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Tubeway Army (1977–1979) were a London-based punk and New Wave band formed by Gary Webb.

They were the first band of the post-punk era to have an electronic hit, with the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and its parent album Replicas topping the UK charts in mid-1979. Following this success, Webb released all his subsequent records under the name Gary Numan.

Line up

The only constant members were:
  • Gary Webb (also known as "Valerian" & "Gary Numan") — vocals, guitar, keyboards/synthesizers
  • Paul Gardiner (also known as "Scarlett") — bass guitar, occasional backing vocals

Other musicians included:

  • Jess Lidyard (also known as "Rael"; Webb's uncle) — drums (part-time 1977, and 1978/1979, including "That's Too Bad" single, Tubeway Army and Replicas sessions)
  • Bob Simmonds — drums (late-1977/early-1978)
  • Barry Benn — drums (mid-1978, including "Bombers" single)
  • Sean Burke — guitar (mid-1978, including "Bombers" single)
  • Chris Payne — synthesizers (1979 Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops performances)
  • Billy Currie (of Ultravox) — synthesizers (1979 Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops performances)
  • Cedric Sharpley — drums (1979 Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops performances)
  • Trevor Grant — guitar (1979 Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops performances)
Gary Numan was the driving force of the band, writing the material and producing the recordings; subsequent albums were issued under his own name once the album Replicas became successful. Gardiner, Sharpley, and Payne continued as his backing band for some years. Gardiner died from a drug overdose in February 1984; Numan's personal tribute to his former cohort was the song "A Child with the Ghost", on the album Berserker (1984).

History

Gary Webb, aged nineteen, had fronted London band Mean Street in 1977 (their song "Bunch Of Stiffs" appeared on the Live at the Vortex compilation, and was the B-side of the Vortex 7"). Leaving this band acrimoniously, he rechristened himself "Valerian", and formed Tubeway Army with his childhood friend Paul Gardiner (who played bass as "Scarlett").

Webb was quite a prolific song-writer and ambitious for commercial success. The band began playing gigs on the punk scene in London and managed to secure a record deal with the independent Beggars Banquet label. They released two guitar-heavy, punk-style singles in the first half of 1978 ("That's Too Bad"/"Oh! Didn't I Say", and "Bombers"/"Blue Eyes"/"OD Receiver"). These failed to chart.

Soon afterwards, the Tubeway Army album was released on blue vinyl. Webb had now adopted the name "Gary Numan". Whilst still largely guitar/bass/drums-based, the album saw his first tenative use of the Minimoog synthesizer, which he had come across by accident in the recording studio during the album sessions. Lyrically the record touched on dystopian and sci-fi themes, Numan being a fan of authors such as Philip K. Dick (the opening lines of the song "Listen to the Sirens" are a direct lift from the title of Dick's book Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said). Whilst the album's modest initial pressing (which included a large batch of warped editions) sold out, it did not enter the album charts at that time, and no singles were lifted from it. By this time Tubeway Army had decided to abandon live shows — Numan was unhappy with pub-venue gigs on the often violent London punk scene (the only known recording of a Tubeway Army concert - a London show from February 1978 - was released as a bootleg album in the early 80s; it was later officially included under the title Living Ornaments '78 as bonus tracks on the 1998 CD re-release of the Tubeway Army album).

Following swiftly on in early 1979, excited by the possibilities of synthesizers, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record a follow-up album, Replicas. The result was more synth and science fiction orientated than ever. The first single from the album, the bleak, slow-paced keyboard-driven song "Down In The Park", failed to chart. However, the next single, "Are 'Friends' Electric?", was to provide a commercial breakthrough. A special picture-disc helped boost sales but what particularly grabbed the British public's imagination was Tubeway Army's appearance on the BBC show The Old Grey Whistle Test, followed soon after by a slot on Top of the Pops. The band appeared all dressed in black and near-motionless, Numan in particular giving a performance often referred to as being "like an android" (a style that it has since been claimed started as a means of covering stage nerves but then became his trademark). The single shot to number one in the UK charts, with Replicas following suit in the album charts. With Tubeway Army still avoiding live shows, Numan recruited some additional musicians to make these television appearances (see above).

Numan thus became the first synth-based artist in Britain to really break through into major commercial success. At this point, he dropped the Tubeway Army name and subsequent releases were made under the artist name Gary Numan.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Beggars Banquet have re-released and re-mastered these recordings numerous times. Current CD editions supplement the original album tracks with all single A- and B-sides, 12" bonus tracks, studio out-takes, and recovered bootleg live material.

English musical groups | Music from London | Early punk groups | New Wave groups | Peel Sessions artists

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Tubeway Army".

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