Co-founder of one of the first and most important UK punk bands to emerge in response to the Sex Pistols - Howard Devoto left Buzzcocks after only a year; less than three weeks after their only legitimate recording had been released. Resurfaced as the leader of arguably the first and most influential of the post-punk bands; he disbanded that outfit after a further three years - before their final studio album had even been released - to pursue a solo career. This was followed by a decade of almost complete silence following the demise of his last musical project, Luxuria.

The last few months, however has seen the re-release of the two landmark seminal recordings he made with Buzzcocks and two retrospective compilations of his band Magazine. Devoto has also granted several interviews in recent months - something which he has done only very rarely in the last two decades. Rarer still, he has recently made a live appearance - at the ICA on 2^nd September he was reunited with his former Buzzcocks cohort Pete Shelley, as Buzzkunst, where they performed four new joint compositions. There are already rumours that this collaboration is not going to be just a one-off as originally planned / proclaimed and that they are planning some new recordings.

So are we about to witness the return of Howard Devoto? Certainly the time seems right to reappraise the career of this enigmatic, maverick individual..

"I've taken this extravagant journey
So it seems to me
I just came from nowhere
And I'm going straight back there"

Very little is known about Howard Trafford's early years - which is only what one might expect of such a private, reclusive and recondite individual. We can deduce however that he was born in 1952; and a little investigation reveals that he was brought up in Nuneaton and Leeds and went to Leeds Grammar School before going to Bolton Institute of Technology in 1972 to study psychology and later, humanities. It was here, in 1975, that he first met a fellow student named Peter McNeish - and it's from this point that, for a while, his activities began to fall to varying degrees under the spotlight of public attention.

Peter had previously been in a band, The Jets Of Air, as well as doing some home recordings - he had already written a number of songs including "Raison D'Etre", "Telephone Operator" and "I Don't Know What It Is", which were to resurface later in his career. He was at Bolton doing an HND course in Electrical Engineering: "I started an electronic music society and that's how I met Howard" he recounts "he was doing a video project and needed some music. The next thing was, there was an advert on the college notice board, which said 'Wanted: people to form a band to do a cover of Sister Ray'". Peter and Howard soon discovered a shared enthusiasm for the music of The Velvet Underground and The Stooges. As Howard recalled: "You want to discover something for yourself so I was probably just being perverse. I didn't know anybody that liked The Stooges.. Iggy had never played, I had never seen him and I was just having the experience of going to see college bands and hating them and feeling 'maybe I'll do something', with no serious ambition to do anything with it. In my mind it didn't get much beyond performing at college; but being confrontational - it was going to have some impact on people. Listening to The Stooges' records, it sounded easy to do to me. His personality and the music attached to some unfortunate trait I had. I wished to annoy, to be exhibitionist, to be self-destructive, all those things." The two eventually found a drummer and began "rehearsing" but without any real sense of purpose or urgency. At this time, as Howard puts it: "We didn't have a look. We didn't really have enough to define a style.. We needed - we really did need - to see the Sex Pistols."

On 20^th February 1976 - having been intrigued by a review of an early 'Pistols gig in the N.M.E. about how they do outrageous songs including a cover of the Stooges' "No Fun" - Howard and Peter borrowed a car and drove down to see the band play at Bucks. College Of Further Education in High Wycombe (where they provided support - albeit unbooked - for Screaming Lord Sutch); and again the following night in Welwyn Garden City. Both very impressed, they made contact with Malcolm McLaren, offering to try to set up some shows for the Pistols in Manchester, where they planned to hire a small hall above the Free Trade Hall. They had already decided to form a band to support the Pistols at these gigs as soon as they get back to Manchester. During the trip Howard and Peter spotted a review of Rock Follies in Time Out with the comment: "It's getting a buzz, cocks!". They now have a name and from that foundation everything started to fall into place.

Fired up by this encounter, on their return to Manchester Howard and Peter changed their names to Howard Devoto (Devoto is Latin for 'Bewitching') and Pete Shelley (Shelley was apparently the name which Pete would have been called if he had been born a girl) and formed a band. This band played it's first gig at their college Textile Students' social evening on 1^st April. As Howard told Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover in a recent interview: "I just got my drainpipes fitted by then. I think I had some pink thigh-length leather boots. It was mostly a set of cover versions that started with "Diamond Dogs" and we hadn't played with the drummer or the bass player at all, so Peter and I had kind of, you know, rehearsed 12 cover songs or something. And Garth (Smith - Buzzcocks' bassist who Peter was previously in Jets Of Air with). turned up in a tuxedo! The drummer was somebody from Bolton. and he counted in "Diamond Dogs" at about half speed so we played this incredibly slow version of "Diamond Dogs".. [Pete] and I hadn't actually written something together. So we were trying these cover versions.." The band's early set included numbers by Brian Eno, The Stooges and - inspired by The Pistols versions of The Who's "Substitute" and The Small Faces' "What'cha Gonna To Do About It" - The Kinks and The Troggs. ".We were trying a couple of [Pete's] songs (his first efforts at writing songs for the band, called "Get On Our Own" and "No Reply")." However this was not to prove an auspicious debut: ". literally the plug was pulled on us after three numbers."

In the wake of this debacle the fledgling Buzzcocks found themselves once again without either a bassist or a drummer and consequently couldn't support the Pistols at the first gig which they had organised for them at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4^th June. Rather than appear on stage himself, Howard chose to be represented at this event by a tape recording of a few comments he had to make about the occasion.

However, while Malcolm McLaren was outside trying to get customers into the hall, he encountered a young bass player who had arranged a meeting with a guitarist he had contacted though a small ad. Whether he mistakenly believed that this individual had come to meet Pete and Howard, or whether he was doing so to help them out or simply to sell an extra ticket is unclear - but McLaren told him that the people he was looking for were upstairs. Thus Steve Diggle entered the picture and soon became a member of Buzzcocks (originally on bass, although when Howard left the band he moved to guitar with Garth Smith returning on bass). Shortly after they recruited drummer John Maher and the band was complete.

Howard told Jack Rabid: "Yes, the whole roller coaster that was those few months. The moment that we saw the Pistols was as big a moment as playing our own first gig. Because we got involved - and suddenly we were involved in trying to set up these gigs for them in Manchester. That was a really life-changing, transforming thing. It never stopped really, you just kept seeing the Pistols' name in the press and the snowball of it was quite astonishing. Then the difference between those two Manchester gigs where 100 people turn up at the first one and as far as I remember stayed in their seats throughout the whole thing.. Then seven weeks later, the second one is packed out. And suddenly it's a punk gig because there's two groups playing. Suddenly it's: 'Oh, there really is something happening here, there's two bands!'".

The second band, playing their first "real" gig at this event on 20^th July were, of course, Buzzcocks. Although they have organised and promoted the gig, Buzzcocks were actually at the bottom of the bill below another new Manchester band - Slaughter and The Dogs. They have managed to convince Malcolm McLaren that (having been around for a full three months) they are more established, have a larger following and therefore deserve better treatment! The Buzzcocks set culminated in Howard ripping the strings from the cheap guitar which Pete had bought specially for the gig with the intention of indulging in a bit of destruction.

For their efforts, Buzzcocks received the princely sum of £10.00. Far more valuable to them however is the fact that McLaren had brought the press along - and they elicited an extremely favourable review of their performance from John Ingham in Sounds. Furthermore, they were invited to support the Pistols at their showcase performance at The Screen On The Green, Islington on 29^th August - their first gig outside Manchester. Once again at the bottom of the bill; this time below a band playing their first public gig in London - The Clash.

As a result of this performance the 100 Club invited them back to London to perform at their Punk Festival on the 20^th - 21^st September. The first day of the festival featured The Pistols, The Clash, Subway Sect and the first ever performance by Suzie (sic) And The Banshees, however Buzzcocks are playing the following night with The Damned, Chris Spedding & The Vibrators and The Stinky Toys. Not understanding the logistics, Buzzcocks agreed to go on last, by which time the majority of the audience had left to catch the last tube home!

By this time they had developed a set containing a reasonable number of original compositions and one afternoon in October they went into Revolution Studios in Manchester and - at a cost of "about £45" - they made a "live" recording of their entire set. Originally intended as a demo, for their own purposes only and not for public consumption, this set soon became widely bootlegged under the title Time's Up and fifteen years later in 1991 it finally received an official release. The session consisted of nine original compositions all credited to Devoto / Shelley and two cover versions. The original titles were "You Tear Me Up", "Breakdown", "Friends Of Mine", "Orgasm Addict", "Boredom", "Time's Up", "Lester Sands (Drop In the Ocean)", "Love Battery" and "Don't Mess Me 'Round". The cover versions were The Troggs' "I Can't Control Myself" and their (somewhat rewritten) version of "I Love You, You Big Dummy" by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. This has recently been re-released on CD in an enhanced version containing video footage of band's first gig at Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall.

Later, Howard and his friend Richard Boon (who by this time has become the band's manager) approached The Electric Circus - a derelict cinema which at the time was operating as a Heavy Metal venue - with a view to finding a regular home for the burgeoning punk scene in Manchester. This was to be one of the few venues which actually allowed the ill-fated 'Anarchy Tour' to appear - and on 9^th December Buzzcocks played there along with The Pistols, The Clash and The Heartbreakers; replacing The Damned. The Damned have just been thrown off the tour following their lack of solidarity with The Pistols when the headliners were banned from playing their scheduled date at Derby Kings Hall five days previously.

A couple of weeks later, on 28^th December, the band went back into the studio - this time the 16-track Indigo Sound Studio in Manchester - to make their first "proper" recordings with Martin "Zero" Hannett producing them. They had just £500 to spend, half of which they had borrowed from Pete Shelley's father and the remainder from friends of Howard's and Richard's. Wanting to get 1,000 records pressed as well meant they could only afford five hours of studio time.

When the record is released a month later, on 29^th January 1977, the sleeve proudly testifies to both the brevity of the tracks and the speed and simplicity with which each of them was recorded: "Breakdown" (1.54) 3^rd take No dubs; "Time's Up" (3.02) 1^st take Guitar dub; "Boredom" (2.52) 1^st take Guitar dub; "Friends of Mine" (2.13) 1^st take Guitar dub. Indeed, everything about this record, from the black and white Polaroid of the band members crammed awkwardly together on the front and even the austerity of the type face, underlined the low budget, low-tech. nature of the entire project. Both the approach and the product itself will subsequently become the archetype - and the epitome - of the entire "DIY" ethos that will become so intrinsically linked with the punk spirit and movement.

Pete Shelley recalls: "We didn't think anything else would happen. It was fun doing it. It was a memento. We had a thousand done and we checked each and every one for scratches and stuff. The day they arrived we bought two bottles of Spanish wine and drank a toast to it; and the toast was that we'd sell half of them so we'd get the money back."

As for the music. Well on first hearing in many ways it does seem to be absolutely archetypal '77 UK punk; although strictly speaking, in terms of records, at least, there isn't really much of an "archetype" for it to conform to yet! The first Pistols single has been delayed by disputes with EMI and The Clash only signed to CBS four days previously. Only The Damned and The Vibrators have had singles out - since the previous October and November respectively - and the first single by The Stranglers was actually released one day before this.

The playing is barbed and frantic throughout (by the standards of the time, of course). The guitar sounds dirty but not distorted and Pete plays a lot of percussive, flattened notes. Steve Diggle's bass is not always sufficiently distinct and has an explicitly clanky, metallic, sound; his playing is simple but solid, rarely varying from the root notes which the guitar is playing. When he does insert the occasional run, however (such as on the chorus to "Boredom") it is to good effect and precisely executed. John Maher's drums rattle along, slightly muffled, in the background and the cymbals seem too loud, particularly on Breakdown. The sound quality is not great - but then what do you expect on this sort of budget with just five hours in the studio?

The first track, "Breakdown", is driving and relentless. "Time's Up" rather, slower, jauntier and poppier. "Boredom" is somewhat quirky and notably more adventurous than the others. It has a distinctive intro and that neat bass run over the choruses, each of which ends with a 'full stop' false ending and - during this momentary pause in the proceedings - Howard laconically intones "Boredom". This song also features the ultimate punk rock guitar solo; comprising entirely of a two note motif picked alternately for eight bars. This perfect minimalism provides the absolute antithesis of any clichéd, overblown "axe hero" lead-break frenetic fretboard histrionics. This was clearly the most fully-realised number Buzzcocks had written to date - little surprise therefore that it is the only Buzzcocks song which Howard revisited with his next band and that Buzzcocks would reprise it's distinctive introduction to mark the lead-in and run-off grooves of their first album. The final track on the EP is "Friends Of Mine", another straightforward number with some interesting work on the second (overdubbed) guitar line and a 'phlanging' effect on the bass. Needless to say, all of these songs are perfect little vignettes of stripped-down, energetic, punk simplicity and vitality - however Boredom is musically the clearest indicator of some of the more ambitious ideas that are beginning to crystallise within the band.

Howard is singing throughout in a self-consciously sneering, slightly nasal, whine; rather different from the deep croak he adopted in his later incarnations and with some rather obviously affected 'cockney' mannerisms he evidently 'borrowed' from Johnny Rotten. The titles and ostensible subject matter of the songs are clearly in perfect tune with the nihilistic pre-occupations of the times. The lyrics on the verses however are frequently delivered at such a breakneck speed as to make them sound garbled and render them almost unintelligible - 'though most of the choruses feature simple, catchy little couplets of almost nursery-rhyme simplicity and memorability. "I'm gonna breakdown / I'm gonna breakdown yeah"; "Your time's up and me too / I'm out on account of you"; "Boredom, boredo-o-om (b'dum b'dum)". Pete Shelley's occasional distinctively soft and warm backing vocals contrast markedly with Howard's and at times - such as the final chorus of "Time's Up" - they even manage a rudimentary harmony.

Simultaneously, however, it is the lyrics that show the main difference between Buzzcocks (or at least Howard Devoto) and the rest of their punk contemporaries. The somewhat contrived, pastiche petulance of their delivery conceals a certain gleeful intellectualism in the way words are being played with and their alternate meanings explored. This has not yet reached the level that it will on some of Howard's later lyrics but it is nevertheless conspicuous by prevalent punk standards. It is hard to imagine any of the other bands of the time coming up with lyrics such as "I bin standing in the standing room, and I bin smoking in the smoking room, and now I'm dying in the living room..". If "Boredom" is the clearest indicator here of the band's growing musical dexterity and ambition, "Breakdown" is the equivalent in terms of Howard's lyrical technique. There is a sardonic wit in a line like "Now I can stand austerity but it gets a little much" and the ingenuity in a line like "Whatever makes me tick it takes away my concentration". The juxtaposition of a deliberately dumb line like "I feel me brain like porridge coming out of me ears.." with the relative eloquence of ".. And I was anticipating reverie" is pointedly comical. There is a dark humour (albeit rather clumsy) inferring the onset of schizophrenia in the lines "So I hear that two is company, for me it's plenty trouble / Though my double thoughts are clearer now that I am seeing double". Asked about "Boredom", for example, Howard will recount how he actually began writing the song while standing in the checkout queue at the local supermarket to pay for a can of baked beans. Asked to explain the lyrics to "Breakdown", however, he will begin by drawing a comparison between the 'hero' of the song and Camus' Sisyphus..

It is perfectly easy to imagine any number of their New York contemporaries like Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith or David Byrne, being perfectly happy to discuss the work of the French Existentialists. However, at this time the punk scene in the UK was increasingly being associated with an (often studiedly) untutored, street-wise, anti-intellectual stance - the sort of pronouncement that was likely to be viewed with considerable suspicion by the self-appointed guardians of the punk rock "bullshit detector". Howard was already finding himself feeling increasingly alienated from the very scene which he had helped to create.

Then suddenly, less than a year after this extraordinary flurry of activity had begun and after only eleven gigs with the Buzzcocks, Howard announced that he is leaving the band - ostensibly to complete his degree course, although he never does so.

In his leaving statement, issued to the press by Richard Boon on February 21^st, he writes: "I don't like most of this 'New Wave' music. I don't like movements. Despite all that, things still have to be said. But I am not confident of the Buzzcocks' intention to get out of the dry land of 'New Wave-ness' to a place from which these things could be said. What was once unhealthily fresh is now a clean old hat."

"There was something very limiting about punk," he later told Guardian writer Michael Bracewell "and in the early days that was punk's strength. You knew your themes, you knew how to look and that was punk's style. And there you were, for a while. But I'd loved all kinds of other music up to that point. There was some big elemental thing that happened with the Sex Pistols but in terms of music there was a whole gamut of other stuff which I had liked and which, in the realm of ideas, was not a totally different tin of biscuits - Leonard Cohen, Dylan, David Bowie. With the Pistols and Iggy Pop it was the anger and the poetry which hooked me in really."

Thus punk's horizons were already starting to become restricted and restrictive, with the scope of Howard's imagination equally rapidly expanding. He was developing new ideas and a musical vision that he knew would be impossible to realise with Buzzcocks. His next task is to find the musicians who will be able to help him realise this vision. Magazine.

(see part two)