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On Saturday, May 3, Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery in Santa Fe will host British pop punk legends the Buzzcocks, whose high-octane performances remain as enthralling as ever, after nearly a half-century of touring and through several major lineup changes over the years.

The Buzzcocks, who formed in 1976, may not have been as aggressively anti-establishment as their peers The Sex Pistols, as overtly political as The Clash or as poetically complex as The Jam. Their up-tempo adolescent love songs, delivered with feel-good bubblegum hooks and tinged with cheeky humor, recalled the work of early rock 鈥榥鈥� roll hitmaker Little Richard, whose 鈥淭utti Frutti鈥� Buzzcocks鈥� Steve Diggle has cited as a major influence.

In turn, the Buzzcocks influenced everyone from Oasis to Green Day to The White Stripes.

Diggle was recruited as the Buzzcocks bassist by punk impresario Malcolm McLaren, the band鈥檚 first manager. When the original lead vocalist Howard Devoto left shortly afterward to form Magazine, Pete Shelley became the new frontman, and Diggle was promoted from bass to guitar. Following Shelley鈥檚 death in 2018, Diggle took on the frontman role, writing and singing all the songs on the Buzzcocks鈥� tenth studio album, 鈥淪onics in the Soul,鈥� which they released in 2022.

The Buzzcocks鈥� name is not vulgar, as many assume, nor does it refer to a buzzcut hairstyle. At a time when 鈥渃ock鈥� in Northern English slang meant 鈥渓ad鈥� or 鈥渄ude,鈥� the band happened to notice a music review in Time Out, titled 鈥淚t鈥檚 the Buzz, Cock!,鈥� promoting a new teen music trend. So, a 鈥渂uzzcock鈥� could be defined as a buzzworthy or trend-obsessed young man 鈥� similar to the term 鈥渉ypebeast鈥� nowadays. Calling themselves the 鈥淏uzzcocks鈥� was a way for the band to acknowledge their own desire to become a popular and commercially successful band, while at the same time poking fun at themselves for it.

But the Buzzcocks are not all hype and no substance.

鈥淏uzzcocks were probably the most philosophical of all the punk bands,鈥� Diggle said in a news release. 鈥淲e鈥檇 read the existentialists. We were interested in the complexity of life. It was deep thinking wrapped up in a pop song.鈥�

Their existential perspective is seen in early hits like 鈥淲hy Can鈥檛 I Touch It?鈥� (1979), which delves into the elusive and sometimes disappointing nature of appearances, asking if something 鈥渇eels so real 鈥� why can鈥檛 I touch it?鈥� The philosopher Martin Heidegger couldn鈥檛 have posed the problem any more succinctly.

Despite their infectious hooks and danceable melodies, the Buzzcocks鈥� deceptively simple lyrics often betray an existential longing, which has only strengthened in recent years. Diggle鈥檚 鈥淢anchester Rain鈥� (2022) asks 鈥淗ow do you solve a problem you can鈥檛 explain?鈥� and 鈥淗ow do you catch a dream you just can鈥檛 find yet?鈥� In other words, how can anyone become happy, or even have agency in their life, without first knowing the source of their dissatisfaction?

The Beat writer Jack Kerouac once said, 鈥淚 have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion.鈥� But isn鈥檛 grappling with one鈥檚 confusion in an honest way what makes great poets and philosophers 鈥済reat?鈥�

On one level, the Buzzcocks were just a group of working-class kids from Manchester, England, who wanted to become pop stars, but their souls always hungered for something deeper.

Nearly 50 years later, with Diggle as the last surviving original member of the band carrying on their legacy, the Buzzcocks continue to pose existential questions, seemingly no closer to uncovering the answers to those questions than when they first began. But they also continue to rock out and have fun, proving that one need not understand life to enjoy it.

As the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus once said, 鈥淚t was previously a question of finding out whether or not life had to have a meaning to be lived. It now becomes clear, on the contrary, that it will be lived all the better if it has no meaning.鈥�