| Wavis O'Shave | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Britain |
| Genres | Comedy rock |
| Years active | 1982 to 1987 |
Wavis O'Shave is a surreal English musician and comedian who regularly appeared on Channel 4's music show The Tube (1982–1987).[1]
Wavis O'Shave performed many original comedy characterisations including the cult figure "The Hard", a bizarre character who made brief appearances on The Tube hitting his hand with a hammer and saying "I felt nowt (nothing)!"[2]
O'Shave appears as Foffo Spearjig The Hard on The Tube Anthology - The Best of Series 1 double disc DVD (2006) and in Once Upon a Time in the North, a 2010 documentary about local music in South Tyneside released on DVD by Northeastern Films. He appears as Wavis O'Shave in the 2011 Northeastern Films DVD 'We Sold our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll'. His video for the remake of his earlier song Mauve Shoes are Awful was a nominated at the NME Shockwaves Video awards in 2009.
O'Shave appeared in The Strange world of Wavis O'Shave as part of the hour long BBC Radio 1 documentary Viz - The Rock 'n' Roll Years broadcast in 1997, and in April 2010 had his own one hour long special An Evening with Wavis and Foffo on London's Resonance FM.[3][4]
O'Shave's last TV appearance was on the Granada Television show, Stars In Their Eyes, performing Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel's "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" in 1994.
He recorded the cult hit album Anna Ford's Bum (1980), named after the ITN newsreader Anna Ford.[5][6][7][8]
Following Anna Ford's Bum, Wavis recorded a second album entitled Texican Raveloni under the name Foffo Spearjig, from which came the single "Tie Your Laces Tight" backed with "You Won't Catch Me on the 503".
Another of O'Shave's tracks, "Mauve Shoes are Awful", has been included on the Stateside Hyped2death compilation disc Messthetics no 4.[9] In 2004 he recorded a CD single "Katie Derham's Bum" in adoration of ITN newsreader Katie Derham.[10]
Wavis recorded the "Denis smokes tabs/John is a fig roll" 6 track EP on Company Records (CR003) in 1979, and a collection of his tracks are on the 2005 compilation Potty, Dotty, Ditties of the Deft and Daft (Nursery Rhymes of the Apoclypse) released in 2005 by Dynamite Vision/Falling A Records (FASA3).
In May 2011 O'Shave recorded interviews and songs for four shows for the new SKY TV 201 Channel 'Mindscape TV' to be screened early summer, also available on the Mindscape TV Channel.