Ticket
Mayflower Club
11th November 1978

“The Night Visitors played the Mayflower in 1980.

If I remember, it was an old cinema. Is the building still there? It was run by Rastas and there were loads of huge bass bins around.

We had an audience of about zero.”

“The guy who used to run it was a Jamaican called Neville .

He was approached by Bernie Rhodes when the Clash were doing their On Parole Tour gigs at the Apollo just down the road.

They wanted to play a secret gig there , he told them to get lost as he had never heard of them .

I almost collapsed ....”

“doh!”

“The Clash went to Rafters instead ! :- )
Who remembers Muppet who DJ'd there ? Saw Adam and the Antz, Buzzcocks, Pop group, bit of a shithole but most places were then!”

“God, I'd forgotten about Muppet. Didn't he used to be with a band as well? A band I was in (The Janetix) played a gig at the Mayflower/Funhouse supporting his band (a 6 piece with a female vocalist), who were in turn supporting the Notsensibles (who had a minor hit with "I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher").

We (the Janetix) turned up mob-handed and took over the dressing room, and played to about 600 rabid punks who probably weren't keen on a band playing a Hawkwind cover, to be honest. The guy doing the MCing that evening was a big rockabilly bloke who also did security at Virgin Records during the week.”

“The MC was called Cyril as well as doing security he also promoted gigs at the Mayflower (have some flyers to upload) with a guy called Oi the Dennis! who went on to put gigs on at Drifters nightclub in Dukinfield 81/82”

“The all day Gig was called "stuff the super stars" there is a poster for it somewhere on the forum.
Muppets real name was and still is I think Paul Smart.
He was one of the singers in Armed Force who even played at the stuff the superstars gig. I was later in a band with him called Yukio Tani. I believe he can occasionally be found at a Stayleybridge Celtic game with some of Yukio Tani's old members.
I too distinctly remember the story about the Clash and good old Neville”

“Yes, I remember it WAS Armed Force. And very good they were too. And yes, the aged rockabilly was indeed Cyril, well remembered! I have a tape of our solitary concert there, with Cyril's dulcet tones announcing a forthcoming concert by "Red Alert" (whither they ?)”

“The Hoax were always on at the Mayflower in those days with Mike Joyce on drums, a guy called Fox on guitar but the bassmans name escapes me any ideas”

“I seem to remember Cyril was a bus driver or conductor by day I distinctly remember him having some sort of uniform when I saw him in town once or twice. Red Alert were from Sunderland (I think) my mate formed a band and was going to call them that and found out he couldn't because the name was taken. I am about to post a picture of Muppet under Yukio Tani the band I was in with him.”

“The bassist was my good mate Steve Mardi from Denton I emailed him just last week after he sent me the Hoax's new cd!!!!
I kid you not”

“Nice one i thought the Hoax gave up years ago”

“They/we did ! It's a comp album with all the old stuff on it. Mike Joyce still plays the Armed Force record now and again on his Revolutuion FM show, Dennis has a show on Tameside radio, everyone's a DJ nowadys !”

“Armed Force had two vocalists - Muppet and Linda. Muppet then went on to have a band called the Brigade. I was wearing the Brigade's promo t-shirt until recently. Wonder if I still have it?”

“Cyril was the security at Virgin on Market street for a time , where funnily enough Muppet used to work , and where I used to wag school .
I wrote a song for Armed Force called " Running in Silence " they may or may not have recorded this for a Peel session ....it's all a very long time ago but I know they demo'd it at least . I was about 15 at the time , Muppet and I shared a flat at Arnesby walk in Moss Side where Mike Joyce used to crash over on Friday nights when he was trying to pull at the University disco ...he had a disgusting habit of frying eggs in the chip pan .
If you're reading this Mike I'd like my record player back that you said your Dad would fix , I know you have it .....it's in the background in your garden on that Smiths DVD you did with Andy Rourke !”

“muppets band brigade used to practice in the attic at my mates house in stalybridge ,his brother phil was the drummer for them.”

“The Mayflower Club returns!!!

Anyone who used to go, might want to visit New York, New York in Manchester. on May 27, 2011.

The Mayflower is upstairs on the last Friday of every month.

Original Mayflower DJ - great bands - Plus, the new and up 'n' coming, young upstarts - 'Baby Strange' will be the resident band.

Meet up with some old friends and make some new ones too!

Great company, great music, great atmosphere and it's FREE to get in!!!”

“See the poster in this Mayflower listing”