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caught me by surprise. The only electronic music I'd heard was a bit of Kraftwerk, which was OK but didn't really fire me up. And the Eno-Bowie collaborations like the 'Low' album, which was almost like classical musical done electronically, very grand and lovely. But none of it made me want to get a synth. The very first record I ever went in to make, with Tubeway Army, was a punk record. The day I arrived, there was a Mini Moog sitting in the control room that the previous band had been using. They forgot it here so I got us it for the whole day without even paying for it. I just turned it on, twittered a dial here and there and loved what happened. It was amazing what came out of that thing. So I quickly converted, on the fly, my punky songs into electro-punk songs. That became my first album.
You really stumbled into something!
I did, and I wanted to push it out fast because I thought I was the only one doing it like this. I was so ignorant! The album came out, got good reviews, so they wanted me to do another one quick. But by then I'd started to realize there were other groups doing this, like the Human League for example. See, there was this electronic scene, but being done in isolation. I mean, Ultravox already had three albums out! I was late to this unknown revolution! So then I end up with a No. 1 single in the U.K., 'Are Friends Electric?,' and all of a sudden people are pointing at me saying, "Oh he makes this new sort of music and he is so great," and I'm thinking,"Tthat's embarrassing, because I was one of the last people to get into it!" I just happened to be the one that got really successful with it.
What those other bands must have thought about me [laughs]. I mean, I had made three albums before I even owned my own synthesizer and I had two No. 1 albums. I'd give interviews with
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