Flyer
Gags
Band On The Wall
1st March 1985

Gags;they played around for years.I think they used to play at The Cavalcade (The Old Grey Mare?) in Didbury a lot .Here and Now,I used to like them even though in general I had an aversion to patchouli oil.(rarely ventured into the bowels of U.M.I.S.T.)Too much peace and Love is bad for your nerves .Anyway that song “What you see is what you are” was a cracker;never did get my greasy little mitts on that...perhaps one day I’ll venture into that unknown territory of e-bay but make sure I have a long ball of fluoro wool to make sure I can find my way back. They used to pass round a pint pot at gigs so you could make a contribution of what you thought they were worth; if you didn’t put in I heard you were likely to get a good kicking after the gig .I personally think that was just malicious gossip.....
Right, keep rolling with this one for a bit...They were comrades in arms with The Fall for a while and played up /lived up at Deeply Vale (3rd teepee from the sun I believe).I only ventured to that neck of the woods one time .T’was the summer of ’79 as I recall. Anyway a few of us headed up there to see what occurred with these mystical people with their strange ,nether worldy accents, i.e .Bury/Whitefield type folk .Well I vaguely recall nowt much happened during the days, it all seemed to kick off in the evening ,so lots of sitting round ,spliffage,hot knives up the back for 10p ,cider (‘cos it was cheap as chips back then),Hell’s Angels being naughty boys and showing the hippies how hard they were ;,and coppers mooching round near wherever the entrance was to this verdant and enchanted wonderland .Well because we were mostly skint by the second day ,we took to foraging ,scrounging food and slipping into “Lord of the Flies” mode. I know at night I used a bin-liner over my head, (fashion tip from old punk-rockers from The Ranch), and one pulled up the other way with my legs poking through holes as a semi-sleeping bag outfit ,but one you could stroll around in to take the air; I thought it had quite the smart/casual look about it and if Bear Grilles(?) had been there I’d like to think he’d have done the same .It was easy to crash out under a parked car so you didn’t freeze and try and get the odd powernap .Actually the only band I really recall was Spizzoil, and no matter how many times they changed their name I always held a soft spot for them.
I never went again .My stint at being a hippy week-end warrior taught me I wasn’t cut out for such a life. And so the fold came down from the hills and returned to Mancunia ,most likely straight down The Salisbury for to gather our thoughts before we wended our weary ways home;slightly older but certainly none the wiser....