, then do a couple of bits and pieces to slightly change the cadence of the sound. Then once I’ve done the meat and potatoes, it’s into the Eventide and I get the most ridiculous little ice cream van sound and just fit it in there. For me, that’s it. Send! And I’m really happy, mainly because of that sound. You’d never have that in a tune like that! It works every time for me. I love thinking that way. People want the doubled riff, but it’s the other bit - the bit that doesn’t sound like a guitar - that's sort of my unique selling point. People can throw anything at me and I’ll try as hard as I can.

GG: I love that! I’m interested in specifics - and it’s up to you of course how much you feel like sharing - about your sound. I wouldn’t mind knowing what’s on your pedalboard, basically haha! And also, are you going into an amp normally, or are you DI’ing?

SH: Well I’ve tried so many setups because I’m always reading about things, checking out different equipment and stuff. I took the big leap into Axe-FX maybe about six or seven years ago. It wasn't instant, but it didn’t take long for me to think: what are you doing? I love having knobs when I’m playing away, if the sound just needs a little bit more. A little tweak there, you know? So I’ve had the Axe-FX, I’ve got an HX Stomp, and it feels really dishonest when you’re getting it all from a little box like that.

At the moment, the pedalboard that I’ve just dismantled does have the HX Stomp on it, but I always have an amp and cab. I just can’t get my head round the FRFR, so I’d always have to have something on stage: even when I use in-ear monitors, I have one in, one out. People try to build ambience into their in-ear monitors, but just pop one out: there it is! ( laughs )

So, I’ve got a buffer at the front and the end and then I’ve started going into wah first - unless I’ve got a fuzz, then I’ll go to fuzz first - and then into a tuner, because a lot of tuners have got buffers in them and they’ll push the front of your wah pedal and your fuzz as well. Then I’ve got this secret for the wall of sound which I can’t use live because it’s uncontrollable, but it’s a pedal called a Sustain Punch Creamy Dreamer. I’ve had it for maybe 15 years. It’s one of these ones when you open the back of it. It’s covered in gloop and I think it was something to do with your man from Smashing Pumpkins, his Russian Big Muff. That’s what this guy has tried to capture in this pedal and it really is uncontrollable, but it’s great! 

So yeah, I go into that, and then drives. Before I came onto this interview, I was looking for drive pedals. It’s a never ending heartache, it really is! I’ve got a Boogie V-Twin pedal. I used the Rectifier sound on the HX Stomp as a dirt pedal. I used to have a 5150 - the distortion out of that is amazing - but then of course the whole trend was to downsize and I got rid of it. Wish I had it back now! At the moment I’ve got a Soldano SLO pedal which is pretty pokey. I’ll use three flavours of distortion: a verse, a chorus and then if there’s any sort of lead passage, I use something else for that as well.

GG: Would you tend to have each of those pedals set to ten and just have them on and off one at a time, or do you stack the gains together?

SH: I’ve stacked the Earthquaker Plumes into the Soldano before. I quite like - just because of the logistics of dancing around like a loony on stage - you don't wanna be doing a double tap, so I try to keep it separate. I don;t know if the audience would particularly know if I had one going into another!

So I come out of that, and I’ve always got an octave divider of some sort. My go to is the Electro-Harmonix Epitome, which has a reverb, a chorus and a Micro Pog in it. Then the H9, which has been a friend to me, that one has. There are some songs I can’t do without it!

As far as delay goes, I’ve tried loads and loads, I’ve got the BOSS RE-202 which is great for the studio, but DD-7 all the time! It’s got the knobs on it and the knobs are where you left them, you know? I’ve got a tap tempo plugged into that, and I go into a Strymon Flint and the way I’ve got it set up, I’ve got the big ambient reverbs, but I can always flip on the tremolo at the end. On one tour, I had a DD-6 on the end, just for the very end of the set. You turn the repeats all the way up and go (makes atonal guitar noise, followed by lots of repeats), you do the mic drop and off you go! ( laughs )

GG: It has to be done! That’s really interesting: there’s this trend with the last three or four people I’ve spoken to for work, all quite individual payers, and they all prefer the BOSS DD Digital Delay pedals over the fancy stuff they were using three or four years before. It seems that you can’t beat them for their functionality. It’s also hard to find a delay pedal that does that trick when you set it really fast and it goes Br-r-r-r-r-r-r but then you can turn it off and the tails stop! Maybe it’s more creative because it’s not trying hard to be 12 different things?

SH: I keep on getting drawn into that trap, drawn in and then I buy more stuff and instantly think: how am I going to tell my wife that I don’t need this any more? It’s tragic, but great fun! ( laughs ) I took the DD-500 on tour, and half way through the tour, went and bought a DD-7. 

GG: Quite right! So, let’s talk guitars then. Over the years I’ve seen you with a Hagstrom 335-style, I;ve seen a strange looking Hohner and a new kind of offset guitar that I don’t know anything about.

SH: I’ve got a Goldtop, a VOS 1957 reissue. I was a Telecaster man all the time, absolutely loved them. Then I sold all the shit guitars that I had and got this Goldtop, and it’s all I used, it’s a brilliant guitar, really lovely. 

But then I had this thing where. True to form, when you look at certain genres of music, it’s PRS, ESP, lots of Les Pauls, lots of Les Paul shapes. I just didn’t want to be like that! I haven’t got hair (laughs), I’m not that guy: I want to be weird. I want to be as different as I can in any way, so I think originally I was using an Epiphone Dot 335 and I was using new electrics, new pickups, the whole thing. I really liked that, and then I think I went on to the Hagstron because I wanted the least ‘rock’ guitar you could possibly have for that situation.

I wanted it to look unusual, so I was happy using that for a while but then I really love the offset shape. Walking past a pawnbrokers in Epsom, actually - just around the corner from the GG store - there was this Hohner hanging up there! Unique, four string Hohner as it was! It’s from the mid-80s and it had three single coils and a really strange circuit that was EQ’d to sound like humbuckers or single coils. I love the shape of it and I’ve still got it but I’ve changed it to two humbuckers, and I’ve put a Wilkinson trem on it.

I used that at the Albert Hall: it cost me £70! I probably spent about £800 getting it sorted.

GG: Steve, see even before you go on further, I love this so much: the fact that you’ve got a VOS ‘57 Les Paul Goldtop, and you left it at home and brought the seventy quid Hohner to the Albert Hall gig. I think that’s so rock ‘n’ roll, I absolutely love that! That’s one of the best things I’ve heard in months!

SH: I swear, that means a lot for some reason. I love underdogs and things, I love, like ‘right: let’s see what we can do with this’. You know, we’re gonna tour with Ministry soon and we toured with them at the start of this year. The two guitar players in Ministry have got Kempers, Wizard amps, 4x12’s, the Flying W guitars and I’m not badmouthing them because they’re A: lovely people and B: really fucking good players as well. I took a Victory Duchess, valve front end, solid state 180 watt, the H9 and the HX Stomp. We were the middle band there, and I didn’t want people to be dragging a zoo of stuff. So I kinda carried it all with me, and it worked a treat! But I’ve always been a ‘let’s see what we can get out of this’ person. That’s always been my thing. Not the shittest gear, it always has to be good, but I poured love into that guitar and I love it.

GG: And it’s unique, and it dodges the cliche, doesn’t it?

SH: Yeah, yeah. We were rehearsing in Brighton for some shows once and I was reading a magazine, I can’t remember which one it was, and it said about Trent guitars. This guy Elliott Trent,who’s based in Poole. I think he used to do real top end carpentry, and he’s an odd character, but yeah, he makes these guitars. At the time, I think he would make you a guitar from wood to finished guitar for about £900. Sure enough, he did.

GG: Wow! So that’s the other one I’m asking about, it’s a Trent.

SH: Yeah, I’ve got two of them now: the white one, which I had to ask him to put more meat in the neck when he was making it, because I love fat necks; and I’ve since taken it back to him. He now makes his own hardware in-house, so I’ve got him to put a tele bridge on it with three roller saddles. The white one’s got a humbucker in the back and a P90 in the front, and I’ve also got one that’s two P90s with a vibrato on it, which is just lovely.

GG: For the Numan gig, you need heavy sounds, and my own experience of P90s is that they can be noisy. Is that where noise gates and things come in handy for keeping all that at bay?

SH: Yeah, but I learned my lesson with noise gates, actually. For a hot minute there, I had it before the reverb and delay and that was disastrous, really. The gate on the HX stomp I use and yeah…the sound of a P90 though…I’d never really used them before. A P90 in the bridge with loads of dirt is ripping. Absolutely rips your face off, but not in a Strat bridge pickup way, or a Tele way: it’s really muscly and it’s very, very addictive.

GG: I need to go back to that, because one of my favourite players is Geordie Walker from Killing Joke ( note: this was a week or so prior to Geordie’s passing - Ray ) and he always uses that big old Gibson archtop…

SH: How does he do it? Is that a 175?

GG: It’s a 295, same build as a 175 but it’s gold, basically a big hollow thing!

SH: I know! How does he do it?

GG: It’s such a good sound, it’s everything you just described.

SH: I think half the thing is - and this is such an evolving thing for me - but heavy sounds don’t necessarily need loads of gain. The right EQ of a heavy sound is ball breaking, and that’s what he does. I used the one with the P90s for a lot of the Albert Hall gig, and take away that gain and there’s something about that internal sound that sounds heavy. It’s like being really detuned, or a baritone: a single clean note, get the sound right so you can still hear the note and it’s ‘oh!’

GG: For Gary’s stuff, is it mainly standard and Drop-D tuning?

SH: Yeah, we’ve done Drop-C as well, for a couple of tunes. Funnily enough, the two or three standard tuning ones stand out in the set because it’s so regularly Drop-D.

GG: So, I suppose one of the things I’d be interested in hearing about is: you’ve known Gary for over 20 years and been on plenty of tours with him. I wonder: what is touring life like and do you have a close relationship with Gary?

SH: Just after this acoustic tour, I took my family - I’ve got three kids - and we drove up to Scotland to stay with them for a week up there. Him and Gemma are such lovely, generous people. Gemma’s mad as a hatter. But as far as touring goes, on the bus there’s 12, sometimes 13 people. You’ve got your front of house…well, you know the score: lighting, tour manager. So it’s a kind of submarine etiquette that goes on!

There’s not a whole lot of time to sit and have conversations with people, you all scuttle off to your bunks and beds. But then in the dressing room, the day does have a natural gradient to it, where everybody’s on laptops, I’ll always go out and have a big walk about wherever I am. Then it starts ramping up, the support band goes on, and people start getting changed. There’s a bit of laughter, it ramps up, ramps up, and before you know it, you’re standing at the side of the stage and you’re a gang. You look around and it’s the lads, and it’s ‘fuck me, it’s Gary Numan! (laughs) That’s that bloke off the telly!’

When it comes to that situation, he’s in the gang. Leading up to that, he’s just somebody else. I think the best thing to do is just to move around as individuals. Let me ask you: have you ever been in a band for a certain amount of time, and you get really close, and there are these situations where there are people there, and you’re on stage and this gang has got to do the do. You come off and hug each other, high five, have a drink, and you do that for years and years. When that band splits up, or you go separate ways, you barely keep in touch with them, unless you join another band with them. It’s such a weird working relationship.

But yeah, Gary’s a sweetheart. When I first joined, he could be quite fiery and definitely more pronounced in the more odd areas. He’d fallen quite out of love with the industry, but over the years, moving to America and stuff, it’s come back to him and he absolutely loves it. But then, you know, you’ve got to fill a whole day up, day after day. This next tour we’re doing is 40 gigs, so you’re out there for a long time and you just do like you do in your house: you get on, you move around, you miss people, you don’t bump into them. The crescendo is the gig.

GG: Yeah, totally! Do you find that when you get back from big tours like that, do you ever get that kind of feeling at 7 o’clock when you look around and go ‘Am I not supposed to be somewhere?’

SH: The worst question is ‘what day is it?’ and that sort of thing! It’s such a weird life, you’d drive yourself mad if you tried to stay on top of it and take in everything that’s going on. It would blow your mind. For me, personally, the best thing is to let it happen, and be in it as it happens. As soon as it’s all over, you just go ‘Oh, I just want to do it again!’

GG: Now, of all of the artists to embark on an acoustic tour, Gary Numan is perhaps not the most obvious one. I went to the Glasgow show and I was surprised by how well the material translates to acoustic, and I loved the reworkings of some tunes, in particular, Cars. That was yourself who was responsible for that, right?

SH: Yeah! When Gary said about doing the tour, we’d had a go a couple of years ago during lockdown, so things like Metal were formulated then. We worked it out, recorded it, and that was that. For the set that we did for this tour, I knew that Cars was the thing: we’d never be able to do it! I just took it as a bit of a personal challenge. Instead of (hums the famous riff) - which you could never pull off on an acoustic, it would just sound shit - for every step of the riff, I made a chord from the note. Then the melody is sung over it in real time, while the music is half time, it just took on this new life! It turned it into this sad/pretty song, you know? Then my worry was whether I could say, ‘Actually Gary, I’ve got this version of Cars!’ We rehearsed for a week up in Scotland, and it wasn’t until the Wednesday when he was like ‘We’re obviously not gonna do Cars’ and I went ‘Well, I’ve got this idea…’ He went for it!

GG: It turned out amazingly!

SH: For someone who is naturally so far out of his comfort zone with that acoustic tour, I was just really happy that he was up for it. Instead of working back from big synth lines, we started from silence. Silence is the base line, you put one thing in there, and it’s big! So that was the thinking behind a lot of the tunes.

GG: That’s a really good way of looking at a lot of work: rather than sculpting away, you’re building up.

GG: I was trying to get eyes on what your acoustic guitar was, just for the article, and I couldn’t figure it out. What were you playing?

SH: Well, it was a Tanlgewood!

GG: Oh, cool!

SH: Yeah, they did a series - I don’t know if they still do it - that was called MasterDesign, and there’s a guy called Michael Sanden who is a master luthier. His guitars go for kind of Spot-the-ball prize money. Him and Tanglewood collaborated: he designed them, and they got them made. I know the guy at Tanglewood and got a great price on it, but never had much of an occasion to play it! A couple of times it came out for Jo the Waiter with Gary, but apart from that, I never had much reason to play it. Then when this acoustic tour came up, I thought, ‘Shit, I’d better start practising!’ About six weeks before, I was playing every day.

GG: You were doing some really nice things: it sounded like artificial harmonics on one of the tunes?

SH: Yeah, just again my attempt to sort of not do…my nightmare is the guy who can do any tune with three chords that you call out round a campfire. It just makes me want to stab my eyes out, it really does! So, I wanted to treat each song as differently as possible. If I could do something like that in a tune, repeated, repeated, it would just get under people’s skin, then that was how I’d approach it, yeah.

GG: It sounded beautiful! I wonder, the setlist was so interesting: did you guys rehearse any songs that just weren’t working in acoustic mode and just had to be dropped? 

SH: Most of the ones we rehearsed got into the set. There were about five songs that we could’ve done, they were doable, but they would be the live version of album filler. They just didn’t…I think if you’ve got two or three songs that have got the same kind of crescendo, or the same amount of power behind them in the studio version, then it’s difficult to make them different, you know?

GG: I know what you mean, yeah.

SH: So some that would’ve taken the wind out of others’ sails got dropped, leaving the others more powerful. None of the old ones: I think we could’ve stuck a few of the classics in there! But they were mainly ones from more recent albums. 

GG: Oh well, next time! One thing I wanted to touch on previously was the theatricality of the costumes and makeup. I was gonna ask if that was something you were up for and into, but then you told me that you started off with Jesus Christ Superstar, so is that theatricality just part of who you are as an artist?

SH: No, I’ve always wanted to be gay, I’m just not! ( laughs ) I’ve always prided myself in being a bit androgynous, but I’m just not! So,any opportunity I can get to put some makeup on and wear a skirt, I fucking love it! I used to have a Mohican, but ever since those artefacts are no longer at my disposal… Playing in front of especially a Ministry crowd, or if you do a festival, when it’s not your audience, when you go on and you look weird, these people been to work, had their dinner early, found a babysitter, driven their car, found somewhere to park, and are now standing like that: you’d better look or bring something different. The performance part of it is me trying to give value for money. I love it! I can’t stop doing that, I couldn’t stand still and do it. I love the skirts, I love when you get kind of narrow-minded, slightly bigoted people, and you can tease them with being a big bloke with a bit of lippy on, that sort of thing! I really like that!

It’s the same thing that made me use the Hohner at the Albert Hall!

SH: I sort of want to get on people’s nerves. It’s in us all: you seem like a lovely, peaceful bloke, but I bet there’s times when you wish you could ( screws up face and holds fists in the air ), you know?

GG: I think we have that in common, this desire to challenge and be a bit subversive when we can. There’s not that many instances in life where you can do that, and the stage is definitely one of those places where you can.

SH: And how weird is it, the thing you do when lots of people are looking at you? I wouldn’t dance in a nightclub: I wouldn’t even dance in front of my family! But when loads of people are looking at you, it’s like ‘what am I doing?’ It’s so free, I’ve never felt freer than I do doing that.

Steve and I spoke a little longer, about some ongoing reissue work of Gary’s mid-period records like the comeback Pure album (with updated sounds), and about his contribution to Numan’s daughter Raven’s debut record. Look out for Steve’s work on some upcoming work with Divine Shade in the new year, too.

The Numan tour with Ministry is in the middle of February, and then Gary’s new album will be finished later in the year. He’s a busy man!

My thanks go out to Steve for giving up his evening for us, to Dave Dupuis for putting us in touch, and to Will Wilson for his superlative photographs. Keep up with Gary Numan’s tour and releases by jumping onto the official Gary Numan website .

Head over to the guitarguitar Interview page for more exclusive interviews with artists such as Robin Finck , Reeves Gabrels and David Rhodes !

About the author

Features Editor

I'm a musician and artist originally from the South West coast of Scotland. I studied Visual Arts and Film Studies at...

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• GARY NUMAN ACOUSTIC TOUR

VARI-LITE VL5LEDs OFFER HIGH QUALITY KEY LIGHT FOR GARY NUMAN ACOUSTIC TOUR

When lighting designer David Howard needed dramatic washes and high-quality key lighting for Gary Numan’s acoustic tour, he selected VL5LED WASH luminaires from Vari-Lite, the originators of the modern moving head luminaire and Signify (Euronext: LIGHT) entertainment lighting brand.

For the production, Howard wanted to capture the feel of a traditional Gary Numan production, but in a design tailored to the acoustic set of this latest tour. “This stripped back acoustic tour still has the Numan DNA but is a very different presentation of these songs,” explains Howard. “The design needed to reflect this. Playing churches and other beautiful and nontraditional spaces meant a scalable design was required, something that worked well on camera but also brought the crowd into an intimate presentation of music.”

The artists are surrounded by light in an arced backdrop, which took inspiration from organs and other church architecture. “These venues had no discernible key light for the most part,” Howard says. “The VL5LED was selected specifically to act as the key source for face light because of the quality of its spectral output.”

“The show is soft, but also carries forth the electronic roots of the Numan sound in its programming,” Howard adds. “As part of the show, in lieu of a support band, film footage of previous Numan concerts play as a 30 minute opening piece. The VL5s were used exclusively to provide eye candy and beam work during this film, to immerse a live crowd in the footage of shows gone by.”

An important aspect of the design for Howard was the need for plenty of high-quality light. “It’s hard to describe why the whites from the VL5LED are superior to an RGBW source, but going from the depths and tones of a 2300k Tungsten or deeper candle light up to a snow white and cooler tones in the higher color temps really delivery a quality face light both on camera and in person. The power from a relatively small unit is also impressive. Six units were used as sidelight at around eight to fifteen percent and provided ample key light. The dimming at the low end is impressively smooth too.”

Asked if he would use the fixtures again, Howard replied, “Absolutely! This is high quality light for key work as well as a cool and vintage feeling effect in its face. The size weight and power make them a really nice unit to tour with, and the color depth in these units is the best I’ve ever experienced in an automated fixture.”

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