Friday,
February 14, 2003 15:25 GMT
Live at The Joiners - Our front room |
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| Polly
'PJ' Harvey performing in 1990 |
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Not
only has the Joiners played host to touring bands on their way to
music superstardom, but local bands, artists and music fans all regard
the St Mary's venue as their 'front room'. |
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Visit
the Joiners on an average night and you'll find a mix of students,
shoegazers, hippies, goths, grungy rock fans, punks, band groupies
and self-confessed music addicts who make up one of the most discerning
audiences on the South Coast.
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| Radiohead
playing in 1993 |
But
it is more than just watching bands do their stuff - within the confines
of the back room couples have got together, split up, friendships
have been made, birthdays and exam results celebrated and sorrows
drowned. There have been memorable shows and instantly forgettable
ones, but nights at the Joiners are part of the lives of countless
Southampton music lovers.
Have
a flick through our Joiners picture gallery
Oliver
Gray even proposed to his wife in The Joiners - and two decades later,
his daughter's band Sense played one of their first gigs there:"That
was a matter of extreme satisfaction to me...I got very emotional,
it was great to see them on that wonderful stage. It was exciting,
as despite being a regular for so many years, I finally got to get
into the dressing room downstairs which I'd never been before which
was fun - it put a new perspective on it!"
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| Woody
at home beside the Joiners |
Woody
is another regular who liked going to the Joiners so much, he moved
into a flat just behind the venue: "Mint used to live here and
when he moved out he told me about the flat and I thought, 'why not',
it was a lucky convenience. It's great because I can pick and choose
any bands I've read about in NME, I can dive across and see what they're
like!"
The
death of Curt Cubain in 1994 was one of the defining moments in the
lives of a generation of musicians. The lead singer of Indie band
Blessed Ethel, Sara, announced the suicide of the Nirvana front-man
to a shocked Joiners audience. Ged Babey remembers that: "The
party-mood vibe evaporated instantaneously - the rumour had become
fact." Incidently the support band that night, who were equally
shell-shocked by the news, were a group of three 16 year-old- lads
from Northern Ireland called Ash.
Read more about the Early Years of the Joiners.
John
Clare ran Henry's Records in St Mary's Street for 15 years before
emigrating to Perth in Australia. The shop was as much a part of the
alternative scene of the time as the Joiners was and he remembers
some great jam sessions during the blues nights:
"The number was the old blues song, Going Down and there was
Bruce Roberts, Vernon Shooter and Paul Briar, all trying to literally
blow each other off the stage. These guitar solos went on for about
half an hour and the place was getting hotter and hotter until Bruce
just played a really simple like series of notes and the rest conceded
and said 'well done Bruce, we can't follow that'. That was a fantastic
night!"
Add your memories
of great nights at The Joiners to our messageboard.
Acknowledgements>>
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BBC Southampton Website
Broadcasting House,
Havelock Road,
Southampton
SO14 7PU
(+44) 023 80 374370/1/2
southampton@bbc.co.uk
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