It’s 11:00 PM, you can feel the kick drum in your chest, and you know your ears will be ringing for the rest of the night, when the band calls for a mosh pit. You wonder if there’s enough room for one in the back of a local Lansdale bar.
While Lansdale is a relatively central place for major music acts traveling through Pennsylvania, as it is about equidistant to Philadelphia, Hershey, Reading, Scranton, and Allentown, most people don’t know that Lansdale has a vibrant music scene within borough lines.
Lansdale’s music scene centers around events at Round Guys Brewing and occasionally Panico’s Neighborhood Grill and Sports Tavern, that other one, with other events at places such as Nomad Skate Shop in Quakertown and The Yard Indoor Skatepark in Ambler, both of which are just a short drive or SEPTA ride away.
Each month features multiple shows, across a variety of genres including punk, ska, metal, indie, electronic, alt rock, hardcore, and more. There’s something for everyone.
A few local bands that have visited Lansdale recently are Applied Knowledge, The Galaxy Has Eyes; Oh, Are They?; and Lady White Rat.
“The music scene here is fantastic. This is my first time performing here, but I’ve seen plenty of shows here, and every time there’s always fantastic bands… The music scene in Lansdale has always been pretty vibrant,” Cody, The Galaxy Has Eye’s bass player declared.
While Lansdale might not feature the headliners that the larger cities have to offer, the community is much tighter.
“Around here, everyone cared and watched each other, which was the same thing that happens in the Doylestown area, so hopefully that’ll get back to the city, the way it used to be. There’s no support in Philly anymore, and it makes me sad,” reflects Jack Kerrigan, vocalist and bassist from Oh, Are They?.
Bands come from far and wide, to Lansdale. While most shows feature local artists, some host groups from much farther away, such as a ska group from Detroit, and a banjo player from Scotland. Yet one thing that contributes to the community is how most band members aren’t simply a passing act. They’re usually relatively local, even though sometimes bands from farther away are featured.
Lady White Rat and Applied Knowledge are from Philadelphia, Kerrigan is from Philadelphia/Warminster, and Cody is closest, being from North Wales. In an area like Philly and its suburbs, it’s easy for bands to form.
“I went to college with the drummer, we both were in Montco’s music production classes… after we graduated, I kind of lost contact with him for a little bit, but then I met him again, and he was playing in this band… They parted ways with [their last bass player]… and he called me and was like “hey, you want to join Galaxy has Eyes?”, and I was like “absolutely!” and the rest, all downhill from there”, said Cody, who has been in The Galaxy has Eyes for two and a half years.
“Originally, I joined as the bass player of a band called Pots and Pans… but we played cutesy keyboard music with a girl who sang with us… when we lost the girl, we started writing new songs, changed the band name, and formed a band where the songs are concepts, and each album is another story,” Kerrigan said, explaining how Oh, Are They? turned into the heavy post-hardcore band it is today.
The members of Lady White Rat were all either in bands themselves, or were involved in the music scene. “I went to a lot of shows in Philly, and I was like ‘well, this is cool, but I want to be doing that’”, Caroline, vocalist of Lady White Rat, declared.
Likewise, the interband network is equally as strong.
“There’s actually a ton of great bands here… pretty much every band we played with tonight are friends, and we’ve known in various iterations for years, or from other bands, or we’ve played shows with them, or they’ve recorded at [our bass player’s] studio, so it’s a really tight knit group, and most of them are from the area,” Y, from Applied Knowledge, explained.
The small venues, including the ones mentioned in Lansdale, also bring people together.
“We think it’s kind of also important to support our friends, so playing house venues, and playing shows that our friends, wherever they’re throwing the shows is important for building a community… random places, a lot of it isn’t like a place you think a band would play. Yeah, wherever people kind of let us play is kind of where we play,” said members of Lady White Rat.
Band members are always looking for new groups to form.
“I think everyone should start a band, even if it’s like a cover band or whatever. I think it’s good to just get with people and share music. It’s a natural human thing to just share it, we’ve done it forever… Just do it. Like it’s so sick. You make friends… Please, more bands!… But the one thing I will say is go to shows first, to meet people, and then form the bands with the people you meet,” Caroline urges, noting how there are countless ways to learn and refine skills online, especially nowadays.
While performing in front of others might be the hesitation for many considering forming a band, it ends up being one of the best parts of the experience.
“[My] favorite part of performing is just like the energy you get from the crowd, and it’s a different kind of feeling when you’re playing music that you love and you see people enjoying it as well. It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside,” Cody reflects.
Besides just having fun, these bands like to make a difference with their music.
“Everything is written about our collective personal experiences or my personal experiences. Songs about harm reduction, which is something we really care about as a band. Philly has a really big opioid overdose issue, and raising awareness and educating about that, that’s huge. Everybody should know how to use Narcan. Stripped Away, I wrote it about my friend who was in a really abusive relationship, it was like me and her kind of dealing with that and trying to get her out of that. For Yourself, about living for yourself. And Polluted, I’m an environmental scientist, so Polluted is literally just about air pollution,” Caroline explains.
Oh, Are They?, was performing some songs from their new album, Guilt, about life during the Covid pandemic. “I write songs just to get the things inside of me out, that people won’t listen to otherwise, so if you listen to the lyrics closely, it is me saying things that I can’t say to people normally,” Kerrigan stated.
“Performing live: I live for it. It’s the only 30 minutes that I like myself. To be honest with you, I hate myself all day, but as soon as I do that, it’s the only thing that makes me smile,” Kerrigan, who currently builds boutique pedals and repairs amplifiers, states.
Cody, who works at a bank, said “I like to eat, I like to live at places… It’s not my passion, music is my passion.”
“I work for the Philly water department, so, really weird job. But this gets me through that job, like I was at work today and I was like ‘three more hours until I can leave and then scream at people!,” Caroline explains.
Bands are more than just a 45 minute set on a Friday night.
“Basically what you’re doing is you’re taking your best friends and starting a family with them. You have to make family decisions, like “where are we going to eat” and “where are we going to sleep”, just a lot of things you realize when you’re a band, it’s like not what you dreamt it up to be, but at the same time it’s like “yo, we’re doing all this cool stuff”. [It’s worth it] 100%, family dinner is lit!,” Caroline declared.
Whether partaking in local music as part of a band, or as an audience member, it truly is worth it to get involved in your area’s scene. Music is a uniting force, and it’s one of the best ways to connect with fellow community members, and express oneself more deeply. For Lansdale locals, your next opportunity is just around the corner.
