Often cited as an influence for artists ranging from pop to dance, to electronica to industrial, Gary Numan created a sound that was years ahead of its time. In fact, his classic Cars, from 1979, is considered a modern classic and it still receives regular airplay. Gary’s manager and producer, Ade Fenton, will be performing a DJ set with him this Saturday at The Playground’s electro night at XOYO in Shoreditch.

Gary and Ade took time out to answer a few questions

Q: What on stage DJ antics will the audience experience from you and Ade at XOYO this Saturday, July 2?
GARY: Ade does most of the hard stuff, I just tend to bounce around beside him. Occasionally I get fixated on trying to get something to work but mostly I'm feeding suggestions and tracks to Ade and he makes it all happen.

Q: Will you playing mixes or tracks from your soon to be released studio album Dead Son Rising?
GARY: One or two perhaps but it's mainly about playing things we like from other people.

Q: Can you provide a sneak preview as to how your sound has developed and what listeners can expect with this forthcoming album?
GARY: The Dead Son Rising album is something of a sideways step actually. It's not intended as the main follow up to my last studio album, it's more a collection of other things that I didn't feel suited the last album or the next one Splinter. When you make an album you write a lot more songs than you need so you tend to pick the ones that most suit the direction that you want that album to go in. So you often have several songs that are perfectly good songs but with no home to go to. It's a shame that these songs are often left on the shelf and never get released. DSR is our way of bringing a few of those songs to life and it allows us to try some things we might have tried on the 'main' albums.

Q: Is there any particular track from this forthcoming album that you’re most proud of and why?
GARY: I really like The Fall, I think it has a really strong chorus and it sounds huge when we play it live. It's an exciting track to play live.

Q: I understand The Fall will be the first single to be released, it’s delightfully different: can you tell me the story behind it?
GARY: It started out as a demo for an album called Pure so it's been on the shelf for a long time. I ran out of time with Pure so I never got to finish the song for that album, then with the next album Jagged I had so much other stuff to use that I forgot about The Fall and so it didn't get on that album either. I'm glad it's finally coming out. It's about someone that used to be a very close friend but then went a bit odd and ruined it.

Q: Have you any memories of filming the video for The Fall – I don’t think Ade has got over his experience?
GARY: I remember filming in the basement of a disused sanitarium and being so cold that my bones were aching. Plus it was a creepy place so any scene that had me in a room on my own freaked me out a bit. It was an amazing location though, perfect in fact.

Q: What’s your current favourite song you like to perform live on stage and why?
GARY: On the last tour in Australia we played a new song called Everything Comes Down To This, which is going to be on the new Splinter album, and that was great to play. Huge groove running throughout, plus I guess because it's new it feels particularly fresh compared to other songs that you've done for a while.

Q: How many keyboards do you now own and is there one you’re particularly fond of?
GARY: I don't know how many I have these days. We often buy stuff for tours, for the band to use mainly, and then they come home and get put in a shed never to be seen again. I'm often finding things I didn't know I'd ever bought. In the studio I just have the one hardware synth, a Virus TI, and that triggers a computer full of soft synths. I don't really have a favourite. It might seem odd but the only instrument I have any affection for is my guitar, a Gibson Les Paul Sunburst, that my parents bought for me when I was a teenager.

Q: What do you think about the state of electronic music at the moment?
GARY: Don't follow it that closely so I have no idea what state it's in I'm afraid. I sometimes hear things that sound like they were made in the 80s and I wonder why anyone bothers to do that, then I sometimes hear things that sound amazing and it cheers me up. I want it to be full of people pushing forward, coming up with new sounds and new ways of putting it all together, but it's not that often you hear anything that genuinely blows you away.

Q: In life, what have you learnt most about being a musician?
GARY: That most people can do it and that most people that do do it don't appreciate just how fantastic a thing it is. We are very lucky to be able to earn a living doing something like this and it annoys me to hear people moaning about. The stresses of touring, the stresses of this and that. Fuck off. You're in a band, not a coal mine, you're travellling around the world, seeing things that a lot of people will never see, experiencing life, being loved and applauded and getting paid for it. If I've learnt one thing it's to be grateful for having this life. Living life via music, being a musician, is unbeatable.

Q: How would you describe your friendship with Ade?
GARY: Who said we were friends?

Q: Can you tell me the story of how you both met?
GARY: I think he won a Gary Numan lookalike competition. Either that or he tried to pull my girlfriend. Actually he might have painted a sign at my house. He's a signwriter you know.

Q: Was it Ade’s music or his personality that forged your lifelong friendship and strong business partnership?
GARY: Did Ade write these questions? I'm not falling for it.

Q: Who’s got the worst habits between you and Ade?
GARY:I have none. Ade farts for a living. I should get paid double just for having to stand next to him and play music. It's not easy. Why I let him join the band I'll never know.

Q: What’s on Gary Numan’s rider for XOYO?
GARY:I got drunk for the first time ever in Mexico last year. I must be the oldest first time drinker in the world. So, I might have Southern Comfort as we both like that.

Q: What’s your favourite drink?
GARY:Coke Cola.

Q: What word do you most over-use?
GARY:Really? But you have to say it with a suitably arrogant and condescending sneer.

Q: What is the most rock and roll thing you’d like to buy or do?
GARY:I'd like to buy my own jet, or a super-yacht. But I have three kids so I'm lucky if I can fill up my car these days.

Q: What’s your motto in life or has someone given you advice that you always follow?
GARY:Saving is for optimists, spend it now.

Details for the electro night: www.theplayground.co.uk