Tubeway Army

About

Before Gary Numan made a name for himself as a prolific new wave and synthpop artist, he was a member of the London-based punk group Tubeway Army. Formed in 1976, the band personified a typical punk act with aggressive songs with brash instrumentals. Though Tubeway Army was able to secure a recording contract, its first material wasn't received with open arms, most likely because there were a myriad of other punk bands in the UK that sounded extremely similar. After toying with a mini-Moog synthesizer at a recording studio, the group decided to incorporate the instrument into a few of its sounds to create an electronic-meets-punk style that helped bring it some attention. Tubeway Army would continue to drift toward a more electronic sound and with subsequent television performances, the band's sophomore 1979 album, Replicas, climbed to the top of the charts. Because Numan was writing and arranging all the band's songs, he soon decided to drop the Tubeway Army moniker and simply go by Gary Numan.