Acme Attractions

The story of Acme Attractions starts in 1973 when Steph Raynor and John Krevine met. Raynor was from Leicester and had always been into subcultures as they evolved from Teddy Boy to Mod to hippy and collecting, sourcing and selling old rock n roll clothes and artifacts. This is how he ended up meeting McLaren & Westwood and supplying clothes etc to them and became heavily influenced by their shop Let It Rock.

You would think Krivine was a pretty straightforward guy but there’s nothing about him on the internet which in itself is a first and Raynor isn’t exactly generous in giving credit in his book All About The Boy. That said he appears in Cosi Fani Tutti’s book describing the early seventies in Hull where she and Gen became an item and were involved in the radical arts collective COUM. Gen knew John from Hull University and used to stay in his flat. John  had leased an old fruit warehouse with a view to turning it into a commune and which became known as the ‘The Ho-Ho Funhouse.’ Quite how Krivine make it to London dealing in jukeboxes is an untold story!

The place Krivine finds is on the King’s Road (fancy that!) in an antiques market called Antiquarius. They take on Susan Carrington to run the stall and her boyfriend Andrew Czezowski to do their books who is also introduced to Vivienne Westwood just as they turn their shop into SEX. Andrew gets involved with The Damned in the way these things happen because they recognised him on the street from a Sex Pistols gig and ask him to be their manager. Andy allows the band to rehearse at Acme’s place in Portobello they use for storage.

The introduction is from a guy called Don Letts who had been taken on to run the stall after Susan by an initially unconvinced Raynor. Don would prove to be a key part of the shop like Jordan at SEX and the public face. Don also brought a girl called Jeanette Lee who would later be part of PIL and go on to run Rough Trade.

Don also brings a love of heavy dub which he blasts out causing the stall to have to move downstairs to the basement and there they create their own world and scene. A sign is put at the top of the stairs saying  ACME ATTRACTIONS. Don also has a lucrative sideline of selling weed.

The clothes were picked up by the soul boys who danced at Crackers disco on Wardour Street (would become The Vortex)

For Don, this is his kingdom and he develops his own highly individual style, dreadlocks, dark glasses, and leopard skin waistcoat. Jeanette is the perfect counterpoint. Cool beautiful and assured in her micro mini skirt as captured in photos.

Subcultures formed in the UK because the mainstream was not satisfying the needs of certain people like myself. So through music and style, we found our tribe, we found like minded rebels.

Acme was the coolest “club” in town, where the interaction between the different factions became more important than selling merchandise, even though at that age it was a deadly combination.

Raynor and Krivine, again like McLaren (and Bernie Rhodes who for a time had a stall in Antiquarius next to them and now managed The Clash) look to form and manage their own band in direct competition to the Sex Pistols. The band is formed around John O’Hara, a clothes model and soft gay porn model who will become Gene October and features Tony James ex London SS and Billy Idol. The band is named Chelsea by John Krivine and they start gigging.

Meanwhile Gen & Cosey have formed the band Throbbing Gristle and Cosey has become an artist using stripping and pornography. They are due to hold her exhibition entitled ‘Prostitution’ at the ICA London and also play a set the band. They need a support act so turn to old Hull friend John Krivine and he suggests his band.

LSD’s performance isn’t mentioned but the event causes controversy and make the papers not least the attendance by the new ‘punk rockers’ the Bromley Contingent and the classic headline ‘Are These The Wreckers of Civilization.

Krivine and Raynor decide band management is not for them and Czezowski takes them on but the band split and forms Generation X. A booking at gay Club Chaguaramas is left and Czezowski with his finger on the pulse meets the owners, finds the club has changed it name to the Roxy Club and takes a short lease. He needs a DJ and offers Letts the job doing what he basically did in the shop. The rest is history as the Roxy Club becomes the centre of Punk. Andy and Sue would later own the very successful Fridge nightclub and play their part in revolutionising club culture.

Raynor takes what he dubbed his ‘Acme boys’ to a Chelsea gig and observes their reaction to the Bromley Contingent and fans and is convinced Acme Attractions is over and they need to change.

Much to Don Letts’s consternation the shop is changed to punk overnight by Raynor. There are some discrepancies in books etc about when this actually was. Raynor seems to suggest 1976 and that Don stayed to manage the shop for a couple of months before leaving. Given Don leaves to manage The Slits on the ‘White Riot’ tour in May it’s highly likely to be around March 1977.

For Krivine and Raynor the change isn’t enough; the growing popularity of Punk being driven by the Sex Pistols and publicity and the trail of bands in their slipstream means there’s a vacuum of recorded music AND clothes, which their rivals Seditionaries have the sole monopoly on, and an opportunity. It was time to change again and as Acme Attractions went punk it was also time for name change.

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