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Does anybody remember the late 70s outfit Gaffa? We used to go down the Imperial on a Thursday night and watch them. It cost 50p to get in, and your hand would be stamped so you could get out to the toilet and back in again! And (God help us) we walked back down Alfreton Road and Hartley Road to my house on the Ainsley estate.

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I remember Gaffa well, we used to go down to the Imperial quite a bit and Gaffa were one of the two bands we tried not to miss - the other was Slender Loris. As a band, I don't think you could get mo

Great gig last night. It's been 30 years but the years fell away pretty quickly. hope they do it again soon! Yes a ton of grey hair and sometimes no hair but everybody giving it large towards the end

Great to see you too Stu. I really hope there will be something soon in the pipeline. Just hope Rue is over for the next one otherwise he will be beside himself. I've been singing Attitude Dancing all

I was a regular at Thursday night Gaffa gigs at The Imperial Cooler Bar. Many great nights down there. I still have some vinyl by them, an album, Neither Use Nor Ornament and a couple of singles.

Remember some of the songs?

Heart are Trumps (and all girls are sissies)

The Rotor

First Teenager on The Moon

Great stuff!

I've seen Wayne in The Lost Pedestrians a few times. Before it's recent refurbishment they had a Sunday night residency in The Bell Inn. Pretty good too.

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I remember Gaffa well, we used to go down to the Imperial quite a bit and Gaffa were one of the two bands we tried not to miss - the other was Slender Loris. As a band, I don't think you could get more Nottingham than Gaffa, cracking songs with a great sense of humour.

'Will Sandy ever walk again?'

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Yes - some other songs I remember were: Painkiller, Adult Entertainment, Man With A Motive, Attitude Dancing, Woman's Problem, Never Again, Different Story, Trackless, Heart Of The Matter. Wayne lived on the Ainsley Estate like me, and I believe he was in a late 60s group called Tadpole Lane, along with a guy on guitar called Richard, who lived a few doors away from me. We used to marvel at Clive (Myph) Smiths guitar playing, he had a really great sound, like a Nottingham version of Jeff Beck. Keyboard player John Maslen had a Korg synth out of which he used to extract the weirdest noises.

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Gaffa lyrics were often hilarious!

From Back to Villainy 'More front than the Co-op - more bottle than Shippo's brewery'

Sometimes poignant. About a pensioner being forcible moved to a high rise flat:

The furniture from the owd ouse, looks wrong here in the flat

'e 'ed to leave behind a lot of it, had to leave behind 'is dog

'cause them upstairs shopped 'im

and the caretaker copped him

Now this is his high rise handshake

for all them donkey's year

Down on the allotment grows a fresh crop of concrete

He's never seen the neighbours, through the walls he hears their problems

As he sleeps closer to God

That is if there still is one?

Tell me how good is that? This band were great and I was always disappointed that they never made it big. Very talented lads and extremely entertaining. You could always be sure of a great night out watching Gaffa.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/3537197...831cd6a.jpg?v=0

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53808520@N00/...57594473023682/

Wayne:

http://www.kakiseni.com/assets/images/uplo...-festival-7.gif

Clarendon College gig:

http://www.dreamtargets.com/gaffa01.htm

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Nice one Riff!

There's so little evidence of Gaffa these days we have to rely on our memories, great ones they are though.

Remember the nickname Wayne used for Mick Barratt? 'Carrington Fats'! :-)

I recall when Wayne Evans finally replaced his old 'Frog' bass with a brand-spanking new regular-shaped one. I was most disappointed. His remark the first night he played it: 'It's alright but it's like playing a ****ing Bullworker'

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He's still got The Frog! Yes, he used to call Mick that! We used to annoy John by screaming 'Ey Mazzo' at him from the side of the stage. Wayne once told us a funny tale of being driven to a gig in a van, where the driver had taken Magic Mushrooms!

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I remember Dawn Foxhall very well !! she went on to sing with The Marcel Marceau's

Oh Riff do us a favour and stop quoting the previous post each time (Especially when it's your own !!), simply click on fastREPLY and go from there

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There's a great story (or is it legend) about Gaffa gig in London and among the punters were the Pistols - apparently Sid took a shine to Wayne's frog shaped bass and really wanted it. The story goes that Wayne smacked him across the head with it to make the point that he didn't want to part with it - no idea if it's true but it makes a great story.

As for Slender Loris - I actually persuaded them to reform and play at my 50th.

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