Originally formed in 1986 by Gary Watts and Andrew Stirling-Brown, Hereford-based electronic band Nature of Wires toured regularly until 1994, playing a mixture of covers & originals; self-releasing their debut Modus Operandi album in 1993.
In November 2014, Gary began composing music again, later forming an unlikely partnership with Maren Northway, otherwise known as CountessM – a prolific and respected vocalist and lyricist from Fullerton, California.
In this interview, we chat with Nature of Wires about the newest project with CountessM, influences, and changes in music and the business over the years.
Full Q&A, links, and a stream of Perfect Menagerie below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
I’ve always liked electronic music since I was blown away by Tubeway Army on Top of the Pops in September 1979 – I was instantly hooked. I was 13 and it felt much the same as when I first realised I’d fallen in love with a girl at school – simply couldn’t explain why I felt the way I did, but I just wanted more and more of it. I’ve stayed with electronic music ever since and in more recent times, since 2007, I’ve really got into the harder, more aggressive side of the genre, e.g. Combichrist, Aesthetic Perfection, etc, whilst actually preferring the slightly more subtle tones of the likes of Deviant UK and Cyferdyne.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
I’ve been creating music since 1986 and we played live regularly until 1994, followed by a 6 month break (which turned into nearly 22 years) and then we played live again in April 2016. As far as sharing with the public via the internet goes, that’s been since November 2014, when I first uploaded my remix of Wanted by Kyle Monroe to Soundcloud.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
Although originally aiming to sound a bit like Deviant UK and Cyferdyne (I’ll never be as good as those guys) I think I’ve now developed my own recognisable sound. Numan and Alien Sex Fiend influences are in there too if you listen hard enough (you don’t have to listen too hard to pick up the Numanisms). I don’t write lyrics at all, so there are no lyrical influences; I never progressed beyond nursery rhymes to be honest, but I am very lucky in that I have two excellent lyricists, namely Maren Northway (aka CountessM) and Andrew Stirling-Brown, who I’ve known since 1977. What motivates me? Well it’s certainly not the money side of things! I enjoy going to gigs and meeting other like-minded individuals and I also enjoy communicating with these folk via social media. I just love being part of the scene in general; I’ve met some amazing people and as a result I think I’ve become a better person for it.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
It’s been a long-held ambition of mine to release a “proper” album. During our original incarnation between 1986 and 1994 this was almost impossible without knowing somebody who worked for EMI or similar, but with the advances in technology and communication a whole World of opportunities has opened up.
I’ve used Social Media to get my music out there, in the hope that I would get to know people who can help me fulfil my ambition and thankfully I have achieved the desired result. If someone had told me in 1994 that I’d be signing a record deal at the age of 49 I would have found it hard to believe, but here we are.
So, creatively I had no specific aims – I just wanted to get an album released on physical media, ideally through a proper record label and which people would actually like. Achievement Unlocked!
What was the last song you listened to?
Ruinizer – Technprisoners (D.E.P. remix)
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
CDs. They just sound better than everything else. Vinyl gives you that nice bit of sonic warmth I suppose, but MP3s are for car journeys only.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Bandcamp. Spotify has contributed to the ruination of the music industry by making it too easy to get stuff for free. At least with Bandcamp you can choose to either charge a small fee or to give it away for nothing and you can sell merch on there too. I like Apple products, but Apple music comes across as this huge dominant beast which gives very little regard to the artists who help keep it alive. All this said, I’ve not yet used Spotify or Apple Music, so I might be talking out of my arse!
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
Time, or lack of, is my biggest challenge. It’s 5% writing and 95% promoting if you’re going to be in any way effective. You also need to accept that there are people who are firmly stuck in the mainstream and who will never show any interest in anything a bit niche, so don’t be disheartened when your next door neighbour or close family relative, who are fans of Dire Straits and One Direction, walk out of the room or pick up their phones when your music starts playing.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
We gig every few months when invited and played at Synthetic City 3 in Birmingham on April 23rd this year, then again at The Dublin Castle in London on July 16th and most recently at a local venue in Herefordshire as part of a fund raising event for charity (not our target audience it has to be said, but good fun). Next up is the Beat:Cancer event in Manchester on October 15thand then we’ve potentially got another in Manchester towards the end of the year (date TBC) and another one in London on April 1st 2017. We’ve got work to do on the visual aspects, but apparently we sound great live.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Our Cyber Rendezvous album can be previewed and bought from analoguetrash.com. We’ve got lots of other stuff too, most of which can be found on our YouTube Channel. We’ve also got the usual facebook and twitter pages; just search for natureofwires.
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Big shout outs go to Maren for being so absolutely brilliant at providing the lyrics for Cyber Rendezvous, to Vlad McNeally of Kallisti Design for the most awesome album artwork, to Jan Loamfield of X-Fusion Music Production for making it sound so great and of course to Adrian and Mark at AnalogueTrash for taking a chance and signing us. So many more people to thank too – they are listed in the album artwork.
Words of Wisdom?
Don’t just upload a few tracks to Soundcloud and expect to become famous. You’ve gotta get out there and meet the people and support the bands. It takes up a lot of time, especially when things start to gather pace, but it is soooo worth it. You’ve got to find your target audience and look for Radio shows which specialise in your sort of music. Send MP3s as e-mail attachments, rather than download links; DJs don’t have time to wait ages for things to download – e-mail attachments are much more in their face and easily opened.
Ultimately though, create music for yourself. Write in a style which you like personally and not what you think other people want to hear. I think I once read that Gary Numan adopted this approach in the late 90s and his career took off again. Be true to yourself and enjoy it. When it stops being fun, take some time out, but never give up completely. Probably best not to give up the day job too
