Welcome to my first Making Music campaign.



To those of you that were a part of the previous Pledge Music campaign for the Savage album this will be vaguely familiar, but without the annoying upset that befell some of you at the end. I very much hope that the problems some of you had with Pledge will be entirely absent with Making Music. The intention though is much the same as the Savage campaign, to give you access to the entire creative journey from first note to finished album, from first pencil idea to finished artwork. With regular updates, some text, some audio, but most video, you will witness the album grow from a raw idea to the finished article.



For those of you that are new to a campaign like this I'll explain my reasons for doing it. Making an album is challenging on many levels. As I've said many times before, starting a new album project is very much like standing at the foot of a mountain, looking up and realizing that you have a long and difficult climb ahead. At times it will go well, at other times it will be incredibly difficult and stressful, and it's always daunting. Confidence will be high one day, and destroyed the next. Frustrations will set in, tempers will flare and at times it will seem impossible, hopeless. Truly euphoric moments of triumph will be few but, hopefully, they will happen from time to time. You will witness songs develop from the very first note, through the many ups and downs of its tortuous path to the finished, produced, mastered piece of music that we will go on to play at shows all over the world.



You will see lyrics take shape, change, abandoned and at times reshaped into a new idea. Titles will change, arrangements will change, sounds will be tried by the thousands and most will be discarded along the way. My hope is that because you will witness the birth of new songs, and watch them grow, you will enjoy and appreciate the finished album all the more. You will have inside knowledge as to what the songs are about, where the ideas came from, the experiences that shaped them, how they evolved and, ultimately, why the album becomes what it becomes.



With the last album, Savage, the albums pre-ordered during that campaign made a significant impact on the first week chart position, and I obviously hope that happens again with this album. With a campaign like this the involvement and participation of the fans themselves makes a very real contribution to the success of the album. I must confess I find that particular aspect very exciting. Every album pre-ordered during this campaign helps to decide whether it fails or succeeds, so you play a vital role.



Because I want you to be there from the very beginning I have deliberately written absolutely nothing up to now. So, when the campaign launches, that will be day one of the writing and recording process. But, a campaign like this is not just about the new album. I've put together a considerable collection of rare items that you can only buy here, from musical equipment used on previous albums, to rare white label vinyl test pressings, acetates, track sheets, lyrics and more. Most of it is signed and all of it is an authentic part of my musical history.



I felt enormous pressure when I was writing Savage. The album before, Splinter, had been the most successful Numan album for decades, it achieved a good chart position, received numerous great reviews, many saying it was the best album I'd ever made, and so it seemed a near impossible task to try to make something as good, or even better, with Savage. But it did do better, much better, and so the pressure and expectations are even higher now as I get ready to start the next one.



This new album will be released in 2020. When exactly in 2020 I wont dare speculate at this point but I sincerely hope you enjoy being a part of this campaign. I am, as always, so very grateful for your interest and your support.



Gary Numan.