The Joiners
A nice pub venue with a wide but not too deep stage. Gets a mixture of brillant small gigs, to the bigger bands playing smaller dates.
Reviewed events
Sunna, Crackout, Miocene at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 14 Mar
“Life is Loud” is brandished beneath a poster for tonight’s tour sponsors, rawk-mag Kerrang. Maybe “Black is the colour” or “Piercing's are not just for Xmas” would be a better slogan for the quiet, band t-shirted groups, sipping pints in the Joiners tonight. Seems like everyone is disconnected, but not as much »
Martin Grech at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 01 Nov
A shock of corkscrew curls bounce wildly, being tossed around by a lost face. Snapshot glimpses reveal the wide eyed stare of twenty-year-old Martin Grech; a skinny post-hallowe’en figure capped with an utterly disproportionate mass of hair and with limbs extended, contorting in over-exaggeration akin to a Parisian street mime-artist.»
Dogs Die In Hot Cars, The 22-20s at Southampton The Joiners, Sun 02 Nov
'They've already released a live EP as their second recorded output. But this is probably the first major tour that they'll undergo where getting onstage won't involve having to fight a torrent of chequebooks being waved under their noses...'»
Delays, Pellumair, The Real Sweet Deal at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 15 Nov
"Being quite possibly the biggest artist to come out of Southampton since Craig ‘Pencil Beard All Over My Chin’ David, the homecoming venture by Delays comes complete with a capacity crowd, and a ballistic one at that.»
Mínus, Million Dead, Jarcrew at Southampton The Joiners, Sun 23 Nov
Emo may have been a dirty word since more than a handful of kids knew about it and came to mean rolling about screaming tear-stained diary extracts, but if it does mean passionate, articulate, thoroughly rockin’ tunes about yetis, the Bee Gees and how Roald Dahl novels have sinister political undertones then Million Dead apply completely.»
Span at Southampton The Joiners, Sun 15 Feb
Stacks of airplay on various music television stations has set ablaze under a rocket that has been waiting years to explode; a rocket so packed with adrenaline fuelled kinetic energy that it has the potential to shoot off with a bang that will implode every last eardrum in the country...»
Book Harrison, Dead! Dead! Dead!, Alaskan Pipeline, The Bullycats at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 13 Ma
Welcome to High-pitched Male Voice Night at The Joiners.»
The Futureheads, Mower, Beautiful Life at Southampton The Joiners, Sun 04 Apr
Television Personalities + Kate Bush + Beastie Boys + electric mandolin + megaphones = ROCK'N'ROLL!»
Reuben, The Holiday Plan, Septembre at Southampton The Joiners, Tue 18 May
That quiet/loud tactic transformed to a loud/loud one for effect, will convincingly make Reuben your new favourite grunge-pop urchins every time they drop a song like a hot potato. Go get sweaty, kids.»
Ikara Colt, yourcodenameis:milo at Southampton The Joiners, Tue 01 Jun
We arrived in love and left in worship.»
Bonemachine, Dilutral, Brenda at Southampton The Joiners, Fri 16 Jul
Jazz? Well, it’s a broad term, so perhaps. Ambient? Only if you’re a bit disturbed. Whatever it is, it’s bloody marvellous.»
The Open, Thirteen Senses at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 22 Sep
Joint-headline tours have a long history. In Southampton’s legendary smaller-than-your average Joiners venue Coldplay opening for Terris springs to mind. You don’t need me to tell what did or didn’t happen to both bands and tonight serves up another potentially juicy treat: Thirteen Senses and The Open. Which band would steal the show?»
Judas Kisses at Southampton The Joiners, Mon 04 Oct
Yes, it really is only one person making all that noise.»
Captive State at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 22 Jan
Not only does it turn out to be the largest number and amount of people and machinery seen in this venue, but also turns out to be the ensemble that provoke the most positive physical reaction that’s been seen here for a log time to. Yes, Captive State can make people dance.»
Kill City, Dead! Dead! Dead!, The Paddingtons at Southampton The Joiners, Sun 23 Jan
Dead! Dead! Dead! are without a doubt Southampton’s ‘band of the moment’, they’re on the tip of everyone’s tongues, not to mention every second line-up around the city. Fact is, there’s a reason for this, and in case there was doubt left in anyone’s mind, tonight they prove precisely why.»
65daysofstatic, Brenda, The Scarlet Letter Union, They Don't Sleep at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 16 F
"Words, they mean nothing” Doves once cooed, and while tonight’s gig is light on vocals, it’s definitely heavy on passion.»
Dead! Dead! Dead!, Fleeing New York, Xavier Floyd Firebird at Southampton The Joiners, Fri 18 Feb
"We’ve been around the country and nowhere has bands as good as Southampton at the moment. Keep supporting the scene.” So say Xavier Floyd Firebird at a SouthSCENE gig which feels like both a homecoming and a tearful goodbye, with three local bands playing together probably for the last time at such a small venue.»
The Black Velvets at Southampton The Joiners, Mon 21 Feb
Okay so there wasn’t an exact day when the music died but rock music at one point must have been so alive when it was new. Mop tops, bisexuals on Top of the Pops and massacres of the national anthem all freaked out ‘the Man’ (or something.) While many new bands may claim to be the latest in line to be this generation’s working class heroes, are kids on council estates really listening to this sh*t anymore?»
Mystery Jets, The Research, Engineers at Southampton The Joiners, Tue 01 Mar
It’s a dubious one at the joiners tonight - three touring bands who are currently riding on varying levels of hype; The Research, Mystery Jets and Engineers.»
Alaskan Pipeline at Southampton The Joiners, Fri 04 Mar
The fact that Snow Patrol's 'Final Straw' album is played before Alaskan Pipeline take the stage tonight is surely no coincidence. Vocalist Chris Olden might look like a cropped Liam Gallagher but his singing bears more than a small resemblance to Gary Lightboy and the band have enough lighters-aloft tunes to make even a Mancunian primate weep.»
The Dead 60s, Little Flames at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 02 Apr
Taking to the stage to the sound of sirens, The Dead Sixties produce an alarming franticness and immediacy tonight.»
Stout, Turncoat, Kyoto at Southampton The Joiners, Mon 25 Apr
Turncoat exist somewhere between hope and despair and it feels impossible not to be moved both emotionally and literally through jerky, sporadic flinches. With a singer cutting an Ian Curtis like figure, it seems apt to hear such torment in songs with lyrics including: “I must confess I’m an absolute zero”.»
Art Brut at Southampton The Joiners, Thu 12 May
Without wanting to sound like a certain creepy moon-walker, it’s always great to see music getting the kids excited. It’s fitting tonight as Eddie Argos pogos away like a spoilt brat force fed dangerously fizzy sweets while demanding “I want children on buses singing your name”.»
Tomboy at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 01 Jun
There is non-more an apt song for Tomboy to begin a gig with than ‘Fashion Police’. Although the song attacks fashionistas, there is little getting away from the style paraded by a band with healthy splodges of eyeliner, poses set to stun and a feeling that the gig is merely a warm-up for a couple of gigs at Knebworth.»
JJ72, Xavier Floyd Firebird at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 08 Jun
For a band who promised so much with their debut, JJ72 didn’t half f*ck it all up with their overblown second album. A sell-out crowd tonight shows that people are willing to forgive this however, and it’s all smiles onstage tonight, save for the face-pulling earnestness of their angst ridden mini-anthems, of course.»
The Fairies Band at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 16 Jul
The Fairies Band are not only the token out-of-towners present here tonight, but also the most alien of conceptual gangs – it’s like they appear from a parallel universe where all stilettos are sold with graffiti pens, it’s encouraged to talk dirty to strangers, and The Pipettes wear denim rather than polka-dots.»
The Boy Least Likely To at Southampton The Joiners, Sat 18 Feb
“We’re not a f**king bakery,” claim The Boy Least Likely To after forgetting to bring cakes for the crowd tonight. It’s a shame because if they had been handed around, the band would have been officially entered the Guinness Book of Records as the Tweeest-Thing-Ever™. »
¡Forward Russia! at Southampton The Joiners, Wed 22 Feb
Well, I expected a good gig. I was delivered a great gig. If you haven't heard of the juggernaught-in-waiting iForward Russia!, you soon will. The two warm up acts are good, and set the scene nicely. Napoleon does a good job of warming up the »
Thomas Truax, The Half Rabbits, The Scarlet Letter Union, Tri-City President, Edward J Hicks at Southam
As far as second birthday parties go – can’t really remember mine, must have involved pass the parcel and a Thomas The Tank Engine colouring book – there probably aren’t that many that begin with a cavalcade of cacophonous guitar soundscapes and pounding drum-machine beats. But promoters Ejector Seat throw no ordinary party... »
