punkbrighton 10th Anniversary Alldayer at the Albert, Sunday 17th October 2010

Pub opens at noon
punkbrighton exhibition (downstairs)
open all day

Afternoon session (upstairs) 2.00pm
• DJ Wag spins the choons
3pm - 6pm 
The Lillettes 
The Mockingbirds
Airtight Garage 
Helen McCookerybook from the Chefs 
Attila the Stockbroker (Special Guest)
The Parrots / VolSec
The Piranhas (surprise appearance)

6.45 Bands changeover
• DJ Wag plays Parrots to Pistols

Evening session (upstairs) from 8.30pm 
• The Piranhas (evening set )
Vandells / Depressions
• Jonnie & the Lubes
Peter & The Test Tube Babies 

bands finish 11pm sharp

11pm-12pm (close)
• DJ Wag

Tickets online: www.wegottickets.com

Why it's happening - a little bit of history...

www.punkbrighton.co.uk is a social history website that covers the punk years in Brighton between 1976 and 1981. Five years of upheaval and craziness, both in terms of the local music scene and the prevailing social climate. If you were in a band it was a time of feverish creative energy and it could also be mad, bad and dangerous. We rocked against racism and sexism, battled with the National Front, mass unemployment, football hooliganism and social disintegration.

Evidence of a whole new music scene emerged in August 1977 in a crypt which came to be known as The Vault, situated beneath a community building, the Resource Centre in North Road, Brighton, when a couple of local bands, the Piranhas and Wrist Action, hosted a gig, billed as 'Fuck The Jubilee'.

Fast forward to 1999; I had a session booked with a tutor who was going to teach me the basics of setting up and building a website. First I needed a project and he suggested I recall my days playing in Brighton punk bands Flesh and the Lillettes. So yes, I could do that.

Back in 1977, I'd thought that I was witnessing something really special and that somebody should be writing it all down. That someone turned out to be me. I had a lot of it in my head and I had some material to work with, old posters and photos and some press cuttings regarding my own bands, but needed more reference, so I went to see Rick Blair, a local musician, songwriter and something of an entrepreneur.

Rick Blair & Attrix Records
In 1977 Rick formed a band called Attrix and soon afterwards set up Attrix Records, Brighton's only independent record label. Later, he and his wife Julie opened the Attrix Records shop in Sidney Street. Rick believed in 'music for the people, by the people'.

Attrix provided an opportunity for many local bands to get their music onto vinyl at a time when the mainstream music industry was looking for the next big disco hit and punk music was largely still undeground, literally in Brighton's case, at the Vault.

Read more....


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...more

The Vault was filled with tombs and coffins but we rehearsed and played gigs down there. This is where it all started. When the Sex Pistols appeared on national TV on the Bill Grundy Show, everyone was suddenly talking about 'punk rock'.

Attrix Records managed to put out three compilation albums of Brighton bands, collectors' item's now: Vaultage 78, Vaultage 79 and Vaultage 80, as well as numerous singles and EP's. This was the first step on the way to chart success for the Piranhas, arguably Brighton's top band at the time

They moved on from Attrix and initially signed a deal with Virgin Records which proved to be short-lived. Pete Waterman took an interest in the band and they signed an album deal with the US record giant Sire. The Piranhas were rewarded with a silver disc for sales of the resulting single Tom Hark, which went to No.5 in the UK mainstream charts and they appeared on Top of the Pops. This was a milestone in Brighton's popular music history. Tom Hark has since been adopted by football, cricket and rugby crowds up and down the country.

10 Years of the Punk History of Brighton website
I knew Rick had kept lots of press cuttings, photos and artwork of the many bands who had signed up to work with his Attrix label. He lent me a big box file crammed with all manner of hard copy gems that I felt ought to be made public through the forthcoming website.

He agreed to contribute an introductory article to launch the site, but his sudden death in May of 1999 put paid to that. It made me more determined than ever to make this thing happen and the site and the Alldayer show is dedicated to his memory.

In addition to original material from myself and Rick, contributions have come thick and fast over the years with site visitors sharing photos, writing retrospective accounts of their personal experiences, exchanging emails and sending in mp3's to build up an online jukebox for users to play and download for free.

The Alldayer
Now on Sunday 17 October you can see all this virtual history come to life in the form of

exhibits featuring posters, photos, fanzines, records, large format portraits, prints, banners and T-shirts accompanied by audio soundtracks, including not only the music from the time but also recorded interviews with some of the former participants and of course such seminal punk bands as the Piranhas, Peter & The Test Tube Babies and the Depressions.

The Venue
My venue of preference was always going to be the Prince Albert, Brighton's Number One venue for music, bearing in mind its long tradition of showcasing both unknown and up and coming local bands, in much the same way as the Alhambra, the Richmond or the Buccaneer did all those years ago. Here's to everyone having a great day.
punkdaddy September 2010

see also Brighton Source
Tickets available from
Rounder Records
Resident Records
PunkerBunker
or online at:
www.wegottickets.com





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This site is dedicated to the memory of Rick Blair
The Punk History of Brighton © punkdaddy 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • All Rights Reserved