A Real Life Story by Roger Holland When Magazine folded - Howard Devoto decided to retire from the music scene. It took the dogged overtures of one Noko - his new partner in current venture Luxuria - to persuade him to change his mind.

This man to be God. And the reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. He didn't die - he just moved into publishing and decadence.

But now he's moving back. So roll over Rick Astley and tell The Sugarcubes the news. Howard Devoto left his first band - Buzzcocks - almost before anyone had noticed they were there - and formed the marvellous Magazine.

The founder of two of the most influential bands since The Beatles and The Rolling Stones - he's also been responsible for two of the most complete albums ever made: the first Magazine LP - 'Real Life' - and the third - 'The Correct Use Of Soap'.

So sit up and listen when I tell you he's just made another.

'Unnecessary Lust' is the first IP from Howard Devoto and his new guitarist-companion Noko. Recording under the name Luxuria - the Latin equivalent of that third deadly sin (something they are both particularly prone to!) - these two have created a record which Devoto ranks with the best of his past works. And you can take his word for it - because Howard Devoto is his own sternest critic. Last time he made a bad record - he retired!

"I should've stopped making records when Magazine split up - but unwisely I went on to record a solo LP ('Jerky Versions Of The Dream'). And at the end of the day - I can't remember which day it was - I just wasn't very happy with that record at all and so I decided to stop."

Think what a wonderful world it would be if all musicians were that honest with themselves!

"Yes - there's too much music around. Most musicians shouldn't even start. And everybody should do less. But don't ask me for any examples - because there's just too many."

Howard Devoto speaks like he sings. Like a wordy book written with a carefully weighted deliberation. With intelligent humour. And with an acute awareness of always being perhaps one step away from overbearing pretension. He's not the sort of person to worship false idols or sacred cows of any description.

"Giving up music wasn't at all traumatic. In fact - it was a very easy and a very rewarding step to take. I can heartily recommend it."

"I never felt part of the music business - so it didn't really change anything too important in my life. The few important friendships I'd made within music were sufficiently durable to withstand something as trivial as a change in job. And that's really all it was."

What have you been doing?

"I spent a long time working with some friends who were trying to set up a book production company. But nothing was ever going to come of that so eventually I walked away from that and spent the rest of my time asleep in the gilded gutter."

It's funny how time plays tricks with the memory - but nowadays everyone can remember seeing one of a handful of historic early Sex Pistols gigs. Howard Devoto - who travelled south from the Bolton Institute Of Technology with his friend Pete Shelley to see the Pistols play at High Wycombe and Hatfield - has noticed this too.

"I actually arranged a couple of concerts for the Sex Pistols in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall. At the second of these - we (Buzzcocks) played our first gig. There were 400 people there - but from what I've heard since it seems like we could have sold out Old Trafford!"

Devoto was originally driven to music as a form of self-exorcism. Though the Pistols provided a scene for him and the like-minded Shelley to work within - the duo were already writing and playing even before they heard of the Sex Pistols.

"My inspiration for turning to music came from being angrily unhappy. Distressingly so. And from finding that virtually my only company in that distress was The Stooges' records which I played to death when I was at college. And they were so simple - the music was so simple - that I felt that it was at hand to do something similar."

"To try to get other people to see that was a little difficult. But Peter Shelley - who I met at college - saw it. And we started to work together. But it wasn't until we saw the Sex Pistols that we could make it slam into place for ourselves."

It had taken private agonies to push Devoto into music. It took one bad album to convince him to retire. So what did it take to bring him back into the fold once more? Ask him - and he just points at Noko.

Actually - Devoto had already begun to write again when Noko. the Liverpudlian with one name - began a campaign of attrition to force Howard to work with him. But still Devoto gives him all the credit for forcing him out of retirement.

"One of the lessons I learnt when Magazine split was that I'm not a solo artist. I need to work with people. So it wasn't enough that I'd felt the need to write again. I needed the input of another musician."

Happily filling the void left by men like Pete Shelley - John McGeoch - Barry Adamson and Dave Formula - Noko had the very best reasons for wanting to work with Devoto - so much so that he played "hysterical guitar into his answerphone until he succumbed".

"People as talented and as influential as Howard are few and far between. In the '60s there were people like The Beatles - Dylan and Hendrix - in the mid '705 there was Bowie and Bolan - then there was the Sex Pistols and then there was Howard Devoto."

Together as Luxuria - Devoto and Noko have made an LP which is rich and sensual and wantonly powerful - while retaining an element of acid bitterness. So is he happy to be back?

"Well - I don't regret it too much - so far. I'll let you know."