Rich Pearce
Pearce, who’s training to be a yoga instructor, is known by so many bands in the city as it’s him they often deal with first when signing up to play the venue, booking tickets or sorting out their gigs on the night. Owned by Andy and Julia Kelland, who also own The Underground and The Dog & Duck venues in Mutley Plain, the Junction has been going since the mid-2000s, when it was rebranded from a previous name — and Pearce has been there practically ever since.
In the mid-2000s, the bassist moved to Plymouth from his hometown of Oxford. He swiftly joined the local band Southpaw Jinx - and later joined The Junction in April 2007 as part of the bar staff. The Southpaw Jinx went on to be a major force in the local rock scene and Pearce has been at The Junction ever since — 17 years, in fact, apart from a two-year hiatus a few years back.
Pearce helps out at The Underground — which is more about the DJs, drum and bass and punk music — from time to time but his passion is The Junction. In comparison, the venue’s capacity inside its walls and out in its beer garden is 250 people but The Underground can only hold 175 people. He says he ‘adores’ both venues, however.
He — along with Jamie Symons, the booker who gets the acts in with Pearce’s help — joined the Plymouth Music Forum under Plymouth Culture when it was formed not too long ago to improve the city’s music scene and offering. He used to be in city band Phoenix but now his main musical focuses are as bassist in Motörhead cover band, Motörshred, and in heavy rock outfit Manipulated. Here he chats with Made in Plymouth for our regular “Meet The People” feature so we can get to know a little more about him and The Junction…
Photo Credit KEITH CONLIN
Hi Rich! You’re known by so many people in Plymouth. Why is that?
I guess because I’ve been here for so long, I’m instantly recognisable as soon as you set foot in The Junction. I love this role, though. I love all the people — everyone knows me and I enjoy knowing so many people because it shows I’m doing my job well. And now there’s a new generation of live music fans in Plymouth so every time we put on a gig, I’m meeting new people from all sorts of musical backgrounds. Some people know me as simply ‘The Junction’.
You are indeed part of the furniture at The Junction. What acts that have played the venue over the past 17 years are your most memorable?
Too many to list here. But Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell has to get a mention. He played here in the mid-2010s — I booked him and his band in fact. Plus, CJ Wildheart has played here — and he is again on 6 September. Blaze Bailey too, of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden fame. Circa Waves in 2018 as well. Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein of the Misfits has also played our venue. There are so many rock and metal stars who have played here.
What about local bands?
Yeah, there have been some amazing local acts playing The Junction over the past 17 years but I want to shout out to the incredible Plymouth bands that play here now — Mechanized, Warcrab, Atom Smasher, Stealth Moose and so many more. And there will be far more coming soon. In fact, we have some big announcements coming soon in terms of gigs but, well, watch this space for now…
There seems to be an upsurge in local rock and metal talent in Plymouth right now…
There does. A quick shout-out to the Livewire Youth Music Project in Saltash, in fact — this project has nurtured a whole new generation of musicians, bands and music fans and we are now seeing them play and watch bands here at The Junction. It’s brilliant to see young talents being nurtured and supported in our city — and then supporting each other.
Photo Credit KEITH CONLIN
But where, apart from The Junction, do these young rock bands get to play in the city?
There’s us and The Underground, of course, and the Nowhere Inn in Gilwell Street is a great venue among some other good pubs across the city — but I’m not sure where else. It’s a good question. Where is the mid-range venue that’s between us and the large-scale Plymouth Pavilions? You can include THÊ DEPØ in Union Street but there needs to be more. This is something Plymouth could do with and soon. And we would welcome the competition, by the way. Competition is always good so we can offer a better live music scene across the city.
How has The Junction managed to be so successful?
Back in 2007, The Junction was already a live music venue but it was booking mostly cover bands. However, other venues in Plymouth started doing this so we started attracting touring bands instead to offer something different. And that proved to be highly successful — especially when we began pairing up-and-coming local bands with the big touring acts so that we could help local bands gain valuable experience. It worked and this is still central to our ethos today. We give touring bands one of the few suitably sized venues in the South West to play at and we give local bands a stage too in support.
Photo Credit KEITH CONLIN
So supporting local acts is really important to you?
Really important. For instance, nu-metalcore band Lacerta is supporting metalcore heavyweights Carrier on Saturday 10 August. They are a cracking local band and if we can help them get more experience by sharing the stage with Carrier then this can only be a good thing. If venues like ours don’t support local bands then there won’t be a local scene. And having a local scene is crucial for the future of music in the city — that’s exactly what the Plymouth Music Forum is supporting and that’s why we are a part of the forum because we see how important it is to help grow the local scene.
Is it just about the metal at The Junction?
Rock and metal shows are at the heart of what we do here but we also put on plenty of punk shows, reggae and blues. We’ve just bought a new PA sound system actually, which arrives later this month. We will move our current one to The Underground and the new one here is going to be state-of-the-art. An even better live music experience is coming. We’re installing air con too, which is pretty essential right now.
How challenging is it to run a live music venue in Plymouth right now?
It’s a passion project, running The Junction, but it’s also challenging too. The challenge isn’t booking the bands — touring and local bands really want to play here so we don’t have a problem getting acts in. And our gigs are always busy, so we don’t have a problem getting fans in either. But the prices can be a challenge — for instance, with beer, we don’t want to scare people away with high prices but we do need to turn a profit. It’s a balancing act. Same with ticket prices — we want to give bands a healthy cut but we don’t want to charge too much for the fans. But we do well with our price points, I believe, and we’re proud of that.
Do you just open for gigs?
Immediately after the pandemic, we did start opening for non-gig nights. It didn’t work — we are too well-known as a live music venue. So we went back to just opening a few days a week for live shows. It works much better. Don’t come to The Junction unless there’s some bands playing! And we rarely fail to fill our venue for touring bands and even local bands because our strategy works so well. I can’t remember the last gig we had here that had less than 40 people in attendance.
Is it easy to promote the gigs and get the punters in?
It’s pretty straightforward. Word of mouth is key to us but the big poster outside that tells you what bands are coming up is one of the most well-known and eye-catching posters on Mutley Plain. Plus, we use Facebook and physical posters in other spots, and we promote via the bands themselves. Again — it works and it works well.
What does the future hold for Rich Pearce?
In the short term, I’m going to try to not join any more bands. Can’t fit it all in. But in the long term, I’m just excited about where we’re going at The Junction. If you’ve never been here, then please come and catch a gig. You never know what the next big thing will be in music… and you could be watching them right here with us.
Photo Credit KEITH CONLIN
And what do you think the future holds for the Plymouth Music Forum too?
The Plymouth Music Forum is determined to make positive changes to the Plymouth music scene. Venues need to work together so that we strengthen the scene. There are lots of great initiatives being discussed right now by the forum so we are pleased to be a part of it and we’re keen to see the local music scene go from strength to strength over the next few years. Plymouth is about to get rockin’!
What’s coming up at The Junction?
The Junction — at 6 Mutley Plain in Plymouth — plays host to an all-metal tribute to the Bee Gees, called ‘Tragedy’, on Tuesday 6 August 2024. This is followed by South West indie-rockers Haytor and Foxhole on Friday 9 August 2024. On Saturday 10 August 2024, don’t miss Carrier supported by Cober Mouth and Lacerta. And book your tickets now for CJ Wildheart on Friday 6 September 2024. For more gig details at The Junction, see: here.
When is Rich Pearce playing?
Rich Pearce plays bass in a number of bands — but don’t miss his Motörhead cover band, Motörshred, rocking The Junction on Saturday 24 August 2024. Find out more: here.
Story by Matt Fleming