From the headquarters of a fruit and vegetable wholesaler near Sneinton Market to one of Nottingham’s best loved recording studios and truly intimate, DIY music venues - it’s been quite a journey for JT Soar.
When Phil Booth and his business partners Joe and Nick first took over the space at number 2 Aberdeen Street, they saw beyond an empty concrete room with metal grilles and a scooter garage next door. Their vision was to create something truly special: a recording studio, rehearsal and gig space, with a truly barrier-free ethos in all senses of the word.
Now fifteen years later, JT Soar celebrates its decade-and-a-half anniversary since it first opened its doors, marking the occasion with a “two-day, one stage, all killer-no filler line-up” of some of Phil Booth’s favourite bands. Ahead of what is being billed as ‘JT Soar Fest’, we asked staff, promoters, bands and community members to share their favourite memories of JT Soar, and outline what makes it so special.
Jordan Oakley (Pinch Points / Delivery)
“As an Australian, I feel so lucky to have been able to go to JT Soar three times over the past few years. Every time we’re there, there’s such a warm community vibe.
My favourite experience would have to be when Pinch Points played there in 2023 with Scene Killers, Instant Bin and Little Landing. We went and had a drink at Neon Raptor who made us a special run of canned beers for the night, which was delightful! The gig itself rocked too. Adam and I stayed at Nick’s house that night and had a very fun time playing Elden Ring until the wee hours, with some snacks and cans from the off-licence!”
Will Robinson (I’m Not From London)
“All early I’m Not From London (INFL) releases were recorded in a home studio that INFL's first soundmen/producers (Phil Booth, Danny Clarke and Mat Thomas) had prior to moving in with Captain Dangerous at JT Soar. Phil led the crew, making the quintessential DIY powerhouse recording studio and gig venue that it is today. With the studio as a business focus, the gigs are more laissez-faire which is why it works so amazingly.
I also had an amazing birthday there, Ponyand, Moonbullet and Dim Bulbs all playing - congratulations to you JT, fifteen years! What a great thing it is you've created.”
Nick Oakden (EFBAS / Myopics / JT Soar)
“It's 2013 - a bass player yells 12341234 so fast that the syllables blur together. The band crash into song #34 of their 25-minute, seventy-song set. The singer crawls through people's legs, climbs onto a shelf, and puts a lampshade on his head. He yells wildly, looking down at a crowd that has never seen anything like it.
This is A Page of Punk, and they've come all the way from Tokyo, relying on borrowed gear, promoters with sofas, and the goodwill of a friend with a van. That the show is happening at all is a DIY miracle.”
Sophie Diver (Rough Trade / No Peeling)
“What guarantees DIY joy more than the iconic sharpie-collage of a zine-inspired JT Soar gig poster? Nothing. So, imagine my excitement of first appearing on a JT lineup in photocopy grayscale glory.
From the BYOB vibe, the lending library, to sharing homemade chilli - JT is good people. The loveliness is reflected in the audience you'll find there too, sometimes sitting cross-legged and always listening intently. I feel like I'm reading scripture, but it's just a poem about pigeons. I still save all those posters.”
Alex Hale (ACHB / All Hale DIY)
“JT Soar has been such a large part of my life over the last 15 years, that it would be fair to say I've forgotten more of my visits there than I can actually remember!
Nonetheless, my favourite memory (hazy though it definitely is) is of abusing my status as a JT regular and hosting my thirtieth birthday party there in 2018, booking seven or eight friends to play acoustic slots, then overstaying my welcome with a ninety minute (!!!) headline set. It was a grand, self-indulgent affair, complete with a near life sized cardboard cutout of myself. Not the sort of thing I'd dare try anywhere else… but then again, I wouldn't want to try it anywhere else.”
Fan Club Notts
“Tacocat and JUNK - Monday 2 May, 2016. Tacocat - fresh from performing at a Bernie Sanders rally, being retweeted by Gillian Anderson and recording an updated theme song for The Powerpuff Girls - took on JT Soar like they were walking on stage at a sold-out arena. It was the first time Fan Club put on an event at JT Soar and we were welcomed with open arms to make the space, with an intimacy that feels like your own living room, our own. The sold-out show whizzed by in a blur of singalongs, sequins, temporary tattoos, zines and glitter.”
JT Soar is fertile soil for punks, weirdos and creative freaks of all descriptions. Defend it! Treasure it! Long live JT Soar!
Marrit Meinema (Lewsberg / The Klittens / Real Farmer)
“I’ve been lucky to have played there with three of my bands and the first time I remember being so happy to play on the floor rather than a stage. It’s a small room but very cosy and the people that come to the shows are so friendly. Phil had cooked a great vegan chilli, and I got to speak a little Dutch with Nat from Stuart Pearce.
Stopping at JT during a UK tour is always a treat and it feels like visiting family - as cheesy as it may sound, it’s the truth.”
Nathy / Martha
“Not long after Martha first started, we toured the UK with two US artists - Spoonboy and Delay. JT took a chance on us and booked us a gig. The night itself was so great, then the next morning Martha and Spoonboy somehow found time to record four songs with Phil before we set off to the next town. They ended up coming out as a split 7” - a great document of that time and how bursting with life the place was, and still is now. Almost a decade later, we went back to the refurbished studio to record our most recent LP, Please Don’t Take Me Back. A nice full circle moment.
JT Soar is fertile soil for punks, weirdos and creative freaks of all descriptions. Defend it! Treasure it! Long live JT Soar!”
Dan Russell (The Lubberfiend / Horrid / The Hipshakes)
“The honour of the third band to ever play JT Soar goes to The Hipshakes, in our expanded ‘bass player moved to America’ formation, featuring my brother and Carl of Bruce and Carl (who also played that night). The excellent Real Numbers headlined with Shaun from Real Losers/City Yelps on drums. Possibly my first encounter with the affable Phil Booth, with the gig upstairs in a quarter-finished recording studio.”
Amy Leggett (JT Soar / National Justice Museum / Little Landing)
“I'm Amy, the door person who you'll meet at every Coffee Beat show. I really enjoy meeting folks and helping them have a great night. Over the years this has meant anything from help with parking, exotic drink suggestions from Murats (local BYOB off-licence), to buying fifty ice poles to abate heat stroke.
My favourite memory is from Halloween 2013 when we spooked up the venue, which included changing the sign to JT Goar! Phil had nudged pyjama adorned (because they were ‘dead tired’) Ace Bushy Stripetease to play Monster Mash. They absolutely nailed it and everyone had a boogie. I'd never had a song dedicated to me before, so that's a special one for me.”
Marty Toner (Buttonpusher / A-tota-so / Myopics)
“One of my all-time favourite shows was our Christmas party with Chiyoda Ku and Ganglions. We had all the bands make their own signature punch for the audience and there was plenty of crowd surfing and party vibes that night. I’ll never forget the absinthe punch and Callum from Chiyoda Ku chomping on the cucumber that had soaked up loads of said punch!”
Matthew Hamblin (Rammel Club)
“A gig that typified the main reason I love JT Soar: a sense of community. There were tech issues that were resolved by everyone chipping in to help. We all ate together before the gig and hung out together on the street between performances. The gig, like many at JT Soar, reminded me that an alternative to the dominant individualistic, capitalist, soulless, nihilistic model of cultural production is not an idealistic fantasy. It is DIY for real.”
Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo / Group Listening)
“I played at JT Soar on the last gig of the last Sweet Baboo tour (2023). It was a 2-for-1 odyssey, playing a matinee and an evening show. Both sold out, a great way to finish a month of touring.
Phil and Amy made me feel very welcome; they fed me (twice), I went to look for a Nottingham Forest boot bag, and I had a snooze in the studio. Love it up there, loads of old synths and weird looking guitars - how I imagine my studio would look. My son is well into Sleaford Mods, so I thought it would impress him that I'd been to JT Soar, and it did - never been so cool.”
Tom Ainsley (Neon Raptor)
“This magical corner of Sneinton has had me stumbling in late to a sit-down singalong of Que Sera Sera (awkward first visit!), as well as me - and others - falling down several times during a raucous set by hip New York punks, Big Eyes (painful second visit!).
I once travelled back from Australia just to see a band called Priests and another time we brewed a beer at Neon Raptor specifically for Australian post punkers Pinch Points, who seem to love the venue as much as the locals. JT Soar is a comforting hug, and often that hug is both figurative and literal!”
Fran Vaney (Fan Club / Noisy Hearts DIY)
“Queer Fest Nottingham was an annual summer event at JT Soar and my first experience was 2014’s Winter Ball.
Chrissy Barnacle brought a beautiful vulnerability to the room and I bought Block Fort’s CD as soon as their set ended. KINKY closed the night and had the room clamouring for an encore - despite having played their full discography, they obliged with a repeated song. I'd only moved to Nottingham two months prior, but Queer Fest and JT Soar made it feel like home.”
JT Soar’s 15th Anniversary will be celebrated with a special two-day festival at The Old Cold Store on 2 & 3 November.
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