Mann, Edgar & Pleasance/Venue Stories, 3. Chatting to Jarvis

To a young person coming of age in a provincial town in the late 1980s there was a wild exoticism in the names of venues in the listings in the NME and the Melody Maker. They conjured a mythical world of countercultural revels. When a venue opened, or rather was repurposed in Doncaster – the Toby Jug – a community forms which is in part about connecting with music but is much more about space. The similarities in toilet venues across cities and across time makes these spaces where the rules are consistent and familiar. Memory of iconic bands and remarkable gigs gives way to detailed recollection of the space, the people and the pool tables. This chapter will, through a very loose journey, consider the formation of identity via the experience of too many late nights in the Toby Jug in Doncaster, the New Adelphi Club in Hull and the Crescent Community Venue in York. It will debate the advantages of being able to get close to some of your musical idols, and the dangers in forgetting when you have met others.