I’m Jo and for the last five years I’ve been Julian (K)’s PA. Some of you might think this is just a case of making diary appointments and doing a bit of filing. Some of you would be very wrong. Not a day goes by here that I don’t learn something new, and not a day goes by that I don’t absolutely love. OK, there may have been one or two days.
I have always admired Julian and the way in which we do things here. Our values and beliefs are never deviated from, and whilst this is difficult at times I have come to see that this is something that our clients and also a good few competitors respect. In short the business is always true to itself, which isn’t always an easy thing. There isn’t a business out there like ours, and there’s no better place to work (Yes, yes… I have to say that, but I mean it too. And Julian isn’t stood behind me with a gun forcing me to write it. Or any other sort of weapon, for that matter.)
Propaganda has always had a true Rock ‘n’ Roll attitude, and that’s escalated even further since the birth of Illamasqua. I always wondered where this attitude came from and a couple of weeks ago I found out…
On the 10th April, 2010 Malcolm McLaren died. For those of you who don’t know him, (I should admit at this point that I was one of these people) he was the manager of the Sex Pistols and known to many as the ‘spiritual founder of punk rock’. Malcolm was also partners with Vivienne Westwood, and their son, Joe Corre, is one of the co-directors of Illamasqua.
Which is how, on April 23rd, I found myself stood on a street in Camden attending one of the most unusual funerals I will ever see.
Thousands of people lined the streets – including Annie Lennox, Bob Geldof and Adam Ant – to say their farewells to the iconic man, and a ‘Minute of Mayhem’ was observed. To see so many people celebrating the life of someone who they had never even met was truly inspiring to behold. So, as crazy as this may sound, even though I had never had the pleasure of meeting Malcolm, I was able to appreciate the life he had led. Even more unusual was the feeling of guilt on the way home for actually having enjoyed someone’s funeral. Perhaps that’s the way he would have wanted it.
Julian explained how Punk Rock allowed relative musical novices to pick up a guitar and microphone and form a band. They were disrespectful to the ‘old order’ of established bands and they did it their way.
Julian often tells us that when he founded Propaganda he took more cues from Punk and the likes of Malcolm McLaren than he ever did from any other agency. It never really made sense until I heard at Malcolm’s funeral how he challenged everything and was scared of nothing. That’s what makes the world go round.
Above: Julian Kynason & Alex Box at Malcolm McLaren’s funeral.