Gary Numan – HuffPost 10.30.13

Mike Ragogna: So what advice do you have for new artists?

Gary Numan: I think the most important thing is if you really love what you’re doing, don’t let anybody change you. I think one of the big problems that happens to young bands is that they get signed and they get interest from a record label and they try to reshape and adjust what they do, maneuver what they do. I think if you do that then you’ve lost already. If you write music to become famous and that’s all you want out of it, then allow yourself to be manipulated as much as you like because it isn’t going to matter. But if you genuinely love what you do, you must stick with it. You must become successful on your terms. Don’t allow yourself to be watered down or reshaped in any way. Have confidence in what you do. Genuinely love what you do and stick with it. There are a thousand and one people just waiting to give you advice who have no better idea of how to do it than you do. Arguably, there are people who would try to make you conform to what they think is the right way to do it, and often, the people who don’t conform are the people who have the most interesting ideas. They don’t know the right way to do it, so they do it the wrong way. Often, the best music comes from where the innovation comes from. But it’s risky. Quite often, if you don’t do what these people want, then you will be dropped. As they said to me many times, they will say you’re “uncooperative.” You’re not uncooperative at all, but you have your own vision and your own idea about what you’re going to do and where you’re going to go. I know, again, from my own experience, it’s something that will come up throughout the career. No matter how successful you are or how successful you’ve been, there are still people that will try to change you and shape what you’re doing and I think to resist that is an admirable thing and I think it’s the right thing to do actually.