Gary Numan returns to NZ for your electro pop pleasure

Gary Numan's music still holds appeal to modern groups. Photo / Supplied

He helped open the door for electronic pop with his early hits and these days he's hailed as a formative influence by everybody from Nine Inch Nails to Foo Fighters. He's even cited by comedians The Mighty Boosh and Bill Bailey.

And now just over 30 years since the release of his classic 1979 album The Pleasure Principle - with its enduring single Cars - and previous New Zealand visit in 1980, Gary Numan is returning.

Numan and band will play the album in its entirety and other songs from his career at the Aotea Centre on Saturday May 21.

Though out of the spotlight for most of the 90s and early 2000s, in recent years Numan, 52, has been feted by a younger generation of musicians, citing him as an inspiration and covering and sampling his tunes.

He's been covered by Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails (whose Trent Reznor had Numan as a regular special guest on NIN's Wave Goodbye tour in 2009), Marilyn Manson and Fear Factory. And the likes of dance and pop acts like Basement Jaxx, the Sugababes and Armand Van Helden have borrowed hooks from Numan's early hits for their own songs, while his chunky synthesizer sound is prominent among acts like Laneway Festival no-shows !!! (Chk Chk Chk), as well as New Young Pony Club and Soulwax.

As TimeOut reviewer Alan Perrott said in a review of the reissue of the Gary Numan and Tubeway Army album Replicas: "Numan's multi-tracked voice remains as singular and evocative as ever while classic tracks like the oft-covered Down in the Park show he could drag a top tune out of a toaster if he had to."

When he's not being an enigmatic synth-rock influence, Numan lives in Sussex with his family and spends time flying, being a highly qualified pilot with a rating which allows him to instruct aerobatic pilots and their instructors.

-TimeOut