Pitchfork

Steve Haag and Kevin Keenan report:
On March 18th, Merge Records will release Buzzcocks, an eponymous offering by the Manchester, England punk legends, which will be the band's seventh studio album in a career that now spans four decades. The record was produced by Tony Barber and recorded by Harvey Birrell (Stereolab) at Southern Studios in London. "Few other bands in the rock canon can lay claim to the scope of influence, or to a more enduring legacy than Buzzcocks," Merge recently told Pitchfork, reiterating that which Pitchfork already knows and cannot deny. "We are extremely excited about the opportunity to work with one of the bands that holds such an important position in all of our personal musical pantheons." Tracklist for Buzzcocks:

01 Jerk
02 Keep On
03 Wake Up Call
04 Friends
05 Driving You Insane
06 Morning After
07 Sick City Sometimes
08 Stars
09 Certain Move
10 Lester Sands
11 Up for the Crack
12 Useless

Founding member Howard Devoto, who is no longer in the lineup, co-wrote two of the songs on the new album: "Stars" and "Lester Sands", which were older Buzzcocks songs not specifically written for this record. Look for the Buzzcocks to tour the U.S. this Spring, after some unconfirmed UK and European dates. The UK leg will come on the heels of an Australian mini-tour set to get underway at the end of the month. Tour dates:

01-31 Sydney - Metro
02-01 Brisbane - Arena
02-04 Adelaide - Enigma Bar
02-06 Melbourne - Corner Hotel
02-07 Melbourne - The Prince
02-08 Perth - Watershed (Perth Arts Festival)

If you're despairing over the wait, and the closest you can get to Australia is, say, Papua New Guinea, fear not: the band has made available a live compilation CD that can be purchased exclusively over their website. Featuring recordings from 1993 to 2001, and limited to just 2000 copies, the album is appropriately titled The Internet Album. 2000 copies means hurry your ass. Tracklist:

01 You Say You Don't Love Me
02 Why Compromise?
03 Turn of the Screw
04 Kiss 'n' Tell
05 Paradise
06 Sitting Round at Home
07 Operator's Manual
08 Are Everything
09 Don't Let the Car Crash
10 Totally from the Heart
11 Soul on a Rock
12 Unthinkable
13 Harmony in My Head
14 Love Battery
15 Nothing Left
16 What Am I Supposed to Do
17 Doesn't Mean Anything
18 Everybody's Happy Nowadays
19 Choices
20 You Know You Can't Help It
21 What Do I Get?

The current incarnation of the Buzzcocks-- Pete Shelley (guitar/vocals), Steve Diggle (guitar/vocals), Tony Barber (bass), and Phil Barker (drums)-- has been together since the 1993 release Trade Test Transmission. Shelley and Diggle are the remaining nucleus from the band's original late-70s lineup, though technically speaking, Barber and Barker have been Buzzcocks for longer than original members Devoto and John Maher. Shelley and Devoto formed the Buzzcocks in Manchester after being blown away by a 1975 Sex Pistols show in London. Their first gig was opening for the Pistols in their hometown, in June of 1976.

Devoto left the band in 1977 after the release of their first EP, Spiral Scratch, and went on to form the band Magazine. In the meantime, Shelley and Diggle continued on to become pop/punk pioneers, releasing three records-- Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites, and A Different Kind of Tension-- between 1977 and 1979. A year later, they broke up; Shelley and Diggle reformed the band in 1989, but did not release any new music until the aforementioned Trade Test Transmission.

Recently, Devoto and Shelley have had a musical reconciliation of sorts, collaborating as ShellyDevoto on an album released earlier this year by Cooking Vinyl Records: Buzzkunst! Ahh, we just love that juvenile punk humor at Pitchfork.