The Joiners, located in Southampton, and The Croft, located in Bristol, are historic grassroots venues that have seen artists such as Ed Sheeran, Oasis, and Coldplay play at the early stages of their careers.

MVP focuses on removing iconic grassroots venues from vulnerable commercial leases and placing them into community ownerships. This allows them to have long-term stability as MVP sets rent rates, ensures annual contributions towards maintenance, and ongoing support in the areas such as financial sustainability.

The two grassroots venues will now have permanent protected status. Named The National Trust for Grassroots Music Venues, Music Venues Properties focuses on removing venues from vulnerable leases by purchasing the building and being responsible for the maintenance.

Ricky Bates, the venue operator said, “We want to thank every single person who has bought a share in the scheme and ensured The Joiners’ future. As one of the most important live music venues ever to exist in the UK this is a win for all independent live music across the globe.”

“There are still more venues that need to be secured so please do invest if you can.”

World Famous Dive Bars’ Marc Griffiths said, “The Croft reopened recently but the future was still very uncertain.”

“Now, with MVP as the landlord, we know that this legendary venue will be part of Bristol’s unique music ecosystem for generations to come.”

Since launching in 2022, the Own Our Venues campaign has raised almost £4 million through community investment, with music fans buying shares from as little as £50, and funding from cultural partners.

The current phase of the Our Own Venues campaign has reached 82% of its £1.5 million target to bring seven more vital grassroots music venues into permanent community ownership.

COO Own Our Venues Matt Otridge said, “The purchase and securing of The Joiners and The Croft, two iconic buildings that have launched international carriers and sit at the heart of their communities, marks a historic milestone for Music Venue Properties.”

“But the work isn’t over and there are still more venues under threat… Every contribution helps us to secure more venues and each investor can then stand alongside those who already proudly say: we own these venues.”

Music fans can continue to invest and support the campaign here, which is live until November 14.

Once the target has been hit, Music Venue Properties hope to purchase the remainder of targeted venues, as well as announce the next phase of fundraising.

With a slew of singles already released ahead of the album drop, fans had fair warning of what Grove Street had planned for Path To Righteousness and with the final release of “Hunting Season” mere days ago, the tension and stakes could not be higher for a band on the edge of breaking out. And fans will undoubtedly be as hungry as ever to see the new songs performed in the live setting.

Speaking on the release of “Hunting Season,” the band have stated that the song “was written to highlight how being obsessed with scrutinising each other and watching people fall from grace, rather than helping each other and seeing people succeed, is hindering society, stopping it from flourishing. This kind of behaviour is detrimental to progression, both individually and as a collective.”

Originally named Grove Street Families, the Southampton metal crossover band can trace its roots to a project that was intended to be slightly tongue in cheek. Grabbing their name from infamous best selling video game Grand Theft Auto, Grove Street eventually dropped the Families portion from their moniker but retained both the intensity and light-hearted vibes in their music.

Once the band started getting noticed and the members acknowledged they had some legitimate metal chops, Grove Street landed a major coup by signing to Australian independent label UNFD where they have released Path To Righteousness. That success, coupled with their electrifying live shows, have made Grove Street a top band to watch out for.

Guitarist Chris Sanderson (known as Sandy) said of the band’s direction,“The years of slogging away gave us time to focus. We were still doing a hardcore thing, but we were just vibing. We hadn’t narrowed down the crossover sound we’ve got now. I’m glad we did, rather than rushing music out to keep algorithms happy. We took our time to make sure everything was perfect.” 

Path To Righteousness is released today 29 September on UNFD and can be purchased here.