Ticket
Waves
1976

“At last an artefact from Waves! This seems such a long time ago. 1976,the same year Graham Brooks moved to The Electric Circus”

“Dont recall ever seeing a ticket,usually just paid at the door,remember seeing a biker in a german helmet quite often,had my first experience of 'microdot' there(dont ask),first port of call was The Crown another biker hang out”

“Ha, I remember Waves, we played there with my band Earthbird, we had trouuble with electrics and our guitars were live, our boffin key board player did some tests, when he put his test screwdriver on the metal bar pumps, (The chrome ones with the clear bit and piston in the middle Red Barrel) it lit up, when we showed the manager he just said, oh that will be something to do with the flood we had in here last week, cant you just chance it? I remember saying "Chance What" we ended setting up in another room in the end and had a good night, dive is right, proper one but thats what places were like before nanny took over, fun n dodgy!!”

“I remember many a flood there,mainly from the upstairs toilet,Piss used to run down the wall to the floor below (never stopped me going though)”

“Yeh, now you come to mention it that's what it was!
Philplanet.co.uk”

“i used to dj myself in waves in 76 with graham and grebbler upstairs.mark smith did go,he was always asking for the ny dolls.of course i had none,but used to play bowie and velvets for him,which kept him happy!!i remember the manager was dave degg,he was married to my first girlfriend liz.the bikers were a handfull,had a few scraps with them.the coppers used to search you when you went out for a break,then come back in at 2.30 to have a drink and a game of cards!!!strange,but happy days!!loads of other stories if anyone is interested???”

“Hi, johnmac, love to hear some other stories.”

“Earthbird !!!!!!!!!!

I still have a ticket for one of your shows !!!
I don't know which gig it was.

I'll dig it out, it's in an old tin box with other stuff.”

“Just had a flashback,I recall staggering out of Waves and bouncing off the walls in the alley, a guy runs towards me & shaking my hand continues on into Waves,Two C.I.D follow him at speed,I open my hand to find a lump of Red Leb !! So if you're reading this fella Thanks”

“sounds about right for waves!!we used to wait in the car in yhe alley for the beer wagon to arrive.we would get a couple of pints off the boss for carrying the lager and bitter barrels upstairs to the top bar.i remember once i dropped the barrel at the top,and it went flying down and demolished the cloakroom wall!!! one of the bands i can remember introducing were called gyro,all of their gear and themselves was too big for the tiny dance floor to hold,but they were brilliant.i next saw them on telly,and i think they had become sad cafe.happy days!!!”

“I remember Gyro, my old mate Adam from primary school was in the band, they were well good, can't recall the sad cafe connection tho'. The frontman was Chris Gill.”

“Gyro guitarist Ian Wilson joined Paul Young to form Sad Cafe,Incidentally im sure Gyro were the last band to play at the Hardrock Disco,Chris Gill lived in the next street to me in Moss Side”

“god i loved waves,its was the only place i could get in off my trolley,i,ve read all the comments,but dont remember any of the things that went on in there.dont no how i found the place ,in the first place.a 7foot gaint call big john introduced me to the gaff.we use to hang out at the phoenix on oxford road.steve toon was the dj.played the best rock tunes as well.”

“johnmac, i knew graham and grebs, did you go to waves when it first opened. the dj's were ian A, ian(chally), ricky , grebbs
Dave's brother brian used to run the club
arthur used to take the money, bob, ralph and a bloke from salford who smoked a pipe ( sorry i can't remember your name) were on the door.
brian's sister anita ? on the bar .
happy days.....”

“who remembers Floyd and Elvis”

“I remember Dr Floyd, lovely fella, he was like your dad on acid ! Always wondered where he is, used to hang out together throughout the time of waves and gore st jillys. The bell doesn't ring with Elvis though, perhaps you could jog my memory zacky, in fact you and i probably knew each other at the time.”

“Loved watching Floyd & his air guitar,Waves legend”

“Fuckin' 'ell all of a sudden i've been flipped into a time bubble, memories and emotions flooding back, love to be a kid again just for one night.”

“used to know floyd well,he used to crash on my sofa loads of times,his air bass was legendary.grebbs and i started on the same night when the regular dj did not turn up.dave degg was the manager,betty his wife was barmaid,along with john and christine.i was the good looking bastard with the long black hair and porno tache.!!graham got pissed off with brian and left to open the electric circus in collyhurst.he offered me a dj job but i turned him down,soft twat.
i had my 21st piss up there,in 76 the hot summer,and got that pissed i was thrown out by arthur [lovely man.] 3 times,and sacked twice.!!HAPPY DAYS.!!! Names i can remember,mick,and pete from failsworth,diane,joan,ian,roger,from the band home grown,floyd,grebs,john,nige,tony.its all a bit hazy as you can imagine..!!!!”

“when waves first opened as a rock disco , they had rock n roll downstairs and rock in the upstairs room.
when more people found out about the place. they moved the rock and roll upstairs. rock downstairs.
Elvis was one of the rock n roll crowd that stayed when the others moved out
if floyd was not collecting bottles and glasses in for brian he would ask elvis and give him a free pint.
john form Northenden and Christine from woodhouse park ? Ever had a drink in the woodpecker round from her flat ?
dave ended up with the heath inspector that visited the club, got married and opened up a dog and cat centre/ kennels, pet supplies.
Do you remember floyd's lp being nicked from the upstairs room only to be found about 6 months later.( think it was called 20 seconds over dream land ???? )”

“( grebbs and i started on the same night when the regular dj did not turn up.)
can you remember his name.
do you remember grebbs car being nicked from outside the shan or shah ? restaurant, victoria station car park.”

“yes i used to lodge with chris and was good mates with john.when grebbses car got nicked,so did all my singles as they were in his boot.floyd went to live in oldham,as i did,but we lost touch.san,t remember the djs name but he was a big fat lad with glasses.
favourite bands were,floyd,home,hendrix,wishbone,alex harvey,free,tull,badfinger.”

“that was ian, the other 2 were ricky big lad with glasses and ian (chally) big lad with leather jacket , a biker from droylsden. his mates were the faislwoth bikers that used to come in the place.”

“What about the food at Waves.......You got a ticket for a free meal at the door,always burger and chips on a paper plate(no bun,just that), that looked and tasted like a deep-fried beer mat and burnt matchsticks.
And the toilets.........They did'nt have urinals,there was a length of plastic guttering hung from the ceiling with wire that emptied out through an hole in the wall to the car park below!!.God knows what the 'Ladies' were like !!
Does anyone remember Marion ?.......She claimed to be a witch and would bite you on the arm and keep attached for half an hour as her way of a greeting.

Zacky.........I saw 'Chally' from Droylsden not long ago on Ashton Market and he's not changed much.I don't know him from Waves but from the Spread Eagle in Ashton.”

“I met my husband there. My mate Debs was a dj and Billy was a bouncer. weird and wonderful and fun thats how I remember waves.It was lethal to leave abeer glass on the downstairs bar cos it soon got full again presumably from the upstairs toilet...”

“Ah Waves! I wish I could tell you about all the great nights I had at Waves, the only problem is I was always completely off my tits by the time I got there! I do remember that it was because the guys who ran Waves moved to the Electric Circus that I discovered that club. I remember going to the first night of the Circus with my mate Ged and others, it was a "Heavy Rock Disco" no band I think. I've looked high and low to put a date on that with no luck.
One thing I do recall is one of the Eccles boys we were with wanting a piss, he just stood on the edge of the dancefloor and took a whizz down the back of one of the floor length flowing crushed velvet dresses so favoured by "rock chicks" of the time and she didn't even notice!”

“LOVE THE COMMENTS HERE....I WAS ALWAYS OFF MY HEAD IN WAVES,ALWAYS ENDED UP THERE WHEN EVERYWHERE ELSE WAS SHUT....THE GUY WITH THE GERMAM HELMET,WAS IT BIG JOHN FROM. RUSHOLME.THE GUTTER TOILET HELD UP WITH WIRE...AND THE FREE BURGER AND CHIPS,,,,JUST CAME BACK TO ME,,,FUNNY NONE OF MY MATES COULD FIND IT SOBER..EVEN ME.HA.”

“An old couple were on till at the door. We were told that it used to be a teddy boys club before a hippy/rock club, and was called The Blue Moon. Girls were rooted out of the queue in the alleyway of people waiting to get in, and they were let in first. There was a viewing hatch in the door to see who was outside wanting to come in. A doorbell indicated police visit for drugs raid. Police never bothered really - just going through the motions. People practically selling LSD ect. from a trays. Old settees upstairs to sit on, and Newcastle Brown bottled beer (I seem to remember) was the only thing they sold. When it rained there were strategically placed bucket to catch the rain. Girls toilet had curtains across instead of a door. Best to shut your eyes when it was chucking out time and the lights came on at 2am when Waves was revealed in all of it's seedy glory! There was a large white figure painting on a black background of Ian Anderson in classical pose - balancing on one leg whilst playing the flute. Those were some of the best times of my life and I think of Waves every time I go past Shudehill tramstop on the Metro. Ah, Danzic Place. It's a car park now.”

“Awesome place circa 76/77. Rough but friendly and great rock music”