John Foxx Interviews

The Quiet Man

John Foxx has always been known as the quiet man. A former member of Ultravox, he now prefers to spend his time travelling, reading and working on his solo projects. 'Underpass' John's first solo hit firmly established him as the forerunner in the electronic revolution. What Gary Numan did on "Are 'Friends' Electric? John had been keeping to himself for years. Over the last year John's been keeping very quiet on the recording front but he's recently re-released the single 'Endlessly', which was recorded at his studio, The Garden. I asked John what he's been doing over the last few months. I've just finished an album called 'The Golden Section' which is in the same vein as Endlessly" Why have you re-released Endlessly? "The first time I released it I felt it was rushed. I did it in about two hours and released on impulse. this time I worked with a producer and I just found it more exciting". How do you think your music has changed from Underpass? "A lot of that was deliberately bleak and minimal electronic music. It's just develped from that. Now I've got a whole vocabulary of music I plan to work with and it's not just for synthesiser. I work with guitars and drums, I want to use anything I can to make the sound that I have in my head". Can we expect to see any of the new material as a single? "The next single is going to be called 'Your Dress' which is a song about how people change when they put different clothes on". Do you feel a lot of your previous singles have gone unnoticed? "No, I think my singles are the type that people still buy three or four years later, unlike a lot of things that were in the charts at the same time. I like it like that because it shows it's more of a consistant interest. besides I just put them out and that's it. I can't work for the market, it's got to be something I believe in.

What sort of things influence you? "I'm mainly influenced by singles some of which have been very commercial, like 'Strawberry Fields' by The Beatles. At the moment I listen to Virginia Astley, Gerdening By Moonlight and I Level. I worked with Jo Dworniak from I Level on my new album. He's my favourite bass player at the moment". You've been working on the soundtrack for a new film by Antonioni, Identification of A Woman haven't you? How did this come about? "Antonioni tends to work with people who he thinks are interesting, but very modern. in the 60's he worked with Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream. he'd heard some of my music and asked me to do it. Antonioni's a nice bloke and it was a very interesting and enjoyable experience". Outside music what else have you been doing? "I took some time off to travel, read and write. I wanted to visit Europe and especially Italy, which I love. There were also some books I wanted to read by an author called Henry Williamson. He wrote a whole series of books about his childhood which I read, I also read 'Goodbye Mr. Chips'." Can you tell me about the book you are writing? "It's a fiction novel called 'The Quiet Man'. I like to think of it as imaginative, the trouble is that I keep gitting new ideas so I never managed to finish it. I've published sections of it in different magazines around the world". You've obviously come a long wiy from you're early Ultravox days at the start of the punk era. When you look back now how do you feel. "I'm glad I did it, because it was my idea to make a band like that and I did it. If I hadn't I may have gone on to be a painter.