“Like the sea when the sand tries to suck it away, I make waves….”
(immediately above, l – r) Ian, myself, Pete & Peter
Peter Franklin: vocals, guitars
Jon Seagroatt: saxes, percussion
Ian Staples: bass
Pete Gardner: drums
Amongst all the metaphorical loose change, bus tickets, dead wasps etc. that I found down the back of the external hard-drive cushions during a recent spring-clean, I found these little gems; recordings of the Duffs, a fantastic Oxfordshire-based band that I joined in the late 1980s.
The other three members of the band lived on narrowboats on the canals around Banbury at the time. I would drive up from Southend-on-Sea for rehearsals and gigs in a wheezingly decrepit, hand-painted, long-wheelbase Transit that burned oil at such a rate that I had to stop every so often and top up the reservoir.
At some point some footage was shot on VHS of the band at a gig in Banbury. Regrettably, the sound didn’t get recorded, and the tape languished, along with sundry other flowerings of now-defunct technologies, in a box in the attic. In 2021, during a discussion with two of the other former members of the band, I suddenly remembered the tape. I retrieved it, we had it digitalised, and from the gig footage I’ve fashioned the accompanying video of ‘Presence’:
…..and ‘Waves’:
Like the soundtracks to the videos above, the recordings below were made by the legendary and greatly-missed Richard Haynes at Dungeon Studio in Ascott-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire.
‘Thin Coat’ an eleven track Duffs album is available from Bandcamp as a CD or download.
Jon Seagroatt 
Oh John!! That was the best pressie this Christmas!! X More please?
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Hi Liz,
Thanks for your kind comment! There are some more Duff tracks, but I need to discuss with the others what to do with them. I’m in favour of a (pay-whatever-you-like) downloadable album on a site like Bandcamp, but we haven’t had a chance to discuss it yet……
I must say I did enjoy hearing the songs again myself!
I’ll keep you posted.
Jon
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Hi Liz – here’s a link for a video I’ve recently made for ‘Presence’, using some footage of the Duffs at the Mill sometime around 1990; https://youtu.be/vpe-b2IrUPQ. Hope that you enjoy it! Jon
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A great Band.
They did a gig at Banbury United FC to raise money to help raise money for the Seaman’s strike in the 80″s. My son who played in the backing band was a fan is still active in the Northampton music scene.
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Thanks, Conrad – I remember the gig at the FC. Best regards to your son; glad to hear he’s still playing.
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Hi Conrad – here’s a link for a video I’ve recently made for ‘Presence’, using some footage of the Duffs at the Mill sometime around 1990; https://youtu.be/vpe-b2IrUPQ. Hope that you enjoy it! Jon
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Remember you all well – still have a cassette tape somewhere – Dave FOS Brothers
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Hi Dave – and I remember the FOS Bros too! I think we did some gigs together, possibly also with Tin Tin Tin…(?)
Good to see you’re still playing as a band – I’ve just been looking at the website. The Duffs imploded far too quickly, sadly, though we still meet up socially. I’ll let the others know that you got in touch.
Your band name, by the way: there was a legend at the time that it was an acronym. Is that correct…..?
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Yes indeed – lost us many a folk festival Full Of Shit Brothers.
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Ha ha – excellent!
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This is very fab! Could listen to it over and over…!! That’s my husband Jon Seagroatt on saxophone and iMovie skills!!
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This album is so fab – fresh and energetic – can’t stop playing it! 😀
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