Gary Numan On His New Album “Intruder,” How Trent Reznor Helped Him Appreciate “Cars,” Personal Growth & Future Plans

In the decades since coming to prominence in the late 1970s with hits like “Cars,” “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” and “Down In The Park,” Gary Numan has remained consistently creative and released a huge catalog of work. Meanwhile, Numan-written songs have been sampled or recorded by the likes of Basemant Jaxx, Swizz Beatz, Marilyn Manson, Grace Jones, GZA, Fear Factory, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails and Blur’s Damon Albarn alike, while his work has been publicly-praised by Prince, David Bowie, Kanye West and Lady Gaga alike. Numan was rewarded with the prestigious Inspiration Award at the Ivor Novellos in 2017, while his 2020 autobiography (R)evolution also made people taken notice.

Gary Numan’s latest studio album is 2021’s Intruder full-length. Intruder is a followup to 2017’s Savage (Songs From A Broken World), which entered the U.K. charts at #2. Touring in support of Intruder kicks off on September 17, 2021 at The Fonda in Los Angeles. Numan’s North American run will wrap on October 23, 2021 at The Observatory in Santa Ana, and prior to that hit all major U.S. and Canadian markets, including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas and Houston. Numan will be hitting the U.K. and Ireland in April 2022 and that European run will include Numan’s first show at The SSE Arena, Wembley since 1981. His return to Wembley also represents the largest headline show that he has ever played in the U.K., an unusual achievement for an artist whose first hit goes back 40+ years.

On June 3, 2021, I had the pleasure — and I do mean “the pleasure” — of speaking with Gary Numan via Zoom, as embedded below. We spoke about Intruder and its music videos, before moving onto discussion about how his wife aided his personal growth as a human being and as a musician, how Trent Reznor helped him appreciate “Cars” decades after it was released, future plans and more. Additional info on Numan, tour dates and Intruder can be found here, here, here and here.

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Tags: BMG, England, Gary Numan, Los Angeles, Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."