Jay - Memories of punk

Attrix band members outside Attrix Records in Sydney Street.
From the private collection of Jay Derrick

The Brighton scene
I lived in Brighton between 1971 when I arrived as a student and 1981. You may be interested in the following site: www.punkbrighton.co.uk which charts the vibrant musical scene in the Brighton area in the late 70s and early 80s.

This scene was partly based around the Brighton and Hove Community Resource Centre which used to occupy the site of the present day community centre at the top of North Road. Many of the bands kept their equipment and practiced in the vaults underneath the centre, which had people buried in the walls!

Bands in Brighton
Three albums of Brighton bands were produced, called Vaultage 78, 79 and 80, masterminded by Rick Blair, a musician who worked at the Resource Centre for a time. He ran an independent record label and a shop, called Attrix Records, which was in Sydney St, until about 1982. It’s a bookshop now, a couple of doors down from the Green Dragon pub. Sadly Rick died about 3 years ago. Anyway, a lot of this history, including posters and pictures, can be found at the punkbrighton site.

I also attach a picture of Attrix band members outside the shop, taken in about 1978, about the time the first album came out. The bands represented here include the Lillettes, the Parrots, the Chefs, the Vandells, the Mockingbirds, the Golinski Brothers, and probably others. Rick and Julie, his wife, are standing in front of the middle-aged female shopper back left.

Pubs & Clubs
Many of the bands used to play at pubs like the Hanbury Arms, the Richmond, the Concorde which was on the seafront right opposite where the Athina B ran aground, and particularly for me the Alhambra, where during most of 1977 and 78 the Piranhas used to play every Sunday night. I used to work at the Friends Centre in the Lanes, an adult education centre still going today.

I’d like to see more about both the Resource Centre and the Friends Centre in your site. I will try to contribute stuff when I can. I’m amazed there’s nothing yet about the Belvedere and the Fortune of War, two pubs right down on the beach between the two piers. The Belvedere had the weirdest jukebox I’ve ever come across. This site is great!

Comments about this page

  • I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain at the Pavilion Theatre – any idea when that was?

    By Glorietta (09/08/2006)
  • The Belvedere was where the Tempest Inn is today and used to be a bit of a dive. Served Gales Ales and had a pretty amazing juke box as well as a couple of pool tables and a large German shepherd dog, which used to lie on the floor chewing pebbles off the beach!
    That was until closing time when it would get up and walk round the pub howling until everyone drank up & left.
    Was one of our haunts when we first started drinking in the early ’80’s.
    Happy days.

    By Da Bebb (04/01/2024)

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