With a bill consisting of a famed 1970’s punk band and the creators of one of the best songs of the 1980s, I was curious to see what kind of audience would be at the Teragram Ballroom last Wednesday night. Would it be crusty old punks? Remnants of the guy-liner generation? Gen X nostalgists?
It was all of those and more as Britain’s Buzzcocks and Modern English came to Los Angeles for a night of old hits and new material. Mohawks, denim jackets, mod hats mingled with the typical jeans and t-shirts crowd for a truly BUZZworthy evening of music.
Opening the night were some local heroes, The Reflectors. I remember previously seeing the group opening for Kate Clover a couple years back, and they sounded even better than I remember them. The band busts out power pop nuggets with a hefty energy and youthful zeal that would have fit in well with bands like The Romantics or The Knack back in the day, and felt perfectly at home on the bill that night. The group played their parts as openers perfectly – keeping the banter to a minimum, usually just introducing memorable tracks like “Teenage Hearts”, “Champagne” or new songs like “All the Way Down”, and letting their sugary hooks warm up the crowd for what was to come.
So here’s the thing about Modern English that most Americans probably don’t realize; they are a punk/post-punk band, who just happened to write one of the best new wave pop songs of the 1980s. The timeless “I Melt With You” is a glorious, romantic icon of its time…yet it also sounds like nothing else in the band’s catalogue. Most of their songs are closer to “Someone’s Calling”, which they opened their set with. Moodier songs that smack you with heavy drums, gliding synths, dark wave guitars and vocals closer to Depeche Mode than Boy George.
This is no criticism – simply not what many would expect based on their main U.S. hit. The band is touring to support their latest album 1 2 3 4, and throughout their set were clearly having a wonderful time doing so. This kind of joy and appreciation is always endearing, and the crowd reciprocated in-kind, showing utmost kindness and interest as the band performed the cheekily-titled “Long in the Tooth” and politically-charged “Not My Leader” from the new album, before returning to older material like the daring “Swans on Glass”.
Modern English never really tried to repeat the magic of “I Melt With You” (though they come close on new song “I Know Your Soul“), and they seemed totally at peace with that, because they have “I Melt With You” in their arsenal. And when they were finally ready to release that gem on the audience, they waved the audience into a full-room singalong of that near-perfect song. As the track ended, the band kept the chords going, morphing the outro into a burning punk instrumental that showed where the true heart of the band laid.
Speaking of punk, there are few bands out there that have managed to perfectly retain their bonafide punk credentials for over forty years like Buzzcocks. They are the band that laid the framework down for the Green Days and NOFX‘s of the world, writing painfully honest songs about sex, sexuality and heartbreak in with political bangers, and coating their sharp and snotty songs in perfect doses of honey-laden hooks and sugarBUZZ choruses.
Of course, back in 2018, Buzzcocks founder and lead singer-songwriter Pete Shelley passed away, so the iteration playing that night was fronted by Steve Diggle, the band’s original bassist who has taken over lead singing and guitar duties on the album. While I’ll admit I’m sad I never had a chance to see the band when Shelley was still alive, Diggle and the rest of the band gave it their all as they honored the group’s legacy while also playing tracks from their none-too-shabby new album, Sonics in the Soul.
And man did the band put together a mighty setlist! They opened with “What Do I Get?” (watch the video at the top of the page), one of their most classic tracks (which I always associate with The Royal Tenenbaums). It was a wonderful opening salvo, and the crowd’s die-hard punks get their moshing on right away. This was a smaller selection of the full room, at this time. The band roared through newer tracks like “Senses Out of Control” alongside songs like “Strange Machines”, “I Don’t Mind” and “Sick City Sometimes”. Diggle didn’t do too much talking (and TBH, when he did it was almost impossible to understand what he was saying; I think due to a mix of his accent, speaking quickly and the overall crowd noise), which was fine as it left the band more time to play.
The room really started to erupt when the reggae bass-line of “Why Can’t I Touch It?” broke through the traditional 3-chord guitar bursts. A larger portion of the crowd began skanking and moving into the room’s center to join the more physical fun. Things only got more crazy from here. Whether older songs like “Third Dimension” (where Diggle showed that he can churn out a noisy guitar solo) or the new “Destination Zero”, the audience was in mosh-mode. Fan favorites like “Orgasm Addict” led to a circle pit, and Diggle was fist-bumping audience members to make sure none of them felt isolated during “Isolation”.
The band left for their break, giving Diggle a chance to change out of his sweat-drenched shirt and put on a fresh outfit. This was a good idea, as the encore was almost like a full second set! Diggle donned an acoustic guitar for “Manchester Rain”, which was about as slow as the band got during the night. I was happy to hear my favorite of the group’s new songs, “Gotta Get Better”, but of course I, like most of the audience, was waiting patiently for the group’s biggest hit, “Ever Fallen In Love”. It ended up being the 20th song in the set, and wasn’t even the closer! The band ended the triumphant show with “Harmony in My Head”, cranking out a noisy conclusion for a show that had punks young and old having a great time together.
I left the show with a signed poster in hand – this was a concert I wanted a keepsake of for sure. If you’re not familiar with Buzzcocks (or don’t think you are), check out their music here, and listen to Modern English‘s new album here.
The Indy Review 