Tony Barber

Band: Buzzcocks
Gear: SVT-CL, SVT-810E
Website: www.buzzcocks.com

Formed in Manchester, England in 1975, the Buzzcocks’ invigorating energy and song hooks became an integral influence on the British music scene and helped revolutionize the burgeoning DIY music label movement. A prolific band with songwriting skills beyond their years, their 1979 compilation album Singles Going Steady, boiling over with sixteen tracks of pure pop-punk genius, is hailed as being as important as The Clash’s London Calling and the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks.

Bassist Tony Barber joined the band in 1993 and through several Buzzcocks incarnations, has toured with Nirvana and Pearl Jam and appeared on the 2006 Van’s Warped Tour. Throughout the last three decades, the Buzzcocks have seen their timeless music used on movie soundtracks, video games and compilation albums. And yes, that’s the band’s 1979 hit, “Everybody’s Happy Nowadays” used in the TV commercial for AARP (American Association of Retired Persons).