Although Buchanan had grown up in the same neighbourhood as Paul Joseph "PJ" Moore, it was only at university, where Moore was studying electronics, that they became well acquainted, and the three friends became part of a band, first known as McIntyre (named after the John McIntyre Building, the university's administrative offices) and then Night by Night, although Buchanan later commented that Night by Night only played "twice, maybe three times" in their short existence. The band struggled to retain a settled line-up, and by 1981 Buchanan, Bell and Moore were the only remaining members. The trio decided not to recruit anybody else, trading in a guitar for an effect pedal, and borrowing an old drum machine that only played Hispanic American music rhythms. Buchanan later recalled: "We went and gigged, because we needed the money, we'd do gigs where we'd do cover versions with the cassette of Latin American rhythms. And we were terrible. But we picked songs that were so completely durable and well known that people recognized them. No matter how badly we mangled them."