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Just re-watched the excellent Reinvention DVD documentary about Gary's career. It's a fascinating glimpse at all the highlights (and lowlights) from an interior perspective. It prompted me to think about Gary's live bands (of which there have been many) over the years.
The original Living Ornaments '79/'80 live band included members from the early television and radio appearances billed as Tubeway Army (including Gary's bass maestro Paul Gardiner and also the tremendous drummer Ced Sharpley, both of whom were heroically talented and supportive of Numan's sound in those early fame days). They also included Chris Payne, who along with RRussell [sic] Bell formed the multi-instrumentalist backbone of the band Dramatis that spun-off on its own (releasing one very good LP, For Future Reference, with Numan providing guest vocals on one track) after playing for Gary at Wembley Arena in '81, his final three UK performances for years. Their primary keyboard player Denis Haynes took the seat in Numan's band left by Billy Currie (vacating early 1980 when he re-joined Ultravox), which was also filled in the Teletour era by Roger Mason.
Mason along with a batch of other British players came over from the UK when Numan rehearsed in Los Angeles mid-1982 (in tax exile) for a relatively low-profile I, Assassin North American tour. This was a big change in lineup, with the awesome Pino Palladino holding down the funk basis of Gary's post-Dance fretless bass grooves. While there is some tantalizing footage of this band on the Reinvention DVD (I wish there was more included as a bonus feature!), an official full-length release from the tour has sadly never happened. Unfortunately, great as his explosive sound was, the alliance with drummer Chris Slade disintegrated in personal acrimony (he'd go on to play with AC/DC, which seemed more fitting to his temperament). Gary's own brother John Webb joined as well and would stay for years, later going on to record music on his own today under the alias Donovan Silver. A guitar player from the band Japan, Rob Dean, rounded out the tour lineup, with everyone decked out in shimmering-white 1930s gangster duds. When Numan returned to the UK in 1983, most of Dramatis returned to backing him up, with the addition of funky slap bass player Joe Hubbard. I don't think this lineup ever gelled, despite basically remaining intact for the following few years (except for new bassists and backing vocalists).
In 1987, the lineup shifted again with Ced being replaced by Greg Brimstone on drums. By this point, Numan had had gone from having one dedicated backing vocalist, Karen Taylor on the Berserker tour (documented on the White Noise live album and subsequently 2008's archival Cold Warning DVD), to two with the addition of Kit Rolfe for The Fury tour. Andy Coughlan played bass in this period. Both of the backing singers on the 1987 Exhibition tour were sisters, Emma and Valerie Chalmers. This lineup was recorded for the Ghost live album, which had Brimstone and Nick Davis on bass. For the Metal Rhythm tour in 1988, Sharpley and Coughlan came back but John Webb did not, with keyboardist Ade Orange joining the lineup for the first time. While Payne was still in this role, after 1993 for almost fifteen years Orange would become Numan's primary live multi-instrumentalist. New backing vocalists Cathi Ogden and Diana Wood joined for a short 1989 tour, documented as a live video originally called The Skin Mechanic and reissued under various dodgy names on budget labels.
With Numan's career on life support, the band significantly shrunk and only Sharpley retained from the original lineup in 1991. Even I lose track of this period, it's not well documented with live audio and video, but John Webb switched to playing bass, and studio musicians Mike Smith and Keith Beauvais played keyboards and guitar, respectively. Jackie Rawe sang backup in 1991 Susie Webb in 1992, and TJ Davies in 1993. The guitarist Kipper replaced Beauvais on record and stage at this point, with Ced Sharpley finally departing to be replaced by the undeniably great Richard Beasley, who has consistently performed with Numan on nearly every subsequent tour up to this day. Their firey show at London's Hammersmith Apollo was documented on Dream Corrosion, with a setlist drawn from more deep cuts in Gary's catalogue. He dropped the backing vocalists altogether on the Sacrifice tour, which was brilliantly documented on the album Dark Light.
In 1996, Numan's career was on an upswing again and he hired keyboardist David Brooks, who would become another mainstay, and guitarist Steve Harris who is also still touring with Numan to the present day. This group stayed in place for years, with many live albums documenting their shows, and only occasional changes in performing lineup with Rob Holliday joining as an additional bassist/guitarist in 2003-2006. Chris McCormack would also take over guitar for Harris for a few years. It was with the 2007 Jagged shows that Ade Orange and Rob Holliday left the band, to be replaced by Numan's current co-producer Ade Fenton and current bassist Tim Muddiman. Other players have temporarily filled in from time to time, including the keyboardists Gareth Thomas, Josh Giroux, and Presley, Frank Zummo on drums, Mark Thwaite on guitar, and Marc Sallis and Tim Slade on bass, but the lineup has been fairly stable otherwise. Numan reports having a very close relationship with his band again and this has led to him enjoying his more extensive world tours in recent years. Members of the original band have also dropped in and guested on the occasional song during retrospective-focused shows, which is always a rare treat. And, of course, backing vocals have come back once again in the form of Persia Numan guesting on stage for "My Name Is Ruin".
Can't wait to see what's in store for the (R)Evolution 40th anniversary tour coming up in the fall! Some never-before-played stuff would be quite exciting, and from the sound of it, rehearsals will begin very soon once the Numan family returns from summer holidays.
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Originally Posted by Brando
