Standing Over By The Record Machine: New Buzzcocks album is…a new Buzzcocks album

First post-Pete Shelley studio LP sounds exactly like what it is: Buzzcocks, led by Steve Diggle. Plus The Godfathers’ new one and Whataburger's new Chili Cheese Burger are both aces.

Buzzcocks 2022: A new era.

BUZZCOCKS - Sonics In The Soul (Cherry Red)

When Buzzcocks mainspring Pete Shelley succumbed to a suspected heart attack on Dec. 6, 2018, it was questioned whether the first generation punk pop pioneers would continue. After all, the former Peter McNeish was their primary creative force. True, co-guitarist Steve Diggle’s songwriting figured strongly through the band’s every iteration. Admit it: You sang along as heartily to “Harmony In My Head” as you did “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).” And it was Diggle’s contributions, such as “Sick City Sometimes,”  that saved much of Buzzcocks’ latter day recorded output. Shelley wasn’t churning out the classics like he used to, while Diggle seemed to consistently deliver.

So, doesn’t it stand to reason that, with Diggle’s announced intention to keep Buzzcocks going, they could ably survive Shelley?

From the opening crack of Danny Farrant’s snare on first track/preview single “Senses Out Of Control” to the fade-out Rickenbacker chime of “Venus Eyes,” Sonics In The Soul is clearly a Buzzcocks album. But it’s entirely Diggle’s show now, to the point where it could be argued this is a Flag Of Convenience record now featuring the latter day Buzzcocks rhythm section of Farrant and bassist Chris Remington. Diggle co-produces with Laurence Loveless, sings, plays guitar and keys, and writes all 11 tracks. But neither FOC nor Steve Diggle shifts units nor tickets like Buzzcocks. 

Commercial considerations aside, Diggle has as much right to use that name as anyone. He became second-in-command the moment Buzzcocks co-founder Howard Devoto left, shifting from bass to co-guitarist. And as stated earlier, his own compositional skills were considerable, more traditionally punk perhaps, than the gender nonspecific, eternally jaundiced romanticism marking Shelley’s work, start to finish. 

Diggle declared this “a new era” for the band. Going by the evidence presented by Sonics, it’s a strong one. That melodic sense that’s always marked them is still prevalent, with perhaps a stronger rock ‘n’ roll kick than before. Yet the atonal guitar skronk Diggle unleashes on “Don’t Mess With My Brain” suggests Shelley held no patent on avant garde ideas. But dig the chugging “Just Gotta Let It Go,” chock full of comfortable historical Buzzcocks tropes: the one-note piano of “Something’s Gone Wrong,” the gasped “oh, no’s” that sound like Pete Shelley samples, the stumbling rolls across the kit that suggest Farrant took some drum lessons from original B-cocks sticksman John Maher. It’s as if it’s positioned there to say, “Hi, we’re still Buzzcocks. Nothing has changed. It’s okay. Relax, shout the choruses, and pogo like mad, as always.”

Diggle remarked to me the second time I interviewed him in 1993 that he felt they’d built their own “Buzzcocks world,” an alternate reality where punk never dies, where we can all join them. We should be grateful he continues caretaking Buzzcocks World beyond Shelley’s death. Sonics In The Soul is solid evidence of the continuing validity of this idea.

The Godfathers (Pete Coyne, center) demand 20% weekly for “protection.” (pic: Simon Simon Balaam)

THE GODFATHERS - Alpha Beta Gamma Delta (Godfathers Recordings)

Ah, The Godfathers. Evolved out of the more straight-up punk-isms of The Sid Presley Experience, they strode through a nearly-rock ‘n’ roll-less late ‘80s like some genetic crossbreed of Dr. Feelgood and Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers, a sorta chainsaw pub rock update. They laid out authoritative, swaggering grinders like “I Want Everything” and “This Damn Nation,” and bothered MTV’s 120 Minutes with brash college radio hits like “Birth School Work Death.” They dressed like the Kray twins, and had a superlative guitarist in Kris Dollimore. The Godfathers were most definitely a reason to not hate the ‘80s.

Few Stateside realize The Godfathers have been once again active the last dozen-or-so years, in a continually mutating lineup basically centered around original vocalist Pete Coyne. Whoever he gets into the firm more than lives up to their legacy, and in fact adds to it. 2017’s A Big Bad Beautiful Noise was one of my favorite albums that year. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta might be even better.

Much like the new Buzzcocks LP, Alpha was written and recorded during COVID lockdown, and showcases a new lineup: Coyne, bassist/producer Jon Priestley (one of The Damned’s thousand million ex-bassists), ex-Heavy Drapes members Billy Duncanson on drums and Richie Simpson on guitar, and ex-The Great St. Louis guitarist Wayne Vermaak. Which means they took some time with the recording, perhaps adding more care and craft than they might have normally, with no deadline in sight? The results, as always, are taut, powerful rock ‘n’ roll, sitting at the intersection of 1966 and 1977, played with passion and skill. The 12-string-drenched “Bring On The Sunshine” is jangle-pop of the finest order, while snotty rockers such as “I Hate The 21st Century” could be The Libertines with a lot more focus and precision.

A new Godfathers album is just the thing to shake your nerves and rattle your brain, in another modern world seemingly completely devoid of rock ‘n’ roll. Good thing this is a great one. Dig in!

Putting On The Feedbag: Whataburger’s new Chili Cheese Burger is the anti-McRib

But why isn’t it called the Frito Pie Burger?

Usually sensible, sober, fair-minded folks prostrate themselves annually when notorious sodium and chemical dispensary McDonald’s trots out their faux BBQ sandwich, the McRib, “for a limited time only.” Which is the peak of insanity. What is it that makes people go gaga over pork scrapings swept up off a slaughterhouse floor and pressed into the shape of a rack of ribs, then drowned in so much nasty-tastin’ BBQ sauce, half your meal ends up all over your chin and your shirt? It’s one of those mysteries of life, alongside the Bermuda Triangle and many Texans’ notion that Gov. Greg Abbott is a pretty swell guy who deserves a third term.

While Texas politics may be destructive joke, its citizens know a superior burger chain when they see it. For most Texans, that means Whataburger, established in Corpus Christi back in the 1950s. The Dobson family, who owned Whataburger for most of its 72-year existence, sold it to a private equity firm in 2019, retaining a small stake in the company Harlan Dobson co-founded with Paul Burton. But the company is still headquartered in San Antonio, even as it attempts to spread its small piece of Texana nationally.

So, should we all pray in thanks to the soul of Harlan Dobson. As McDonald’s does its annual dump of the McRib in the public’s lap, in what they claim is its “farewell tour,” Dobson’s progeny have issued the anti-McRib, also for a limited time: The Chili Cheese Burger. And it’s good. Really good.

You could almost mistake it for a mock Big Mac at first, beginning as it does with two all-beef patties and two slices of American cheese. Any resemblance ends there. From this point, Whataburger slathers on mustard, then a layer of chili superior to any other fast food chain’s. The ground beef is chunky, infused with onions and bell peppers, and plenty of them. It’s like someone’s grandma’s homemade chili, though not mine. I like it.

Then they throw on a layer of corn chips. Any Texan will tell you this is actually a Frito Pie burger. If you don’t know of what I speak, you never attended a Friday night high school football game in the Lone Star State! A 25 cent bag of Fritos gets cut with scissors along one side, and a ladle full of chili’s poured in, finished off with shredded cheddar cheese and maybe onions and jalapenos. It’s to be served with a plastic fork, lots of napkins, a Big Red soda, and the game-winning touchdown. Which tells me Whataburger missed a shithot opportunity in not co-marketing this with a Big Red shake, ala their annual limited edition Dr. Pepper shakes. 

Is this healthy? Not hardly. Would you want it to be? But it’s a damned sight healthier than a McRib, with more of a warm homemade quality, thanks to that chili. And it tastes like a Friday night in Autumn in small town Texas. Mmmm-MMM! Now get onto that Big Red shake, Whataburger! That’s a million dollar idea, right there!

(NOTE: Whataburger also released their take on Chili Cheese Fries alongside the burger. But the example Other Tim and I picked up at the Kyle Whataburger wasn’t as robust as the sandwich. Whataburger? MORE CHILI ON THE CHILI CHEESE FRIES! Thank you.)

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