Synth pop pioneer and ambient artist John Foxx is the subject of the most recent Electronic Independence:
We went to visit John Foxx deep in the darkest depths of Shoreditch, East London, at the studio of his latest collaborator, Benge.
The studio isn’t far from where Foxx’s infamous “The Garden” studio once laid (on top of multiple Roman graves no less) and it’s also the location where the duo cut Interplay, the latest album by John Foxx and the Maths.
The notoriously quiet man sat down with Jordan to wax nostalgic about Foxx’s time in Ultravox, synths (obviously) dub techniques, drinking and eccentric sex. Finally, John was kind enough to demonstrate his infamous drum machine and play us some of the patches from his highly influential first album, Metamatic.
Wonderful!
EPIC interview.
Excellent stuff. Makes me want to check out his new album and also this Benge guy.
Benge’s Twenty Systems is a sublime listen, best experienced doing the supermarket shop. Half preset doodlings, half existential French car advert
Hot cha!!
great!!
"I decided to leave (Ultravox) while making Systems of Romance. We toured and hit San Francisco and I said, 'That's it, I'm done. You can take the name, and I'll take the drum machine.'" FOR THE WIN
“Take the drum machine.”
Words to live by!
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….so many questions were answered for me in that excellent interview about the recording of Metamatic. Worth every minute of watching 🙂
someone please interview john foxx again and please be super indepth!!! This interview is great but.. ahh man.. I wish I could just meet him. John Foxx come to America again! I missed you when you came a couple years ago for the quiet man exhibition… come closer to boston than new york.. please?! I have awful anxiety when it comes to driving far distances.. “And why’s that car always there? I got a letter from America.. Somebody else lost in the glare”
I am an american and I have always said Moog like a cow goes MOO and not mogue… and that means I am an awesome american…haha.. I have been interested in synths since I was 13 years old when I borrowed my guitar teachers analog synth and a preset drummachine.. well! lets just say i stopped taking guitar lessons and started buying synths.. or convincing my parents to buy them for me.. haha…… At that point I knew nothing about any other musicians that used only synths to make music at least darker weirder stuff.. Then I found out that there was music similar to what i was making out there already….such as John Foxx..Aphextwin.. skinny puppy etc… and then sadly i started trying to emulate what other musicians were doing or had done…. and then I was lost….. and became discouraged for a long time when it came to making music…and actually became discouraged pretty much all around… hmm..
I think 8 years later I might be getting over that.. maybe…. I just know I wont ever be a pioneer like John Foxx…but.. thats ok!