Life According to… Singer and author, Gary Numan

Singer, Gary Numan talks about his memoir, mistakes, comebacks and playing the Glasgow Apollo: 

What was your experience of writing your book, (R)evolution?

Originally it was written with a ghostwriter, as I had an album deadline, but I became really uncomfortable about not writing it. Five days before the deadline, as I was going through the corrections, I decided I had to write it myself and started from scratch.

Did you struggle to cope with overnight success?

It’s not the best way. Your whole world changes overnight and you make all your mistakes, your growing, your learning, while everyone’s watching. You find yourself on top of a mountain with none of the equipment you need to survive. I was essentially a solo act, I had Asperger’s, I was young, I’d no management and the record company had no previous success. I wrote everything, produced it, did the artwork, so every piece of attention came to me – as does all the good stuff, because it’s not all doom and gloom. But the negative side is more powerful, unfortunately.

Your first major tour began at the legendary Glasgow Apollo – what do you remember about that night?

It was really the first proper concert I did. I remember people in the street chasing after the bus when we arrived. It felt weird. I was really nervous. It was a massive building with a ridiculously high stage that would kill you if you fell off it. I remember the ear-splitting noise as I walked on, and I just tried to take it all in. The balcony moved so much, it was like it was on hydraulics. And the people at the front couldn’t see because the stage was so high, so they ran up the back.

You suffered a long career slump – did you think it was all over?

It was really bad from the mid-80s to 1992. The first 12 years or so of my career, the first couple were good, the others were grim. There’s a part of me who feels I deserved everything to get as bad as it did, because I made the wrong decisions, wrote the wrong songs, lost my sense of direction and lost whatever confidence I had to begin with. I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about it, because I was in charge of my career and not doing a good job. I steered myself into oblivion, but luckily I met my wife, who corrected a lot of my thinking, and I brought myself back to where I am now.

Why does playing Wembley Arena again mean so much?

Ever since 1994, every album I’ve released has done better than the one before, the last two especially so. Now I feel I’ve re-established myself and Wembley has become a bit of a symbol of the climb back, because that’s where I ruined it the first time, when I shot myself in both feet in 1981 (when he announced his retirement from playing live) and I feel it’s been about trying to get back to that level ever since. The virus might spoil things, but if I can do it, with my wife, kids and dad there, it would be the best day of my life.

Do you worry about when you’ll be able to tour again?

For most of us, touring is the lion’s share of our income. But it’s so impossible to plan – I’ve already rescheduled my British tour twice. We thought it would be next June but I don’t think we’ll be over this by then. Hopefully a vaccine will be ready but in terms of making people comfortable about going into a cramped building and being pushed up to thousands of other people, I can’t see confidence being there by June.

Gary Numan’s new autobiography, (R)evolution, is out now from Constable