Magazine: A Second Read

The post-punk pioneers turned New Wave nearly-men reunite after almost 30 years apart this month, Gillian Watson asks Howard Devoto why now?

Feature by Gillian Watson | 29 Jan 2009

Although The Skinny is reluctant to do a Sarah Palin (remember her?) and saddle anyone with the "maverick" tag, there’s no more accurate way to describe Howard Devoto, founding member of influential punk bands, the Buzzcocks and Magazine, and self-proclaimed man “on the run to the outside of everything”.

The latter play Glasgow’s O2 Academy on Monday 16 February as part of a brief UK reunion tour. The reunion prompts a renaissance of sorts for Magazine, with Touch and Go, a double-CD anthology of the highlights from the group’s varied career scheduled for a February release. While contemporaries such as Gang of Four have enjoyed a critical re-emergence in the wake of the Noughties post-punk revival, Magazine are still largely a cult concern. Which is somewhat tragic, given that, listening to their landmark first single Shot By Both Sides, it’s clear that the bands forming the new wave of New Wave owe much more to Magazine’s more melodic and dense music than to the Gang’s self-aware agit-funk.

Yet one suspects that Magazine linchpin Howard Devoto is unfazed by issues of timing and his place in history. Not one to hang around when he felt a project had reached its natural conclusion, he co-founded the Buzzcocks with Pete Shelley in 1975, releasing the iconic Spiral Scratch EP on tiny independent label New Hormones, thus sparking off the DIY movement, giving rise to ‘indie’ as we know it – then quit just as promptly, forming Magazine shortly afterwards. The group released four quality albums before calling it a day in 1981. Since, Devoto has released a solo album, masterminded another project, Luxuria, and spent the ‘90s slipping into happy obscurity as a photo archivist. All of which partially explains the off-kilter decision to reform Magazine just as the collective thirst for the reformation of our favourite post-punk bands has been quenched somewhat: Devoto chooses to remain a staunchly independent figure on the margins.

So why reform Magazine in 2009? "Circumstance, as much as anything played a role,” he admits. “Dave [Formula, Magazine keyboardist]'s kind of the connector of all of this. A promoter got in touch with Dave about concerts and promotion for his album… and then called him back about a week later saying ‘Is there still a chance that Magazine might want to…?’. Dave said ‘Well…I can always ask,’ and that's kind of how it all began."

Reaction to the tour has far exceeded Devoto’s expectations: “I’m not much of a ‘culture-vulture’ these days, so I don’t know…the response has pleasantly surprised me.” Although he shies away from the ‘post-punk’ pigeonhole, the band’s cult status does rankle somewhat: “it is flattering, and a bit… annoying”. The question remains: is this Magazine worth a second read? The best that fans can wish for is that Devoto and company can retain the glorious unpredictability that made them such an exciting prospect in their heyday. So we let the man himself have the last word: “You never know, do you?”

Magazine play O2 Academy, Glasgow on 16 Feb.

Touch and Go: Anthology 02.78 – 06.81 is released via EMI on 9 Feb.

http://www.myspace.com/magazineofficial