Time to mind the Buzzcocks - they're back!

Pierre Perrone meets the re-energised Buzzcocks, godfathers of the new wave and kings of the three-minute masterpiece

"Everyone is trying to do a Buzzcocks these days. Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, the Kaiser Chiefs. So why shouldn't we?" Steve Diggle asks, justifiably, nursing a pint and chain-smoking in the basement of a London pub.

"The Smiths definitely took some ideas from us, ie: the non-gender specific lyrics. Morrissey used to be at the back, taking notes, when we played the Electric Circus with Warsaw - who later became Joy Division - supporting. We were the catalysts in Manchester. We just happened to be there with the right idea at the right time. We influenced a lot of other people. Kurt Cobain really did like us."

Buzzcocks played European dates with Nirvana in the spring of 1994. "He seemed to be dealing with a lot of pressure," the guitarist adds.

"I remember him asking me how we'd survived all these years. And I said: 'You've got to have a sense of humour on the tour bus. That can see you through'."

There is something of the pub philosopher about Diggle, the mod who met Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto at a Sex Pistols gig at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976 and became a punk. "Malcolm McLaren came in with this guy and said, 'here's your new bass player', and it was Steve, who was waiting to meet someone completely different," Shelley recalls. "By the time we'd realised the comedy of errors it was too late, so he stayed and watched the gig. The next day, we had a rehearsal. Then we got John Maher on drums and, within six weeks of actually meeting Steve, we were doing the first Buzzcocks gig. And the rest, as they say, is history."

Buzzcocks' live debut has become the stuff of legend. "At the time, we were doing the most uncommercial form of music you could imagine. There was no potential for an audience. Within six months, it became apparent that there was," Shelley reflects. Within a week of its release at the end of January 1977, to rave reviews on the singles pages of NME, Sounds and Melody Maker, the original pressing of the self-financed Spiral Scratch EP had sold out.

Several repressings followed and the group were on their way when Devoto, the original singer, announced he was leaving. Shelley took over lead vocals and Buzzcocks kept up the momentum, supporting The Clash on the White Riot tour and signing to United Artists in the summer of 1977. The original bassist was sacked and Steve Garvey was recruited to complete the definitive line-up.

Being contrary types, they opted to issue "Orgasm Addict" as their first single on United. "It was full of sexual references and swearing so we didn't get played on the radio," says Shelley, with a mischievous glint in his eye. "And the B-side of 'What Do I Get?', the next single, was 'Oh Shit!' so a lot of women at the pressing plant walked out. Our name [from a review of the TV series Rock Follies in Time Out] didn't help, but it wasn't intended to."

Still, Another Music In A Different Kitchen, Buzzcocks' debut album, spent three months in the charts in 1978 and the group continued a run of 12 classic pop-punk singles unmatched by any of their contemporaries and on a par with Diggle's Sixties idols, The Who and The Kinks.

"It was always fun to be going into the studio, to see what songs you had around and choose the best, the two that worked together as a package and put them out within six weeks. The internet is the closest you can get now," says Shelley, who emerged as a different type of lyricist with"Love You More" and "Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)".

"I think it's called wearing your heart on your sleeve," he adds. "Part of the idea with punk was to write about things you had personal experience of, rather than things that you make up. They're really songs about relationship issues, not an idealised, romantic vision of love, but a more down to earth kind. Issues of self-doubt and depression crept in.

"The everyday is something that everybody goes through and shares. Our highest chart position was with 'Ever Fallen', and that was No 12 in 1978. It seems to be everybody's favourite. People tell you nice stories about that song meaning something to them and that's always good because it shows you're communicating."

Buzzcocks split up in 1981 after releasing three albums and the mighty Singles Going Steady collection. "We'd done an awful lot in a short space of time and it seemed easiest to cut the Gordian knot rather than try and untangle the big tangled ball of string," says Shelley. Diggle didn't speak to him for four years after the split and is suitably trenchant about his bandmate's solo output in the Eighties.

"He sounded lonely, like he needed me," he says. "We're like mountain climbers, going up with a rope tied to each other. If one goes, then we both go. We're a powerful force."

The American agent Ian Copeland asked the band to reform for an American tour. "Pete said he'd only do it with John Maher and Steve Garvey,"says Diggle, "and they were both up for it. We'd been apart for eight years but it all came back. We rehearsed 'What Do I Get?' and 'Harmony In My Head' and got drunk. It got us back as people. All those guitar bands were coming back and we toured the US and the UK. Mike Joyce of The Smiths played drums for the Australian and Japanese tours in 1990, and then we got Tony Barber on bass and Philip Barker on drums."

In 1993, Buzzcocks finally issued a fourth studio album, Trade Test Transmissions, and have hardly stopped since, supporting Nirvana, Green Day and Pearl Jam and capitalising on success of BBC2's comedy quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Diggle carries on with his solo career and Shelley recorded with Devoto again in 2002.

"We're now called the godfathers of new wave," deadpans Shelley, fresh from an appearance on TV's Richard & Judy to help publicise Buzzcocks' new album of short, sharp songs, flat-pack philosophy.

"I tend to take out verses and choruses and middle-eights so the songs always become more and more concentrated. After you've said everything in a song, it's pointless hanging around until people get bored."

flat-pack philosophy, Buzzcocks' new album, is out now on Cooking Vinyl. The band are currently on tour in the UK ( www.buzzcocks.com)