ABORT Magazine™

EXCLUSIVE: 21 and Under With…GARY NUMAN

October 29th, 2010 Filed under: 21 & Under With..., Exclusive! by Editor in Chief

(Photo – Ed Fielding)

New Wave legend and the godfather of electronic music’s humble beginning, Gary Numan has taken a few breaks, but never stopped his mission to keep creating unique and diverse electronic music. Thirty-one years later he has strapped on the gear, loaded up the bus and has once again hit the road to give die-hard fans a complete live version of the classic album “The Pleasure Principle”, played in it’s entirety. ABORT Magazine’s E.S. Day spoke with Gary from Toronto to get an update on his current activities and on the recent incident where he lost his voice while playing in Atlanta.

1.     ABORT: We heard that you recently lost your voice, what’s the situation with that right now?

GARY NUMAN: It’s okay now. It vanished entirely on day two of the tour. I couldn’t even talk let alone sing anything. We had to cancel the Atlanta show, which was a real bummer for me. That’s the only show I’ve cancelled for health reasons in 31 years of touring, so it was a huge disappointment. For the next three shows I had to ask the audience to sing a few of the higher pitched songs that I still couldn’t get to, but since last week’s New York show it’s been okay.

2.  ABORT: “The Pleasure Principle Tour 2010” sees you going to Mexico for a few dates, any particular reason you chose Mexico rather than doing a string of South American dates?

GN: I don’t like being away from my children for too long. I usually limit touring to two-week segments these days for that reason. This tour is around three weeks, so I’m already pushing that limit some way. We had the option to extend the tour and go all across South America, but it would have been way too long away from them. They are only young and it’s not good to be away from them for too long, not for them or me. We intend to come back to South America next year.

3.    ABORT: Can we see Gary Numan doing any more appearances as you did when you performed “Metal” with Trent Reznor or maybe some surprise guests to appear on your current tour?

GN: It’s not something I plan for to be honest, but I’m happy if people want to come and join us for a song or two. The Nine Inch Nails thing evolved from a single guest appearance when they played London last year into also playing at the final four NIN shows in Los Angeles. That was an amazing experience. On this tour, we had Nash The Slash join us on stage in Toronto, which was very cool.

4.   ABORT: You will be heading back to the U.K. for a few dates, do you still find years later that a North American crowd are less or more receptive?

GN: I think they are pretty similar actually. A good crowd in North America makes the same kind of noise as a good crowd at home. Haven’t had any bad ones yet, so I guess I’ve been lucky.

5.   ABORT: Next studio album: When are we looking at as far as a release date and can we get a few producers names that are involved?

GN: It’s likely to be called Splinter and I’m working on it with Ade Fenton again, who worked on the last album Jagged. I hope to have it out by spring 2011 or soon after. We also have another album called Dead Son Rising that we have nearly finished. We are still unsure whether to release that as an album or move that music over into two film projects that are being put together at the moment.

6.   ABORT: This tour seems to be a solidified line-up of musicians, are you going to keep this troupe for recording as well?

GN: I don’t really use musicians much on the albums as I tend to play most things myself, along with Ade these days. Having said that, Tim Muddiman and Steve Harris have already contributed some great guitar and bass parts for some of the songs, but it’s not really a studio band, it’s a live band.

7.   ABORT: With the exception of the track listing, how does The Pleasure Principle 2009 DVD differ both visually and musically when compared to let’s say Jagged or Cold Warning DVD’s?

GN: The Pleasure Principle 2009 DVD and Jagged are not so different. Obviously the PP DVD has all the old PP songs on it, played in a very similar style to the 1979 originals, but the rest of the show is along the lines of the Jagged DVD. A few changes in band lineup perhaps and the lights are obviously different, but overall you can see it’s from a closer point in the band’s history than the Cold Warning DVD. That goes back to 1984, different look entirely, different sound entirely, different band entirely.

8.   ABORT: Best date on this tour so far and will we ever see Gary Numan doing a full or condensed Canadian tour?

GN: Best show so far has probably been Chicago. We played there with Recoil, Alan Wilder’s band, and had a great time. Sold out, fantastic crowd, amazing atmosphere. To be honest though, we haven’t had a bad night on the entire tour. It’s been the most enjoyable tour that I’ve played in North America for a very long time for a number of reasons. I do seem to have a problem with Canadian promoters, however. With the exception of Toronto, and even then their offer was the lowest on the tour by far and barely covered my costs for going there, no other Canadian promoter was interested. It is a bit frustrating because we sold out Toronto, and we have sold out shows in the majority of the other cities we have visited as well. To not be able to find a promoter in Montreal or Vancouver for example, historically two cities I would play in, that was interested in having me was very disappointing. Perhaps they will think again next time when they look at how well this tour has sold. From my point of view, I would love to play more shows in Canada.

ABORT: Thanks for your time Gary.

You can catch Gary Numan live for the following dates :

Sun      10/31               Seattle, WA                 Neumos

Mon     11/1                 Portland, OR               Roseland Theatre

Tue      11/2                 San Francisco, CA     Fillmore

Wed    11/3                 Los Angeles, CA         El Rey

Thu      11/4                 Los Angeles, CA         El Rey

For more tour dates and info go to:

numan.co.uk

By E.S. Day

WANT MORE EXCLUSIVES? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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EXCLUSIVE: 21 and Under With…HELLYEAH

October 9th, 2010 Filed under: 21 & Under With..., Exclusive! by Editor in Chief

(Photo – Dustin Wood)

It’s been a long couple of years for fans since Hellyeah’s first self titled album hit stores, but at long last the wait is over. Fresh off the release of their newest studio album, Stampede, the Hellyeah crew is running wild all over North America supporting Disturbed on this year’s Rockstar Uproar Festival. Guitarists Tom Maxwell and Greg Tribbett take a moment before the Vancouver show to sit and Talk with ABORT Magazine’s Matt Snow about the new album, life and “The Cowboy Way”.

Matt Snow: So I’m here with Tom and Greg from Hellyeah. How you guys doing today?

Tom Maxwell: Doin’ very well thank you.

ABORT: Awesome, Awesome. So just going to start off talking about the new album; Stampede. It’s great. Now since your first release, self titled in 2007, it seems like you’re getting a more defined kind of heavier sound going. Was this a real plan or was this just the way the song writing progressed having been with the guys for a while now.

Greg Tribbett: No I think it’s from us playing together you know. Even from the first record. To get back together. It was easier to come together and this record kind of, you know, Stampede is where basically the first record left off. We just kind of continued it. I mean, and the production is better on this record. You know, we did it a Vinnie’s (Drummer Vinne Paul) house. We had different guitar rigs set up you know, we just took a lot more time on this record feelinit, production wise. Otherwise the recording process was pretty simple man.

Tom: Pretty Simple man. A lot more organic because we did record at Vinnie’s house, but over to dime’s (Dimebag Darrell) house, took us about 25 minutes to get there, gotta get motivated to go, once you get there, you gotta get motivated to get started ya know what I mean? This was a bit more like ya wake up, eat, drink, go.

ABORT and just start jamming? Cool, that’s awesome. a great way to do it. Now one of the big tunes on this album is Cowboy way; I mean this seems like more than a song it’s like a real philosophy with the band right? How has this developed over the years? Where did this start and how does it pertain to yourself as artists?

Tom: Whatta ya mean like the mentality?

ABORT:Yeah it seems like more of a philosophy for the band.

Tom: I think it’s just a Friday night every night mentality. Like we don’t give a fuck ya know. Like Chad (Gray, Hellyeah vocalist) says it’s like we do this every day. Call us alcoholics, call us fucking white trash mother fuckers and he’s like you know I’m ok with that. It’s the cowboy fucking way

ABORT It’s just fun?

Tom: It’s just fun.

Gregg: ya, it’s fun. We’re just doin what we’re doing. And nobody gives a fuck. We’re just out to party, have a good time with our fans, put on a good show, rock our records and get visible.

Tom: we do this for ourselves. Know what I mean. I mean obviously the fans are, that’s what makes you, but you gotta be happy first.

ABORT: Exactly, and that’s awesome. Now, this is one I wanted to get on a little bit. You’ve all got your own projects and you’ve all got your own defined sounds. When you get in Hellyeah, there are certain things that are really just Hellyeah, but there are lots of things that ring true for the musicians that you were before. Is this something you’re really trying to preserve, you’re trying to keep those unique features or is it just Hellyeah.

Tom: I think it’s who we are. You know we can’t really shapeshift. I mean this band is, it does have its identity. It does have that sound, but we can’t really change the way that we are as guitar players. You kinda pull the harness back and do what’s appropriate for what we’re din, but we’re still gonna bring out the same nuances that we developed over the years and carried with us.

ABORT a chance to spread your wings in a different musical environment?

Tom: It’s like a football player shifting teams, know what I mean? It’s a different team, the plays are different, but it’s st:ill that guy. He’s still got his star quality about him. Know what I mean?

ABORT: Now this one is about the show here now. There’s a real eclectic mix of metal that’s being offered here today. How does being part of a larger festival compare to when you went out with Korn and a smaller group of bands. How does that compare to the all day nine band kind of thing?

Gregg: Well that’s the thing. It’s all day. (laughs) It’s all day, all night you know. Going out with Korn, it was us, I think it was just two bands going out with korn..

Tom: Five Finger (Five finger death punch)

Gregg: and that didn’t start till 7 o clock. This starts at 3 o clock in the afternoon sometimes. You know so, it’s an all day festival. Especially out with this lineup, this is a pretty big lineup to be out with. Disturbed, Avenged (Sevenfold), stone sour. Plus everybody’s got new records out, new music out, so it’s a good tour man.

Tom: Plus everybody on tour has got a single on radio. You know, it’s not like bands that are unheard off. Every band on the jagermeister stage, the second stage and they’ve got a single on the radio. So it’s pretty cool man.

ABORT: Awesome! And it is a huge lineup and it’s really nice that everyone has a brand new album that they’re pushing. It’s really bringing people out.

Tom: Yeah

Gregg: Totally

ABORT: Quick question about touring. Has there been any bands that you’ve been listening to lately or you met that you really want to go on the road with?

Tom: I really like Lamb of God a lot, you know, I’d love to do some shows with those guys. We’re gonna be doinit with avenged and stone sour next month when we get off of this tour. We’re gointo Japan, U.K. and Europe with those guys. That’s a very powerful line up right there.

Gregg: Mastodon

Tom: Mastodon definitely.

Gregg: We just seen those guys in Atlanta. We’re good friends with those guys. They’re a great band

ABORT: Yeah, they just came through and they were awesome

Tom: yeah, it was ridiculous

ABORT: Cool. I’m sure you hear this all the time, but there’s a lot of what people are calling super groups, and I know that’s a terrible moniker. So you guys are really out to define yourselves as Hellyeah. Do you find that there’s any pressure to push the fact that you’re all from these big bands, or are you just running on your own steam flat out?

Tom: We just run on our own man. This band holds it’s own ground. Even from the very first show we ever played. People were there to see Hellyeah. There was no chance for Nothingface, Mudvayne or Pantera. It was Hellyeah from the beginning and it’s been that way and we’re very thankful for that cause a lot of bands do break off and do other projects and stuff like that and people wanna hear some of their older catalogue you know, but not with us. We’re really fortunate about that. People come to see Hellyeah

ABORT: That’s awesome, always a great party wherever you go right?

Gregg: Oh yeah. And like that super group saying. We just got tagged it.

ABORT: There’s a name for everything.

Gregg; Right.

Tom: Like Vinnie says, we’re like the world’s biggest garage band!.

ABORT: That’s a great way of putting it. Are there any other ventures that you guys are doing, like clothing lines, I know Vinnie has got his cookbook coming out I hear and stuff like this. Is there anything you guys are doing outside of music that is getting on the go?

Tom: There’s lot’s of branding stuff we’re gonna do. It’d be nice to do the Hell yeah bar and grill barbeque

Gregg: The Hell yeah beer.

Tom: Hell yeah beer, hot sauces and barbeque sauces. Hell yeah strip clubs.

ABORT: Vince’s got one already eh? And you got your pole rider song on the album kinda heating that up too.

Tom: Well “Pole Rider” is one of the songs (laughs)

ABORT: and it’s a great one too. So a little question in closing. If you weren’t in Hell yeah, what would you be don?

Tom: in a restaurant cookin’ probably.

Gregg: Fishing.

ABORT: fishin’.

Gregg: ya know I’d be on bass masters.

(all laugh)

Tom: I could see myself doing it. I’m more of a crabber. I live in Chesapeake bay Maryland.

Gregg: tonnes of crabs.

Tom: I love crabs. I got tons of crabs !

(laughs)

ABORT: So that’s it, we got the mighty Hell yeah on tour now. Their latest Epic/Sony release “Stampede” is in stores now and on iTunes, so go do yourselves a favour and grab a copy. By the way, where’s the best place to find you guys on the web?

Tom: well obviously you got the hellyeahband.com and the myspace, which is MySpace/hellyeah1.com I think and the Facebook page which is the mass social network. I stay away from all that social networking stuff.

ABORT: it’s tangy at best. Well thanks very much for your time guys, have a great rest of your tour. I appreciate it.

HellYeah’s Stampede Is In Stores Now

hellyeahband.com

By Matt Snow

WANT MORE EXCLUSIVES? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2010 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

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