NEW ALBUMS
BUZZCOCKS
Sonics In The Soul CHERRYRED
Mancunian punk perennials show there’s life after Pete Shelley.
By Dave Simpson
Diggle’s new breed: Buzzcocks in2022
BENPOLLARD
7/10
CAN there really be a Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley? The singer-songwriter, who died in 2018, fronted the band for 41 years, writing or co-writing hundreds of songs including such copper-bottomed classics as “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tve)”. His death leaves a massive hole. And yet, lest we forget, Shelley himself stepped into a similar space when original singer Howard Devoto left in 1977, leaving the lead guitarist to transition to singerguitarist, main songwriter and frontman.
The rest is history, and while the lineup has survived numerous changes to the rhythm section over the years, guitarist (originally bassist) and vocalist Steve Diggle – who now steps up to solely front the band – has hardly been a slouch. Along with numerous co-writes with Shelley, he wrote and sang the likes of the hurtling “Harmony In My Head”, “Autonomy” and “Love Is Lies”, the acoustic ballad that threw such an effective, bittersweet curveball into the middle of 1978’s Love Bites. Having now been a Buzzcock for longer than anyone including Shelley and having taken on more vocal and songwriting duties as the years progressed, Diggle has earned his late colleague’s blessing to take over the ship.