The story behind........TWIGS
At junction 27 of the M1 southbound, there, in large pink letters is the word "TWIGS". My best friend Paul* was hung upside down by his ankles in order to spray this immortal word on the aforementioned bridge.

What's so makes that the best graffiti ever you may ask ?

It's not so much the graffiti, it's the story behind it .....

Back in the 1980's, a group of my goth/rock pals decided to form a band, named aptly "The Secluded Twigs", Paul* being the frontman/ vocalist.

They never picked up an instrument, never made a demo and never played a gig, yet they were once the most infamous band in Nottingham with a huge underground following.

Nigel's* ("guitarist") philosophy was as did Tony James with Sigue Sigue Sputnik whip up a media frenzy over nothing, so they would do with the Twigs. Bogus European Tour posters being pasted all over Nottingham, escalating rumours of private gigs, "those in the know" ranting on about how they'd managed to get exclusive tickets and back stage passes to their gigs in Estonia, Hungary etc etc. People were desperate to get hold of bootleg tapes they'd heard "just the once somewhere" and before long, "those not in the know" were boasting about private invite gigs they'd been to and "how ace the Twigs were and how they hoped they'd never make it big time, coz they needed to stay underground in Europe and stay cool and credible"

Oh the joy !

The culmination of the Twigs' career was a private gig that was held in Sherwood Forest in 1989. Letters suddenly started pouring into Nottingham Evening Post from outraged people all over Nottingham, the majority of outpourings coming from pensioners who were naturally appalled and the most offened being an elderly gentleman by name of "Mr Daniel Ash", whose letter was the first to be printed. Infact all the letters got printed. The best to come was when "the twiglets" (fanclub) started to blab on about how they'd been there. at that gig. that was never played. and the Twigs had been awesome.

Oh were you ? I must have not seen you ?

The band "split up" not long after that and naturally half of Nottingham's underground rock scene were devastated. That was the end. Unless they decide to "reform" of course.

So, if you're ever lucky enough to see TWIGS graffiti, remember they were once the next big thing to come out of Nottingham.
Well they would have been had they ever existed.

*names not changed to expose the guilty.
( rabbitz, Fri 4 May 2007, 16:18, Reply)