“It’s too late for me, mate – I’m taking cheap speed and I’m in a punk rock band!”: The Buzzcocks’ Steve Diggle on the time his friend tried to make him a hippie
Steve Diggle has recalled his experience of joining a punk band in the 1970s as the hippy era was booming, and clashes with the punk scene were ongoing.
While some of his friends were off trekking up mountains to find gurus, Diggle was busy “taking cheap speed” and joining the Buzzcocks. The guitarist and lead vocalist for the band is due to release a memoir this summer which provides an inside account of the band’s “rise, fall, and rise again”.
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In an interview with Uncut for its new print issue, Diggle is asked about his experience of taking acid as a teenager, and if it helped him creatively: “First one scared the life out of me! But it did expand my mind,” he begins.
“It was an interesting mission – it’s like being a deep sea diver within your own body. So I’m glad I did it, but I saw a lot of people get in a mess with it. They all went to the Himalayas looking for a guru. I was like, ‘Why isn’t the local window cleaner a guru? Why is it always some bloke up a hill?’”
After Diggle entered his 20s and joined the Buzzcocks, a friend of his returned with some hippy offerings: “This mate of mine was a proper hippie, Afghan [coat], dropped out. When he came back years later, he brought me The Book Of Ram, an album of Hare Krishna music and an apple. I said, ‘It’s too late for me, mate – I’m taking cheap speed and I’m in a punk rock band!’”
Buzzcocks are touring the US and Canada in September. Diggle’s memoir, AUTONOMY – PORTRAIT OF A BUZZCOCK will be released on 22 August, and you can pre-order it now.
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