One of America’s first punk-rock clubs (beating CBGBs by 4 years), and Charlotte’s most legendary music venues is now in danger of closing down.
The owners launched a GoFundMe page to raise enough money to keep the doors open. It’s already raised over $40,000 and has been shared over 10,000 times.
Charlotte Stories caught up with current co-owner Jonathan Hughes to find out more about the campaign;
The Milestone club is where R.E.M. first toured (and slept on the stage with no money for a motel), and where mainstream bands like Nirvana and Melissa Etheridge have been sharing the tiny stage with punk icons like Bad Brains, Black Flag and Fugazi for almost 45 years.
In a recent update to the GoFundMe Page, Jonathan comments, “In the past year the face of the local music scene in the Queen City has changed dramatically, with the loss of Tremont Music Hall, The Chop Shop, and Tommy’s Pub. One could call the west side institution, The Milestone Club, the underdog of the music scene, that one constant that has been a haven for up-and-coming musicians since 1969…
…With a history as legendary as The Milestone’s, the rickety Tuckaseegee Road club has managed to survive the eras of new wave, grunge, hardcore, post-punk, and everything in between, lived to tell the tale, but not without its share of battle scars…the ceiling has been patched, bathrooms renovated several times, and the foundation reinforced until these repairs are no longer effective. In short, The Milestone is to the point of needing a true renovation, and not just a “quick fix.””
A few of the recent bands that have rocked the Milestone stage include;
10,000 Maniacs, 13 Dead Things, 17 Dead, 23 More Minutes, 25 Minutes To Go, 2013 Wolves, 2nd Skin, 7 Seconds, Against Me!, A Little Less Than More, A Wilhelm Scream, Acid Bath, Adam Warrock, Afghan Whigs, Agnostic Front, Alabama Thunder Pussy, Alcohol Funny Car, Andy the Doorbum, Antiseen, Apparatus, Aqualads, Archers Of Loaf, Arson Garden, Astronautalis, Autumn 80, Babyshaker, Bad Brains (w/ H.R.), Bad Livers, Bark, Benji Hughes, Big Brick Building, Big Business, Big Fish Ensemble, Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic, Black Flag, Black Girls, Blacklist Royals, Black Plastic, Blackgirls, Black Skies, Blaster Crusher, Bloody Mary, Blue Mountain, Bo Diddley, Born Against, Bouncing Souls, Braveyoung, Buster Rogue, Butchwax, Buzz0v-en, C.O.A. (Charlie’s On Acid), Camper Van Beethoven, Captured! By Robots,Cellophane, Ceschi, Channel, Chasing The Dragon, Chelsea, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, Chokebore, Chris Stamey, Circle Jerks, Citizen Fish, Cocknoose, Code Orange Kids, Confessor, Corrosion Of Conformity (C.O.C.), Corrupted Authority, Cowboy Mouth, Crime Scene 13, Cursive, D.O.A., Dahli Llama, Dashboard Saviors, Deacon Lunchbox, Dead Milkmen, Dead Kings, Dead Pets, Deafheaven, Destruction Unit, Dharma Bums, Dillon Fence, Dinosaur, Jr., Dirty South Revolutionaries, Disappear Fear, Dischord, Discord, Don Caballero, Don Dixon, Double Negative, Doubting Thomas, Dream Syndicate, Dreams So Real, Drivin’ ‘n Cryin’, Drunken Boat, Edie Brickell, Egypt, Electric Six, Electro-luxe, End Over End, Ethyl Meatplow, Eugene Chadbourne, Fat Tortoise Butcher, Fear, Feed The Farm, Fetchin’ Bones, Fight 4 Life, Finger, Finger, Fireball Xl5, Flat Duo Jets, Flatfoot 56, Fling Hammer, Flipper, Floor, Fly Bitches, Follow For Now, Fucked Up, Fugazi, Full of Hell, Funkenstein, Future Islands, Gas Huffer, Gasoline Heart, Gaza, Geezer Lake, Gerard Mchugh, Goatwhore, God In Texas, Gods of Mars, God’s Water, Godhead, Golgatha, Goreaphobia, Grass Appeal, Guadalcanal Diary, Guttermouth, Guzzard, Hairball, Hammerhead, Hammerhead, Happy Eggs, Hardsoul Poets, Harvey Milk, Hasil Adkins, Hawkwind, Hazel, Hectagons!, Hectorina, Hell or Highwater, Hellstomper, Helios Creed, Henry Rollins, Hetch Hetchy, HIgh on Fire, Hillbilly Frankenstein, Hole, Hoodoo Gurus, HRVRD, Hugo Largo, Hudson Falcons, Hunter Valentine, Hunx and His Punx, Husker Du, Iceage, Ihafwhohas, Imaginary Heroes, Immolation, Insane Jane, Intensive Care, It Could Be Nothing…, Janitor Joe, Jawbox, Joan of Arc, John & Mary (from 10,000 Maniacs), John Cale, Johnny Puke, Jucifer, Kevin Seconds, Kill Yr Idols, Kinghorse, Kristen Hall, Kudzu Ganja, Kylesa, Lava Love, Layman’s Daughter, Lefty, Legbone, Let’s Active, Lex Vegas, Lightning Bolt, Lisa Would, Lolita 18, Love Tractor, Louis Logic, Luna Chicks, Lunatics, Mad Brother Ward, Mad Conductor, Magna Pop, Magrudergrind, Marti Jones, Mary On The Dash, Me & Emma, Melissa Etheridge, Merchandise, Michelle Malone, Marriages, Math the Band, Minor Threat, Misguided Youth, Mission Of Burhma, Moonburn, Motor Head, Mr. Invisible, Mrs. Fun, Municipal Waste, MxPx, My So Called Band, N.O.T.A., Nervous Tension, Neurosis, Nick Pagan And The Fanatics, Nikki Meets The Hibachi, Nirvana, Nme, No Rock Stars, Nofx, Nothington, Nuisance, O’Brother, Off With Their Heads, Ours, Peelander Z, Pen15, Pennywise, Phester, Pink Spiders, Plaid Retina, Planes Mistaken For Stars, Plate Six, Poi Dog Pondering, Popes On Dope, Porn Orchard, PPR, Products Of The System, Prong, Pure Hate, Queer, R.E.M., Rabid Salesman, Radio Reach, Random Ged, Randy Burke, Red Fang, Red Greed, Rev. Horton Heat, Reversing Hour, Rights Of The Accused, Rockats, Rosetta, Run Like Hell, Saccarine Trust, Schlong, Scream (w/ Dave Grohl), Screaming Females, Screeching Weasel, Seam, Seducer, Selacious Crumb, Self Made Monsters, Seven Foot Spline, Sex Police, Sight Unseen, Skinny Puppy, Sky Guys, Slant 6, Sleep, Sloppy Joe & The Random Rhythm Section, Sludge Fest, Smashing Orange, Snatches Of Pink, Sole, Southern Culture On The Skids, Southside Punx, Spite, Spot 1019, Stations, Steel Pole Bathtub, Stinking Lizavetta, Style Kings, Sugarsmack, Sunny Day Real Estate, Superchunk, Superdrag, Supersuckers, Surgery, Swervedriver, Swimming Pool Q’s, Tar, Texas Is The Reason, The Accelerators, The Accidents, The Ataris, The Automatics, The Bangles, The Beatdowns, The Belmont Playboys, The Big Deal, The Blind Dates, The Blind Dates, The Connells, The Cows, The DB’s, The Dead Boys, The Ellen James Society, The Emotron, The Exploited, The Flaming Lips, The Flat Tires, The Flu, The Frankenstein Drag Queens, The Generics, The Goddamn Gallows, The Go-Go’s, The Grifters, The Husbians, The Independents, The Inn, The James Hall Band, The Jody Grind, The Komodes, The Leaving Trains, The Lubricators, The Meices, The Melvins, The Mentors, The Mommyheads, The Naked Ramblers, The Nipsey Russell Experience, The Other People, The Outer Limits, The Penny Dreadfuls, The Plastics (Tokyo Japan), The Professionals (ex-Sex Pistols), The Queers, The Ramens, The Replacements, The Sluggs, The Straight Ahead (aka Bus Stop), The Units, The Vandals (Charlotte Pop Punk), The Veldt, The Winter Hours, They Might Be Giants, Third Stone, Thought Criminals, Thurn & Taxis, Tim Barry, Tiny Lights, Today Is The Day, Todd Bush, Tom Montefusco, Tommy Griggz, Torch Runner, Torche, Total Chaos, Toxic Popsicle, Train Black, Treepeople, Treephort, Tribe One, Tsol, Ublisch, Uk Subs, Uncle Green, Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver, Underwater Trailer Park, Unrest, Uv Prom, Unwritten Law, Uzuhi, Valiant Thorr, Vic Chesnutt, Vietnam, Violent Femmes, Wardance Orange, Weedeater, Wicked Ways, Wicked Witch, Wool, Yesterday’s Ring, Young And In The Way, Zo, Zoroaster.
Please don’t let this legend die! Please donate on their GoFundMe Page!
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