Punk Turns 40: The Buzzcocks at TLA

Maren Larsen

If the Buzzcocks were a person, that person would be right on schedule to hit its midlife crisis. It might buy a shiny car or quit its job and burn all its ties. Or maybe it would go on an international tour for its 40th birthday, just to prove it can still rock and rage.

Their most recent album, The Way, which premiered in May of 2014, contains “People Are Strange Machines”: a tune I would rate in their top ten. The opening track, “Keep On Believing,” has the kind of restless, unstoppable energy that only a bunch of perpetually angry, aging British punks could muster.

The Buzzcocks will be playing at Theater of the Living Arts Friday September 30, presented by yours truly and your fellow punks from WKDU. It’s a good venue for loud noise, and despite several rotations of band members and various breakups and reunions over the years, the Buzzcocks haven’t lost their good vibrations. I hope to see you there.