Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Questions, questions, questions

Exactly Alex,it's a dream but possibly also a nightmare!
Quite happy to have them as seperate gigs,christ knows how many people I'd habe to say hello to so I don't offend anyone if they did do a joint gig

Thanks, Alex, for that. Very interesting. I really enjoyed your answers. You're right, of course, that many of these questions can never, will never, be answered. I suppose I was more interested in peoples responses to the many things which are unknown about John Foxx. And, yes, one should tread carefully in these matters because John is clearly a very private man and that mystery around him only makes him more appealing. I should point out that the the phone question was a joke, although John must have a slightly schizophrenic identity (or should that be identities?). Also, I do know as a FACT that Harold Budd and John are working on another album together but when it'll be released is another matter. Many of these questions are rhetorical and will remain so. My one genuine suprise was the hostility towards the idea of John supporting Numan. I know that Numan will be doing a Replicas tour early next year and the idea of Foxx supporting that is, to me at least, a rather pleasurable one. Nevertheless, I do see where others are coming from in terms of resistance to John as 'support'. Did some feel the same way about John supporting the Human League in 2003?

Correct. He does live in Bath and must be sharing a few laughs with Midge, who also lives there.

I sometimes wish Midge would pick up his synths and release electronic music once again. All this music is back in-vogue.


Chris

Here’s my penn’orth.
1. I think he just says ‘hello’ and then has to decide who he is. He said in that Swedish interview recently that JF is the more intelligent one, so a lot would depend on context.
2. Don’t know about John but Louis told me he lives in Shropshire as someone said, although I won’t name the town. (hence the Shrewsbury connection methinks)
3. Don’t know how a foxx and a dog would get on.
14. The Garden may be in the pipeline but I ain’t bovvered (snigger)
18. Personally I don’t see the two together, but then again I thought supporting The Human League was a bit odd. I think John’s profile is much higher now compared to the time of THL gigs (2003?) and I’m sure Numan’s ego wouldn’t take it, he’d be afraid of being upstaged ha ha ha!

Numan and Foxx seem to get on nowadays. They've been spotted at each other's gigs I think, and Gary still holds Systems of Romance in very high regard, and rightly so.

The fact is Numan is the bigger crowd puller. But John is too good to be relegated as a support artist, as artistically I see them as equals who deserve equal stage time.

However I see John's Human League support slot as a good thing. The Human league can still fill Sheffield City Hall and similar sized venues. I wonder how many of those older fans didn't know John was doing new stuff or whatever at the time... and what better way to introduce your new material (or even re-introduce the old material) to the masses than on a tour like that.

I agree, Alex, that Foxx is too good to support Numan although, as with The Human League, getting him seen by a few thousand people (rather than two or three hundred) would always be beneficial for increased record sales. Mind you, as John is so admired by The Klaxons, wouldn't it be interesting (and far more lucrative)if he supported them? Now, that would be an idea worth suggesting to Steve Mallins...

I spoke with John after the Manchester show on the From Trash tour last year and asked him that very question (about him working and/or touring with Numan).

His answer was that although he both respects and likes Gary (on a personal level) very much he could never tour with him as a support. He was quite Frank about that. He never ruled out working together though. Can't see that though. For what it's worth I think John is going in the right direction musically (both the Crash & Burn and From Trash albums being amazing) where Numan's last effort 'Jagged' was not my cup of tea (and not the cup of tea of a lot of Numan fans too).

Personally I think John's career is on the up and Gary's career is on the slide!

I would disagree on Jagged not being many fans cup of tea - though it does depend on which Numan fan circles you frequent - they can be scary! I know a lot who loved it. It is an album I think you either like or you don't, which generally goes with whether you like Numan's recent musical style - which I do, and love his older work equally, though for different reasons I guess.

For me, Jagged is a bold and epic album. Very powerful and a real progression for Numan's current style. (though personally, after seeing his amazing Telekon tour last year, I woudl just love to hear Gary go back to his old analogue sound pallette but combined with his heavy production of today...)

However I will be the first to admit I didn't like it when it came out, but it proved to be a real grower.

Anyway thanks for sharing your conversaion with John. That's very interesting. I doubt Adam ever thought this thread would esculate into a Foxx/Numan kind of debate, but this kind of puts the record straight!

Just because John and Gary make electronic music and used to be seen as 'competitors' if you like, doesn't mean to say they need to work together! It's like saying Jean Michel Jarre should team up with Mike Oldfield. It's just not meant to be.

...and I definately agree on "From Trash" being an amazing album!!

Numans been to Johns. And SOR is still Numans favorite Ultravox album.