Buzzcocks hail from Manchester England. School chums Peter McNeish and Howard Trafford had attended a Sex Pistols concert in London in 1976 and decided it would be fun to start a band. Guitarist Peter and Singer Howard called their band "Jets Of Air." Peter took on the name "Shelley" because (depending on the source you believe) either that's what his parents were going to call him were he born with two "x" chromosomes or out of deference to an author of archaic English literature. Howard took the name Devoto from a Cambridge bus driver. They were soon joined by bassist Garth Smith (real name Gordon Davies). Not long after that they adopted the name "Buzzcocks" reportedly from a "macho-posturing" catch phrase they either used or heard ("Get a Buzz, Cock!").
By the end of 1976 and well into 1977 the line up consisted of Shelley, Devoto, Steve Diggle (bass) and John Maher (drums). In 1977 the quartet recorded their famous Ep, SPIRAL SCRATCH. But Howard Devoto was tiring of the punk scene and felt their band sounded like all the other punk bands flooding the UK music scene. He left in early 1977 and formed the band Magazine. Pete Shelley assumed the duties of vocalist/guitarist and Garth Smith rejoined on Bass, with Diggle now on guitar. In August 1977 they were signed by United Artists Records (UK).
After Garth was dismissed (reportedly for drunkeness), Steve Garvey (no, not the has-been baseball player) joined on bass. This is considered the "classic line up" and indeed remained intact until the 1981 breakup and well into the reunion era nearly a decade later. They recorded their first album ANOTHER MUSIC IN A DIFFERENT KITCHEN in Dec 1977 and January 1978. Their second album LOVE BITES was recorded in August 1978. Neither of these albums had a US release at the time, but IRS did reissue the two on one CD in 1994. In 1979 they released their third album (but second US release), A DIFFERENT KIND OF TENSION. While TENSION is considered by many to be their finest album, a fourth album, SINGLES GOING STEADY is considered a "must-own" album for aficionados of punk/power pop. Consisting of all the odd singles from the "early years" the appropriately entitled SINGLES GOING STEADY was not only Buzzcocks' first US release, it was also the first IRS album!
The next project was a series of singles to be released in sequence as "Part 1", "Part 2", "Part 3" and so on. Unfortunately the band broke up after "Part 3" was recorded. Pete Shelley went solo with what was definitely the biggest hit of any Buzzcock, past or present: "Homosapien." "Homosapien" has long been believed to be one of the tunes intended for "Part 4". Steve Diggle did a solo record for Faulty Products and then formed a new band called Flag Of Convenience (FOC).
It was the marketing of FOC by one venue that many believe is responsible for the reunion of Buzzcocks. Flyers distributed for a concert included the name Buzzcocks, parenthetically, to let would-be concert-goers know that FOC was as close to a Buzzcocks concert as they were going to get. This was because FOC consisted of Diggle and Maher. To make a long story short, legal posturing and clever marketing lead to a reunion of Shelley, Diggle, Maher and Garvey in 1989. Maher agreed to do a reunion tour, but was now more interested in Dragster racing than in rock music and left later in the year to pursue his new hobby. He was replaced by Smiths drummer Mike Joyce. Joyce and Garvey stayed around until 1992 at which time Garvey left to spend more time with his family. They were replaced by Phil Barker on drums and Tony Barber on bass.
Buzzcocks are still playing and touring today. A new CD is scheduled for release in early 2002. Also, Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto have reconciled and a new collaboration entitled Buzzkunst will be released in 2002.
