Attrix Records, the shop not the local punk record label, was situated in Sydney Street (now Dave’s Comics). When it opened in 1979, a year after the label, it was the only place in Brighton where you could buy records by decent bands – Joy Division, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Clash, The Specials – as well as the more obscure stuff that John Peel would play on his radio show. Attrix Records Shop sold cheaper than any other outlets, a measure of owners Rick and Julie Blair and their philosophy, “music for the people, by the people”.
Whilst the shop was always busy, sadly more people used it as a place to meet and hang out rather than make purchases. I remember saying to the staff, only half joking, that they should sell tea and coffee as well as vinyl. I bought shedloads of records there as well as gig tickets, but the shop suddenly closed in 1981. By then High Street shops like HMV and especially Virgin were selling alternative music in competition with Attrix, but I heard that the losses incurred by the Birds With Ears album took down both the label and the shop. Sadly Rick Blair died in May of 1999 at the age of 52.
By : Nick Linazasoro, David McLean & Paul K
I fondly recall going into Attrix Records in Sydney Street as they sold their own (and other) records there. I can remember buying Cabaret Voltaire’s “Nag Nag Nag” in there and a massively obscure 7″ called “The Wundersea World Of Jacques Cousteau”.
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