1978: continued from our April issue:

When the Stranglers appeared at the Brighton Centre it was evident that this punk thing was growing bigger and bigger. Their second album ‘No More Heroes’ got to No.2 in the charts and a massive UK tour was underway. They broke all previous attendance records at the Roundhouse, even beating those set years previously by the Who and the Stones. At the Centre show, they brought a stripper on stage for Nice ‘n Sleazy and dedicated their set to ‘Inspector Knacker’, a reference to their arrest in Brighton after their Top Rank gig the previous year.

With the explosion of all things punk, the council’s ‘get tough’ policy was hefted into action. Punk bands beware! Flyposting would be stamped on from here on in. According to a spokesperson, the worst affected areas were St James’s Street, London Road and Queen’s Road. Flyposting was the only way for emerging bands to publicise themselves and their gigs. Most of it was done on boarded up shop fronts, of which there were many at the time, especially in Western Road.

On a billboard, coming to the Dome: 10cc and the Shadows. That'll get the punks going! In the Argus, Brighton comes top of the UK’s bankruptcy charts. Life on the surface was going on as normal then. No change there. Tory councillor Danny Sheldon showed how reactionary he was when he slammed the Resource Centre for hosting a lesbian meeting. “I will certainly oppose any large grant to the Resource Centre that would encourage its use for such a purpose. There is a danger girls will go to such an event out of curiosity. They may be corrupted.”

By December '78, the first Attrix album was ready for release and got some great reviews. In the Brighton & Hove Gazette, John Wellington reviewed the album band by band in an impressive double page spread and in early '79, John Peel made his way down to the Alhambra to check out the Piranhas and their support band that night, Chicane. He wrote a glowing review of the gig and the Vaultage 78 album. To be continued...

This month features two new additions to our growing bands page: Chicane, as mentioned above, and the Executives, who formed in April 1978.