I sat down with Taggart, a local Philly/New Jersey band to interview them about what it’s like to be on the inside of the Philadelphia music scene. Taggart is an indie rock band who has released four albums together, with another one currently in the works. Taggart is composed of Pete and Steve Denton (brothers), Jim Becker, and Jim Ward. Philadelphia Weekly has described Taggart’s style as “harking back to underground rock’s golden age during the half-decade leading up to Nevermind. The guitars are sweet and crunchy like super sugar crisp, purveying tasty hooks coated in distortion and jagged edges with gruff, half-yelped vocals reminiscent of Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf).” With that, here is the interview!
Danica: How do the different parts of Philly differ in terms of the music scenes?
Becker: Different sections of Philly? Yeah, I mean, right now a lot of stuff is centered around Fishtown, I mean you’ve got the smaller venues like Johnny Brenda’s, you got the Fillmore, there’s a lot going on there right now. I don’t know that there’s another area outside of Fishtown that’s really- y’know there’s some venues here and there but as far as the main scene goes, yeah, that’s where everything’s happening.
Ward: Maybe there’s some other scene over there that we don’t even know about!
Becker: I mean, West Philly has a huge house show scene. Like bands playing in basements. Always has, and still has that. West Philly is big for independent punk bands playing in basements.
Ward: Well, that’s going back to at least the 80s, right?
Becker: Yeah! I mean that’s probably the biggest longstanding scene in the city.
Danica: What is your favorite place you’ve played and why?
Steve: Ooh, the Troc (The Trocadero– now a closed venue). By far the Troc.
Danica: Why?
Steve: Well, ‘cause it’s such an iconic stage for us, we’ve seen so many shows of our favorite bands. And being on that stage, and looking out, was something that was really cool because you just never thought you were going to get that opportunity.
Pete: I agree, that was my favorite.
Becker: Yeah.
Danica: When was that?
Ward: I believe it was May 5th of ‘05, or 6th, one of those. Yeah, I mean if we’re talking about venues, I would say that definitely number one a handful of times we’ve been fortunate enough to play live on the radio, and that’s not a venue, but those gigs were fun for me too for being able to play and then have that broadcast out.
Danica: What is your favorite part about playing a show?
Becker: Loading in [gear] and loading out.
*Laughter*
Steve: Nah, the best part is when you have a good sound stage and you can hear yourself so that you can relax and enjoy playing, you’re not trying to sing above the noise, or you can hear everything on stage and it all comes together and everybody’s playing well. Y’know, that’s the most fun, especially when we got three people singing, you can hear everybody’s voice and can hear when it’s on, that gets you all pumped up. When you nail something-
Becker: And you can hear it!
Steve: And you can hear it, and when you got a crowd too…
Ward: Well I was going to say, to me, that’s the biggest thing, is, we’ve been fortunate enough to play in some shows where the crowds are into it and you can feel that energy- unfortunately, we’ve played places [where] that wasn’t the case- and you can tell the difference. So, when you have a crowd that is boisterous and has the energy, you can feel it on stage and it definitely propels you.
Danica: Can you name a place that had a really good sound system?
Steve: Umm, no.
*Laughter*
Pete: I would say Dobbs (Dobbs on South) back in the day had a good sound system.
Becker: Yeah, Dobbs back in the day. Khyber (The Khyber Pass) back in the day.
Ward: I mean, Khyber is definitely the place I think we’ve played the most.
Becker: Even though it’s been closed for 10 years.
Pete: Isn’t it a restaurant?
Ward: They have a different stage.
Becker: Yeah, upstairs, we haven’t played there again. The Northstar used to have pretty good sound.
Steve: Sam Adams Brew Pub (Sam Adams Brewhouse- venue in Bethlehem, PA).
Pete: Oh my God, we used to play there all the time. That was our gig for a while.
Ward: My first show!
Danica: Okay, I think this kind of goes along with what we’ve been talking about already, but what are your favorite memories of the Philly music scene? Besides the Troc.
Ward: I’ll say, talking about Old City (section of Philly), and how that used to be a scene, to me, the shows were fun but then when the bars would let out at 2:00 AM and the last band would be done and then it would just be a mob scene, all over, and [we would] get pizza next door from the Khyber. But I mean, just talking about the whole scene aspect it was just more of a vibe of the whole street and the area back then.
Danica: What do you hope for the Philly music scene in the future?
Steve: More venues, better sound, more bands that rock…
Becker: Yeah, more rockin’ bands!
Ward: To me it’s about interest of people and people that are interested in just music in general, not coming to a band to see a band that they want to see, but just to be out, to hear live music.
Danica: Being open to it.
Ward: Yeah, music that’s original. I think that was probably a little more- people did that more back in the day, and it’s kind of lessened over time.
Danica: I feel like the Porchfest (a music event in West Philly) was really helping with that, like getting people involved and interested.
Ward: Yeah, that was a good vibe.
Pete: It’s more that you’re bringing it right to them. It’s not like they have to do anything, they just show up at somebody’s house with a six-pack [of beer]. I mean it’s a great idea because it gets people into music.

Stay tuned for Taggart’s new album (hopefully coming out towards the end of this year), and you can stream their music on Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. They also have their own website, taggartrocks.com. Check ‘em out!