Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Your first encounter with John ?

Much as I'd love to say I was hanging out at the Tiger Lily gigs , for me it was feb/March 77 , when a mate of mine brought Ha ! Ha ! Ha !(Vinyl) into school So the first thing I heard was "RoCk Wrok " (sic) Had I put the record on the other way round , it would have been "The Man who dies everyday " Anyway , love at first hear and the rest is history
What about you(s) How did you get into the great man radio , telly (Old Grey whistle test) music press or personal recommendation . More importantly which song was it ?

My first encounter was via the radio and Underpass in 1980.

Then a friend did me a tape with Three into One & Systems of Romance on it in 1982.

That's where I started.Then there was nothing for many years.I did buy all of the early Ultravox on CD though.

Then I discovered Modern Art in a bargain bin in Virgin Birmingham in 2003.Never looked back since then.

We've talked about this before somewhere, Ivan,but its always a pleasure to re-visit.
You have more of a history than me.

I discovered John Foxx among a host of artists I was fiddling around with in 1980 - Numan really put me onto Underpass, but I was listening to Human League, Cabaret Voltaire and TG at the time as well. I was really into the bleak electronica thing (still am) so when The Garden was released I was so amazed that I was hooked.
Shamefully, I didn't miss JF when he fell off the world in 1985 as I had too much else to listen too, and he was then just someone else that had left a good impression but been and gone. I've had a few relationships like that... I didn't listen to Ultravox because I (cough) never liked them particularly, until I heard My Sex on a punk compilation around 81, then made the obvious but rather delayed connection.

Rediscovered in 2001, when TPOE was released. A friend of mine commented when I played metamatic (I think?) one day that John Foxx had a NEW ALBUM out. I was fascinated, went to my local HMV at lunchtime and bought Shifting City and Cathedral Oceans - yes, from the shop!!!

1995 - a friend and I were exchanging a lot of music. He'd just introduced me to Kraftwerk, and he leant me the slipcase set of the first 3 Ultravox! albums. Up until that point, I'd never heard of John, and had assumed Midge had always fronted the band, so it was fascinating to hear.

I didn't like the first 2 albums, but SOR blew me away. Being heavily into Numan at the time, I could hear its influence. I just loved Slow Motion.

However it wasn't until 2001 when a friend of mine who used too know John in the pre-vox days, said "You should check out 'Underpass' by John Foxx".... I knew the name straight away fro those CDs I had borrowed from my friend. So I got home, googled him and ended up here - to the news that Modern Art was soon to be released.

And it went on from there!

Must have been Underpass and Metamatic in 1980; despite listening to Human League and Numan before then, Ultravox! didn't really come into it. Remember seeing the Underpass picture sleeve in some local record shop then Metamatic sleeve in the NME - a Virgin records ad together with The Mekons and a few others stating this is the new music for the new decade and all that. (Virgin were always 'cutting edge' then weren't they?). Had Metamatic on a tape off a girlfriend's brother for years, although rushed out to buy No One Driving double 7" which got played and played and.... Used to take it to parties together with Holiday 80 and We Are Glass. Didn't hear any pre-Ure Uvox until the Slow Motion single was re-released.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I did not like The Garden which was huge disappointment for me, and only picked up ensuing singles in bargain bins...
Was surprised to find the Virgin best of CD in the early 90s, bought it and realised the restof the 80s stuff wasn't so bad after all!
Picked up again when a friend got me Crash & Burn from a Human League gig.
Finally met the man last year, but I shan't bore you all with that again.

Ok, whose round is it?

I can thank old Gazza Numan for introducing me to John, though not personally of course! Being really into Numan around 1979 I used to read every interview he gave in the music press and he kept mentioning Ultravox. So I caught a train into Glasgow and went to either Listen Records or Joe Bloggs, can't remember which, and bought all three Ultravox albums (this was prior to Vienna). I was hooked and bought Metamatic as soon as it hit the shops.

My first and only actual encounter with John was at King Tut's in Glasgow on July 22nd 2006 when he signed my copy of The Pleasures Of Electricity and stole my marker pen (it's OK, John, you can keep it)!

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My first encounter with John and I know I've wrote about this before, was way back in 1979. It was suggested by a frind that I must listen to SOR. Blown away or wot. Dislocation, Quiet Men, Just For a Moment in fact the whole album. I back tracked and got all the old vinyl and Ultravox! and HA HA HA. Love at first sight LOL

After his dissaprreance in 83 I still looked in the "F" section on my rare visits to Virgin in London even though I was never too keen on IMW. Imagine finding Metamatic and the Garden had been released on CD WITH bonus tracks. That made me very happy at the time. I still continued to listen to his music I thought to myself I must be the only sad soul still interested in John.

For me, came the internet, Modern Art and seeing John live for the first time in 2001. That just refuelled my obsession. The rest is history.

I have met so many new JF freinds along the way.

That's it in a nutshell

Peter

Quite right Peter that the internet was a massive catalyst in reviving interest.
Do I remember right that the Metamatic forum was closed down around 1998/99 due to some guy not behaving himself properly? ..might just be my memory circuits playing up..

Yes, I would probably have never found out about the release of Modern Art (at least at the time) had it not been for the net!

I'm still waiting for my first encounter with John...

My first actual encounter with John was in Sheffield, in 2003 before one of his supporting gigs with the Human League.

I was having a pre-gig drink with a friend, in a bar and I turned around and nearly dropped my pint! I hadn't seen a recent picture of John, but I could tell it was him - and indeed it was. He was (as he always is) very charming and easy to talk to. I seem to recall we spent a long time talking about his album cover images and how he had used stills from old film in the Crash & Burn booklet.

I've met him twice since then, both post-gig. But that first meeting was very cool because there was nobody else around

Systems Of Romance. The album that changed everything.

You've summed it up nicely Maryann it was Systems Of Romance album that changed the direction of my life.

Even if I hadn't heard SOR I'm sure I would of fell in love with Underpass at the time because it was so different to anything else musically at the beginning of the 80's but I'll never know.

Peter

In late '77 or early '78 a Chicago FM radio station aired a recording of Ultravox in concert (don't know where it was recorded). I had no idea who they were but I immediately got sucked in by "Rockwrok" and kept listening even though it was way past my bedtime. I was into Roxy Music and punk, so this band was a tremendous discovery for me, only I couldn't find any of their records anywhere near my hometown (about 2 hours east of Chicago). I tried ordering through the mail (yes, kids, this was before the Internet!) but none of the "record search" services knew who the band were and I couldn't find any information about them. We didn't have access to any good music press, just Rolling Stone magazine at the local library. When "Systems of Romance" came out, RS actually ran a half-page article about Ultravox. I stuck that article inside my high school locker and later taped it on my college dorm room walls until it finally disintegrated.

My best friend and I traveled by train to the big city with the specific intention of hitting every record store until she got her hands on a Sparks LP she wanted and I finally got copies of all three Ultravox LPs. It took several trips and all of my babysitting money before I was successful (imports were very costly). Not much later I heard on the radio that John Foxx had left the band and was recording a solo album. Once I got my hands on it, "Metamatic" ruled my life. I liked "The Garden" tremendously, but by the time "The Golden Section" came out, I was into noise and feedback and jackhammers and found its Beatles-y psychedelia kind of boring. I lost total interest in JF's output when "In Mysterious Ways" came out -- I still find it almost entirely unlistenable, and I'm a pretty forgiving person!

I still loved the first three Ultravox albums (always disliked the Midge-era recordings, though) and the first two solo JF albums, so I did repurchase them when they came out on CD. When I was starting to load them onto my iPod a few years ago I wondered if maybe JF had produced anything worthwhile since "IMW." I stumbled across "Shifting City" in a used record store and then went on the Internet to find out what else I'd missed. I was surprised that JF had released so much material since "SC" because I can't recall seeing reviews in any of the major US or UK music magazines.

Incidentally, if anyone has a copy of that Rolling Stone magazine article in their archives, I would love to see it again!

Underpass in 1980. My local disco (as it was known in those days) played it quite a few times. The funny thing was, the clientele at the disco was split down the middle; those interested in 'disco' music, and those interested in 'new wave'. At the time I was mostly into the former, but Underpass was my fav track from the other camp. That was it until 2005 and Modern Art. I have to thank John for getting me back into gigs. Metamatic was my first one for 23 years

Same here, but living in a few Canadian towns and cities that weren't Toronto or Montreal, I couldn't find any Ultravox or Foxx stuff until well after I read the Numan interviews (and a review of Metamatic in a UK music paper). Thanks to the Canadian label releasing a compilation instead of Metamatic, it was somewhere around 1990 before I finally actually got that album.

The Internet has made it a lot easier to stay informed about what John Foxx is up to. Being an adult with a credit card also helps.

And take it from me, Steve, being an adult without a credit card these days is a nightmare! However, being an adult with a girlfriend who has a credit card...

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Mmm ... my first encounter. It was at a time I was discovering the world. Musically I was into Roxy, Bowie, Eno, Reed and Pop.
Bought Vienna for my mother (!). Didn't know there was another Ultravox(!) waiting there to be discovered. My first serious girlfriend had all three albums. My fav tracks were My Sex, Rockwrock, The Man Who Dies Everyday ande the whole atmosphere of Systems Of Romance.
Bought Metamatic when it came out.

First encounter, roughly in 1980, when I heard his lovely songs. Been a fan ever since. A true original then, a true original now. Over the moon when he reappeared in the mid-90s with Shifting City, though I do not have that one. Living abroad then and didn't want to pay the outrageous price for a single cd -- before the internet was fashionable.

Actually almost bumped into John one day in Soho back in the early 90s. Turned the corner, and there he was. I was high on too many coffees and nervously said, "Always loved your music." He just smiled, twisted his papers under his arm, and said, "Thanks." I then smiled and made my way. I was just a young one...

Blue P

Nice story, Blue P.

My first encounter was "Three Into One", 1989. It took a few plays to get into. I came the UreVox route, starting off in 1988 from various memories of chart action and Saturday Superstore. Then it was "No-One Driving/Glimmer", taking a chance at a record fair in an Ultravox section. Never looked back. Or at least kept one eye looking forward.

A girlfriend with I]your[/I] credit card is another nightmare!

As for encounters, I first heard My Sex on the radio back in the 70s and was hooked. As soon as Ha!-Ha!-Ha! came out, I went around to all the import shops to buy it with no luck. Eventually found it in an ordinary store in town.

I remember walking in, grabbing it and taking it up to the counter. Two girls were standing there and one lunged at it (really just stuck her hand out and touched it). I can't recall what she said now but she sort of looked at it, said "Oh." and went back to chatting with her friend.

Another amusing anecdote was the time I went to an import store to buy Miles Away (I think).

The Human League were in town on tour. To my surprise the lead singer walked in with the blonde singer. He was all over her like a lovesick puppy while she was just giving him the cold shoulder.

The store manager and I made eye contact, sort of grinned but never said a word.

First encounter on vinyl for me too M, along with a cassette of 'Metamatic'.

My first memory of John was seeing him on Old Grey Whistle Test in Ultravox!. Then here's 'Underpass' was like a bolt of pure electric, and I don't think I've ever looked back.

I caught John playing in London in '83. In some respects I was too young to fully appreciate the gig, and now I can but look back 24yrs to a rather vague memory of the night. Also on the bill was Eddie & Sunshine who's work has being very much neglected.

During the late 80's, and much of the 90's I disappeared into such terretories as The Dead, and all manner of left field nonsense. It wasn't until 2003 that a friend suggested I should listen to Crash & Burn, and suddenly I was back to my childhood musical roots, and John's work seemed as inspirational as it was in 1980.

In recent times I've been to a few gigs, including the two at The Luminaire. Yes I've got the t-shirt to prove it.

With so much new electro coming through in recent times, it's always good to have a benchmark to measure things by. I think John's work will stand the test of time, and it will still be referenced in years to come.

I end with the thought that of all the music I've listened to over the years, John's has been some of the most influential.

I don't know where the tape came from now, but it was the one that I turned on the late afternoon I returned from school for the last time ever, in 1980.

Underpass had been on Top of the Pops and the radio. Somehow like you did in those days I procured Metamatic. The slow flanged beat of Plaza started. Machines I didnt know about sang, short bass notes. Then the mystery of the lead lines, like strings, opening out as their pitches undulated up and down, slowly.

I saw him performing 'No one driving' with Sunshine and Eddie, and three Yamaha CS80's. This sight impressed me greatly.

Within a year i'd been taught about synthesizers and learned what pulse width modulation was, where two oscillators went subtly in and out of phase. I knew they sounded better through a delay line of some sort. That was it. I spent the rest of my life in love with synthesizers.

I did not consciously become obsessed with John. I never ever joined any fan club, yet I signed up for The Service. Got one copy!!! My synth friends and I admired the mysterious cover of metamatic, the simplicity of it, the machine drone beauty of it all. By the time I saw him in 1984 I couldnt wait to hear Metamatic live.

He didn't play it. Instead he did The Golden Section, which sounded better live I am afraid. Still, there was Chris Cross on Arp in the corner and John danced very well and sang perfectly. Did old Ultravox songs which were great.

But still, the obsession was young, and I didn't understand just how much I was into his work.

It was only later in life, when I bought Metamatic reissued record from Tower Records in 1992 that I came face to face with a very strong and sincere adoration of all those songs. In 2003 I managed to get hold of a copy of Modern Art, in my quest for a decent copy of This Jungle. You see, I had no plans to make music then. But now I'm surrounded by gear and there is only one true role model for what I am trying to do.

I was not a teenager. But seeing the images in the sleeve, with the discovery of the Metamatic website the same year, I just kept coming back for more and more and more.

Now, here I am playing Metamatic again. I never tire of it. Its always fresh the way the giants like Kraftwerk don't work for me like they used to (blasphemy!)

I think that the more you scratch the surface of the man, the more you find. His talk in the ICA was brilliant because he always had something really interesting to say. There is a lot more to the man than many.

So here I am, no longer in denial. I am indeed a committed John Foxx fan. I really mean it. Wow.

Nice story Paul.

You're "coming out" is in safe hands here! I was lucky enough to see John twice on TGS tour in '83, where i picked up a copy of the green lyric book that was around in limited numbers at the time.

This is one of my most treasured pieces of music memorable now since John was kind enough to sign it for me after the show at Scala twenty years later. He flicked through it too, commenting with a smile that he haven't seen one for years.

I can't play or sing a note, so much respect to you - and everyone else here. There's a LOT of great musicians.

Good to have you with us.

Barbarellas winter 1977.

1st of October, if the archive is to be believed.

Wow - that's Waaaay back. Good for you!
Any memories of it you'd like to share?

I can't remember the exact date, but first exposure was Quiet Men from SOR. I was visiting my sister one day and her husband was exhibiting his new speakers and amp (Gale and Lecson pre/power if you are interested, hooked up to an LP12). I walked in the room and Quiet Men just blew me away. "Where has this music been hiding" I thought to myself. I was still at secondary school, so took some time to save the required pennies to buy it, by which time Underpass had come out - then I had to decide which came first! Luckily a good friend bought Metamatic and we swapped every few weeks or so until our funds could reach to buying our own copies (if I recall correctly).

The odd thing was, that my brother in law would most likely only have bought that album if it had been (positively) reviewed in a good quality hi-fi magazine. I wonder what the review said about the album? Does anyone recall any such review?

First live experience came a good few years later in '83 with the GS tour. I had the privilege of seeing the "warm-up" gig in Hitchin (The Regal). I had to cycle 10 miles or so (forget the exact distance) on a cold winter night. It was fantastic. Saw the same tour at the Dominion (not so good because we had to SIT upstairs) and then an electric performance at the Lyceum - really great atmosphere. Then it all went dark until last September and I had to walk just 10 minutes from my house to see him play live in my neighbourhood in Tokyo!

1977, Barbarellas was "the" Punk club in Birmingham, actually I think it was one of the most famous Punk Clubs in the Country in those days. Many, now defunkt, famous Punk bands played there(Clash, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Siouxsie And The Banshees to name a few). The best of course was Ultravox and because of time my memories are of course very sketchy. A friend from school asked to go there the first time. It was freezing. We were the frozen ones indeed!
I had never heard of this band called Ultravox.
Almost as soon as walked in they started to play. Foxx had what seemed to be a wooly jumper on. He seemed to pull and pull on it all through the show and it seemed awfully big at the end. There was a hell of a lot of spitting going on. The punks went mad when Young Savage was played. I also remeber at some points in the show John would pick up a strobe light and prance about the stage with it. If any of you guys have HAHAHA, my distant memory is that they really did end the show like "Fear in the Western World" finishes and just walk off stage. I also could have dreamt that;-)
On the way home we had to walk over to the other side of town to catch the number 14 to Tile Cross. We got chased by rockers.

I think I saw UV four times at Barbarellas. I checked it out and most of the times were with Stevie Shears except fot the last show which was after SOR was released and Robin came in. It was a different crowd then. Indeed times were changing a little and there were a lot more "posers" around (thats what they were called). I think I was one.
At the end of that show I remeber John coming to the bar (in the club) afterwards. I stood quite close to him but did not have the nerve to speak to.

Most of the times I had seen UV they were dressed in black attire with what seemed to be black pumps (the kind that you used at school PE in those days).

Once, however, I remember John wearing a very nice 50's suit ( also the fashion for posers then). It was a shame when someone gobbed and hit him on his left shoulder. No wonder he got tired of touring.

I saw him later in 83 at the Tin Can in Brum and then a few days later at Warwick University. Richard, a friend of mine who was the DJ at the Rum Runner also DJ'd at the Tin can. He looped a mike over the top of the stage and recorded the whole gig. Brilliant! I had a tape of it for many years but then lost it. Several years later through friends gained on here I got a CD copy of the show. I have know idea if it was Richards recording or another one.

I have lived out of the UK for many years now. I think John inspired me to do so. Ever since I heard In Europe After the rain, I just had to go and live there. Along the years I have somehow ended up in the US. One of these days, I will, come over for one of the shows in the UK. I think I have to give up on John coming over here.
Cheers.
Martin.

No, Martin, no! You must never give up!

Ok, I wont give up but I will go to the next JF show wherever it may be!
Cheers.

Provided I ever get my passport sorted, I'll probably wind up on the same international flight as you if I ever hope to see JF perform live . . .

OK.
Its a deal!

Some nice remembrance’s posted here this year from HoxtonPaul, Solenoid, and Furniture:

I well remember having to wear those horrible black pumps, I bet every kid in the UK had to wear those at school (probably since the 1940’s onwards or something ) funny to see them later become adopted as a New Wave fashion statement.

Two things from John really grabbed my imagination during the Metamatic/Garden period, one of which was easily obtained at the time: wearing old secondhand suits, bought from market stalls in an attempt to emulate Johns picture on the Metamatic cover.
The second desire was a pact that I made with a friend in 81’ that we would go on a long walking journey around Britain exploring old ruins and abandoned churches and take photographs, getting lost in the tall grass and woods just like John on the Garden cover and in the Church booklet.
Sadly this latter obsession never happened, and I got over this desire a very long time ago, but its since become a running joke between me and my old (now long distance) best friend still to this day, and it continues to pop up in our conversations during periods of middle-age wish fulfillment and day-dream escapist longings