Tubeway Army

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Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army's line-up for most of their recordings (L to R): Gary Numan, Jess Lidyard and Paul Gardiner
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	New wave synth-pop post-punk punk rock (early)
Years active	1977–1979
Labels	Beggars Banquet
Past members	Gary Numan Paul Gardiner Jess Lidyard Bob Simmonds Barry Benn Sean Burke Trevor Grant Chris Payne Cedric Sharpley Paul Simons
Website	garynuman.co.uk

Tubeway Army were a

Aged 18 years, Gary Webb had fronted London band Mean Street in 1976 (their song "Bunch of Stiffs" appeared on the Live at the Vortex compilation, and was the B-side of the Vortex 7-inch). After leaving this band, he auditioned as lead guitarist for another band called The Lasers, where he met bass-player Paul Gardiner. The Lasers soon became Tubeway Army, and were eventually reformed with Webb's uncle Jess Lidyard on drums.[1] Webb renamed himself "Valerian", Gardiner "Scarlett", and Lidyard "Rael".

Webb was a prolific songwriter. The band began playing gigs on the punk scene in London and managed to secure a record deal with the independent

During this time the band went through some line-up changes, changing drummers and briefly adding a second guitarist, but due to musical differences Webb and Gardiner split with them as they wanted to move away from punk rock.[2]

By this time Tubeway Army had decided to abandon live shows – Webb was unhappy with pub-venue gigs on the often violent London punk scene. Their last gig in July 1978 (sharing the bill with

At this point Numan was keen to distance his music from punk rock and wanted to drop the Tubeway Army group name and release the album under his own stage name, but Beggars Banquet rejected the idea. The album was released with the title Tubeway Army on blue vinyl in November 1978.^[1] Whilst the album's modest initial pressing of 5000 copies sold out,^[5] it did not enter the album charts at that time, and no singles were lifted from it.

Following swiftly on, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record their follow-up album, Replicas and also a session for John Peel in early 1979. The result was more synth and science fiction oriented than the last album. The first single from the album, the bleak, slow-paced keyboard-driven song "Down in the Park" failed to chart, although it would prove an enduring cult track in the years to come, and has to date been covered by Marilyn Manson, Foo Fighters, Flight, and nine other bands.^[6]

The next single, "

At the peak of success, a John Peel session in June 1979 was credited as Gary Numan, and the Tubeway Army group name was dropped.^[10] Numan would however keep the same musicians as his backing band on his subsequent solo releases and tours.

In 1981, following Gary Numan's (temporary) retirement from live shows, Numan's backing band of the time formed the synth-pop group Dramatis and released the album For Future Reference (1981) which featured Numan as guest vocalist on one track. The album was issued on CD in 2000 by Metrodome Group under the title The Dramatis Project and credited to "Tubeway Army featuring Gary Numan," but it is not a Tubeway Army album.

• Gary Numan (a.k.a. "Valerian") – guitar, lead vocals, synthesizers (1977-1979)
• Paul Gardiner (a.k.a. "Scarlett") – bass, backing vocals (1977–1979; died 1984)
• Jess Lidyard (a.k.a. "Rael") – drums (1977, 1978–1979)
• Bob Simmonds – drums (1977–1978)
• Barry Benn – drums (1978)
• Sean Burke – guitar (1978)
• Billy Currie – synthesizers (1979)
• Trevor Grant – guitar (1979)
• Chris Payne – synthesizers (1979)
• Cedric Sharpley – drums (1979; died 2012)

• Goodwin, Paul (2004) Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan