The Grey Room

The project I am currently working on is an electronic album called "The Grey Room" which is heavily influenced by the John Foxx album "Metamatic" and also the early work of Gary Numan (his albums "Replicas" and "Telekon").

The whole thing came about after I recorded a track called "A Face I Knew". People commented how much it sounded like a John Foxx track and that started the whole ball rolling. I then recorded a synth ballad called "I remember You" (A brand new version) which had a big influence of Gary Numan stamped all over it which is ironic as the song is actually about him! It looks at the early fame he had and then the other aspect of the lyrics is looking at his place in the music world now and comparing the two periods.

The next track I recorded was "The Glimmer Man" a clear "John Foxx" influence can be heard on this one and the lyrics I have written are very much in the style of John Foxx and are probably my favourite lyrics to date. This track was very quickly followed by a song called "A million stars" which again has a John Foxx influence running through it. The song itself is actually looking back to my days when I used to go clubbing in Manchester and I used to walk home on my own through some very rough parts of Salford to where I lived at the time, Eccles, looking back I must admit I must have been either influenced by alcohol or been plain stupid as I would not do the same thing these days.

Quite an interesting track was then recorded called "Stranger In A room" which is an instrumental, which funnily enough, actually sounds like an Ultravox track from the "Vienna" era. The song was also included on a John Foxx tribute album called "Here We Go - The Other Side Of Metal Beat". "Car Crash Flashback" is not a John Foxx cover but it does share the same title as a John Foxx track, something I did n't know about until a friend mentioned it to me. This track is yet to be finished.

I decided to re-record a track that has proved very popular across my web pages called "I Once Was A Machine" and is a song that would fit perfectly on to Gary Numan's "Replicas" album. The new version to be included on the album is much darker with layers of synths, perhaps, a track I am most proud of. The inspiration for this track believe it or not came from the basic drum pattern on Numan's "I Nearly Married A Human", a track I have actually done a cover of!

The original album title was to be "Systematic" but I recorded a new instrumental track called "The Grey Room" which I thought was a cracking "Foxx" like title so that is how the new title came about! This is a track that would probably fit very well on John's "Metamatic" album.

The latest track I have recorded is one called "Secret Annexe" (Originally titled "The Grey Room II") and is about the story of Anne Frank and her family who hid in a secret Annexe to avoid capture by the Germans in the war as they were a jewish family. This really is a good track and the "Foxx" like instrumentation works really well with the lyrics.

I have written the lyrics for two other songs called "Years Ago" and "Smoke Screen" which are the next songs to be worked on.

The title track of the album "The Grey Room" is the song currently featured as track of the week on the welcome page. The new version of "I Once Was A Machine" can be heard on the Music Player.

Gary Hunter