John Maher (born 21 April 1960) is a British former musician who was part of the punk and new wave scenes in Manchester, England, most notably as the drummer with Buzzcocks. Since retiring from the music industry he developed an interest in car drag racing, racing VW Beetles as part of the VWDRC.
This led him to develop a successful business building performance engines, John Maher Racing. His engines and transmissions are widely regarded as being amongst the best built in the UK combining power with reliability, a point reinforced by his racing success. The level of demand for his products has allowed Maher to relocate from Manchester to the Isle of Harris in Scotland.
Maher's father was from Ireland. In 1976, still a 16 year old schoolboy from St. Bede's College, Whalley Range, Manchester, he joined punk band Buzzcocks, then led by Howard Devoto, who was the lead vocalist. After the first Buzzcocks dissolving in 1981, he collaborated with Pauline Murray of The Invisible Girls, and formed along with Steve Diggle (also of Buzzcocks) a band called Flag of Convenience, in 1982, but he quit shortly afterwards. In 1981, he was drumming in Wah!
After reuniting with Buzzcocks in 1989, he retired from music in 1992 after a tour, and returned to his Volkswagen business in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, in the south of Manchester. In 1999, Maher's workshop was featured in the Channel 5 programme Stars & Cars. This featured footage of his former incarnation as a drummer, a tour of his workshop, and interviews. In 2010 he appeared on the BBC Alba motoring programme "Air an Rathad". The interview features footage inside his workshop on the Isle of Harris, a brief interview and a drive in one of his customers' VW Beetle.
In May 2012, John briefly stepped out of musical retirement to rejoin Buzzcocks for two one-off shows, his first public appearance behind a drum kit in 20 years. The concerts took place at Manchester Apollo and London's Brixton Academy. Howard Devoto, the band's original vocalist also joined the band on stage for five songs - all four tracks from their debut EP, 'Spiral Scratch', plus a cover version of The Troggs 'Can't Control Myself'. John spoke about his brief return to the stage in an interview with online fanzine "Mudkiss". Another interview with John appears in the first issue of "The Drummers Journal".
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