Buzzcocks bass player and lead guitarist Steve Diggle has been the driving force keeping the band alive since he first met Pete Shelley in 1976. He talks to journalist Siân Pattenden about how he and Pete ignited the Manchester music scene, kickstarting indie and becoming one of the best loved and most influential punk groups of all time.

Following Shelley’s untimely death in 2018, Autonomy is Diggle’s definitive inside account of their shared musical legacy and complex friendship through the band’s rise, fall, and rise again – from their punk origins to Top of the Pops, the band's break-up and reformation.

'Steve Diggle's approach to bass, and later his switch to guitar, was crucial in the shaping of the sound of the entire punk movement. Autonomy captures the excitement I felt in 1977 first hearing Buzzcocks' visceral punch' – Will Sergeant, Echo & the Bunnymen

'Love the Buzzcocks, 2nd greatest band to come out of Manchester!' – Liam Gallagher

Photo © Mark Wilkinson