A Secret Life

Q - Donna Murray - Dumbarton

Who Is The Quiet Man?

A - I'll try to start at the beginning Donna. A few years ago I found a grey suit in an Oxfam shop in London. I bought it and took it home. Over the next few weeks I began to think about who might have previously owned the suit, and what kind of life he may have led. I got a few friends to wear the suit in various locations and rooms that I liked and I took photographs and films of them, never showing their faces. The figure in the anonymous grey suit was the important thing. Then, in a 1940's magazine, I found a photograph. It seemed to coincide perfectly with this endless mystery of the figure in the suit. Many other ideas began to collect around the suit too.... I realised that every day we pass many people in the street and many of them we never even notice, never remember at all. Then I began to wonder if, for one or two of these people, the anonymity might be deliberate for some private reason of their own. (I read in an article somewhere that pickpockets for instance, deliberately wear completely ordinary clothes so that they can get close to their victims without attracting any attention, and if detected their appearance is so unremarkable and unmemorabe that any description of them would be virtually useless to the police). So many people deliberately could want not to be noticed.

I began to wear the suit and walk around London and other cities. It gave me a surprising amount of freedom. I attracted no attention at all. I found that I could go into a cafe or walk into a hotel, a discotheque, a political meeting or a solicitor's office without attracting a comment. If I sat in a corner long enough people would eventually seem to cease to notice my existence altogether, so that I could easily overhear conversations and observe all the small dramas that happen around us all the time. Here was a kind of invisibility, and it was very exciting. A Secret Life. A phrase came into my mind as I was reading one evening. "The Quiet Man" and the Ideas of the man in the suit and his Secret Life began to take shape. I wrote a short story about him and then I wrote the song "The Quiet Man". Indeed much of the albums Systems of Romance and Metamatic are written from the Quiet Man's point of view. The story as you will have heard, has since grown into a book. Looking back, I now realise that I needed to invent and even become The Quiet Man because the life I was leading at that time was so public, with many long tours of England, Europe, America. I needed to keep a part of myself quiet and priate in order to survive! But even now, though my life has changed greatly, The Quiet Man continues and I still find that I'm looking out from his eyes occasionally. So I suppose The Quiet Man is still me, or rather still a part of me.

Q - Jonathan Ashton - Exeter

Do you have any release dates for The Quiet Man Book/Film/TV Play?

A - No release dates yet on the film, Jonathan. The book is now completed and we hope it will appear in early 1982.

Q - Warren Nirian - Manchester

Is The Garden Studio the one you have been building for the past few months and does it belong to you? Also where is it?

A - Yes the Garden is my studio, Warren, and it was based in a country house in Surrey while I made the Garden LP. But now it is housed in a big victorian building in London which I share with three friends, sculpter Denis Masi, phographer, Pete Mackevitch and film maker Chris Gabrin. We have a floor or two each for our individual studios.

Jane Austin - Derbyshire

I thought the idea of Metal Beat was to be autonomous and you had plans to release other people's music on it besides your own. Hve you now changed your mind?

Yes I have Jane. I originally did want Metal Beat to be a label with lots of other people on it. But recently I've realised that if I did this seriously, I'd be forced to become another record executive rather than a musician! It would cut down my freedom and I don't want that! The idea behind Metal Beat was, and is, fun and freedom. I may still release one or two things on the label from time to time, though. There are various bands and friends who have asked me to work with them in various ways and I'll do that as long as I don't compromise the fun and freedom idea. So Metal Beat drives in with me as sole pilot so far, but very many interesting people around.

Ruth Bolton

Will the Human host carry on backing you, or will they pursue their own career?

The Human Host are only partly human Ruth! Many of their voices are made by tapes, synthesizers and other machines and the people involved vary all the time, so the answer is yes to both questions!

Paul Rayner - Manchester - and many others.

Could you give me some advice on synthesizers and a list of the ones that you use?

The only advice I can offer to you, Paul, and anyone else, is to have fun. I think there must be an element of play involved in any exciting use of synthesizers and computers, rather than a feeling that it is necessarily to have any great technical understanding, which is useful but not vital. A sense of fun and adventure will get you as far as you want to go. These machines should be used as stimulating tools to excite the imagination, all else will follow as a result of that excitement - technical ability and understanding precision and even musicianship are all secondary results of the initial sense of fun, curiosity and adventure. My favorite synthesizer is still the A.R.P. Oddesy. It is fairly simple to operate, lightweight, portable and powerful, though it is only duophonic or monophonic (you can't play chords on it, just one or maximum of two notes at a time) but it has a tremendous range of sounds. Also some kind of echo device will improve any synths sounds. There are some fairly inexpensive but good microchip ones around now, like the memory man etc. Here is a list of the synths used on 'The Garden' album:

(01) A.R.P. Lynn Drums

(02) Roland Jupiter 8. Movement Systems Drum Computer

(03) Elka Strings

(04) Roland Strings/Vocoder. Roland Guitar Synthesizer

(05) Prophet 5 & 8. A.R.P. Sequencer.

(06) Mini Moog - Polly Moog

(07) Juno 60

(08) Fairlight

(09) Yamaha CS80

(10) Korg Guitar Synth, Emulator

(11) Simmons Electronic Drums

(12) OBX, Micro Composers (MC8 & MC4)

Alyson Dring and Karen Chiplin - Cardiff

What synthesizers would be the simplest and least expensive to begin with?

I think the best for beginners are the WASP Synthesizer, or a Casio, both are inexpensive and simple to operate and can be fed into an amplifier or your home stereo system for more powerful sounds. Have fun!

Simon Albrow - Fareham

Did you ever complete your course at the Royal College of Art or did you give it up to form Ultravox?

I completed my course at the RCA, Simon, and I did this as I was putting Ultravox together, rehearsing at nights in the Doll Factory at the other side of London. So the two things didn't clash at at that time and I was able to go into college (irregularly) during the days.

Keith Dandridge - Oxford and John Currie - Southport.

Do you intend to exhibit any of your artwork and graphics in the future?

Yes I do. I think I'd like to do this at the Thumb Gallery in D'Arblay St. London where some of my friends have exhibited recently, among whom is Russel Mills who is at the moment completing a book with Eno. I've also got many photographs that I'd like to show too, and there is an idea of a travelling exhibition of photographs from the 'Church' book that will go to England, Europe and Japan.

D. Burge - High Wycombe, and Adelia Young - Reading

Can you tell me where the pictures were taken in the book called 'Church'?

The pictures in the 'Church' book were taken in various parts of England (Summer 1981). I decided to walk through various parts of the countryside where I knew there were overgrown buildings and gardens and ruins. During or after these walks either I or Peter the photographer would take the photographs that appeared in the book. I have promised not to reveal the place where the church itself is, because it has hardly been disturbed for over a hundred years and as a result has become so overgrown and beautiful. Some of the photographs too, are actually two transparencies superimposed or montaged. This creates an effect of complicating the architecture and foilage. Some of the other places I visited and photographed on my walk that can be visited are Rievaux and Fountains Abbeys in North Yorkshire - two beautiful ruined medieval Abbeys, Fountains being my favorite. Rousham Hall in Oxfordshire - one of the earliest landscaped gardens in England, with many strange old statues and waterways. Scotney Castle, Kent, a ruined house overgrown by roses, surrounded by a moat of water lilies and black swans. At its best in the summer, a riot of flowers and foilage.

Simon Tickle - Stoke On Trent

Is it ture that you recorded 40 songs for The Garden of which only ten were used? If so what happened to the rest?

Yes, Simon, I always record lots more material than I actually ever use on any album. Many songs stay at the stage of being simply sung into a cassette recorder, or further on as half-finished studio tapes. The ones I like best go onto albums whilst the others are abandoned or worked on later. The songs I can't fit onto an album, I put on the B-sides of singles, for example This Jungle, A Kind Of Wave, Woman On A Stairway, Dance With Me etc. - and some even make it on to the next album. Writing songs is a continuous process for me, there's always st least one on my mind.

Andy - Staffs

On Riverside you said that you scrapped an LP. Was this after your original 'Endlessly' single?

What actually happened was I'd decorded about eight tracks when I decided not to continue with them because I suddenly got a lot of fresh ideas and songs which I felt I had to pursue. These became the Golden Section songs. All this happened at about the time of the 'Endlessly' single. It's not really a drama, as I tend to do this kind of thing all the time.

Clive Gross

Who are Shake Shake as mentioned on The Garden album?

Shake Shake were Duncan Bridgeman and Jo Dworniak (who both play on many of my tracks). They dissolved Shake Shake in 1982 and are now involved in two other bands, namely 'I Level' and 'Gardening By Moonlight', both of which have recently released singles.

Alison Carss - West Auckland

What are the 6 tracks included on the cassette version of The Golden Section?

The 6 extra tracks on the cassette are: This Jungle, A Woman On A Stairway, Swimmer, Young Man, A Kind Of Wave, Dance With Me.

Alan Seed - Glasgow

Which bands have recorded at John's studio? Did Depeche Mode record their latest albem there?

The bands who have recorded at The Garden are: Depeche Mode, The Cure, Siouxie and The Banshees, Swan's Way, Icicle Works, Fad Gadget, The The (Matt Johnson), Fiat Lux, The Room, Heaven 17, Nick Cave, Modern English, Incantation, Clock D.V.A., Gardening By Moonlight.

Andy Szava - Kovats

Do you prefer working with different musicians for different projects? and if so, how does it affect your relationship with them?

Yes Andy, I enjoy working with different people on every project. I find that this keeps everything sounding fresh and energetic. The relationship between myself and the musicians is more fun. For instance, if I meet or hear so anyone who seems to be good, then it's a pleasure to be able to ask them to come over and play on some of my new songs.

Allen Wimsley - London

What is the connection between the track 'Systems Of Romance' on The Garden LP and the album 'Systems Of Romance'? On this album there was no track of the smae title, yet three years later it appeared on The Garden album!

Well, I wrote 'Systems Of Romance' (the song) at the same time as the album because I wanted another element for the song (this element being the instrumental tune with human host that I only wrote much later in 1982), but I liked the title 'Systems Of Romance' so I used it for the 1978 album simple eh? I often keep songs for a while before recording them. For instance 'Walk Away' was written around the same time too. Though all the songs on The Golden Section were written back in 1983.

Kim Duffell - What artists, authors and films are you interested in?

I said I'd make a list, so here it is - these tend to change all the time but here are the current ones, Kim:

Films:

The Swimmer, Raiders Of Lost Ark, all Star Wars, Goodbye Mr. Chips (30's version), Brief Encounter, Steamboat Willie (the first Walt Disney movie featuring Mickey Mouse), eraserhead, Un Chien Andalou (Salvador Dali/Louis Bunuel), Summer of '42, Close Encounters, On The Waterfront, d'Amerique, Rocky, Alien, Metropolis, jeux des Anges (animated film)

TV Films/Plays

Brideshead Revisited, almost every Dennis Potter play for TV, David Attenborough Nature programmes, Strangers and Brothers.

Actors/Actresses

Burt Lancaster, Cary Grant, James Stuart, Sir John Gielgood, Rita Heyworth.

Artists

Rene' Magritte, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Leo Basendale, Wallace Wood, Dudley D. Watkins, Allen Jones, John Martyn, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Botticelli, Hieronymus Bosch, Peter Bruegel, Rodin, Glen Baxter, Turner.

Books

A Month In The Country (J.L. Carr), Bridehead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh), Goodbye Mr. Chips ( James Hilton), The Great Gatsby (Scott Fitzgerald), Memoires d'Hadrien (Marguerite Yourcenar), The Narnia Series (C.S. Lewis), Meet My Maker The Mad Molecule (JP Donlevy), The Ballroom Of Romance (William Trevor), The Man Who Fell To Earth (Walter Tevis), Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow), America (John Dos Passos), Dusky Ruth and other stories (A.E. Coppard), Flowers For Algernon (short science fiction story), Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Graheme), J. Robert Oppenheimer (Peter Goodchild), Grapes Of Wrath, Cannery Row, Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (Laurie Lee), Chronicles of Ancient Sunlight (series) (Henry Williamson).

Barry Sinton - Bucks

I'm interested in the artwork featured on the record sleeves, is it possible to obtain prints or details of these, and who does them?

John does the Artwork for all his sleeves himself. There are no plans to print them at the moment other than as album and singles sleeves - but it sounds like a good idea! We'll let you know if anything happens in this direction.

Irteza Shah - England - How long does it take to write your lyrics?

Not long really Irteza. Many of them happen at the same time as the music. I think it's always best to work as quickly and spontaneously as possible. I also deep lots of notebooks in which I jot down any ides. So it's simply a matter of assembling the lyric from the original ideas for the song and some coinciding ideas from the notebooks.

Rodney Meiklejohn - New Zealand - Will you ever produce another robotic, haunting machine like Metamatic?

Well I don't often do something twice - also I think the time for that approach has perhaps gone now. Shortly after I did that album everyone started to sue synthsizers and many of those sounds became the new cliches. So I went into new areas such as The Garden and The Golden Section. It's simply a part of the continuing adventure. But I do still want to make music that has a very definite mood and atmosphere.

Margaret Troy - London N4.

I think it would be a really good idea to start a service where John foxx enthusiasts could get in touch with, and meet other John Foxx enthusiasts. (Now we do! See foxxvox@xmission.com)

Good Idea!

The John Foxx Information Service

All excerpts, questions and notes that appear here are from 'The Service' --The John Foxx Information Service, Volumes 1 & 2, to whom I give special thanks and credit. Without whom I could not have provided this Q & A with John Foxx for your enjoyment here at The Garden.