This Friday in Manchester and Saturday in Brixton, 25th and 26th May 2012, Buzzcocks will play for the first time in 33 years with original vocalist Howard Devoto. I will be at the latter show. I am getting quite excited, almost as much as my fourteen year old self would have been.
This chapter from Taking Candy from a Dog will explain all.
It’s July 1979 and
Lee writes to tell me some big news. Really big news. He’s read in
the NME that Spiral Scratch is going to be re-released.
After a string of
fantastic singles throughout 1978 the last couple haven’t been so
hot, but the Buzzcocks are still my favourite band. I bought the
current one, Harmony in my Head, in both the blue and red sleeve,
even though it’s not a patch on Promises or Love You More.
I’ve got everything
they’ve ever made, including Pulsebeat 12" on blue vinyl,
everything except Spiral Scratch. Lee tells me that the Spiral
Scratch EP is one of punk’s main foundation stones, the first true
‘independent’ record. That piece of plastic, recorded one
December afternoon in 1976, has inspired a thousand other bands to
make DIY records. That way they cut out the corporate middle man.
