00 MARCH 2014 | SOUTH COAST SOUND

hink of one of the worlds

biggest bands, go on.
Got one? Well its likely
they played one of their earliest
gigs right here in Southampton,
at the Joiners in St Marys Street.
From Arctic Monkeys, to Ash,
Guillemots to Greenday, the
Charlatans to Suede, they have
all played there, and playing the
venue is almost a rite of passage
for any self-respecting up and
coming band. Alex Turner of the
Arctic Monkeys described it as a
place where you have to play to get
started, and last year it won the
award to find Britains best small
music venue. We here at South
Coast Sound take a look at the
venue that is an institution in the
music world as it celebrates its 48th
year in business.
The Joiners had been a thriving live
venue for several decades. But the
start of booking promising young
bands who already had media
exposure began in the late 1980s
with the arrival of a man who was
to refashion the Southampton
music scene during one of the
most exciting ages in British music,
the Britpop era. The godfather of
The Joiners was a legendary man
who went by the name of Mint,
(pictured right) who arrived in
Southampton from Birmingham
in 1987, having been a successful
music promoter in the Midlands.
Mint, and friends Roj, Fran and
Phil managed to persuade the then
landlord, Mike Gulliver to let them
host a live music night on Tuesdays,
under the title of Next Big Thing.
The first band booked by Next
Big Thing was Stitched Black
Foot Airman on 26th January
1988, and while the Hampshire
band are by no means household
names these days, in the following
years the venue was played by
The Charlatans, Suede, Oasis,
The Manic Street Preachers,
Primal Scream, Verve, PJ Harvey,
Radiohead, Coldplay, Ash, Skunk
Ananasie, and David Gray. A
veritable Whos Who of the Britpop era.
Fast forward to 2014 however, and
its a rather different story for the
legendary venue. The St Marys
street pub is facing an uncertain
future after years of dwindling
ticket sales. Owner Patrick
Muldowney said: We need to
reach out and express the severity
of our state to our local community
and loyal regulars. The bottom line
is the place will die without some help.
The future of the famous venue
remains uncertain, but if it does join
the estimated 100 pubs shutting
down a month in Britain, it wont
just be another dilapidated old
boozer. The Joiners is a special
place. On any night you could be
lucky enough to see a band on
the verge of making it big, a new
Oasis, or Coldplay, or Manic Street
Since its inception in the 60s, The Joiners Arms in
Southampton has established itself as one of Britains most
raucous live venues. Nearly 50 years on South Coast Sound
traces its iconic history.
T
Famous bands to play the Joiners:
Arctic Monkeys
Ash
Asian Dub Foundation
Band of Skulls
Biffy Clyro
Bombay Bicycle Club
Cage the Elephant
Chapel Club
Chumbawamba
Coldplay
Cornershop
Dan le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
Dananananaykroyd
David Gray
Deaf Havana
Ed Sheeran
Electric Six
Enter Shikari
Feeder
Frank Turner
Franz Ferdinand
Green Day
Guillemots
Hadouken!
HIM
Jamie T
Kasabian
Klaxons
Manic Street Preachers
Muse
Mystery Jets
Oasis
Pete Doherty
PJ Harvey
Placebo
Primal Scream
Super Furry Animals
Suede
Supergrass
The Charlatans
The Cribs
The Futureheads
The Kills
The Kooks
The Libertines
The Maccabees
The Pigeon Detectives
The Vaccines
The Verve
The Wombats
The Zutons
Two Door Cinema Club
You Me at Six
MARCH 2014 | SOUTH COAST SOUND 00
Preachers. Its potential demise
would be not only detrimental to
the Southampton music scene, but
for the future of British live music.