Wire Train was made up of four students who attended San Francisco State University together in the early 1980s. In 1983, guitarists Kevin Hunter and Kurt Herr, along with drummer Frederico Gil-Sola and bassist Anders Rundblad, emerged as the Renegades. Unable to keep the name, they adopted the moniker Wire Train and within a few months had a deal on the Bay Area based 415 Records. 415 had already seen considerable success with bands such as Romero Void and Translator. Just as Wire Train was inking its deal with 415, the popular indie label secured a national distribution deal through Sony's Columbia Records. The group's sound was somewhere between the psychedelic sounds of late-1960s San Francisco and the more modern British new wave vibe.
Wire Train would go though a series of personnel changes after the first album, they would make one more album on 415, before moving to MCA for two more discs. By the time they split up in 1994, only Hunter and Rundblad remained from this lineup. Even though they released six albums over their career, it is ironic that what many have said is their best song, "Snug," was never released on record. The group called it quits in 1992, after they released their last LP, No Soul No Strain.