Steve Diggle decided to keep the Buzzcocks flag flying after the death of Pete Shelley in 2018, releasing a single in 2020 and an EP earlier this year. Today Sonics in the Soul arrives, the first Buzzcocks album since Pete died, and the first new album from the band since 2014's The Way. Diggle co-produced the album with Laurence Loveless at London's Studio 7 and made it with bandmates Chris Remington (bass) and Danny Farrant (drums).

“I could have easily regurgitated the past to the nth degree, but where am I going to go with that? There’s no point in repeating yourself," Steve Diggle told Punktuation. "You’ve got to take a gamble and be a bit brave with stuff. Pete’s not here, so it is going to be more my kind of thing. I just hope people get that. I’m in my 60s now; I don’t want to be writing ‘Nobody loves me’ or something. It would be silly for me to pretend we’re back in 1978.”

Stream the album, and watch the video for "Manchester Rain," below.

Pick up classic Buzzcocks albums on vinyl in the BV shop.

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